Microsoft Overhauls Free Antivirus Software

Without fanfare, on Thursday Microsoft released version 2 of its Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) antivirus software. The software is free for individuals and small businesses with up to 10 PCs.

The new version of the software, which recently went through a four-month beta program, now has an overhauled heuristic antivirus scanning engine, integration with Windows Firewall, and network traffic inspection for Windows Vista and 7 -- but not XP -- reported Ars Technica.
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Positive Networks has a straightforward approach to two-factor authentication using your cell phone. Instead of spending money on more security infrastructure for your virtual environment, Solera's V2P Tap promises to regenerate the virtual traffic to your existing security infrastructure, thereby protecting your investment. Andrew Conry-Murray spoke with the president of RSA, Art Coviello, at EMC World 2008 about Data Loss Prevention.
Instead of spending money on more security infrastructure for your virtual environment, Solera's V2P Tap promises to regenerate the virtual traffic to your existing security infrastructure, thereby protecting your investment.

On Thursday, Microsoft also announced that the not-free Forefront Endpoint Protection 2010 -- aimed at larger corporate users -- would be available from January 1, 2011. Forefront offers similar functionality to MSE, as well as centralized administration.

According to internal Microsoft research, 80% of PC users in the United States think their antivirus software is up to date. But in reality -- thanks to outdated signatures or lapsed trials -- only about 40% of Windows users are employing up-to-date antivirus software.

Discover smart, cost-effective strategies for SOX, PII, HIPPA and security policy issues
Ten Questions to Identify Compliance Risks When Sharing Information

Why, then, wasn't there more fanfare for the latest version of a free antivirus program that's earned plaudits? The United Kingdom's PC Pro magazine said the stealth release might have to do with the software looking less like its previous, standalone antivirus scanner incarnation, and more like the security software offered by the likes of Symantec and McAfee. With MSE 2, according to PC Pro, "users are now asked whether they want to turn on the Windows Firewall during installation, dragging Security Essentials closer to becoming a full-fledged security suite."

Microsoft has recently come under fire from some antivirus firms for apparently muscling onto their turf. In November, after Microsoft began automatically installing MSE onto PCs that lacked antivirus software, Trend Micro slammed Microsoft on competitive grounds.

In a similar vein, Panda Software blogged that Microsoft was threatening PC users by creating an antivirus monoculture. According to Panda, "Microsoft should offer the complete portfolio of more advanced and secure alternatives of free antivirus products and time-limited versions of paid security suites, allowing users to choose any of them from the Optional Windows/Microsoft Update." Microsoft doesn't appear to have pursued this strategy.

Interestingly, Microsoft's release of MSE 2 comes on the heels of a new study from German AV vendor Avira, which found widespread dissatisfaction with antivirus. According to the survey of more than 9,000 Avira users, 25% of antivirus users admit to pulling the plug on their antivirus software -- at least temporarily -- because it appeared to be slowing their computer. Furthermore, nearly two-thirds of respondents have tried multiple security products on their PC in the past year.

