DataDoctor says…

Even beginners can use the Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer (MBSA) to help secure their PC. It gives a nice report of what it found, how it found it and how to fix it, all in accordance with Microsoft security recommendations and offers specific remediation guidance. Improve your security by using MBSA to detect common security misconfigurations and missing security updates on your computer system.

MBSA Version 2.0.1 will scan Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 systems for security weaknesses in your browser and operating system settings and provides easy instructions to correct them. This includes missing critical Windows security updates, system vulnerabilities, disabling unnecessary services and your Internet Explorer security settings.

Get the download here: Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer.

More advanced users may want to try the Belarc Advisor. It’s a free tool that does some of the same things for Windows 98 & ME users. It builds a detailed profile of your installed software and hardware, missing Microsoft hotfixes, anti-virus status, CIS (Center for Internet Security) benchmarks, and displays the results in your Web browser. All of your PC profile information is kept private on your PC and is not sent to any web server. The initial report is a nice description of your system, both hardware and software, but the method of describing remedies to any problems uncovered may be beyond the beginner.

Tags: Freeware, Security, Software by webmaster
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Adware is software which contains advertisements or other marketing materials, and are included with or automatically displayed during its use. The developers justify adware by saying that it helps recover development costs and holds down the cost for the user.

This name has been used by spyware developers to disguise the fact that the ads are selected by using user information captured seruptiously, usually without the user’s knowledge.

Tags: Definitions by webmaster
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Spyware is any program that covertly gathers user information from your computer without your knowledge, and sends that information through the user’s Internet connection back to its author who will either use it themselves or sell the information to another party. Spyware is like a Trojan horse that users unwittingly install when they install what they think is desirable software.

Spyware applications are typically included as part of freeware or shareware programs that are downloaded from the Internet. Once installed, the spyware monitors your activity on the Internet and transmits that information in the background to someone else. Spyware can also capture any information stored on your hard drive, including credit card numbers, passwords, private financial information, in fact, every piece of information on your PC.

Aside from the questions of ethics and privacy, spyware steals from the user by using the computer’s memory resources and bandwidth as it sends its stolen information back to it’s home base via the user’s Internet connection. Poorly written spyware can crash your system, creating mysterious and hard to solve system problems. Sometimes the crashes aren’t accidental, but intended (see malware).

Spyware can attach to your machine without your doing anything but visiting a website. You don’t have to sign up for anything, give your email address or even click on an ad.

The licensing agreements that accompany spyware installations will sometimes warn the user that a spyware program will be installed along with the desired software, but the notice is often hidden in obtuse, hard-to-read legalese.

Tags: Definitions by webmaster
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