Q: I have dial-up Internet service and want to buy firewall software for added protection. I am also considering upgrading to a home network with DSL service that will run two other computers in my house. My computer runs Windows XP – what should I buy?
A: If you stick with dial-up service, firewall software is not generally regarded as necessary. The reasons for this are three-fold.
First, your computer is assigned a different IP address every time it connects to the Intenet, and is therefore harder for a hacker to potentially locate.
Second, few potential hackers are concerned about data transfer over dial-up connections, which are too slow to be useful to most.
Third, most computers using dial-up are also using a shared phone line with voice calls, which means they are only connected to the Web on an intermittent basis.
If you switch to a home network with DSL, then you need a firewall, as your computer will generally stay connected (which is actually a good thing) to the Web at all times, and do it through either a Static (fixed) IP address, or through a range of IP addresses generally well-known to those who might wish to cause mischief.
The good news is that in either case, your Windows XP (or Vista) computer comes with built-in free firewall software as part of the operating system.
To turn it on, just go to Help and type in “firewall”. Follow the prompts and your firewall will be activated. It generally requires little attention or additional user information, and is a good choice for most home computers.
If you end up connecting multiple computers to a home DSL network, you will need to use a router. Again, the good news here is that routers also have a built-in firewall called NAT (Newtork Address Translation).
NAT effectively hides the computers on its side of the Internet, as the router presents a false IP address to any program that might be trying to search for that computer's IP address.
Some routers also offer a hardware firewall, which offers additional protection and can be configured for specific applications by a technician or high-level user.
Q: I am trying to copy most of my pictures to an external hard drive, but I cannot erase them easily from my system drive after I do. I want to leave a few pictures on the system, and move most. What can I do?
A: In your case, use Windows Explorer's “Move” command, rather than “Copy”.
Use Windows Explorer (in Accessories on most newer PC's) to open the folder, such as “My Pictures”, where the images are located.
Click Edit, then Select All. If you want to leave some pictures on your PC, hold down the CTRL key, then click the left mouse button to de-select those images from being moved. Go to Edit, click on Move To Folder, and select the folder or hard drive where you want to move the pictures.
Practicing this will allow you to keep most of your picture files on an external hard drive, saving that space, and also back up your images to an external drive.
You can also take that drive with you if you want to work on another system, or show someone else the pictures now stored on the drive.
Tom Meek is a computer and media consultant working with businesses and individuals on high-tech needs. Another Day In Cyberville is published weekly in print and online via The Gainesville Voice, a weekly publication of The New York Times Regional Newspaper Group. You can reach Tom Meek at adayincyberville@gmail.com.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment