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Automate Operating System Patching
with Automatic Updates
In addition to the on-demand Windows Update site, Microsoft provides the Automatic
Update service to help you keep your system up-to-date. This service uses your
Internet connection to check for new security updates. When it finds one, it takes
one of three actions (depending on how you have configured it):
■
Notify you that an update exists, but do not download it
■
Download the update and notify you that it is available to install
■
Download and install the update on a schedule that you specify
6.
After the scan, you will be presented with a list of updates you can
download and install on your system. Choose the updates you wish to
install and click Install. The updates will be installed. Restart your
system if requested and you are finished.
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How Automatic Updates Work
Automatic Updates uses a service called Background Intelligent Transfer Service
(BITS) to connect to servers at Microsoft to check for and download updates. BITS
monitors your use of the Internet connection on your computer and transfers data
only when your connection is idle. This use of idle time ensures you do not see
any degradation of performance while updates are being downloaded.
After updates are downloaded, the installation routine can be configured to apply

In the past, systems were compromised simply because their owners did not know
security was an issue. Now these systems are protected by default, and often without
the user’s knowledge.
This setting is also a good basic setting for most configurations. When an update
is available, you will receive notification via a small pop-up message from the
Automatic Updates service. You may choose to install the update immediately or
wait for the automatic installation process to perform the installation.
Service Pack 2 made another change to updates that causes them to be
applied any time the system is shut down. Even if you choose to automatically
install updates, they will be applied any time the system is shut down
regardless of schedule. This ensures they will not be missed if the system is
powered off at the time they were to be installed.
Download Updates for Me… This setting will still download the update and notify
you when it is available, but it will not automatically perform the installation.
Some prefer this option because it allows them to personally ensure the updates
are applied. Others prefer it because they can ensure updates happen while their
systems are powered on. The change brought about by Service Pack 2 to install
updates any time a system is shut down eliminates the need for this, but the setting
remains for those who prefer it.
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Notify Me… This option will look for updates and notify you when they are available.
This is for those who may be on such a slow connection that they would rather wait
until they get to the home office before they start the download.
Turn off Automatic Updates Please don’t. Some experienced users leave updates
off, but it requires a good deal of discipline to keep up with patching manually.
At least getting notification of the availability of a patch is better than letting your
guard down once and getting “wormed.”
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Verify Your Automatic Updates

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You can select the product you want to download updates for and get a list of
all security, performance, and feature updates available for that product. The list
can be sorted by popularity, title, or date of release.
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When you select a patch, you will be presented with a screen detailing what
the patch is intended to fix and providing installation instructions for installing the
patch.
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After clicking the Download button, you will begin downloading the patch.
Follow the instructions to complete the installation.
Use Internet Explorer to Download Office Updates
The Microsoft Office application suite consists of many different Microsoft
applications bundled into a comprehensive suite for interoperability and—let’s
face it—marketing. Keeping these applications patched would be a Herculean task
if there weren’t some way to help automate the process.
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Enter Office Update.
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In the same way Windows Update finds and installs patches for Windows XP
and its bundled applications, Office Update finds and installs patches for the
Microsoft Office suite of applications. Visitors to
will be presented with an ActiveX application very similar to the one used at Windows
Update. Using the application, they will scan their computer for installed updates

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7
After reading and accepting the EULA, you will see a final confirmation
screen.
Ill 7-20
After you accept the selections, the download and installation process begins.
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Maintain Non–Microsoft Application Security
Applications not produced by Microsoft are not immune to their own security
problems. After listing the applications on your computer, do a quick Google
search for the application name and the word vulnerability or the word exploit.
You will get pages with information related to any known vulnerabilities your
application may be prone to.
Locate Security Updates for Non-Microsoft Software
There are many places to look for information related to vulnerable applications.
Hopefully you gain the ability by reading this book to know about these before the
attackers do.
After installation, you will see the Installation Results page. Check the status
of the installation to ensure there were no errors during the download and
installation process.
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In this section we will describe sources of information on vulnerabilities and
how to use them. Among these are the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE)

application or information on where to obtain a patch for the vulnerability.
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Vendor Web Sites
Responsible vendors will make you aware of vulnerabilities and patches on
their web sites. The only problem with this is that they will (understandably)
not put it on the home page. You will probably have to locate the product
support page for your product to find the information you need. You are often
better off using a service like Bugtraq and following a link to the vendor’s fix
from there.
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Apply Security Updates for Non-Microsoft Software
Security fixes and updates take on a number of forms. Sometimes it is an
executable program. At other times, it will be a configuration change or a single
file to download and copy to a specific location. Be sure they come from a reliable
source, and scan them for viruses before applying them to your system.
Installation of updates to these applications is no more difficult than installing
application updates from the Microsoft Downloads site, you will just have to be
certain to read the instructions thoroughly and be sure you understand what they
are doing before you attempt to fix the application. If you have any questions, ask
the vendor for help installing the update.
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Chapter 8
Set Up an Effective
Antivirus Solution
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How to…
■

computers, and explain why each is a particular threat to your home network. After
that, we will show you how to select an antivirus application that will help protect
your systems from these threats.
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Identify Virus Activity
Computer viruses are self-replicating programs that infect programs and files in
computers and copy themselves into other files on the host system, thus spreading
their infection. They are characterized by the necessity of human action to release
their payload. This is accomplished by someone either copying the infected file
onto their system, running infected programs, or opening infected documents. Once
released, the infection is spread to other files on the computer or e-mailed to other
targets using the victim’s address book.
Viruses have employed several methods to avoid detection. Early viruses were
detected because they modified the beginning of an executable file to include their
operating code. Virus scanners were able to detect them by scanning the first few
bytes of each program for patterns of known viruses. Virus writers began just adding
small hooks into the beginning of programs and inserting the virus code into another
part of the program. After this strategy became known, they took to writing viruses
that mutated or morphed (polymorphism) into slightly different versions as they
spread.
Viruses may carry damaging components called payloads that destroy data,
render systems unbootable, or display embarrassing messages to users.
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The First Computer Virus
Was Written Almost 30 Years Ago
The first computer virus was developed by a man named John Walker in 1975

large bot armies that have been amassed by hackers for the purpose of conducting
distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. (If you missed Chapter 5, a distributed
denial of service attack is a mass flood of data directed against a particular host
from a large number of zombie systems under the control of a single individual.)
Spyware and spybots are a recent development designed to spy on your surfing
habits, sometimes even logging keystrokes to expose personal secrets that hackers
might find of value. Some also act as spam remailers, using your bandwidth to launch
floods of unsolicited e-mail out over the Internet.
Blended Threats
One of the latest developments that has received some press is known as a blended
threat. This type of attack blends two or more different types of attack into
a comprehensive assault on your system. In this scenario, you might encounter
a worm or a spybot that installs Trojan horse programs or other malware as an
additional payload.
A well-publicized blended threat case is that of the June 2004 release of the
Scob worm, which was designed to infect Microsoft web servers with a JavaScript
program that would attack Internet Explorer web browsers. Internet Explorer would
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