Network Security Blog

Apr 29 2004

Major Meltdown!

Published by Martin at 7:35 am under Site Configuration

I had major hardware problems earlier this week which completely destroyed my main system. CPU’s, Hard drive, video card, motherboard, all toast. The only thing I could save from the system was the CD and DVD-RW drives. Luckily, everything that was really important to me was backed up on another computer. On the other hand, I’m sure that I’ll find that there’s a document on the old hard drive that I’m really, really going to need some day.

Since I’m rebuilding the system, I have a question: What are the first programs you install on a new system when you build it? This question was raised on Slashdot earlier this week, but I’m wondering what other security professionals put on their computers first thing.

Here’s what I installed, pretty much in order:

OS: Win2k Server
Video drivers (Nvidia): I can’t stand working at 640×480, and my systems are behind a couple of firewalls, so I wasn’t worried about instant infection from the internet.
Patch, patch, patch the OS.
GRISoft AVG AntiVirus
LavaSoft AdAware
Putty
WinSCP
City of Heroes (I admit it, I have always secretly wanted to be a super-hero, and this game is about as close to it as I’ll ever come.)