Secure Yourself from Hackers & Hijackers

Hackers and Browser Hijacking is one area of the Net that affects everyone at some stage.    In addition to having third party utilities such as SpyBot, Anti Virus scanners and firewalls installed there are some changes that can be made to Windows 2000/XP. Below are some details to make your system safer from hackers and hijackers. Some of these tips require editing of the Registry so it is wise to either backup the registry and/or create a Restore Point.

1. Clearing the Page File at Shutdown Windows 2000/XP paging file (Sometimes called the Swap File) can contain sensitive information such as plaintext passwords. Someone capable of accessing your system could scan that file and find its information. You can force windows to clear out this file. In the registry navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlSession ManagerMemory Management and add or edit the DWORD ClearPageFileAtShutdown. Set it to 1. Note that when you do this, the system will take much longer to shut down: a system with a really big Page File (! Gig or more) may take a minute or two longer. 2. Disable the POSIX and OS/2 Subsystem. Windows 2000 and XP come with little-documented subsystems it at allow compatibility with UNIX and OS/2 systems These rues systems are enabled by default but so rarely used that they are best off bring disabled completely to prevent possible service hijackings. To disable these subsystems, open the registry and navigate to HKEY LOCAL MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlSession ManagerSubSystems. Delete the subkeys Os2 and Posix. then reboot 3. Install Windows In a different directory. Windows usually installs itself in the WINDOWS directory. Windows NT 4 0 and 2000 Will opt for WINNT. Many worms and other rogue programs assume this to be the case and attempt to exploit those folders files. To defeat this install Windows to another directory when you're setting it up - you can specify the name of the directory during setup. WINDIR is okay; so some people use WNDWS - A few (not that many) programs may not install properly if you install Windows to another folder but they are very few and they are far between.