Archive for the ‘Windows’ Category

Don’t forget about Windows Defender

Friday, January 30th, 2009

If you are like most people, your antispyware is from another vendor besides Microsoft. If so, Windows Defender should be disabled or uninstalled, depending if you have XP or Vista. Windows Defender which was previously known as Microsoft AntiSpyware is an anti-spyware utility that built-in to Windows Vista (and downloaded to XP) to detect, prevent, remove and quarantine spyware. It is available as a download at no charge for XP.

Make sure your antispyware program is running real-time and is up-to-date.

XP

Just uninstall Windows Defender from the Control Panel > Add Remove Programs.

Vista

Unfortunately there is no clear-cut way to remove or uninstall Windows Defender in Vista. Use the trick and hack below to disable Windows Defender in a way that as is Windows Defender is been uninstalled or removed.

The easiest way to to stop Windows Defender in Vista (since you can’t actually uninstall it) is by disabling and turning  it off . Windows Defender provides an graphical user interface (GUI) to easily stop real-time protection checking, and turn off the Windows Defender service.

Note that a lot of guides have asked to disable Windows Defender service via Services in Control Panel and uncheck the startup item in System Configuration (MSConfig) in order to turn off Windows Defender and prevent it from starting up. This is unnecessary, and it’s not a recommended way as any misstep will cause error message (explained below).

Steps to Disable Defender

  1. Run Windows Defender from Start Menu.
  2. Click on Tools button.
  3. Click on Options link under “Tools and Settings” section.
  4. Scroll down the “Options” page, and uncheck the check boxes of the following two settings:
  • Use real-time protection (recommended) under “Real-time protection options”
  • Use Windows Defender under “Administrator options”

Note that both options MUST be unchecked for the Windows Defender service in Windows Vista to be completely stopped otherwise only real-time protection is disabled.

5. Click on Save button.

A “Windows Defender is turned off” dialog message will appear, confirming that Windows Defender no longer runs.

In Services of Control Panel, the Windows Defender service is automatically stopped, although the Startup Type is still set to Automatic. Do not try to manually stop and disable the Windows Defender service from Services panel, as it will cause the error message of “Application failed to initialized: 0×800106ba. A problem caused this program’s service to stop. To start the service, restart your computer or search Help and Support for how to start a service manually.”

To re-enable Windows Defender in Vista, run Windows Defender from Start Menu and turn it on again when prompted.

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Goodbye Windows Live OneCare

Thursday, November 20th, 2008

It doesn’t surprise me. Microsoft is calling it quits on Windows Live OneCare. Its replacement will be a basic antimalware program which will be distributed at no cost (called Morro). OneCare’s market share is very small. I, for one, do not use it. Reason? I think Microsoft’s decision to go into the antivirus arena is an example of deworsification. I think a company that specializes in antimalware will have a better product than a general-purpose company…apparently I’m not alone in this view.

It IS in the best interests of Windows, and everyone online, that every computer has up-to-date antivirus/antispyware programs. Unfortunately, almost 50% of users do not have up-to-date antivirus software (see previous post) which causes vast problems for everyone. Hopefully Morro will help.

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Windows Backup Tutorial

Monday, November 10th, 2008

mysecurepc.com has updated its tutorial on backing up a Windows computer. Included are things such as:

  • Why back up your computer?
  • Recommended backup strategy
  • Types of backups
  • Data organization
  • What to back up
  • Where to back up
  • When to back up
  • Important backup program features
  • Backup strategies and tips

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Check out your computer

Monday, February 18th, 2008

I tried f-secure healthcheck today to see if my computer was up to snuff. To quote from f-secure:

  • checks whether you have an Anti-Virus, Firewall and Anti-Spyware software installed on your computer
  • checks whether you have known vulnerabilities in your applications
  • checks whether you have applications that are no longer supported by the vendor
  • helps you fix the vulnerabilities found.

In my case (Vista), a few programs were found that were out-of-date, which were easily fixed. As we feel at mysecurepc.com you can never be too careful.

And best of all: f-secure scan is free. Let us know your findings.

Doug

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Take a Computer Software Inventory

Wednesday, August 1st, 2007

Do you know what computer programs are on your computer? More important, do you know the registration keys? If a virus destroyed your computer could you reinstall all the software without the hassle of finding the registration keys? This scenario happens all the time. If you lose your registration key and did not register the software the only alternative may be to repurchase the software. Not a fun idea.

Belarc advisors have a free software inventory product that lists out an inventory of your computer. Not only are the registration keys included but software versions, installed Microsoft hotfixes, hardware, and virus protection. If any hotfix is missing you will know it. Best of all, according to Belarc’s privacy notice, this information remains private: the data is only kept on your computer and not sent back to Belarc or anywhere else.

Mysecurepc recommends running and saving the software inventory every month or every time a major piece of software is installed. And keep the inventory page backed up.

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Bogus Windows Patch

Saturday, June 30th, 2007

A fake Windows patch has been making its rounds among email. The subject line reads “Microsoft Security Bulletin MS07-0065 — Critical Update” and appears to come from update@microsoft.com. A link is provided in the spam email urging readers to click on it and download the June 18 patch.

What really happens is the victim is taken to a website (one of several) where a Trojan horse (Behav-112) is downloaded to the computer and used for spam or denial of service attacks.

Doug

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