If you want to make a geek laugh derisively, suggest that responsibility for computer security be turned over to the government. This reaction is guaranteed, regardless of ideology. Everyone knows that this is not possible, but rarely are the implications for political economy noted.
Showing posts with label Spyware-Security. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Spyware-Security. Show all posts
Monday, June 16, 2008
Friday, April 25, 2008
Spyware Blaster
Sometimes free downloads are a gamble, but one worth looking into is Spyware Blaster from Javacool Software.
Now available in version 3.5.1, Spyware Blaster has a comprehensive list of the dialers and adaware that try to insert themselves in your computer, triggered by user internet behavior that seems pedestrian enough. Spyware Blaster has modes for both Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox. Most users who use Mozilla still have IE on their hard drive even if they no longer prefer it. A “backdoor” to spyware could very well be that internet browser you only use occasionally and therefore more likely to be unmonitored or outdated. The software monitors itself for updates and asks permission to download them. This software has experienced no conflicts with existing dialers or applications, so most users will find it unintrusive and safe.
Now available in version 3.5.1, Spyware Blaster has a comprehensive list of the dialers and adaware that try to insert themselves in your computer, triggered by user internet behavior that seems pedestrian enough. Spyware Blaster has modes for both Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox. Most users who use Mozilla still have IE on their hard drive even if they no longer prefer it. A “backdoor” to spyware could very well be that internet browser you only use occasionally and therefore more likely to be unmonitored or outdated. The software monitors itself for updates and asks permission to download them. This software has experienced no conflicts with existing dialers or applications, so most users will find it unintrusive and safe.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Top All-in-One Security Suites
Symantec's suite is a solid performer and easy to use. Kaspersky's and BitDefender's suites are the fastest to respond to new malware outbreaks, while McAfee offers lots of extra features.
PC World Staff
About the Test Center • How We Test
What Our Ratings Mean • How the Charts Work • Service & Reliability Methodology
Compare Use the Check Boxes to See a Side-by-Side Comparison Rank Name PCW Rating
PID
PC World Staff
About the Test Center • How We Test
What Our Ratings Mean • How the Charts Work • Service & Reliability Methodology
Compare Use the Check Boxes to See a Side-by-Side Comparison Rank Name PCW Rating
PID
1 Symantec Norton Internet Security 2008 • Price for use on up to three PCs: $70
• PCW Rating: 84 Very Good
• Performance: Very Good
• Design: Very Good
• Features: Superior
Check latest prices
Norton offers solid performance, including the best behavior-based protection against unknown threats.
(Last Rated: November 29, 2007)
Full Review • Test Report
2 Kaspersky Internet Security 7.0 • Price for use on up to three PCs: $80
• PCW Rating: 82 Very Good
• Performance: Very Good
• Design: Superior
• Features: Very Good
Check latest prices
This top-tier security suite scans slowly, but it responds quickly to new outbreaks and has a nice design.
(Last Rated: November 29, 2007)
Full Review • Test Report
3 McAfee Internet Security Suite • Price for use on up to three PCs: $70
• PCW Rating: 80 Very Good
• Performance: Good
• Design: Very Good
• Features: Superior
Check latest prices
Its ample features include a backup program and antispam plug-ins, but threat detection could be better.
(Last Rated: November 29, 2007)
Full Review • Test Report
4 BitDefender Internet Security 2008 • Price for use on up to three PCs: $50
• PCW Rating: 79 Good
• Performance: Good
• Design: Good
• Features: Good
Check latest prices
Excellent performer is best for experts who don’t need guidance regarding security extras and pop-up alerts.
(Last Rated: November 29, 2007)
Full Review • Test Report
5 Trend Micro Internet Security 2008 • Price for use on up to three PCs: $50
• PCW Rating: 77 Good
• Performance: Good
• Design: Fair
• Features: Very Good
Check latest prices
A good feature set and malware disinfection are offset by below-average detection and interface bugs.