Avira AntiVir Personal: Great Malware Protection

Avira AntiVir Personal ranked second in our late 2010 roundup of free antivirus products. AntiVir did a great job at detecting and blocking malware.
AntiVir Personal is nearly identical to its paid counterpart, AntiVir Premium 2010: Both have nearly identical interfaces and installation processes, so the real difference between them is the feature set.
The Status tab gives a basic overview of whether you're protected and up-to-date, though it doesn't really give too much detail. Most buttons are not labeled, and the button icons are not always immediately detectable, so you'll have find them for a tooltip describing what they do. Avira is a German import, and some of the wording in dialog boxes feels awkwardly translated. The overall feeling I got from AntiVir Personal's interface is that, while it's serviceable, it feels geared toward more advanced PC users.
Avira put up very good scores for malware detection. AntiVir Personal detected 99 percent of malware samples in scanner-based detection tests that predominantly rely on malware signature files, which was one of the better showings in this test among the free antivirus products we tested. And in the blocking of actual, real-world malware attacks, AntiVir personal completely blocked 80 percent of attacks, which puts it slightly above the average of the products we tested. It partially blocked an additional 5 percent of attacks.
Avira also but up decent scores for malware cleanup. It detected all infections on the test system, and was successful in removing all active components of an attack 70 percent of the time (right around average), and removed all malware components 30 percent of the time (also about average).
On the negative side, AntiVir Personal, along with Comodo's free Internet Security Premium, had the most false positives--six--of the free antivirus products we looked at. As a percentage, this number is still low--it was .004 percent of files scanned, and they were all non-operating-system files, but any false positive can be a hassle. That said, only one free product we tested--Avast Free Antivirus--achieved a perfect false positive score.
AntiVir Personal's scan speeds were impressive as well--it completed an on-demand scan of 4.5GB of data in 87 seconds, the best finish of the free antivirus products we looked at. Its on-access scans were also quite fast: It finished the test in 4 minutes, 7 seconds, well below the average time of 2 minutes, 50 seconds. The on-access scan is a good indicator of how quickly an antivirus program will be able to scan files for malware as they're opened or saved to disk. In addition, AntiVir Personal's impact on overall system performance was low, and it added a mere 2.5 seconds to system startup in our tests--the average product added over 4 seconds to startup time.
AntiVir Personal, like Avira's other products, has been a strong contender in the past, and this latest version continues that trend. But we'd like to see Avira make some improvements to its user interface.

AAAntivirus.com Announces Kaspersky Antivirus has Raised Prices to a Troubled Market Sector

CAMPBELL, Calif., Oct. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- AAAntivirus.com chooses to maintain pricing levels acceptable to the market conditions while competitor, Kaspersky Antivirus has decided to raise prices for EDU/GOV/Non-Profit, official Oct 1 2010, by 41%.

According to CEO Roy Miehe of AAAntivirus.com, the company will not be following competitors in raising prices due to the current state of affairs with the economy.

"Some competitors are taking advantage of tough times, with the layoffs in the IT departments in the sectors affected by this enormous price increase they are sometimes left with no alternative but to be held captive to renewing competitor's products without doing a full investigation of the products and pricing available to them."

This is where AAAntivirus.com comes into play providing their technical knowledge and purchasing power to assist this sector in providing EDU/GOV/Non-Profit sector alternatives.

Beyond price, security should be the main concern when purchasing an antivirus program. In October 2010, IDG News announced that Kaspersky's website had been victimized by hackers. AAAntivirus.com remains a secure antivirus software solutions provider, only providing the best product for their budget.

Given the recent price increase and vulnerabilities with Kaspersky, Miehe suggests that the public should "seriously reevaluate their current antivirus program and find an application which will be cost-effective and reliable in protecting their network and home computers."

AAAntivirus.com manages over a million seats of antivirus software world wide and has received numerous awards from major manufacturers starting with Trend Antivirus USA partner in 2003, Kaspersky Partner of the year 2005 and 2006, Panda Security largest SaaS Cloud Partner 2008 and 2009, currently one of Norman Antivirus largest US AV Partners.

About AAAntivirus.com services

1. Hosted Microsoft Exchange up 24x7x365
2. Managed Firewalls (Watchguard)
3. Managed Desktop/Servers
4. Managed Antispam mail solution SaaS based
5. And of course Antivirus Software we manage 1.5 million seats world wide
6. Security Consultants
Source:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/aaantiviruscom-announces-kaspersky-antivirus-has-raised-prices-to-a-troubled-market-sector-105449008.html

