Did you know that Microsoft’s new Window8 will come with built-in antivirus?

www.spywarenews.org – For years, a lot of people have been finding it hard to choose for the best antivirus. There are many antiviruses available in the internet but most of them are costly and some have to be downloaded each year. Isn’t it a relief to know that Microsoft’s new Window8 will come with built-in antivirus?

Millions of people are using computers each day. It has been a part of our lives since they were invented. It makes do things easier such as connecting with other people through email or online social networks, shopping online, typing or projects, or even reading news and celebrity gossips. However, with these benefits that we get, there are still problems that we encounter. One of it is the different malwares, viruses, and other malicious software that could harm our computers. It is really hard and sometimes frustrating when we are looking for the good antivirus that we can use. There are many viruses and other malicious software that can out computers every time whenever we use it.

Free antivirus software has been made available by Microsoft through Microsoft Security Essential but it wasn’t in the package with Microsoft so it still had to be downloaded. Now that the new Window8 will come with built-in antivirus, people won’t have to look for the best antivirus available online. It will come with the packaged of the functions offered by the Microsoft Security Essentials. This means that Window 8 antivirus will offer a protection against viruses, malware, firewall, parental controls, and other malicious software. It will also secure computers from malware infected bootable USB drives. Windows 8 is expected to be released on the third quarter of 2012.

When it was confirmed that Microsoft new Window8 will come with built-in antivirus, there many people reacted and said that that it will greatly affect antivirus industries. Some say that these companies may file complaints with legal authorities. Moreover, it could create a security monoculture with a single application that will secure majority of systems. When this single application is attacked, it could create a major problem.

A lot of consumers will surely be happy with the new Window8 that will come with built-in antivirus. Indeed, Microsoft has come a long way in providing consumers a good quality of service. With Microsoft’s new Window 8, consumers will surely love surfing, downloading, and inserting flash drives without worrying their computers to have viruses.

Published by Spyware News (www.spywarenews.org)

CyberDefender has issued an alert to surfer considering any last minute searches on the web for Halloween costume purchases. It has identified a dangerous Anti-Virus/Trojan downloader presently infecting searches for Halloween costumes. Upon visiting the malware site, the fake antivirus installer hijacks the user’s web browser and initiates a malicious process that could infect home PCs.

Cybercriminals often focus on subjects presently popular to search on Internet. Users querying the topics click on infected links which result with their internet browser hijacked and malware and adware downloaded instantly.

“Popular Search terms have always been a target for cyber criminals,” says Achal Khetarpal, Director, CyberDefender Research Labs.

How Spyware in “drive by download” works?

A person simply click on the website link in search results and instantly get pop-ups. You close the web pages however weird errors pop-ups again. You think that nothing dangerous may have come out of it, you merely “drove by” the site. You did not install anything at all. However your pc had a software program flaw that allow the website install spyware without having your authorization. You did not get any warning since it was a flaw in the programming of the web browser. You now have spyware and adware resident in your system. What you key in web forms, login pages, chat as well as just what websites you visited might all be delivered to the hacker’s website.

Internet user should always make sure their pc is protected by active and updated antivirus software before even going online.

Certification for antivirus operating on Microsoft Windows 7 has been issued by independent test lab AV-Test. Nineteen antivirus products have been tested for Q2/2010 in term of protection, repair and usability. The full reports can be view here http://www.av-test.org/certifications?order=repair_desc&lang=en

Certified antivirus products were as follows:

Uncertified antivirus products were:

* Total score calculate from AV-Test Product Review and Certification Report – 2010/Q2

Of the 19 security products tested, 13 received AV-Test certification for Windows 7. If you are looking for antivirus to protect your Windows 7, you won’t go wrong with any of the certified ones.

Published by Spyware, Adware and Computer Security News (www.spywarenews.org)

Microsoft Security Essentials is a free anti-virus software from Microsoft. It runs in the background to protect your personal computer against malware, spyware, viruses as well as other malicious online threats.

Microsoft Security Essentials is completely free to all genuine Windows Vista and Windows 7 users, but available only for 32-bit Win XP. It’s a small download that provide whole lots of features.

Review of Microsoft Security Essentials Scanning and Performance

Microsoft Security Essentials performance in detecting and blocking malware was comparable to other commercial antivirus products with detection rate of 98% in our test. However it did very well in our proactive tests, which simulate how well a program detects new, unknown malware. In our test it caught exactly what NOD 32 caught and malware detection was actually better than AVG.

Microsoft Security Essentials performance in boot time and shut-down time was quite impressive. However, it was significantly slower at scanning compared to major security vendors.

MSE impressive boot time improvement : Boot time reduce by more than 70 seconds after replacing Avira with Microsoft Security Essentials. Boot time tracking using Soluto.

It ranks highly in performance and easy on system resources. The graphical user interface was remarkably neat and user friendly, and it comes pre-configured. Microsoft Security Essentials has one of the simplest GUIs we have seen for a computer security solution. It’s not obtrusive like many of the antivirus software currently on the market.

