By optimizing Windows 7, most users understand the setting for maximum performance. But is it always right from a security point of view? Quite often, high performance is ensured by disabling or lowering the level of system protection, which sooner or later, but almost always leads to consequences: hacking a computer with theft or damage to user data, “stealing” funds to electronic wallets, connecting to bot networks for mailing spam, DDoS attacks and similar sabotage. Today's talk will be about how to set up Windows 7 for safe use without sacrificing performance.
Dangerous Delusions
Security is for banks
Many people think that security issues are relevant only for organizations such as banks, etc., and they do not concern home users, since there is “nothing to steal” from their personal computer. This is not so - any machine is of interest to attackers.
System and software updates are a redundant feature in Windows 7
Windows 7, like its older and younger "brothers", is not without "loopholes" - vulnerabilities through which viruses, trojans, network worms and other evil spirits penetrate the system. And this does not always happen with the active participation of the user. Timely installed Windows and software updates close these loopholes as they are discovered.
Why pay for software? Windows 7 builds and pirated software are much more convenient
One of the main ways for computer malware to spread is through means to “activate” and hack licensed software. And some builds of Windows 7 "from Uncle Vasya", keygens, cracks and modified programs contain "hardwired" malicious code. Which, for example, will collect data about you or open a “secret entrance” to your computer for unknown people.
You can not install an antivirus - it only interferes
Antivirus running in the background is able to prevent most infections by preventing a suspicious file from running or by checking its safety in an isolated environment. If there is no antivirus or you disabled it to install a hacked program, you will learn about the infection only by its consequences.
UAC (User Account Control) slows down performance - turn it off
The notorious irritant that bothers you with the constant “allow?” question when you start your favorite toy warns that a file is trying to make changes to the system. If you don't have an antivirus, this is the last Windows 7 security bastion that can prevent malicious code from executing.
How to properly set up protection?
We put updates
Start over. Immediately after installing Windows 7, the first thing that is important to do is download and install all currently released updates and correctly configure the automatic receipt function.
Open the control panel. Launch the Windows Update applet.
Click the "Search for updates" button in the transition bar and install everything that will be offered.
After that, click “Settings” and from the drop-down list in the “Important updates” section, select automatic installation.
The first major security setup is done.
Setting up basic protection tools
Return to the control panel home page and open the Action Center.
Expand the Security tab. If you have not yet installed an antivirus, your main protection settings will be disabled or not configured. For safety, it is extremely important that there are no unused functions left here. After starting the antivirus, the picture should be something like this:
Setting up UAC
Without leaving Action Center, click on the navigation bar "Change User Account Control Settings".
Make sure that the control level slider in the UAC settings window is at the top or second position from the top. UAC is enabled by default, but some viruses may disable it.
Setting up Internet Explorer
It's time to tackle network security - figure out how to properly configure the browser. Let's take Internet Explorer, Windows 7's native browser, as an example.
The first and most important rule is that the IE version must always be up to date. The system itself takes care of it. If you haven't turned off automatic Windows updates, you won't need to update Internet Explorer manually. And if it is disabled, you can always download the latest version from here.
Launch IE, to open the properties window, press Alt + X on your keyboard. On the first of the tabs called “General”, you can enable automatic cleaning of the web browsing history on login. This is optional, but if you don't want anyone to know what sites you're browsing, enable this option.
By going to the “Security” tab, you can configure access to different types of content for different network zones. Properly configuring security zones will prevent the loading of potentially unsafe elements and the execution of malicious code. If you don't know how to do it correctly, click the button to select the default security level for all zones - it is located at the bottom of the window.
In the "Privacy" properties section, you can configure security levels for specific web resources. Trusted sites can be allowed more - save cookies, determine your location, etc., while untrusted sites can be denied all this.
The “Content” tab opens access to the parental control settings (“Family Safety” button), where you can set permissions for access to the content of sites by your family members. There are also settings for autofilling forms on pages.
The Connections section contains the network connection settings for this browser. If you use multiple types of connections or a proxy server, you can create your own rule for Internet Explorer.
The Programs tab gives you access to another security-related option. It's "Manage Add-ons". By clicking here, you can see which extensions are installed in your browser: in addition to legitimate services (spell checker, various protections, etc.), there may be malicious plugins or ad serving tools.
The last tab - “Advanced” contains detailed settings for IE security settings - here you can set the use of various encryption methods, enable or disable verification of certificates and digital signatures, allow or prohibit the launch of files, etc.
By default, these settings meet the needs of most web resources and you do not need to change anything here. But if the browser has started to work intermittently, to restore the defaults, click the "Restore advanced settings" button. There is also a Reset button to globally cancel all changes.
These are the main Windows 7 security settings. They will provide you with good protection with a minimum of slowdown in system performance.
