ransomware protection that's what we're
gonna go over today let's protect you
from ransomware on windows because
ransomware is literally the stuff of
nightmares it's the thing I worry the
most about when it comes to becoming a
system admin it's things that you should
always be cognizant of so let's cover it
I'm gonna cover it in four different
ways
on the desktop first updates second
using controlled folders to make sure
programs can't access certain parts of
your computer so you can put all your
important documents that you don't want
ever change to by a commercial program
and then three backups and then four
well maybe you don't need to use Windows
use something else whether that's Mac or
Linux but we can go into that as well
and then let's say all this fails and
you get ransomware what do you do I'm
also gonna cover that so with all that
said let's get on the desktop not waste
any time and get this done all right
let's get down to it first up let's
configure our updates now this only
applies to Windows 10 Pro in above but
we'll go right click run or just Windows
key and are for the running prompt will
go gpedit.msc
from here we can go into administrative
templates and from there we'll just go
down into windows components Windows
Update and let's let me get this a
little bit more seeable Windows Update
and then there's a subfolder in Windows
Update called Windows Update for
business there's two things you need to
configure preview builds and feature
updates and quality updates I do this
pretty much on every single system I
ever set up whether it's part of a
domain or not for business obviously
this is just set up automatically but
for home users I'll go in here and do
this I set enabled semi-annual channel
if you look by default it sets like Reap
preview build or release preview and
these are horrible options you're
basically Microsoft guinea-pig at least
semi-annual channel if you want to run
like an old version you can I like to
just stick with semi any channel and
then just set this to 365 just to make
sure you're never on the bleeding edge
for feature updates this is not regular
updates this actually just kind of makes
things more stable so you're not on the
newest latest and worst version of
Windows so with that done quality
updates is next these are the important
ones these are the security updates that
help prevent ransomware virus is I
always enable these and then I put a lag
time of four days now you say well why
would you wait four days to install a
security update well by definition
Microsoft usually always does Tuesdays
for the patch day four days usually
delays it till the weekend so in a
business it would always fire off on the
weekend and then install it then I
always recommend at least three days at
a very very minimum because there's a
lot of patches that Microsoft puts out
that end up breaking systems and things
of that nature so you always want to put
at least a couple days so the you know
pawns can go for before you and get
slaughtered and go oh hey that's a bad
patch and they'll pull it back before
the weekend hits
so usually doing this you always get a
good update so this is a good way of
fixing Windows Update so you don't have
to disable it because disabling it makes
you very vulnerable and this is a good
way to just configure your update so
definitely do this unless you're a home
user and then well sorry about you
you're gonna be the you're gonna be the
pawn so with that done next up is gonna
be Windows Defender so we'll go ahead
and open up Windows security virus and
threat protection and then down where it
says manage ransomware protection this
controlled folder access make sure it's
on and then say protected folders make
sure your documents or anywhere you're
keeping really vital data is put in here
this basically makes it to where
programs can't change the files in that
folder so obviously don't do it with
like a gaming folder or a saves folder
but definitely do it for like let's say
you're storing financial documents or
stuff for work use protected folders I
mean definitely worth doing just say add
protected folder and say hey you know
what one I always probably recommend
doing is Dropbox or onedrive those are
just kind of like no-brainer so I would
probably select onedrive toss it in here
that way a virus can never modify one my
onedrive or
or whatever it might be just always be
using protected folders for those really
important files in that way if a virus
does infect your computer it this helps
at least stave off some of the folders
on here all right next up is backups
backups is a really important one
there's a couple different ways of doing
this personally I don't use windows that
much for backups and if I am doing
backups typically I'll be using like a
Synology client or something like that
for a small business like this maybe
whatever you have local have something
backing up you can use a whole host of
different backup solutions there's
built-in ones for Windows which I can go
ahead and show you we go to backup set
settings under system settings so
there's an option under backup in the
system settings here you can add a
secondary drive for file history
basically what this does is it copies
all your files that change over to here
so you have a file history of things so
if you have two disks in your PC this is
a viable solution it's not great I don't
particularly like it but if you're not
gonna do anything
I mean something's better than nothing
personally I would do at least in store
your documents in onedrive or a Dropbox
this basically gives you some kind of
cloud backup to where you can restore
those versions for businesses I usually
use like Backblaze you can store
terabytes of data for literally a couple
bucks so here here's the actual
Backblaze one you can try it free
pricing let me just go ahead and do it
$60 a year pretty much unlimited data so
I recommend this this is the one I would
use no matter what just great all around
just fantastic highly recommended oh
look its recommended by the verge Oh
anyway it is still very good I love it
so this is what I use to backup all