(Last Rated: November 29, 2007)
Full Review • Test Report
6 Avira Premium Security Suite 7.06.00.168 • Price for use on up to three PCs: $87
• PCW Rating: 73 Good
• Performance: Very Good
• Design: Very Good
• Features: Poor
Vendor's Web Site
Great threat detection is offset by a lack of features typical of a security suite.
(Last Rated: November 29, 2007)
Full Review • Test Report
7 Checkpoint ZoneAlarm Internet SecuritySuite 7.1 • Price for use on up to three PCs: $60
• PCW Rating: 72 Good
• Performance: Good
• Design: Very Good
• Features: Poor
Manufacturer's Pricing
The firewall is better than most, but you'll want to pair it with your choice of antivirus program due to anemic settings and speed.
(Last Rated: November 29, 2007)
Full Review • Test Report
8 CA Internet Security Suite Plus 2008 • Price for use on up to three PCs: $70
• PCW Rating: 72 Good
• Performance: Fair
• Design: Good
• Features: Good
Check latest prices
This easy-to-use security suite lacks sufficient protection to stop many of today's threats. Don't use it.
(Last Rated: November 29, 2007)
Full Review • Test Report
Compare Use the Check Boxes to see a Side-by-Side Comparison
Antivirus Developers Team to Set Test Standards
As malware gets more aggressive, security software companies seek to set standards for products and evaluations.
Peter Sayer, IDG News Service
Antivirus software companies and software testers created a new organization Monday with the goal of providing consistent information about the effectiveness of antivirus products.
The distribution of malware -- including viruses, worms, Trojan Horses, and Web sites exploiting weaknesses in Internet browsers -- is now being driven by organized crime for financial gain, and poses an ever more serious threat.
Anti-malware software developers have developed methods to block these threats, but traditional antivirus tests are becoming irrelevant because they don't take such methods into account, according to Stuart Taylor of anti-malware software vendor Sophos.
Last year, developers of antivirus software called into question a batch of antivirus tests conducted by independent organizations when showed their products failing to detect many security threats. At a meeting in Reykjavik, Iceland, last May, representatives of F-Secure, Panda Software and Symantec decided to design a new testing plan.
The creation of the Anti-Malware Testing Standards Organization (AMTSO) is one of the fruits of that work. It brings together around 40 developers and testers of anti-malware tools, with the aim of hosting discussions about testing, publicizing testing standards, and providing tools and resources for such testing.
Organizations present at the inaugural meeting included antivirus software testers such as AV-Comparatives and AV-Test.org, and antivirus software developers including BitDefender, F-Secure, Kaspersky Lab, McAfee, Sophos, Symantec, Trend Micro and Panda Software, which hosted the meeting. IBM and Microsoft also attended.
Peter Sayer, IDG News Service
Antivirus software companies and software testers created a new organization Monday with the goal of providing consistent information about the effectiveness of antivirus products.
The distribution of malware -- including viruses, worms, Trojan Horses, and Web sites exploiting weaknesses in Internet browsers -- is now being driven by organized crime for financial gain, and poses an ever more serious threat.
Anti-malware software developers have developed methods to block these threats, but traditional antivirus tests are becoming irrelevant because they don't take such methods into account, according to Stuart Taylor of anti-malware software vendor Sophos.
Last year, developers of antivirus software called into question a batch of antivirus tests conducted by independent organizations when showed their products failing to detect many security threats. At a meeting in Reykjavik, Iceland, last May, representatives of F-Secure, Panda Software and Symantec decided to design a new testing plan.
The creation of the Anti-Malware Testing Standards Organization (AMTSO) is one of the fruits of that work. It brings together around 40 developers and testers of anti-malware tools, with the aim of hosting discussions about testing, publicizing testing standards, and providing tools and resources for such testing.
