Guide To Computer Security (2022)

The original Guide to Computer Security was produced by the Newgon Support Team after consultation with the Newgon forum community in 2008. It explained how you could protect data stored on your hard drive and stay anonymous on the internet. The guide may be of interest to people who wish to protect their anonymity and data from adversaries. This page represents an updated version currently under development.

Operating Systems

Windows 10

As of December 2021, Windows 10 is the world's most popular operating system. Although extremely convenient, it is widely considered to be a very poor choice for data security and privacy.

Multiple guides exist online describing how to reduce the risk posed by using Windows 10. However, it is inherently insecure and best avoided for anyone who is concerned about the leakage of sensitive information.

Windows 7

Windows 7 is no longer supported by Microsoft; as such, known security issues are unlikely to be patched barring exceptional circumstances. Usage of the Internet Explorer browser is not recommended.

There are a number of settings that should be changed in order to improve user privacy.

Indexing Service

The indexing service provides a book-like index of all files stored on any drive for which it is enabled. It enables faster searches of drives and folders. However, names of all indexed files and some of their contents will be stored in plain-text on the drive on which Windows is installed, even if those files are encrypted.

To turn off the indexing service:

Control Panel -> Programs -> Turn Windows features on or off. Deselect 'Indexing Service'.

Recent Items

By default, Windows 7 stores a list of recently opened items. To disable this, right click on Start, select 'Properties', select the 'Start Menu' tab, then uncheck 'Store and display recently opened programs in the Start menu' and 'Store and display recently opened items in the Start menu and the taskbar'.

System Restore

Windows 7 is normally configured to automatically backup system files and personal documents. This can be disabled via Control Panel -> System -> System Protection. Make sure it is turned off for all disks.

Swap File

Windows 7 uses a swap file in which it temporarily stores data from RAM on the disk in order to conserve RAM usage. This is unnecessary for most modern computers, and it is a security issue because almost any data could theoretically be written to the disk, including encryption keys.

To disable, System -> Advanced System Settings -> under performance, click 'Settings' -> Advanced tab -> under Virtual Memory, click 'Change' -> set 'No paging file' for all drives.

Hibernation

The hibernation feature of Windows 7 stores data from your current session to your hard drive and puts your computer in a very low power state. This has similar security implications to the swap file.

To disable hibernation: Start -> Type 'run' -> Type 'cmd' -> type 'powercfg -h off'.

Thumbnail cache

Windows 7 stores thumbnails in a central cache on the drive on which Windows is installed. Thumbnails of encrypted images will also be stored in this central cache when the folder in which the images are located is accessed.

Built-in methods and softwarefor disabling the cache exist, but there are reports of these solutions not working perfectly. People living in particularly oppressive regimes should consider wiping their thumbnail cache regularly.

Telemetry

Windows 7 sends data about your computer usage to Microsoft. The relevant 'features', designed for Windows 10, were introduced to Windows 7 via Windows Updates.

The following updates should be uninstalled if present:

• KB3068708
• KB3022345
• KB3075249
• KB3080149