Setting Up Your New Computer Safely

so you bought your new computer and the first thing you start doing is start installing all your favorite apps stop before you do anything else learn how to set up your computer safely if you follow my tips the chances getting hit with malware will be low let's start [Music] what you will see are 12 tips to setting up your computer safely don't get too excited with your brand-new computer and just start blindly installing apps take a deep breath watch this video and do it carefully it will save you lots of grief later on on a regular basis I reset my computer to factory settings and repeat the procedure I'm about to tell you so I get lots of practice with this and I've been following this for a very long time here we go number one setting up your machine name the first mistake you will make is to blindly follow the instructions from Apple or Microsoft when installing your new computer and what is the first thing that will be asked of you when you start it it will ask for a computer name stop be careful here there are two separate names you need to be aware of one is called the machine name or the name of your computer the other is your user name which I will discuss next do not label your computer as John Smith's computer this machine name is often sent by email client software and other apps to identify the machine so it's not a secret you may be unwittingly sending your real name when you don't intend to I've seen people spend so much effort hiding their identity on the Internet and yet they miss this most basic thing this name is also visible on a network so if you're at Starbucks you'll be identified by this theme as well call it MacBook j/s 77 or something that doesn't include your real name it just has to be identifiable to you which you can do by model why is this important because hackers can Docs you if they know your real name and this can initiate other attacks like fishing the less some outsider knows about who owns a computer that better number to your username the next thing that Windows or Mac OSX will ask you for is your login username so like robots we actually type in our real name in fact we don't want to be disobedient to the operating system so we followed the label that says enter your name don't enter your real name it's a bad idea the first account you set up on a computer will be the administrator account as I will talk about later this is not the account that should be used on a daily basis I like to set up the administrator account as something obscure no real name and not necessarily suggesting that it is an admin account this will mess up the hacker so make it sound low level like janitor or maybe just user whatever you want but names like the Big Kahuna the big boss number one or your real name will just point this out as an administrator account also don't use the name admin since we will use that later by using a non-standard name it will make a hacker have to figure out which one the admin account is you are hacked using your admin account so this is important to understand number three create a second user immediately the most important thing to do after getting your computer is to set up a second user which will actually be the regular user this account will not have admin rights so you have to add a new user using the first account that just just set up you will log in daily using this account I like calling this account admin because it makes a hacker think that this is the Ben account but it actually has no rights if there's anything most important to learn to do on a new computer it is how to add users log in using the first account you created and add a new user called admin now why is it important to always use a non admin user for daily use because if you're logged in as a non admin user or standard user your account will not be able to do damage to the computer at all a non admin user cannot insert malware in a system folder or install programs so even if you click on malware the effect will be minimal if any you will be prompted for your real admin login and password which will warn you of trouble this is the most important tip always use your computer without an admin account this is why Linux doesn't get as many viruses this is the default method on that operating system the only time I use the admin account is to change users computer settings or install software number 4 antivirus forget the marketing hype save your money don't pay for an antivirus or install some separate antivirus if you're using a Mac move on skip the step don't bother with an anti-virus if you're on Windows 10 it already comes with a built-in antivirus called Windows Defender it's already turned on automatically if the computer seller pre-installed some other antivirus such as semantic or McAfee uninstall it listen carefully you're actually introducing more risk to your computer when you load an anti-virus with so-called sophisticated features for example a feature called web scanning actually means that your antivirus maker can read your HTTP encrypted browsing antivirus programs actually provide a way for new viruses to enter because an anti-virus is run with privileged rights and they can be hacked advanced hackers know how to get past an anti-virus an antivirus is useless against a zero-day or a new malware an antivirus works by spotting malware it has seen before the main purpose of an antivirus is to stop the spread of common malware it's not a bulletproof protection for your computer remember that we set up your computer with a non admin user malware cannot install without an admin account to program areas malware will have limited effect or no effect because of this procedure number 5 your computer is temporary accept the fact that your computer setup is temporary in my case I assume that my computer may change or get a virus being in the cyber security realm I may be attacked by high-level sophisticated malware that can be very difficult to detect this kind of malware can overcome an anti-virus you will not get malware if you don't click on unknown links in email or download files blindly and have physical security to your computer but you have to assume that someone's always trying to break in because I'm the mistrusting type I always assume that if my computer starts to slow down or behaves in unusual ways that there could be malware so the moment that happens or if it's that time of year I reinstall my OS Windows 10 in my case and start from scratch in order for this to work smoothly I document my installation process I repeat this so often that documenting the procedure for installation makes it fast for me I tend to use only open source apps so I can even change from Mac OS X to Windows to Linux it doesn't matter to me but the most important thing is that I don't put much of my data on the computer hard drive itself I consider everything I put on there as temporary and whatever it's important to keep I'll transfer out to other storage does my secure cloud storage or another SSD drive that I plug into my USB my SSD has a larger capacity than my computer's hard drive I'm concerned if I have a virus and have to reinstall all of Windows 10 and all of my software I can do everything in a few hours and it is something that I can do while working on other things or while using a different computer because I don't keep important files in the computer itself I'm not overly concerned about losing something and this is and this is the way you have to think about computers from from now on they're not really permanent number 6 your email client this is very important to many of you it's automatic you