Organizations present at the inaugural meeting included antivirus software testers such as AV-Comparatives and AV-Test.org, and antivirus software developers including BitDefender, F-Secure, Kaspersky Lab, McAfee, Sophos, Symantec, Trend Micro and Panda Software, which hosted the meeting. IBM and Microsoft also attended.
FBI Suspects Chinese Hackers Damaged Darfur Site
The FBI is looking into a China-based hack of servers at the Save Darfur Coalition.
Robert McMillan, IDG News Service
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation is looking into a possible China connection in the hack of a nonprofit group created to draw attention to the ongoing genocide in western Sudan's Darfur region.
The Save Darfur Coalition called in the FBI earlier this week after discovering that someone had gained unauthorized access to its e-mail and Web server, according to Allyn Brooks-LaSure, a spokesman with the group.
Brooks-LaSure doesn't know who is behind the attacks, but he said the Internet Protocol addresses of the computers that had hacked his organization were from China. "Someone in Beijing is trying to send us a message," he said.
The hackers seemed to be primarily interested in gathering data on his group, Brooks-LaSure said. Save Darfur has been trying to get China to pressure Sudan's government into stopping the mass killings in Darfur's ongoing civil war. China is one of Sudan's largest trading partners.
Computers in China have been the source of many attacks in recent years, although security experts say that sometimes China-based machines are simply used as jumping-off points for attackers who actually reside in other countries such as the U.S. or Russia.
Groups that work with Save Darfur may have also been hit, Brooks-LaSure said. Some partner organizations have been the subject of very targeted e-mail attacks over the past few weeks that have tried to trick workers into opening malicious documents or visiting malicious Web sites. These are both common ways of installing unauthorized software on a victim's computer.
This type of targeted e-mail attack was recently employed by attackers looking to infect people on a pro-Tibet mailing list. Victims who opened what appeared to be a statement of solidarity for the people of Tibet were secretly hit with attack code that exploited a flaw in Adobe's Acrobat software, said security researchers at F-Secure in a blog posting.
"It looked like it was coming from the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO). However, the e-mail headers were forged and the mail was coming from somewhere else altogether," wrote F-Secure.
Many pro-Tibet organizations have been targeted with these types of attacks in recent months, the company added. "This is not an isolated incident. Far from it," the company said. "These e-mails have been sent to mailing lists, private forums and directly to persons working inside pro-Tibet groups. Some individuals have received targeted attacks like this several times a month."
A similar type of attack was used last month to infect computers at a committee working on security at the upcoming 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, according to security vendor MessageLabs.
Members of that committee were infected by a malicious Microsoft Word document that they then forwarded to other organizations, according to MessageLabs researcher Maksym Schipka. In that case, "the bad guys did not have to hack into the good guy's mail server, all they had to do was persuade them that the document was something interesting so that the good guys themselves would forward it on," he said.
It is not clear that there is any connection between the attack reported by MessageLabs and that reported by Save Darfur.
When contacted Friday regarding the Save Darfur incident, FBI Spokeswoman Debbie Weierman confirmed that the law enforcement agency was "looking into the matter."
Robert McMillan, IDG News Service
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation is looking into a possible China connection in the hack of a nonprofit group created to draw attention to the ongoing genocide in western Sudan's Darfur region.
The Save Darfur Coalition called in the FBI earlier this week after discovering that someone had gained unauthorized access to its e-mail and Web server, according to Allyn Brooks-LaSure, a spokesman with the group.
Brooks-LaSure doesn't know who is behind the attacks, but he said the Internet Protocol addresses of the computers that had hacked his organization were from China. "Someone in Beijing is trying to send us a message," he said.
The hackers seemed to be primarily interested in gathering data on his group, Brooks-LaSure said. Save Darfur has been trying to get China to pressure Sudan's government into stopping the mass killings in Darfur's ongoing civil war. China is one of Sudan's largest trading partners.
Computers in China have been the source of many attacks in recent years, although security experts say that sometimes China-based machines are simply used as jumping-off points for attackers who actually reside in other countries such as the U.S. or Russia.
