[ale] ale [OT] updating, securing OpenOffice, Adobe Reader / Flash

[Ron Frazier]

Hi Randy,

Living in a Windows world has taught me to be paranoid, and to always 
patch my system. Even though, historically, Linux has had few threats in 
the wild, acting this way is good for Linux too. I get 10 - 20 patches / 
week for Ubuntu, Flash, Firefox, and Firefox addons. Many of these are 
security related. As Linux usage increases, and as black hat crackers 
start having a financial incentive to crack Linux, exploits will 
increase. When I watched the video I posted about usb autorun, I found 
that there a number of possible exploits in Linux. That guy was a white 
hat, but, I think, if he wants to crack your system, depending on the 
access he has, you're toast.

Here's my (hopefully) monthly checklist for Linux, although the 
scheduling isn't as critical as with Windows. This will vary, of course. 
Some things only need doing once. Some I do once and check periodically. 
Some I do repeatedly. This month was particularly bothersome since it 
involved a number of uninstall / reinstall's on Windows and Linux on 
several computers.

- Run the OS update manager and patch the system. I run this 
periodically anyway when it pops up. However, I force it at least monthly.
- Turn off autoplay / autorun. Recheck on occasion.
- Test Java for current version. If not current, troubleshoot why.
- Check the flash version.
- Check flash player settings occasionally in case they've changed by 
accident or update.
- Check the Firefox version.
- Check Firefox settings occasionally.
- Force Firefox addons update. Remove any unneeded or outdated ones.
- Check NoScript settings occasionally. Dewhitelist unneeded sites.
- For this month, uninstall OpenOffice, install LibreOffice, set 
security settings described previously. Check settings occasionally.
- About 3 times / year, run SpinRite exhaustive disk diagnostic and / or 
Linux long SMART test. Replace hard drive if showing bad sectors.
- Verify that Jungledisk online backup is running properly and recently 
or force it to run.
- For this month, verify that swap file is working properly, since I've 
been tinkering with it.
- Make a clone of the hard drive for backup.

I prefer not to work ON the computer, but WITH the computer, doing 
things besides maintenance. However, when I'm working with it, I want it 
to be rock solid, dependable, and trustworthy with my credit card data, 
banking data, or tax data, etc. So, I try to do these procedures 
periodically. I expect that I may have to add Anti-Virus in the future, 
but not now. I'm also considering Lastpass for password tracking and 
TrueCrypt whole drive encryption. I don't do a lot of documenting, other 
than going through my checklist.

Sincerely,

Ron

On 03/11/2011 04:33 PM, Randy Ramsdell wrote:
> Ron Frazier wrote:
>    
>> Paul,
>>
>> OK.  I just uninstalled OO and installed Libre Office on 4 Windows
>> PC's.  I have to do one more Windows PC and 3 Linux PC, some of which
>> are the same machines as the Windows ones.  I'm doing nothing but PC
>> maintenance lately.  It's good to have Oracle gone though.
>>
>> Sincerely,
>>
>> Ron
>>
>>
>>      
> You have to do this and document it all for a home network, wow. I never
> update my computers at home much less document anything ever. I don't
> have windows so who cares.
>
>    

-- 

(PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to
call on the phone.  I get about 300 emails per day from alternate energy
mailing lists and such.  I don't always see new messages very quickly.)

Ron Frazier

770-205-9422 (O)   Leave a message.
linuxdude AT c3energy.com