businesses and things just because it's
the cheapest out on the market now the
final one is just not used Windows you
know use Linux that's a that's an option
it's what I'm all about
so if you go to youtube.com
/c Ford / Chris Titus tech you can
actually get into the my main channel
you can do searches for specific things
let's say you want to learn something
about grub or whatever it might be that
you want to learn in Linux or Windows
you can do that but really the thing
that you want is the windows playlists I
have a specific first-time Linux
installed to Windows playlists you go to
full playlist you can see all the
different ones from the install the
customization installing programs
setting up gaming you name it I got that
just real initial one in here and then
at the very end I kind of did a live
stream so you can see all of it done
live so you can see any mistakes I might
make when I do a first-time Linux
install but regardless this is just your
basic install for Windows users to
really help you kind of get your feet
wet now if you go to ID ransomware Mel
hunter teen.com if you do get infected
this is the site to come to they've
fantastic team put this together
basically ransom note you go browse you
select your encrypted file that the
ransomware actually put on here and then
upload it see what it is decrypt it now
before doing the decryption I obviously
recommend removing all viruses the
ransomware virus it's actually pretty
easy to clean but if it's already
encrypted files it will not fix that but
I highly recommend check out the Tron
script link is in the description below
if you are infected remove the virus
first and then come to ID ransomware to
actually see if you can decrypt your
files if you can't decrypt your files go
to your backups just like why I said set
up backups restore from the backups
because that is your next line of
defense if you can't decrypt it and you
don't have good backups the next order
of business would be either pay the
ransom or kiss your files goodbye and
just start from scratch so that is
ransomware in a nutshell that's how you
fix the ransomware but hopefully this
won't happen because now you'll use
these steps you'll be protected
whichever ones work for you use them
that utilize these because they're
really important as ransomware is
extremely scary
and that was ransomware protection I
really hope this helps you out as it's
something that I am always were
it's something you always need to pay
attention to never ever think you're
safe from want ransomware especially
when it comes to Windows machines a big
little short history of ransomware here
in 2017 NSA had tools specifically
designed for backdoor entry into
windows-based systems these backdoors
allowed untethered access meaning they
could just get in no matter what was
going on with the system itself and do
all kinds of things and basically these
tools were leaked to the net someone
took these tools modified them with the
encryption that exists and ransomware
and then made it to where they could
blackmail people for the virus so that's
where ransomware viruses come from
that's why they're so scary because even
when you remove the virus itself the
actual encrypted files remain and if you
can't unencrypted these files you are
literally just up against the wall what
do you do obviously
I showed the method with ID ransomware
of uploading some of these encrypted
files seeing if you can decrypt them if
you can't decrypt them from there
obviously go to your backups if backups
are not there or you don't have a
version that isn't encrypted well then
you have the final option of actually
paying them and some people have
resorted to this because they didn't
have backups and it was unencrypted and
there's nothing really you can do at
this point either just write the data
off and then go from there or roll the
dice pay the money hopefully you get
your files however you know there's
there's instances of this working and
there's instances of them just taking
the money so it can go either way on
this I don't recommend obviously paying
if you can unless it's like your entire
business at stake and you're gonna be
completely ruined if you don't get these
files back I don't think it's worth the
risk
honestly that's just me obviously I have
backups everywhere and I do cloud sync
backups to where I have versions of
everything on a nightly basis across any
business I manage I make sure I have
this disaster scenario yes it might be a
little cumbersome pulling down all these
files but it would be doable and I
wouldn't need to pay this ransom I
highly recommend this for
everybody and I always recommend more
than one backup method as backups or
something you just absolutely need a lot
of can't reinforce that enough but
that's it for today's video let me know
your thoughts down in the comment
section below
I'm always curious to see what you guys
think have you been hit with ransomware
before it's a scary thing it happened to
me at an old job where I came in and and
had to save a business and in luckily
that computer had just been refurbished
or basically swapped out and I was able
to pull old hard drive out on another
machine that person was saving a lot of
stuff locally that ended up getting
encrypted which was a big no-no I
definitely slapped their hand a bit and
said don't do that anymore save it on
the actual server so it would go out to
the cloud luckily I was able to repair
that but that was my only instance of
running into ransomware but scary
nonetheless as it has taken down entire
businesses and it's actually taking down
entire governments for a little bit as
far as mass infection goes so don't play
around with this stuff it is spooky it
is scary and it will never ever leave us
especially for use windows users out
there if you're using windows be worried
but always take these protection methods
because with them at least you'll be
safeguarded in case something does
happen so with all that a big shout out
to all my patrons without you I couldn't
make videos like this one and I'll see
you in the next one
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