Groups that work with Save Darfur may have also been hit, Brooks-LaSure said. Some partner organizations have been the subject of very targeted e-mail attacks over the past few weeks that have tried to trick workers into opening malicious documents or visiting malicious Web sites. These are both common ways of installing unauthorized software on a victim's computer.
This type of targeted e-mail attack was recently employed by attackers looking to infect people on a pro-Tibet mailing list. Victims who opened what appeared to be a statement of solidarity for the people of Tibet were secretly hit with attack code that exploited a flaw in Adobe's Acrobat software, said security researchers at F-Secure in a blog posting.
"It looked like it was coming from the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO). However, the e-mail headers were forged and the mail was coming from somewhere else altogether," wrote F-Secure.
Many pro-Tibet organizations have been targeted with these types of attacks in recent months, the company added. "This is not an isolated incident. Far from it," the company said. "These e-mails have been sent to mailing lists, private forums and directly to persons working inside pro-Tibet groups. Some individuals have received targeted attacks like this several times a month."
A similar type of attack was used last month to infect computers at a committee working on security at the upcoming 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, according to security vendor MessageLabs.
Members of that committee were infected by a malicious Microsoft Word document that they then forwarded to other organizations, according to MessageLabs researcher Maksym Schipka. In that case, "the bad guys did not have to hack into the good guy's mail server, all they had to do was persuade them that the document was something interesting so that the good guys themselves would forward it on," he said.
It is not clear that there is any connection between the attack reported by MessageLabs and that reported by Save Darfur.
When contacted Friday regarding the Save Darfur incident, FBI Spokeswoman Debbie Weierman confirmed that the law enforcement agency was "looking into the matter."
Restored Computer Hardware
Author: Carolyn Clayton
Hardware is an aspect of your computer that doesn’t require the need to be changed that often, unlike software. So if your hardware shouldn’t need to be changed that often you want to make sure that when you purchase it you are buying a piece of hardware that will last.
Hardware is an aspect of your computer that doesn’t require the need to be changed that often, unlike software. So if your hardware shouldn’t need to be changed that often you want to make sure that when you purchase it you are buying a piece of hardware that will last.
A lot of people overlook the need and responsibility of PC hardware and instead concentrate primarily on software. Without the correct hardware your PC will fail to function correctly.
The term hardware can be fixed to many aspects of your computer, with the main aspect being your motherboard. The motherboard is classed as the heart of your computer; its main purpose is to provide electrical and logical connections. Without a motherboard your computer will not be able to function. Components such as external storage, controllers for video display and sound are attached to the motherboard via edge connectors and cables.
The central processing unit (CPU) is also found on the motherboard and acts as another important piece of computer hardware. The CPU performs most of the calculations which enables a computer to function. The CPU and the motherboard are found within the tower of your computer as is the computer fan, needed to keep your computer at a safe temperature and your power supply, which is obviously needed to ensure your computer has power to function. Along with all of these you will also find your computers sound card and graphics card within your computer tower. Your graphics card, also known as a video display controller, is important to your computer as it is what enables you to get a good resolution and without one you would not be able to watch videos, play games or even clearly see flash images on websites.
One last hardware feature of importance that is kept within your computer tower is the computers hard drive. The hard drive is the storage area of your computer system. All your programmes and applications as well as images, music, video and all forms of media that is on your computer are stored within your computers hard drive.
All of the previously mentioned hardware is stored in the tower of your computer but there are aspects of computer hardware that are visible on your computer such as removable media in the form of a CD drive, DVD drive, floppy disc and USB ports.
When it comes to buying these pieces of computer hardware most people head straight to the biggest brand store and pay over expensive prices for hardware that you could have got a lot cheaper from another avenue. If you are looking to buy computer hardware there are a number of options open to you rather than just buying new. For example there are computer fairs that are held, which sell all forms of computer hardware at very reasonable prices; if you know what you are looking for you will be able to find a great deal at a computer fair. However if you would prefer buying from a retailer have you considered buying used hardware? Please don’t be put off by the term used what is meant by this is you would be buying new hardware that has been returned by customers and restored by the retailer. Dell is a prime example of a store that frequently sells hardware that has been returned and has been repaired to new standards.