Avast Software Taps Mailshell To Protect Its Users From Spam And Phishing

avast! Antivirus has signed a new contract with Mailshell, the leading provider of traffic reputation, anti-spam and anti-phishing engines for OEMs, confirming the continued integration of its email filtering technology into the premium avast! Internet Security Suite. Over 130 million users in more than 240 countries are protected from malware by avast! antivirus software.
The current version of avast! includes the combined protection of the Mailshell Anti-Spam engine with Mailshell LiveFeed, a real-time data service that quantifies traffic reputation via advanced statistical models. By focusing reputation on mathematical models, rather than simply an 'IP black list' approach, LiveFeed provides more accurate, highly scalable detection.
“Mailshell’s technology provides a great balance of low memory usage, high throughput and consistent accuracy,” said Vincent Steckler, CEO of AVAST Software. “This partnership provides our users with best-of-breed protection while allowing our development team to focus on the other core technologies that make avast! unique.”
“avast! is now among the most popular and widely used security products in the world,” said Tonny Yu, CEO of Mailshell. “We’re thrilled to help the AVAST team provide even more value to its massive global user base.”
Mailshell's SDKs, including LiveFeed, provide complete and consistently accurate protection against email fraud, phishing and spam. The SDKs are available on more than 10 operating systems and require as little as 32KB of code on the device. Mailshell's SDKs are embedded into security, networking and messaging products including software appliances, SaaS platforms, gateway security software, desktop security suites, UTM, mobile devices, wireless access points, firewalls, modems, and other low memory devices.
Mailshell (www.mailshell.com) is the leading provider of email reputation, anti-spam and anti-phishing engines for OEMs. Mailshell's software helps its OEM partners, including AVAST Software, CA, Check Point, McAfee, NETGEAR and others, generate new revenue, up-sell existing products to new customers and minimize related engineering and support costs.
Source: http://www.avast.com/en-no/pr-avast-software-taps-mailshell-to-protect-its-users-from-spam-and-phishing

F-Secure Internet Security 2011

F-Secure have launched a new product F-Secure Internet Security 2011. They have released a Public Preview so that you can experience the new look of new version. This preview version is currently available only in English and gives you the opportunity to look what the successor of F-secure Internet Security 2010 has to offer in context with performance improvements, security and new features.
F-Secure Internet Security 2011 comes with a separate menu called Online Safety which consist of parental and Browsing Protection. From here, you can configure parental controls for different user accounts.
Another new and interesting feature is for those who access internet via UMTS access card / stick on Netbook or notebook on the go which detect your mobile internet connectivity. With this new feature, you can select whether to download new updates to the security suite on the mobile phone connection or not.

The Best Antivirus Software for 2011 (So Far)

Symantec and Trend Micro have yet to weigh in, but there are already some powerful premium AV options available.
The summer of 2010 isn't even over yet, but the 2011 antivirus utilities are pouring in already. Significant players are still waiting in the wings, it's true. Norton's 2011 product releases are imminent, as are Trend Micro's. Spyware Doctor and others won't be far behind. But quite a few of 2011's antivirus apps, both commercial and free, have already sprung up. Among others, Bit Defender Antivirus Pro 2011, Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2011, and Panda Antivirus Pro 2011 and Webroot AntiVirus with Spy Sweeper 2011 are all available and have already been through my testing. If you're looking to buy antivirus, today, the results show that there are already some solid choices available.
Antivirus means a utility that protects against all kinds of malicious software, not just viruses. Trojans, spyware, rootkits, keyloggers, adware, scareware—a proper antivirus must handle all of these.
Panda Antivirus Pro 2011 includes a fully-functional personal firewall and can monitor other Panda installations on your network. BitDefender Antivirus Pro 2011 provides full remote management across the network as well as a top-notch antiphishing module. BitDefender and Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2011 both scan for security vulnerabilities, though BitDefender takes the concept a bit farther.
Ad-Aware appeals to both with a choice of simple or advanced mode. BitDefender goes even further. Not only can its users choose basic, intermediate or expert view, they can build a personal collection of their most-used tools.
Webroot AntiVirus with Spy Sweeper 2011 totally focuses on keeping everything as simple as possible. It updates automatically, scans while the system is idle, and interacts with the user through a completely redesigned interface. All the detail a tech-savvy user might want is available, but it's hidden when not needed.

