Not Migrating: Windows Security Considerations

Just because I’m convinced Linux has a better security posture than Windows does not mean Windows is useless. And sometimes you just don’t need that much control to get things done. Frankly, a badly configured Linux box is as easily trashed as the average Windows box. Windows can be secured, but it’s more work.

When it comes to running as a server, it’s hard to beat Linux for smaller operations. For any computer connected to the Net full-time, I trust a Linux over any Windows box. But when your computer has only intermittent access to the Net, particularly for laptops and other mobile devices, the threat profile is inherently lower. What you still have to guard against are things like viruses and spyware.

And let’s be honest: To the fanboy of any OS, theirs will always be the best. To the average user lacking such loyalties, Linux is still lacking for desktop and laptop use. The Linux desktop is simply not that compelling. And for some uses, Linux is frankly inferior. Gaming? Windows; no contest. Multimedia? It’s a little more complex. On the one hand, Open Source can access more kinds of formats, and can manipulate them easily, and seldom pays much attention to DRM and other vendor controls. On the other hand, Linux seldom competes in terms of resource usage. That is, to play the same multimedia file on a particular machine running Linux requires more horsepower than the same machine with the same file running Windows. There are a dozen reasons for this, and I’m not going to chase rabbits. Frankly, most people aren’t geeky enough to pay much attention to a resource meter, even if they had one, and which ones would you trust? Otherwise, I’d say Linux typically runs standard operations on a lot less RAM.

Generic instructions on securing Windows are all over the place, and frankly contradictory at times. I’m not going to pretend I am an expert. All I know is what I have experienced in the years of running Windows on at least one of the systems in my home, and helping others with theirs.

Never, ever trust McAfee and Norton. Both have been bought out by major corporations who then fired all the chief developers. Not since Windows 95 days have they been any good, and often a great deal of trouble. I’ve used a large collection of the free AV offerings and some of the commercial ones. I used to love AVG, but they’ve gotten fat and slow. I still rather like Vipre from GFI, but it started causing me some problems last year. These days I favor Avast from Alwil. The free version is good enough, and the paid version is even better.

For spyware, it’s a toss-up between Super Anti-spyware and Malwarebytes. The former is a bit more aggressive with the advertising, so I give Malwarebytes the edge. I don’t trust any software firewall. There was a time when ZoneAlarm was useful, but when it was bought out by some Mossad front in Israel, I dropped it like a hot rock. Never trust a company run by a foreign government secret agency, regardless of which country. Always prefer a hardware firewall (or router), but if you are using a laptop and free wifi, the built-in firewall on Vista and Win7 is better than nothing.

Sites related to entertainment — movies, music, games, etc. — are your worst enemy. It’s the cool toys which are used to sucker you into a situation which compromises your system. All the more so if your tastes run to vice. If you gotta have it, don’t run Windows. If you can restrain yourself, standard protections work fine.

You may recall in my post on securing Firefox on RHEL 6, I noted there it’s the same tricks used on Windows. Download and install first the CCleaner and learn how to use it. Or, use BleachBit for Windows. The point is to make sure you have something which eats evercookies, in particular the LSO cookies from Flashplayer. Install those addons: Adblock, Flashblock, Ghostery. Make sure to configure them to do the blocking. Facebook fans, you’ll need to make sure you tell Ghostery it’s okay to display the stuff from Facebook Connect, or you won’t be able to play any of those silly games. Better yet, stay away from Facebook, MySpace and similar idiot-bait sites.

Don’t run Chrome. On both Windows and Linux right now, the slightest little bit of JScript on the page and it starts running like a fully loaded truck. I’ve noticed it pulls about 50% of both my CPU cores regardless of which OS it runs on, and that’s just too much to ask. Internet Explorer does not honor CSS very much, so a lot of pages using Cascading Style Sheets for formatting the display will look ugly in IE. Opera is in a high state of flux right now, needing some good extensions, but most of what they now have works poorly. Also, their JScript engine tends to go nuts now and then, refusing to work in some of the oddest places.

Once again, we have this recurring theme: Take control of your computer use. If it’s worth doing, then it’s worth becoming self-sufficient.