Posted 11/05/09 at 06:19:45 PM by Ryan Whitwam

Security firm Sophos recently took it upon itself to run some tests on Windows 7 sans anti-virus software. Sophos used ten unique viruses found in circulation and attempted to infect Windows 7. While many may have thought this would be a foregone conclusion, they wanted to make a point. Microsoft claims that User Account Control (UAC) is more secure in Windows 7. Does it actually make a difference?

Sure enough, eight out of ten viruses ran without problem on a stock install of Windows 7 without User Account Control. With UAC active, an additional threat was actually blocked, and the other two still failed to run. Overall, UAC didn’t make much difference in virus protection. So yes, you still need to run an anti-virus on Windows 7. There’s been a lot of positive buzz around Redmond’s new release, just don’t let that stuff go to your head. 

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Posted 10/23/09 at 12:00:00 PM by David Murphy

What's the first thing you're going to do after installing the Windows 7 operating system?  If you live in Japan, perhaps you'll go celebrate your new, wallpaper-shifting desktop with some cardiac arrest.  If you're one of the stalwarts still clinging to your XP or Vista operating system, well, you're probably going to spin your chair around in smug defiance of Microsoft's latest bit of software.  And if you're a Maximum PC reader, I would hope that you're going to treat your fresh new installation of Windows 7 as an October spring cleaning of-sorts.

In fact, I urge you to.  One doesn't often get a chance to reinstall an operating system from scratch.  Or, rather, it's always easier to think of the hundreds of reasons why it's just not the right time to wipe-and-reinstall the contents of your primary hard drive.  Resist the temptation to take the easy route.  Backup your drive, give it a good format, and install Windows 7 onto your clean-as-a-whistle partition.

And once you've done that, read the rest of this article.  While my colleagues at Maximum PC have given you some good first steps into your new Windows 7 world post-installation, I'd like to go one bit further and list out my typical post-installation routine for any Windows operating system.  There are a number of key freeware choices that you'll want to slap onto your system to establish a baseline environment that's as efficient as it is secure--that, and you should really take this time to establish preventative measure that will keep your PC as clutter-free as can be throughout its new Windows 7 lifespan.

After all, bloated systems make Kylie sad.

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Posted 10/21/09 at 09:53:11 AM by Pulkit Chandna

Millions of credulous internet users fall prey to scareware every year and voluntarily end up compromising their systems. According to a new Symantec report, more than 40 million users found themselves prey to “increasingly persuasive online scare tactics” being adopted by cyber criminals during the 12-month period between July 2008 and June 2009.

The price of a fake security software program usually hovers between $30 and $100. But the hidden costs seem to be greater. Installing rogue security software can not only wreck the system but it also makes the owner vulnerable to identity theft. Deceptive ads linking to rogue software appear on both malicious and legit sites. Cybercriminals are also using search engine optimization (SEO) and social media tricks to ensnare even more people.

Have you installed SpywareGuard 2008, AntiVirus 2008, AntiVirus 2009, SpywareSecure, or XP AntiVirus yet? Don’t! They top the list of the most reported rogue security software.

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Posted 10/05/09 at 11:15:37 AM by Paul Lilly

AVG Technologies today announced the newest version of "the world's most popular free anti-virus software," AVG 9. For several years, AVG freebie security software had been a favorite in the enthusiast community (and among several Maximum PC staffers), but many -- us included -- felt that version 8 was a step in the wrong direction. In our antivirus roundup from a year ago, we noted that AVG Internet Security 8.0 (the full fledged paid security suite) consumed more RAM and dragged down system performance more than any other AV program we tested.

Performance shouldn't be a problem with AVG 9.0, at least according to AVG's claims. The AV maker says version 9.0 runs 50 percent faster than the previous version, while also improving performance and ease of use.

