Security

Windows only: Microsoft has released Windows Defender Beta 2 (formerly Anti-Spyware) which protects your computer from spyware and other computer baddies. New features of Windows Defender include.....

Hot on the heels of Internet Explorer 7 comes the final version of Windows Defender, the anti-spyware tool that’s been in beta for nearly two years.

Microsoft is beta-testing their new OneCare Live product which (I think) is due out later this year.

BBC News reports that new computer worms are being spread through AOL instant messenger, installing spyware on Windows computers and turning your computer into an advertisement pop-up window spam farm.

ZDNet is running an article with 10 tips for keeping your new PC free of spyware......

Both Windows Vista and Mac OS X can encrypt files and protect them from the prying eyes of thieves and snoops. Vista’s new BitLocker feature and Mac OS X’s FileVault are especially useful to those of you toting laptops that contain sensitive data.

Windows Vista Ultimate’s new drive encryption feature BitLocker supposedly works with a regular USB drive. But if you pulled your hair out trying to enable it using Microsoft’s non-existent documentation (like I did), the good folks at O’Reilly’s Hackszine offer a detailed, screenshot-laden tutorial.

More than perhaps any other aspect of an Operating System, Vista is focused on security. And of all the new and beefed-up security features in Vista, the most apparent and user-configurable feature is User Account Protection. This tutorial will allow Advanced Users to become familiar with the way User Account Protection works. This tutorial is not for the casual user as it involves entering commands and changing the registry.

More than perhaps any other aspect of an Operating System, Vista is focused on security. And of all the new and beefed-up security features in Vista, the most apparent and user-configurable feature is User Account Protection. This tutorial will allow less-advanced users to become familiar with the way User Account Protection works. This tutorial is not for the casual user.

With the new security features in Windows Vista, User Accounts have a number of new options designed to make your computer safer and more secure. User Account Control (UAC) is a set of features which helps protect your system by requiring even an administrative account to verify tasks such as installing a program, or making changes to security permission. In addition to UAC, Microsoft has added a number of new parental control features which will allow parents to decide what kind of access their children will have to the web, programs, and games, as well as track their computer activity for review.