Trend Micro Helps Extend Life of IT Systems

Dubai, United Arab Emirates - Trend Micro is helping enterprises extend the life of out-of-support systems so they can migrate off Windows 2000 Professional, Windows 2000 Server and Windows XP Service Pack 2 at their own speed. Although systems with older operating systems may be no longer supported, many enterprises have not yet been able to upgrade to newer versions and are, as a result, unfortunately increasing the attack surface of their organizations.
While Microsoft announced that after July 13, 2010 it will no longer provide support, issue bug fixes, patch releases, or provide workarounds for its Windows 2000 and XP SP2 family of operating systems, many enterprises have not yet been able to upgrade to newer versions leaving them susceptible to new malware and other cybercriminal exploits that target these operating systems. Trend Micro™ Deep Security, the company's flagship solution for virtual patching, and Trend Micro™ OfficeScan™ products with Intrusion Defense Firewall can help protect organizations still using outdated Windows 2000 and XP SP2 against vulnerabilities until they can move to newer platforms.
Migration to a newer operating system version on deadline is simply too difficult, and organizations need an immediate, cost-effective stop-gap 'virtual patching' solution to maintain their security posture. With support for Windows 2000 and XP SP2 ending July 2010, Trend Micro's virtual patching solutions will help enterprises ensure a level of protection for these and other unsupported systems," said Harish Agastya, director of product marketing, Datacenter Security, Trend Micro.
Trend Micro's virtual patching technologies, found in Deep Security, and OfficeScan with Intrusion Defense Firewall, can protect vulnerabilities in critical systems. They permit customers to deploy patches on a more scheduled basis, thereby reducing system exposure and frustration associated with patch management.
Trend Micro Deep Security with virtual patching helps reduce system exposure for servers and endpoints running Windows 2000 and XP SP2 through:
Intrusion Detection and Prevention
Enterprise-grade, bidirectional, and stateful firewall
Recommendation scanning
Security updates from a dedicated team of security experts
Protection across physical virtualized and cloud deployments
Trend Micro OfficeScan with Intrusion Defense Firewall protects Windows 2000 and XP

McAfee Signs OEM Deal to Secure USB Devices

McAfee announced that it has signed deals with a number of USB manufacturers to ship McAfee security software on their devices in an effort to block malware from spreading via USB drives.
The antivirus giant has signed OEM partnerships with companies like Kingston Digital Inc, MXI, Rocky Mountain Ram, SanDisk, SPYRUS, Hagiwara, and Yoggie Security Systems, which have secure USB devices in their portfolio. The deals involve McAfee preloading an anti-virus solution onto the devices.
According to McAfee, when a secure USB drive running its anti-malware software gets plugged into a PC, the built-in software will automatically scan the PC for malware. If any threat is found, the software will block any file transfers to the USB device.
McAfee said it now has deals with two-thirds of the world's secured USB manufacturers -- Hagiwara, Kingston Digital Inc, MXI Security, Rocky Mountain Ram, SanDisk, SPYRUS and Yoggie Security Systems -- to install the malware scanning and blocking software on their secure USB devices. Presumably, those manufacturers will also ensure that their own USB devices start off malware-free, unlike promotional malware-infected USB drives shipped by IBM to security conference-goers earlier this year.
Some of McAfee's secure USB relationships predate this announcement, and also hint at all of the levels of security required to actually secure USB drives, both in terms of keeping unwanted malware out and sensitive information in.
For example, MXI Security said that since 2008, it has been using McAfee's encrypted hard disk and biometric software on its secure USB keys. Currently, it said, its drives also work with McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator, a centralized security management console that allows IT managers to set, enforce and monitor security policies for USB devices, including banning unauthorized devices.

AVG joins Opera on stage

The first beta of Opera 10.60 was released only two weeks ago, and it graduates to a wide release and sheds its beta tag. Opera 10.60 for Windows, Mac, and Linux incorporates security enhancements provided by popular freeware antivirus vendor AVG, improves performance, adds further HTML5 compatibility, and makes a noticeable tweak to the browser interface. New security feature indicates that while Chrome and Firefox are looking to further isolate plug-ins and add-ons, Opera address the immediate threat from malware-infected sites. Opera now comes with AVG's real-time Web threat data feed built in. It means when you encounter a page that's been detected by the AVG network to be malicious, you'll see the warning instead.

