Information security is a joint venture and everyone must participate. A large quantity of viruses have been spotted in the PartyNet and there is a very high risk of being infected with a virus if your machine is not patched up-to-date and not protected by a firewall and an anti-virus program. This document describes the steps you are expected take before leaving for Assembly, or if you have to re-install your machine at Assembly.

Updates

The best way to update Windows is to visit http://update.microsoft.com/ using Internet Explorer. You need Administrator privileges to install the updates in Windows 2000 and XP. Usually you have to reboot your machine after installing updates, after which you should re-visit the update site. Repeat the cycle until there are no more updates to install. It can take several visits before you have every patch installed.

If you are using some other web browser than Internet Explorer (like Mozilla, Firefox or Opera), make sure you have the latest version of that browser installed.

Linux users should check update instructions from the distribution supplier.

Antivirus

Make sure you have an antivirus software installed and equipped with the latest virus database. Most antivirus packages are able to update the database automatically, so enable this option if you haven’t already done so.

Free antivirus software for home use is available from e.g. Antivir (http://www.free-av.com/) and avast! (http://www.avast.com/). Please note that these are recommendations only, and NetCrew doesn’t provide technical support for them.

Firewall

NetCrew strongly recommends you to install a firewall software to your machine, to protect it from attacks. Do this well before Assembly so you have time to get familiar with the software.

Free firewall software for home use is available from e.g. ZoneLabs (http://www.zonelabs.com/). Again, this is a recommendation only, and NetCrew doesn’t provide technical support for it. If the firewall affects network performance or some application refuses to work, you may search help from fellow party visitors or disable the firewall at your own risk.