All of the equipment is new and only has minor issues such as a slight dent. Retailers such as Dell sell restored equipment within their store and also do so over the Internet on sites such as eBay. All of this equipment comes at a discounted price with around 10-40% being taken off the original price depending on the level of interest. So next time you require to purchase computer equipment, shop around instead of just settling for a high price.
About Author
Helen is the web master of Article Alley, home of all your Computer Hardware Article needs.Please feel free to republish this article providing this resource box remains intact with a working hyperlink to our site.
Article Source: http://www.1888articles.com/author-carolyn-clayton-1268.html
Hardware is an aspect of your computer that doesn’t require the need to be changed that often, unlike software. So if your hardware shouldn’t need to be changed that often you want to make sure that when you purchase it you are buying a piece of hardware that will last.
Hardware is an aspect of your computer that doesn’t require the need to be changed that often, unlike software. So if your hardware shouldn’t need to be changed that often you want to make sure that when you purchase it you are buying a piece of hardware that will last.
A lot of people overlook the need and responsibility of PC hardware and instead concentrate primarily on software. Without the correct hardware your PC will fail to function correctly.
The term hardware can be fixed to many aspects of your computer, with the main aspect being your motherboard. The motherboard is classed as the heart of your computer; its main purpose is to provide electrical and logical connections. Without a motherboard your computer will not be able to function. Components such as external storage, controllers for video display and sound are attached to the motherboard via edge connectors and cables.
The central processing unit (CPU) is also found on the motherboard and acts as another important piece of computer hardware. The CPU performs most of the calculations which enables a computer to function. The CPU and the motherboard are found within the tower of your computer as is the computer fan, needed to keep your computer at a safe temperature and your power supply, which is obviously needed to ensure your computer has power to function. Along with all of these you will also find your computers sound card and graphics card within your computer tower. Your graphics card, also known as a video display controller, is important to your computer as it is what enables you to get a good resolution and without one you would not be able to watch videos, play games or even clearly see flash images on websites.
One last hardware feature of importance that is kept within your computer tower is the computers hard drive. The hard drive is the storage area of your computer system. All your programmes and applications as well as images, music, video and all forms of media that is on your computer are stored within your computers hard drive.
All of the previously mentioned hardware is stored in the tower of your computer but there are aspects of computer hardware that are visible on your computer such as removable media in the form of a CD drive, DVD drive, floppy disc and USB ports.
When it comes to buying these pieces of computer hardware most people head straight to the biggest brand store and pay over expensive prices for hardware that you could have got a lot cheaper from another avenue. If you are looking to buy computer hardware there are a number of options open to you rather than just buying new. For example there are computer fairs that are held, which sell all forms of computer hardware at very reasonable prices; if you know what you are looking for you will be able to find a great deal at a computer fair. However if you would prefer buying from a retailer have you considered buying used hardware? Please don’t be put off by the term used what is meant by this is you would be buying new hardware that has been returned by customers and restored by the retailer. Dell is a prime example of a store that frequently sells hardware that has been returned and has been repaired to new standards.
All of the equipment is new and only has minor issues such as a slight dent. Retailers such as Dell sell restored equipment within their store and also do so over the Internet on sites such as eBay. All of this equipment comes at a discounted price with around 10-40% being taken off the original price depending on the level of interest. So next time you require to purchase computer equipment, shop around instead of just settling for a high price.
About Author
Helen is the web master of Article Alley, home of all your Computer Hardware Article needs.Please feel free to republish this article providing this resource box remains intact with a working hyperlink to our site.
Article Source: http://www.1888articles.com/author-carolyn-clayton-1268.html
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