New feature uses multiple techniques to protect users. It uses exploit signatures to detect sites serving drive-by downloads, the AVG Online Shield and contextual analysis to detect social engineering scam-driven viruses, and reputation lists for safeguarding against malicious URLs. 

Version 10.60 is compatible with several nascent HTML5 features, including the next-generation video and audio codec WebM, geolocation compatibility, Web Workers, and App Cache. This update places Opera at or very close to parity with beta and development versions of Chrome and Firefox. Opera has also created an HTML5-geolocation-powered map showing real-time downloads and active users of Opera. The Windows changelog, Mac changelog, and Linux changelog are available at the Opera Web site.

New Internet Explorer 9

Microsoft has sneaked out a new demo version of its forthcoming Web browser to highlight its vision of the next-gen Internet. To show that Microsoft is being a good Internet citizen and offering compatibility for all, its latest preview version of Internet Explorer 9 shows off some smart features. Not only will it be an all-singing HTML5-compatible browser but it will accelerate video and other media to offer a full-on broadband Web experience.

While that all sounds great, the arguments start when you see that Microsoft is tying in IE9 deeper into Windows than any previous version. This integration provides the acceleration and jazzy features that make it stand out from a platform-agnostic browser. However, only Windows users will see the full benefit of an IE9 coded site, everyone else will just default back to a — presumably — slower compatible mode.

Using the HTML 5 canvas, video and audio tags, some smart results can be created. Demos on the IE9 Test Drive site include an asteroid field, fish tank and others, all running smoothly. Canvas creates a simplified way of defining a space for 2D visuals, so it will be fun for games and impressive animations, without the need for Flash or other plug-ins. IE9 can turn Web pages into something that looks more like a desktop app with font smoothing and other effects among benefits for general users.

Main Features that should be looked for in an Antivirus Program

Installing a good, solid antivirus program on your computer is the key to internet security. There are many threats you have to deal with when surfing the internet, but nothing a good antivirus program can’t handle.

The question is which antivirus program to buy? To answer this question, there are a number of factors you should consider when researching antivirus companies.
Firstly consider the scope of protection the antivirus software offers. Will you be protected by every Internet threat that you encounter? These days, we are hit by viruses, spyware, and trojans from all directions. It is pertinent that the antivirus software can handle the job.

Secondly you always want to consider how user friendly the antivirus software is. Have you ever used software before that you knew was an amazing product, but you had no idea how to use it? It is very frustrating! The best antivirus programs are very easy to use.

Thirdly always like to look at how many features the antivirus program has to offer. From what I’ve noticed from my research, the more features the antivirus software offers, the better the antivirus software generally is. One feature that is very important and cannot be overlooked is how often the antivirus software updates its definitions. New viruses and malware are discovered every minute and it is important for your antivirus software to perform updates on a regular basis. I personally prefer daily updates.

Lastly, you would want to consider the price of the antivirus program. Depending on your needs, antivirus software will generally run from $20 up to $100. Be sure that you do not compromise your computer security to save a few bucks though! A peaceful state of mind is worth spending a little more protecting your computer with quality antivirus software.

Google new search indexing Technology “Caffeine”

Today, Google announces the completion of its new web indexing technology “Caffeine”. This new technology “Caffeine” provides 50 percent more fresher results than their last indexing system; caffeine has the largest collection of online website content. Now links to relevant content like news story, a blog or a forum post much faster than ever before.

So why did Google build a new search indexing system? Content on the web is increasing day by day. It's growing not just in size and numbers but with the introduction of video, images, news and real-time updates which is very frequent, the average webpage is much richer and more complex as compare to previous days. In addition, user’s expectations for search are higher than they used to be earlier. Now a day’s searchers wants to find the latest and more relevant content and publishers expect indexing of their content, instant they publish it.

