Web User - UK (2019-10-02)

50 2 - 15 October 2019

21, which manages filetransfers (FTP).
Makesure‘Inboundrule’ is selected
and, inthe right-handsidebar, click
‘Newrule...’. SelectPortandclickNext,
thentype 21 inthe ‘Specificlocal ports’
box. Onthe following page,click‘Block
the connection’, thenclickNexttwice
andgivethe rulea memorablename,
suchas‘Block incomingFTP connection
attempts’. Click Finishtoimplement
the rule.

Checksoftware and
code
Evenwithout internetaccess,
malicious codecan stillcause serious
harm,somake sureWindowsis
watchingout for anythingsuspicious.
Click ‘App& browser control’ and make
sure thatall three settings onthe page
are set towarn. Windowswill thenpop
up alertsif you try toinstall software
sourced fromoutside the Microsoft
Store orvisit questionablesites using
Edge, orif MicrosoftStore software
downloads dangerous datafromthe
web.Unfortunately,SmartScreen web
protectionisineffective if you’reusing
any browser otherthanEdge, but
Chrome and Firefox bothhavetheir
own built-inalternatives.
You can alsostopany software
Microsoftdoesn’t recognisebyclicking
Block beneath ‘Check appsandfiles’.
Thisdoesn’t limit you toshopping inthe
MicrosoftStore –rather, it sparesyou
havingtomake ajudgement call
becausetrusteddevelopers’ products
will stillinstall without any problems.

Run a health check

Defenderisa nativeWindows

component, soit’s familiarwith

howyoursystemshould– andshouldn’t

• berunning, which makesit best-
  placedtospotglitchesbefore they
  become aproblem.Click ‘Device
  performance &health’, andcheck that
  eachof the fourcategories under
  ‘Health report’ has agreen tick. If any
  showa yellowwarning triangle, click
  themfor adescription of the problem
  anda linktoresources thatwill fix it.
  Notethe ‘Freshstart’ section atthe
  bottomof thispage.
  If you’rebattlinga
  stubborn problem
  you simplycan’t fix,
  thiscould beyour
  lastlineofdefence.
  Fresh start installsa
  copyof the latest
  version ofWindows
  inits factory-fresh
  condition.While
  Microsoftpromises
  toretain your data
  andsomeofyour
  settings, we’dstill
  recommend making
  a backupfirst– andtoput aside time
  for it tocomplete. Fresh start installsthe
  latestversion ofWindows, not the

version storedonyourPC’s recovery

partition,soit needs todownload

several gigabytes ofdata.

Protectyour family

Clicking ‘Family options’lets

you monitorwhatchildrenin

yourhouseholdsee and doonline,and

howlongtheyspend ontheir devices.

There are nocontrolsonthispane– just

two linksthatsendyou tothe web.The

secondof these –‘Viewdevices’ – lets

you remotelycheck thatevery device

enrolledonyourMicrosoftaccount,

whetherit’s yours ora child’s,isfully

patched. The one aboveit – ‘Viewfamily

settings’– isofmore interestbecauseit

gives you greater controlover howa

child’s account can beused.

You’ll firstneedtodefinewhich

accountsare for youngerusers.Onthe

machineyou wanttocontrol(whichmay

bedifferent fromthe machineyou’re

using yourself), open Settingsandclick

Accountsfollowed by‘Family &other

people’. Click ‘Adda familymember’

followed by‘Adda child’andprovide an

email addresstowhich theyhaveaccess.

Thisaccount will nowbetiedto your

own Microsoftaccount. Click ‘View

family settings’inWindowsDefender’s

dashboard onyourPC, thenuse the

Activity, ‘Screen time’ and‘Content

restrictions’ tabs inthe browser

interface tosee whatyourchild account

holders havebeenupto, dictate when

theycan log intotheir PCandspecify

whatkind ofage-rated content will be

restricted.

Defender protects from potential threats,
even if they are already on your hard drive

Defender is perfectly placed to know

exactly what constitu tes a problem

Restrict the kind of content younger users canaccess

and limit their daily computer use

Windows Defender tips

If Windows Defenderis so good, then

why – you may ask– should you pay

for third-party security software?

Well, it largely comes downto tech

support (which isoften more

personable when you’re using a

paid-for product) and features.

WHY PAY FOR ANTIVIRUS?

when you install a rival virus scanner.

If you want to take a belt-and-braces

approach, download the portable

edition of ClamAV (bit.ly/clamav485)

and run it on an ad-hoc basis. It’s free

and doesn’t need to be installed on

your hard drive.

Some paid-for security tools comewith

additional extras, such as uninstallers,

password managers, VPNs and more.

Don’t run two security suites

simultaneously because they may throw

up false positives. That’s why Windows

Defender’s antivi rus tools are disabled