use your favorite email client or the one built into Windows or Mac OS X and you forget it this is a very bad thing because many of the hacks to your computer will occur on email many of the phishing attacks hacks and main transmission of malware will be through email I recommend that you use only Mozilla Thunderbird as your email client Mozilla makes the Firefox browser there's an OS X any Windows version as someone well-versed in hacking I will tell you that you can be easily hacked through outlook Windows Mail Mac mail and so on thunderbird will be difficult to attack I've made several videos explaining the problems with emails especially something that is rarely spoke enough which is the beacon attack I've tested many of these email clients and only Thunderbird cannot be attacked number 7 privacy badger I don't usually like browser extensions or plugins because often those can be the source of security breaches but this one I recommend it's from EFS org it's called privacy badger what this does is look for misbehaving cookies those attract you as you move on the Internet site-to-site these trackers are very insidious and a fingerprint or device so they see everything you do on the Internet privacy badger detects these kinds of cookies and will block the websites from tracking it doesn't stop cookies from well behaving sites so it will not affect most of the websites you go to number eight install a VPN I've got so many videos talking about this I don't consider a computer safe if it's constantly leaking out your IP address since this is tracked constantly on the Internet this is used to follow you around profile you and watch what you do and then later try to influence you influence your vote influence your financial moves influence your thoughts IP addresses are now tied to exact locations because third-party apps collecting and selling the IP address and location data pair to many central databases this can identify you within six feet watch my location tracking videos to learn about this I don't think any computer can be safely used without a VPN check the description for my VPN protocol bytes VPN which is the best option for those in the US number nine secure boot many new computers come with a secure boot feature this is pre-installed the question is whether or not this should be turned off to have safe computer use this prevents someone from booting with a USB stick and then taking over your computer and putting malware into hidden spots on your hard drive this is something important mostly for those or the public and access to your computers such as in an office if you go on a lunch break or bathroom break your computer is exposed for those types of people do not mess with secure boot it is good for you for me the public cannot access my computer and often secure boot prevents me from running other specialized software like tails or Kali so I protect myself with physical security so if you're not dealing with other operating systems I would leave this alone otherwise it may be useful to turn off number ten firewalls Windows and Mac OSX have built-in firewalls this is enabled by default and is something you don't normally have to touch don't turn it off this prevents someone outside from probing your computer and then hacking it through vulnerable apps that you have installed your hack through openings called ports use the default for firewalls normally this means you have to manually allow access for specific apps to ports that need to be reached by external users you will have to manually decide when you want to do that like when installing something like BitTorrent or running a website so you turn it off individually for each app as needed not for your entire computer number 11 security updates make sure your computer is set to receive security updates automatically this is very important for stopping zero-day malware security updates are critical but don't confuse this with having to install the latest and greatest version of an OS immediately it's always good to wait a few months for those kinds of updates a full version release of an OS may come with problems and if everything is working right then there's no rush new OS releases are guaranteed to have bugs so save yourself the trouble and delay on that in the US Windows Update occurs on a Tuesday once a month first or second Tuesday number 12 turn off intel amt if you happen to have an Intel CPU you need to check if it has advanced management technology or AMT which is part of a feature set called V Pro understand that this means someone can remote control your computer if this is not a corporate computer it's for your personal use then there is absolutely no reason for anyone to have remote access using AMT AMT is scary your computer can be started when off and the OS modified the hard drives examined all remote AMT has also known vulnerabilities and can be hacked I wouldn't be surprised if three-letter agencies have access to our computers that have AMT most I 5 and i7 CPUs have a empty but they've begun to remove this from consumer computers in the last two years verify that on the Intel website for your particular chip before buying the computer I always check the chip to make sure it has no feature called vPro my macbook pro for example has vPro i don't know how to turn off v pro on a Mac which really bothers me but so far no one has access v pro on a Mac but if you're running a chip that has a MTV Pro on it and you're running Windows then you need to run a program to at least turn it off or keep it from running there's a program called disable AMT Exe with a link in the description so you know where to download it and you need to do that if you have AMT the link is safe I've used to program myself in the past it may still be possible to turn on AMT again even after running this that's why the best approach is to not buy a computer with a empty to begin with again many newer consumer laptops no longer have AMT 2019 and 2018 this may be more of an issue with desktops and servers usually AMT is not found on I three Intel CPUs in conclusion these are the Dozen tips to keep your new computer safe if you got too excited and install something before you watch this video just reset your computer back to factory settings and follow this procedure before you fully use your computer now the most important rule is that you can only be saved as long as you don't purposely load malware to your own computer unfortunately as stupid as that sounds that's exactly how where it's installed by social engineering someone will tricked you into opening something or installing a program and if you fall for it then your computer is compromised if you make this mistake don't stop to think about it immediately reset your computer to factory settings reinstall the OS and don't think it's going to get better by leaving it alone I hope this helps you and if you like my content please subscribe to my channel and make sure to also hit that notification bell so you get alerted to new content and live streams [Music]

Channel: Rob Braxman Tech

Views: 152,764

Rating: 4.9728937 out of 5

Keywords: setting up your new computer safely, new computer setup safe, new computer safe setup, windows 10, setting up windows 10 safely, setting up macbook pro safely, how to setup new computer safely, how to, setup new computer, setup windows 10, setting up pc safely, setting up laptop safely, internet security, cybersecurity, internet privacy, internet privacy guy, pc factory reset, windows factory reset, macbook pro factory reset

Id: QHPJirrluT8

Length: 18min 33sec (1113 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 25 2019