"AVG 9.0 will provide home computer users with a more powerful and more streamlined solution that adds protection without impacting user experience, taking us back to our core strength of low impact, high performance security," said J.R. Smith, CEO, AVG Technologies. "We've always believed that everyone has the right to a safe online experience. With AVG 9.0, we are providing first-class assistance to our users in their development of tools and measures for their safety from all of the threats posed by cybercriminals and identity thieves, whether they'r working, playing, banking, or shopping on the Web."

AVG cited scan optimization as a top priority for its latest release. Taking a page from Norton Internet Security 2009/2010 and a handful of other AV programs, AVG skips safe files in subsequent scans to improve performance unless the file structure changes. This is what accounts for the up to 50 percent faster speed, as well as improvements of up to 10 to 15 percent for boot times and memory usage, AVG says.

AVG 9.0 paid versions are available now. The freebie version will be made available within the next two weeks.

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Posted 09/21/09 at 03:46:52 PM by Pulkit Chandna

Microsoft opened its gates to public beta testers for its free antivirus solution, Microsoft Security Essentials, on June 23, 2009. Within a day, it managed to get rid of the 75,000 public beta downloads it had made available on a first-come-first-serve basis in the United States, China, Israel and Brazil.

If you missed the bus then, probably due to an obstinate disposition to miss buses, you will soon be able to download the final version of the free antivirus software. The final version will be made available in the next few weeks, according to a note Microsoft sent to beta testers.

“The final version of Microsoft Security Essentials will be released to the public in the coming weeks. If you are running the older version of the beta (1.0.1407.0), we encourage you to upgrade to a newer version of the beta (1.0.1500.0),” Microsoft informed testers on Sunday.

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Posted 09/15/09 at 05:54:53 PM by Jason Barry

New Research by Trend Micro suggests that some malware infections hang around for as long as two years in some circumstances. This new data refutes previous estimates that the infection limit was approximately six weeks. Their research consisted of the analysis of over 100 million compromised IPs where they found that four out of five machines remain infected for longer than a month.

They concluded that if machines were not disinfected quickly, that those infections would linger until the machines were disconnected altogether, speculating replacement as the eventual solution.

After further investigation into network botnets, Trend Micro was also able to pinpoint that the majority of identity-theft reports traced back to three agent strains: Koobface, Zeus/Zbot and Ilomo/Clampi. In particular, the hysterically named Koobface botnet updated its infrastructure to use proxies and relays making it nearly impossible to eradicate.

Image credit: Mucinex

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Posted 09/08/09 at 06:43:24 PM by Jason Barry

Symantec announced the newest version of its popular Norton security software.  In particular, they elaborated on Norton 2010’s new file analysis technology codenamed “Quorom”.  

The new technology attacks the problem faced by most security software: the overwhelming abundance of unique malware applications.  Malware creators are able to churn out innumerable amounts of unique malware based on similar vulnerabilities and exploitations in hopes of bypassing standard signature and behavior-based detection.  Quorum aims to use the uniqueness of the software as a means of threat detection itself.

Further, the new software was developed to maintain its light footprint and quick operation.  Passmark Software benchmarked Norton Internet Security 2010 and its competitors.   Norton reportedly installs in less than 60 seconds and occupies less than 10 megabytes of operational memory.

Norton Internet Security and Norton Antivirus both support all versions of Windows 7 and Vista (32-bit and 64-bit) as well as Windows XP SP2.  They are currently available for purchase in the United States.

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Posted 08/27/09 at 09:08:48 AM by Paul Lilly

According to IBM's semi-annual security report, hackers and other cyber miscreants are spending fas less time phishing as they shift their attention to other technologies to swipe your personal data.

"The decline in phishing and increases in other areas (such as banking Trojans) indicate that attackers may be moving their resources to other methods to obtain the gains that phishing once achieved," IBM said in its Internet Security Systems 2009 Mid-Year Trend & Risk Report.

Trojans, which include downloaders and info-stealers, are now the most commonly used tools of the trade accounting for 55 percent of the new malware seen, says the report. That's an increase of 9 percent over last year. The rise can partially be attributed the existence of "public-available toolkits" that malware distributors advertise as being easy to use.

More info here.

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