By Bart van Klaveren, Thursday, September 3, 2009 10:42 By Bart van Klaveren, Thursday, September 3, 2009 10:42
Source: Vispa, views: 1544 Source: Vispa, views: 1544

Jan T. Jan T. Sott on Tuesday released a new version of Vispa, the Windows Vista equivalent of xpy. Sott on Tuesday released a new version of Vispa, the Windows Vista equivalent of xpy. Version 0.5.4 is only 83kB in size and is designed to make Windows Vista more secure and the privacy of the users better protection. Version 0.5.4 is only 83kB in size and is designed to make Windows Vista more secure and the privacy of the users better protection. Thus, several antispymogelijkheden on board, it protects against known security problems and enable the “phone home” functionality of Windows off. Thus, several antispymogelijkheden on board, it protects against known security problems and enable the “phone home” functionality of Windows off. Finally, the program should improve the performance of Windows. Finally, the program should improve the performance of Windows. Below is the changelog of this release can be found: Below is the changelog of this release available:

Added

* Support for 64-bit registry Support for 64-bit registry
* Bing Bing list to search engine to search engine list

Fixed

* Getting on Windows7 username (and perhaps Vista too) Getting username on Windows7 (and perhaps Vista too)
* A bug restoring classic logon A bug restoring classic logon
* Header Compression Header Compression
* Lots and Lots of typos typos
* / Debug option / debug parameter

Removed

* From Cuil Cuil search engine search engine list from list

Website                                     Vispa
Download Download           http://code.google.com/p/vispa/ http://code.google.com/p/vispa/

Several PC makers said on Friday they were voluntarily including China’s controversial Internet filter software in new shipments despite Beijing’s decision to postpone making it mandatory.
The government had been set to introduce the Chinese-made filtering programme — called the “Green Dam Youth Escort” — but announced the delay hours before its implementation on July 1.
However, customer service staff at PC makers including Taiwan’s Acer Inc and China’s Haier Group, said they were installing or packaging the software with new PCs, adding it was easy to uninstall.
“You will find it with our PCs, as the state has requested. But… you can easily find a patch on the Internet to uninstall it,” one of Acer’s service staff said.
Beijing has said the software was aimed at filtering out pornography, but computer experts found it was also programmed to suppress politically sensitive material, prompting criticism at home and abroad.
Lenovo, China’s biggest computer maker, did not immediately reply to questions on the Green Dam, but the official English-language China Daily newspaper said it was included in the firm’s PCs.
A Tokyo-based spokeswoman of Sony said the programme is on its China-made computers to “click on and install” if the customers wanted it.
“We have distributed it with our personal computers as a set-up file in the hard drive software,” she said.
“The users can choose whether to activate the software or not. So it’s up to the customers to choose whether to install it or not. But it’s already on the hard disk.”

Spyware is any application that collects information about your computer activities and then sends that information to another individual or company without your knowledge or permission.

Spyware comes in many flavors including:

Adware
Adware is advertising-supported software that displays pop-up advertisements whenever the program is running.

Adware Cookies
Cookies are pieces of information that are generated by a web server and stored on your computer for future access.

System Monitors/Key loggers
System monitors are applications, most likely a virus, designed to monitor computer activity to various degrees. These programs can capture virtually everything you do on your computer including recording all keystrokes, emails, chat room dialogue, web sites visited, and programs run.

Trojan Horses
Trojans are malicious programs (or viruses). Trojans are designed to cause loss or theft of computer data, and to destroy your system.

How to protect yourself

Anti-Spyware Scanners
Once spyware has been installed on your computer it can be difficult to remove manually.

Spybot

This free anti spyware has long been used against comprehensive database of adware and other system invaders. Scan you system with Spybot. The scan results will be available in an organized tree. So you can sort out the unwanted items and delete.

Run Spybot – Search and Destroy to find the location of any spyware

Copy down the locations of the files

Disable the system restore and reboot in Safemode

Run the Spybot again. Reboot normally

Download

Spyware Doctor

This is another spyware/adware specialist available for free. It can detect and cleans thousands of potential spyware, ad ware,  spy ware cookies and spybots from your PC.

Spyware Doctor is equipped with advanced IntelliGuard technology that offers alert for true Spyware detection. It an important feature that doesn’t generate cryptic questions every time you install software, add a site to your favorites or change your PC settings.

Download

Create a Shortcut to Lock Your Computer

You can double-click a shortcut on your desktop to quickly lock the keyboard and display without using CTRL+ALT+DEL or a screensaver.

