53. Test Your PCs Security with Online Security Probes

Are you security conscious? Have you secured your PC with anti-virus and firewall software? Did you follow PCstats Ten Essential steps? Whether you answered yes or no to these questions, you should still test your PC for security vulnerabilities with one of these online security-scanning services.

Each will probe your computer for security weaknesses which could be used by a malicious hacker or virus to compromise your PC and data. Use these services to ensure that you are well secured, or use them as an incentive to fix your insecure system; just use them.

Some free online security scanners:
https://grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2
https://www.pcflank.com/scanner1s.htm
https://scan.sygatetech.com/

54. disable annoying sartup programs

whether it's spyware or just an annoying feature of a legitimate program, everyone has experienced the phenomena of the annoying startup program. They may take up all your system resources at startup, causing your computer to c...r...a...w...l along, or they may be unwelcome pests causing havoc within your system.

The thing that startup programs all have in common is that they need to be run during the Windows boot from a few specific locations. Traditionally in Windows XP, you can use the built-in MSCONFIG utility to find and disable automatically starting programs, but this utility does not check all possible locations.

For a more comprehensive scan, we suggest using Sysinternal's free 'autoruns' program to display all auto-running software on your computer. To paraphrase a certain commercial, this utility checks the parts that MSCONFIG can't reach.

To use autoruns download and run the program.

The program displays all software (including some essential Windows files) that runs automatically after Windows loads. By unchecking the boxes, you can disable specific programs and prevent them from loading. Note that there are several entries here you should not disable at any time, the two most important of which are userinit.exe and explorer.exe.

Be very cautious with anything authored by Microsoft in this list (though it is possible for malicious startup programs like spyware and Trojan horse viruses to use the Microsoft label here also).