protection

A recent report revealed that many businesses still have no plans to upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7, leaving their ailing PCs at higher risk for malware. That may change, however, with a new report suggesting that Windows 7 is five times less ... likely to be infected by malware than its predecessor. Windows 7 Five Times More Secure than XP The study comes from Microsoft's own Security Intelligence Report, which is released annually. The report not only revealed that Windows 7 is five times more secure against malware than a machine running Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3), but it was also ... (view more)

Microsoft's recent decision to offer its free Security Essentials software through Windows Update has caused a major uproar amongst antivirus developers . In what appears to be an effort to make at least one major security firm happy, Microsoft has ... partnered up with Symantec to offer that company's software at no charge, too. Retailer PC Mall is also a part of the deal, which involves offering small businesses the Symantec EndPoint Protection Small Edition software package when they buy a new copy of Microsoft's operating system (OS), Windows 7. The offer will be available until the last day ... (view more)

Microsoft has unveiled an updated edition of its free security software, dubbed Microsoft Security Essentials. The new edition of Security Essentials is currently in beta edition and offers several new features. Debuting in September 2009, Microsoft ... Security Essentials replaces Windows Live OneCare which was based on a paid subscription model. At the time, OneCare was seen as a potential threat to the commercial cyber security market. (Source: pcworld.com ) Although there's no evidence yet of a significant effect on sales of premium security products, most reviews of Microsoft Security ... (view more)

Quite often, I'm asked if it's a good idea to use more than one anti-virus / anti-spyware program at the same time. The answer to this question is both "yes" and "no." Yes: it's a good idea to scan your PC using more than one solution -- whether ... it's anti-virus or anti-spyware -- as it's possible to sniff out additional, missed threats. No: you shouldn't run more than one anti-virus or anti-spyware program at the exact same time as they would likely conflict. So, what's the difference between these two scenarios? Allow me to break it down: Real-Time Protection Real-time protection scans your ... (view more)

A zero-day or "0day" attack is a computer threat that tries to exploit computer application vulnerabilities for which no security fix is yet available. Zero-day exploits are used by attackers before the software vendor knows about the vulnerability. ... The term derives from the age of the exploit. When a vendor becomes aware of a security hole, there is a race to close it before attackers discover it or the vulnerability becomes public. A "zero day" attack occurs on or before the first or "zeroth" day of vendor awareness, meaning the vendor has not had any opportunity to disseminate a security ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader 'Mule63' writes: " Dear Dennis, I would like to know how to get rid of Tracking Cookies. They seem to be using my email to send inappropriate messages to people and my Internet Service Provider (ISP) has threatened to cut my ... Internet service. Could this cause the computer to go slower? Thank you for any information you can give me. " My response: The short and sweet answer is that tracking cookies probably aren't the issue here. The more likely answer is that your computer is infected with Spyware, is part of a botnet, and is being used to proliferate spam. Allow me to ... (view more)

Returnil Returnil is similar to a virtual machine program: it allows you to use a virtual copy of your operating system, with the real system being preserved and untouched in the background. This provides two key advantages: protection against ... threats (malware, exploits, etc), as well as convenience incase you need to revert your system. Returnil's personal edition is packed with all kinds of exciting features and is free of charge. http://www.returnilvirtualsystem.com USB Flash Drive Write Protection Windows has a registry setting that can utilize USB write protection. Without the feature ... (view more)

The antivirus software industry may change dramatically now that Microsoft has announced it will be offering free protection in the near future. The Redmond-based giant has revealed that it will terminate sales of its popular Windows Live OneCare ... security suite and will instead offer a slimmed-down version called "Morro" in its place -- for free. The switch will be effective June 30, 2009 and could have homicidal ramifications for other popular antivirus makers like McAfee, Symantec, and Trend Micro. (Source: pcworld.com ) Some are heralding the move as a sort of socialist godsend. The free ... (view more)

Amazon has signed a deal to sell MP3 files from artists on the Sony label without copy protection. It's the first site to sign such deals with all four major record labels (Sony, EMI, Universal and Warner) and is a big step forward in its battle ... with rival iTunes. The agreement means Amazon can now offer songs without digital rights management (DRM) protection. That's where files are 'locked' so that they can only be used on particular computers or players. Some systems only allow the file to work on the computer which downloaded it, while others allow a limited number of machines to play the ... (view more)

Since the introduction of Windows Vista, a lot of the emphasis has been on Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) and little has has been mentioned regarding Service Pack 3 (SP3) for Windows XP. It was originally assumed that Windows XP SP3 would simply ... be a rolled up collection of bug fixes and patches but there reportedly seems to be more to it than that. Recently, Microsoft released a beta of Windows XP SP3 to a select group of testers reportedly labeled as build 3205, weighing in at 334.92 MBs. Originally reported by NeoSmart , XP SP3 contains 1,073 hotfixes and patches released since XP SP2 ... (view more)