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The Bulletin – March/April Edition
Technical Tips
By Tom Snyder Ph.D.
Are New Computers really Plug-and-Play?
Even though computers continue to be more user-friendly, unfortunately, they are not yet plug and
play. It’s a rare occasion when I can plug a new computer in and have it just work. Typically it takes
some configuration and time because file transfer, equipment driver and software upgrades and user
customization need to take place. Nowadays, there are also security issues to be managed. In fact,
firms purchasing new systems are putting themselves at risk as soon as they plug new machines in.
When you're buying a new PC, it's impossible to know how up-to-date its patches are. There's an
assumption that a computer straight off the shelf will be ready to go, but I've had to download a
couple of hours worth of security patches onto a brand-new PC many times.
The problem with new PCs is that they might not be all that new, particularly their operating system.
Who knows how long it's been sitting in the warehouse. And because most computer makers only
install the most recent service pack of Windows -- the Operating System on the vast majority of
newly-purchased PCs -- there is a slew of fixes, those released since the last service pack, that are
probably not on the new system.
And yet, the last thing on buyers' minds is “Are my patches up to date? Is my anti-virus up to date?
Do I have a firewall?” Instead, users simply want to plug their machines into other equipment and
the Internet. Please don’t.
A new PC that has not been properly patched and secured with a firewall and up-to-date anti-virus
software runs the risk of being the target of fast-moving exploits, some of which debuted months
ago but are still circulating on the Web.
MSBlast, for example, which rolled through the Internet this August and onto thousands of
machines, is still pervasive, and a new Windows-based PC that has not been patched can be infected
in seconds after it's plugged into a broadband modem.
The first thing a user of a new Windows XP machine should do is to engage the operating system's
built-in firewall to protect the machine while it downloads the necessary security patches from the
Microsoft Web site.
Microsoft offers instructions on its 'Protect your PC' Web site that details the steps needed to turn
on the firewall, which is disabled by default. Users who have purchased a non-Windows XP PC
should buy and install a personal firewall before they do anything else.
Once that's taken care of, the next steps are to visit the WindowsUpdate Web site to download and
install all the recommended patches, then acquire an anti-virus program, or if one comes pre-installed
on the machine, immediately update its virus definitions.
They should also turn on the automatic update feature of the anti-virus program, if it has one. That
will protect the PC against the hundreds of new threats that hit the Internet each month.
So, computers aren’t like phones and toasters just yet. They require a little more than plugging in to
make them operational. But if you take a little extra time setting them up, you’ll save yourself a lot
more time and from a lot more headaches down the road.
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If you have questions or concerns about your particular situation, please e-mail me at tpsynder@xantrion.com.. I will use your input to direct future columns.
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