After the program is installed, the software will update itself automatically. Updates are published 3 times a day to Microsoft Update. It is always kept up to date so you can rest assured your computer is protected.

Free isn’t always good when you need a good quality product, but up to now Microsoft Security Essentials has proved otherwise. To summarize, MSE is highly recommended as a free antivirus program which will protect your pc. Microsoft Security Essentials can be download at http://www.microsoft.com/Security_essentials/. Installation is painless and quick. This is a genuinely a good product and come highly recommended.

Related Video:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2L2H1box94

Published by Spyware, Adware and Computer Security News (www.spywarenews.org)

So what exactly is a trojan horse? A giant wooden horse made to fill with warriors who are set to jump out once they have breached the walls of an enemies city! No, not that kind of trojan horse.

A trojan horse is simply a computer program that claims to do one thing, but instead does damage when you execute it. These programs can come in any form. It could be a video game, an anti virus program, or even just a photo. They are set up to initiate once you have double clicked them. Trojans can only cause harm if you have executed them. They have no way to replicate themselves automatically.

Some people will exclaim that they have gotten a trojan horse from someone! But the reality is that if you have a trojan on your computer, it is because you have opened a file that included the trojan.

What Can A Trojan Horse Do?

A trojan can do anything from allowing a hacker to control every aspect of your computer. They can move your mouse before your eyes, or open your rom right in front of you as if you had done it yourself. They can also completely erase your hard drive, or implant more malicious information onto your computer. If you computer contains sensitive materials, a trojan will be your worst nightmare as anything saved to your hard drive will become available to the hacker who is using the trojan horse.

The best way to avoid a trojan horse is the same as avoiding a virus. Never open anything that hasn’t been virus scanned first. But it is important to also remember that not all trojans can be found through a virus scanner. Be sure to download a trojan cleaner and occasionally run it on your computer to be sure of the safety of your files and programs.

Unfortunately for any computer user viruses and Spyware are a common problem. The worst part is that most people are not aware of some things that may install Spyware or other malicious items onto their computers. Most people wrongly assume that they have to download something or open themselves up to a vulnerability manually. This is not always true.

How Do I Keep Getting Spyware?

Actually, one of the main ways that hackers have found is the easiest to use to get PC users to execute their malicious software is through emails. All of those inspirational or chain emails can be the biggest source of problems for some users who do not even frequent sites that may contain Spyware or viruses.
All of those nice inspirational emails can have malicious coding embedded that may cause security vulnerabilities within your computer. Clicking links that you are unsure of inside emails is also a great way to install Spyware on your system.

For new users this may be the biggest problems. Most people who regularly use computers for personal or business related activities are aware of the dangers of the internet and the possibility of getting Spyware of viruses. However, most think that in order to get them, you have to execute a program. This is entirely untrue.

Delete Those Emails Before You Open Them!

Whatever the title and whomever it has come from does not matter. Always keep in mind that others may not know the dangers of simple emails or links as well. The best way to deal with emails from unfamiliar sources or emails that contain inspirational or chain letter type messages is to delete them as soon as possible. Do not open them ever!

A new contest running at the DefCon hacker conference this year (held in Las Vegas in August) is already stirring up controversy. It will challenge hackers to design malware that can’t be detected by anti-virus programs such as ones offered by Symantec and McAfee.

The contest is dubbed Race to Zero, which refers to zero-day exploits — malware that is so new that protection against it doesn’t exist yet.

Contestants aren’t being asked to create new viruses but to modify existing ones to see if the anti-virus programs can catch them.

The contest has been criticized by anti-virus vendors for encouraging hackers to thwart their products and teach virus writers new tricks. But the contest organizers say it’s actually a test to show how poorly anti-virus products work and to demonstrate that not all anti-virus shields are equal.

“Poorly performing antivirus vendors should be called out,” say the contest organizers on their web site.

“The majority of the signature-based antivirus products can be easily circumvented with a minimal amount of effort,” they write.

Race to Zero

source:blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/04/hacker-challeng.html

This latest popular version AVG free security software now incorporates protection against spyware. AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition 8.0 is intended for personal and non-commercial use on single computers running Windows 2000, XP or Vista.

What is not included in the free version?

The AVG Free product does not include the proactive safe-surfing (”drive-by download” protection) of the full LinkScanner module that is included in the commercial AVG products, nor the protection against hackers, keyloggers, spam, phishing attacks and malicious file downloads that can come through instant messaging and attachments. The free product also does not include the local telephone support and round-the-clock e-mail support provided with the commercial products.

There are many programs out there that can help you with Spy ware and Mal ware protection.

Some of the best programs to us are as follows;

The Cleaner Trojan checker For Trojan checker.
Male-ware Protection – http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php
AVG – Offers free virus protection for your pc without causing vulnerabilities

Many other are available but be sure you get them from reputable services. All information secured on hard drives makes some people thing they are secure. They are NOT if they do not follow the simple instructions to avoid opening up our computer to malicious attacks.