To meet the expectation evolution of the web and to meet rising user expectations, Google built new search engine indexing system called “The Caffeine”.

Removing Anti Virus Armor Rogue Anti-Spyware

Anti Virus Armor also known as Anti-Virus Armor 2010 is a rogue anti-spyware application designed to pilfer money from computer users. Once active on the infected computer, Anti Virus Armor pretends to scan your system and display some imaginary threats.

Steps to remove Anti Virus Armor Rogue Anti-Spyware:

1. Restart your computer and keep pressing F8 Key before Windows launches. Use the arrow keys to select the “Safe Mode with Networking” option, and then hit ENTER Key to continue.
2. Download Spyware Cease install it and update its database to the latest. After that, restart your computer so as to make Spyware Cease fully functional. Repeat Step 1 into Safe Mode and run an Online Scan of your computer so that Spyware Cease can detect all potential malware in your system.
3. After the Online Scan finishes, click “Details” for the malware detected to make sure that your important data are not infected and removed. Ignore or select the scan result and click “Remove” to remove the threats. Reboot your computer and let Spyware Cease delete all detected virus.
4. Download and install RegTweaker to repair your corrupted registry.

To make your computer run as perfectly as before or much faster than before:

1. Download and install RegTweaker.
2. Run a full scan of your registry.
3. Click “Repair Problems” and repair all errors detected.

Facebook virus

Due to frequent attacks of viruses on social networking sites, Facebook has decided to increase its security level for its users. Facebook is trying not only to protect the privacy of its users but also wants to provide security against malicious threats, like viruses, spyware and spam.

The pressure on social networking sites to take action on the security front comes increasingly from parents who are concerned about their children’s online security. In the recent statement Facebook they will be creating a special support team that will provide guidance to parents on how to maintain security level for their child while they are using Face book.

However many technocrats are worried about hackers who sends unprecedented spam to more than 400 million registered users. Experts want Facebook to have more resistive security protocol measures in order keep a check on spammers.
Facebook claims that it has introduced new era of technology measures such as CAPTCHAs (Completely Automated Public Turing tests to tell Computers and Humans Apart), which is an automated computer application that runs on the server. If the application detects that a particular users is sending message in an erroneous manners, it will instantaneously block that user.

Follow following steps to remove facebook virus.

STEP 1: Terminate the following processes:
fbtre6.exe
mstre6.exe

STEP 2: Delete the below mentioned registry values:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Run\"systray" = "c:\windows\mstre6.exe"
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Run\"systray" = "C:\Windows\fbtre6.exe"
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\AppEvents\Schemes\Apps\Explorer\Navigating

STEP 3: After deleting the registry entries, delete these files:
C:\\Windows\\fbtre6.exe
C:\\Windows\\fmark2.dat

How to avoid Malware Attack?

Symantec a leading Antivirus and Antispyware company reported that there are more than 12000 malware detected every day.
What actually malware means? Malware is a short name for malicious software they are designed to infiltrate your PC without your consent.
The best-known types of malware, viruses and worms, are known for the manner in which they spread, rather than any other particular behavior. The term computer virus is used for a program that has infected some executable software and that causes that software, when run, to spread the virus to other executable software. Viruses may also contain a payload that performs other actions, often malicious. A worm, on the other hand, is a program that actively transmits itself over a network to infect other computers. It too may carry a payload.
How do they infringe even though we have a firewall? The question is still unanswered. Is there any solution for this fatal ruthless infringement? Some would say that keep your anti-virus software updated and do a system run now and then, scan the external hardrive before using it and keep a back up of all the important information you have in your system. The saddest part is that, there are some malware that could even affect the anti-virus application.
One way to keep a check on malware is by changing the extension of the executable file of the antivirus software. But we have to make sure that the program runs with no problems what so ever. Expert technocrats suggest that one can change the extension of the executable to .com from .exe. One can also check the “hide the known extension file types” in the folder option under tools in Microsoft Windows Operating System. Although this is not the only solution to all the malware attacks one can try to keep a check on such nasty malwares.