Web User - UK (2019-11-13)

SECURE

ANYTHING

WITH A

USB STICK

Stop leaking your identity

COVER

FEATURE

13 - 26 November 2019 45

PLUS...

EDITVIDEOUSINGVLC

Discoverthepopularmedia

player’sbesthiddentools

DITCHCHROMEFOREDGE

Trythenewfeaturesin

Microsoft’sreinventedbrowser

STOPUSINGCCLEANER

CleanandspeedupyourPC

usinga superioralternative

SUBSCRIBETOWEBUSERAT

SUBSCRIBE.WEBUSER.CO.UK

buttonandwaitwhilethescanruns.It
willshowyouif yourbrowseris blocking
trackingadsandinvisibletrackers,and
whetherit stopsthosewhicharein the
‘acceptableads’whitelist.It alsoshows
youwhetheryourbrowserunblocks
thirdpartiesthatpromisetohonour
DoNotTrack.

Scanyournetwork’s
portsforvulnerabilities
EveryIPaddresshasthousandsand
thousandsofports– numberswhichare
addedtotheheaderofdatapackets
transmittedona network.Theseare
usedforroutingtraffictowhereit needs
togo.Certainports,suchasport 80
(HTTP),tendtobelockeddownbut
othercommonportscouldbeopenand
vulnerabletohackers.Anopenport
essentiallymeansthatit’sactiveandthe
computeris listeningforconnection
requests.It’sa bitlikeanopendoorto
yourPCandcouldpotentiallyallow
attackerstoexploitvulnerabilitieson
yoursystem.Mostroutershavea
‘StealthMode’whichis designedto
makeopenportslessobviousto
outsidersbyhidingtheirstatus,andyou
canenablethisin yourroutersettings
page(seethemanualorundersideof
therouterforinstructionsonhowto
accessthesesettings).
Tocheckthestatusandsecurityof
yourports,youcanuseGRCShieldsUp
(www.grc.com/shieldsup). Thisonline
servicerunsa numberofdifferenttests,
includingcheckingforexposed
UniversalPlugn’Play(UPnP)protocols
andthestatusoffilesharing,common
portsandallserviceports,aswellas
browserheaderinformation.

Checkyourbrowser
forsecurityholes
Ideally,youshouldmakesureyou’re

runningthenewestversionofyour

browseratalltimesbecausethiswill

helpprotectyoufromthelatestthreats.

Yourbrowsershouldalertyouwhena

newversionis released,althoughyou

canmanuallycheckfora newupdateat

anytime.InChrome,clickthetop-right

three-dotmenuandgotoHelp,About

GoogleChrometo

checkforanyupdates.

InFirefox,clickthe

three-line‘hamburger’

buttonandgotoHelp,

AboutFirefox.

Tomakesureyour

browseris properly

protected,youcanrun

QualysBrowserCheck

(browsercheck.qualys

.com), whichscans

yourbrowserand

pluginslooking

forpotential

vulnerabilitiesand

securityholes.If it

findsa problem,it willprovide

informationontheissueandgiveyou

thechancetofixit bydownloadingan

update.Theadd-onworkswithallthe

majorbrowsersandyouhavetheoption

ofinstallinga plugintoperforma

thoroughcheckorrunninga quickscan

withoutit.

Check the security of your ports by

running GRC ShieldsUp’s tests

Use Qualys Browser Check to ensure your browser and

pluginsareup-to-dateandnotvulnerabletoleaks

The ultimate way to protect you

PC, files and online accounts

NEXT ISSUE on sale Wednesday 27 November 2019

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