HOME | POLITICS | SPORTS | LIFE | SCI/TECH | OPEDS | HELPFUL TIPS
|
Dec. 27, 2004 As at-home medical transcription professionals, we have a responsibility to each other and to the company from which we subcontract work. That responsibility includes making sure that every computer that connects to a company-wide system, whether an internal email system, a company intranet or ftp site, or a proprietary transcription platform, is free from parasites (meaning viruses, spyware, hijackers, keystroke loggers, all threats large or small -- malware). What does this require? Making sure the every computer we use is equipped with adequate antivirus protection. Protecting each computer means even those we use when we're away from home, visiting with relatives, perhaps, and using their system to get a half day's work in or so. Some national companies use transcription platforms which allow MTs virtually unlimited access -- as long as the platform can install itself, one can use that computer to work. MTs who work for themselves or small services often use a laptop for work on the go. Since MT companies can't tell ICs/SEs what to do, according to IRS rules, they can't force us to install the programs. The most forward- thinking companies bulk-purchase system licenses to provide every MT with the same standard of protection and automatic update service. They offer the programs via simple-to-perform downloads on the company's intranet for a token price of $1 per month, which often isn't even billed. What possible reason could anybody give for not installing an antivirus at a significantly discounted price, using a download system so simple that anyone can make it work correctly right away? It's not enough to install the anti-parasite programs, though. MTs must know how to use them, which includes knowing the difference between encountering an email virus without becoming infected by it, only harrassed and annoyed, and having one's system harmed by a virus or being an agent of replication of the virus. Merely encountering a virus causes collateral damage to the company-wide system but doesn't infect or harm anyone's computer. Uninformed MTs add to email traffic by responding to virus- laden email either with witty rejoinders, annoyed venting, or harmful hoax warnings and solutions. Rumors spread especially well by email virus and can quickly harm a company's reputation when enough MTs decide that the company is at fault for failing to contain the virus, instead of understanding that the company itself, like the MT, is the victim of another MT's failure to ensure the integrity of the system we all share. As long as one takes adequate precautions, a company-wide email virus need not be anything more than an annoyance. There are ways to use Outlook Express to lessen the annoyance: block senders; set filters to deliver work email into separate folder for quarantine either all the time or only during times of actual virual infection; exclude expected safe emails, such as communications from specific supervisors or transcription directors, or newsletters, by using the function which sets the message rule based on the content of the email that is highlighted. Information on those methods is available in the Outlook and Outlook Express help files. The best resource I know for learning about web- and email-based parasites is the Parasites, Viruses, and other Security issues site at http://aumha.org/secure.htm. Here one will find detailed explanations of all the classes of threats, explanations of when it makes the problem worse to respond to an email virus, discussions of more benign spyware (site log-on cookies, for example) versus the more harmful kinds (keyboard loggers, hijack programs, viruses designed to destroy the computing power of American citizens. . . ). Many people also find Intermute's anti-parasite product, SpySubtract, helpful: http://www.intermute.com/products.html, available to test drive via a free 30-day download. No credit card required for that sample. I've been using to automatically clean up the caches and temporary file directories that were slowing it down, and I'm confident that I'm not picking up any nasty bugs online, no matter what sites I visit. [Have you ever thought you were going to look at a respectable medicine info site and found yourself viewing porn? I have. Ick. ^^scuttle off to wash my hands/mind^^] I can "wash" my computer after such encounters, by immediately running a full SpySubtract scan. It will either uninstall the nasties for me or verify that my system is clean. For best results, I set SpySubtract to run automatically each time Windows is started. I run the program manually any time there is reason to think a site might have tampered with my system. Teach all family members to routinely run a scan before and after downloading any games, screensavers, or other programs on their systems: that way one can know exactly which site was responsible for any particular parasite. Bundled with SpySubtract is a powerful program called CWShredder, http://www.intermute.com/news_detail_101904.html, designed to combat a particularly persistent parasite pest. SpySubtract's list price is $29.95. Discounts may become available via popup during the trial download period. [I know, I know . . . an antispyware program that acts a bit like spyware. I'm not thrilled.] Intermute offers a useful page about known spyware threats: http://www.intermute.com/spysubtract/researchcenter/. The discussion is accessible to both beginning and more experienced net users. Another step to ensure computer health is to make sure to install patches to block all known security holes in WindowsXP: http://v5.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/v5consumer/default.aspx?ln=en-us/ Note: Before doing anything to update or upgrade your system, //anything//, including installing a new program, making time-consuming changes to settings, etc., **make a System Restore Point first.** [Sidebar for those learning their way around their systems: If "System Restore Point" is an unfamiliar term, please search for that subject in the WindowsXP help files <-- get there by clicking on Start button (lower left corner of computer screen), then Help and Support. Enter "system restore overview" into search box, click green arrow to start the search. When it stops, some choices will appear in the left-hand box labeled Search Results. Mouse over the words System Restore overview, an underline will appear; click there. Text will appear in the big window on the right. Read it. Everything underlined in blue can be clicked for further details.] If you've been told by the tech or security staff at a national that you should have Automatic Updates activated, this page will let you verify whether it is running. If not, click Turn on Automatic Updates. Don't know whether Automatic Updates are okay? The main issue here is Service Pack 2. Here's the info provided by one company about using Service Pack 2 with the DocQscribe transcription platform: http://tripiforum.proboards28.com/index.cgi?board=workingwith&action=display&num=1094957672. Most professionals agree -- make certain your system is completely spyware/parasite-free before updating to Service Pack 2. If an MT is certain that all the programs used with a specific transcripton platform will play nicely with SP2, Automatic Updates is fine. Don't let it install Service Pack 2, but everything else is most likely all right. That's enough for one article. Interested in using off-the-shelf programs (WindowsXP, Word, Instant Text, Stedman's SmarType, ShortHand, ActiveWords) and template systems to automate your transcription practice? Would you like to produce more lines with less effort? Check out ~~ lph ~~ a cyberjournal for at-home medical documentation professions, which will launch January 16, 2005. ------------ About the author: Joi Cardinal earned her CMT in 1998. She is the editor of the digital publication ~~ lph ~~ a cyberjournal for at-home medical documentation professionals, initial launch date January 16, 2005. ~~ lph ~~ will appeal to an audience of at-home medical transcriptionists, QA and speech recognition editors, coders, and owners of remote medical transcription/coding services interested in harnessing the power of off-the- shelf technology solutions (Windows XP, Word, Instant Text, etc.) to automate medical documentation processes to allow increased production with less effort. The temporary of home of the lph Letters to the Editor column (aka the forum) is http://www.getfreebb.com/members/index.php?mforum=cybermt& Email: thedqsgeek@comcast.net Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
||||||
|
|
|||||||
|
