PC/Laptop Setup - Best Practice Number Zero

Since I recently just had a chance to setup Haruhi-chan fresh from the shop, I'm putting some of my personal best practices here, along with my personal set of freeware suggestions.

So what is the first thing that anyone should do when freshly setting-up their PC/laptop? The answer: Best practice number Zero is "Secure your PC/Laptop." At first glance, this seems obvious, but believe me, a lot of people I've met either does not consciously do this, or miss some basic aspects of it. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying my system is perfect - in fact, I most probably have a zillion security holes, but hopefully, it's also a zillion less than most home user's.

Since I'm a Windows XP user, I'll just concentrate on Windows XP home systems. Also, since most problems are usually results of being online, I'll be addressing such issues most of the time. Here are some steps that I take as part of Best Practice Zero (in order of execution):

1. Upon first boot-up and login, set passwords for your Administrator and user account(s). Pick a good password - mix numbers, upper- and lower-case letters.
   
2. Change login method to show the Windows welcome screen that prompts for password - never allow automatic user login. Also, disable fast user switching.
   
3. Do not immediately connect to any network.
4. If your system is packaged with an antivirus software, ensure it is installed and running.
   
5. Enable Windows firewall and Windows Automatic Update.
   
6. Connect to the internet, but do not access any site or do anything else, other than to perform Windows automatic update.
7. Perform automatic update of your antivirus software via the antivirus client, if it has one. Again, do not access any site or download anything.
   
8. Disconnect and reboot to ensure all updates have completely installed.
9. At this point, I'd take a risk to use Internet Explorer to get the stuff I need to install. In order of installation, these are:

• Web browser: Mozilla Firefox - after I download, I usually exit Internet Explorer, install Firefox, and stop using Internet Explorer altogether.
  
• Anti-phishing and Site Authentication: McAfee SiteAdvisor and Comodo Verification Engine - since I'll be needing a lot from the web, it's good to know I'm visiting a trusted site.
  
• Personal Firewall: Comodo Firewall - Note: I only install the firewall, not the antivirus
  
• Antivirus (if none is installed): Avast! Home Edition
• Anti-spyware tools: Spybot S&D and Lavasoft's Ad-Aware

The above set of software completes the basic protection package. I take the time to reboot and perform a full system scan using the antivirus and anti-spyware tools after they have been installed. For a fresh system, this normally doesn't take long. Even if it does take some time, it's usually worth performing. Also, I always keep the auto-update feature enabled for these software. Additionally, I tweak some Windows services and settings to increase protection and performance, but I do not recommend them for casual users unless they know what they are doing.

However, do note that these software are only as effective as the person that uses them. I recommend taking time to fully understand each software's capabilities. A lot of help topics and tips can be found on the software's respective sites, help files, and online forums.

At this point, I'm more or less confident to install other additional software for daily use, as well as access online contents/accounts. Of course, as I mentioned, the best protection is still an informed and smart user - nothing keeps that pain away better than safe surfing habits:

• Always keep to trusted sites (don't ignore SiteAdvisor warnings!)
  
• Install only recommended and reliable software (always check reviews first)
• Never connect to an unknown network (wired or wireless)
• Never transmit sensitive information over instant messaging or e-mail ("Hi, Mom! My password is "H1N1SwineFlu" -- duh! )
  
• Never access sensitive online accounts from a web cafe unless it is an emergency (e.g. somebody may die when you don't do so...) -- seriously, never ever do this. Sensitive online accounts include e-mail and social networking sites (more on these later), and naturally, bank accounts. About e-mail, please remember that these days, a lot of personally-identifiable information is available in your e-mail and SNS. You endanger not only yourself but also others when you ignore this oft-neglected practice.
  

And that wraps-up Best Practice number Zero!

Now, for non-security-related concerns, here are other free software that I use to replace the official ones (usually due to performance and/or cost issues):

• Pidgin (instead of Yahoo! Messenger)
• PDF-Xchange Viewer (instead of Adobe Reader)
• K-Lite Mega Code Pack (instead of any other video player)
• OpenOffice.org (instead of Microsoft Office)
  
• Sakura Editor (instead of Notepad)
• Gnu Privacy Guard (GPG)
  
• IOBit Smart Defrag
  
• GIMP (instead of Photoshop)
• Photoscape (a handy little feature-rich photo editing software good for everyday retouching and image manipulation)
• And for developers out there: Java SDK, NetBeans, Cygwin, Wireshark, and Subversion
  

For the items above without official links, I usually stick to downloading from this trusted site.

That's it! If you have comments and/or other suggestions, please feel free to leave me a message.