To create a shortcut on your desktop to lock your computer:

1. Right-click the desktop.

2. Point to New, and then click Shortcut.

3. The Create Shortcut Wizard opens. In the text box, type the following:
rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation

4. Click Next.

5. Enter a name for the shortcut. You can call it "Lock computer" or choose any name you like.

6. Click Finish.

via the keyboard

The easiest way to lock Windows XP is by simply pressing the Windows logo key and the letter L (for Lock) on a Microsoft Natural Keyboard or any other compatible keyboard that includes the Window key. Doing so will pop up the Unlock Computer Password box.

via a bat file

This is similar to a Windows shortcut method. But it’s a DOS version. If you’ve never created a bat (batch) file, but would like to try this method, simply open a new text file (such as with Notepad) and type the following commands:
          @echo off
          rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation
          cls
Save the file with a .bat extension, such as Lock.bat, and you’re done. Double click to make the file run.

Please let me know, any useful methods to lock the workstation??

Norton Internet Security (NIS) is one of the best- known names in anti-virus and security software.
However,we’ve often heard complaints from users who have been annoyed by the fact that it was prone to slowing down the computer when running its scans,and bythe messages that pop up offering warnings or advice.
So for the new 2009 edition, Norton’s maker Symantec has primarily concentrated on performance, ratherthan simply adding new features.We wouldn’t go so far as to say that NIS 2009 is’zero impact Symantec claims, but we did find it a lot less intrusive than previous versions of the program.
The improvements start from the installation,which took us just one minute to perform on our test notebook (it actually took us longer to complete the online registration).When it’s running, NIS 2009 only uses 7MB of memory, so it doesn’t take up a lot of resources that might be needed by other programs.
And if you’re playing games or watching video and don’t wantto be interrupted for a while you can right-click on the Norton icon in the Taskbar and activate the new silent mode.This temporarily stops messages from appearing on screen and tells the program notto download any new updates.
In addition to the regularfour hourly checks for information about new viruses,there are new so-called ‘pulse’updates that can perform a quick check everyfew minutes just to make sure there have been no recent updates that need to be installed.
If you’re worried that your PC might have been infected,NIS 2009 includes a new module that performs a very quick scan just to check that everything is OK,which on our PC took only 43 seconds. The quick-scan option uses a new feature called Insight that checks the files on the computer against an online database of known and trusted files. Files that area normal part of Windows are included on this list,so NIS skips past these to save time and only check files that it doesn’t recognise.
There’s still the option of running a full scan for maximum security,and such scans can also be set to automatically run when you’re not using the computer. So while Norton Internet Security 2009 doesn’t provide many new features,its focus on improving performance and minimising distractions is very welcome.
Our main complaint is that there’s no printed manual,and we sometimes struggled to find our way through the online Help files to locate specific features. However,with 24-hour online chat and telephone support now available,there is the comfort of knowing that there’s someone ready to help when you need it.

Contact Symantec India
Info www.symentecstore.com
Retail Price Rs.2,700 (Approx)
Buy www.symantec.com

McAfee’s new lineup – McAfee 2009 security suites, including McAfee Total Protection, McAfee Internet Security, and McAfee VirusScan Plus suites, is here to strike the perfect balance between the need to be protected from ever evolving threats with a fast computing experience.
“Our 2009′s McAfee Security Suites are instant, silent, and complete. It means that our security solution is fast, optimised to consume less resources, unobtrusive, which doesn’t bother the user for every action to be taken and a comprehensive solution to protect from phishing, malware, spam, encryption of data etc.,” said Kartik Sahane, Regional Director, India.
The innovations include an Active Protection technology, claiming to deliver a faster detection of maiware, accelerated PC performance over last year’s products with less impact on start-up, shorter scan times and faster launching of common applications, enterprise-grade spam protection, which catches 99% of all spam, improved protection in the home with network monitoring to alert consumers when intruders connect to their network, file protection for sensitive financial documents.
McAfee Anti-Theft File and Data Protection, is available as a free bonus download to McAfee Total Protection, which lets consumers drag and drop sensitive files into digital vaults onto the PC or USB drive, and encrypts the vaults, which are securely password protected. McAfee SECURE now helps protect consumers better from identity theft and credit card fraud when shopping online with its integrated SiteAdvisor technology.
While non-McAfee customers struggle with uninstalls, new downloads, reboots, and the need to locate and install add-on packs, McAfee being version-less, the customers automatically receive the latest PC protection and newest features with no user interaction required.
The 2009 products are available at retailers worldwide and for download at www.mcafee.com.
McAfee Virus Scan plus 2009, 1 user is priced at Rs. 1,499, McAfee Virus Scan plus 2009, 3 users for Rs. 2,299, McAfee Internet Security 2009, 3 users for Rs. 2,699, McAfee Total Protection 2009, 3 users for Rs. 3,199, and McAfee Anti-Theft forRs. 1,199. 

In recent years, some users have found that Nortons security products take a considerable toll on PC performance.The new edition of Norton 360, Symantec’s all-round security software,attempts to alleviate this while maintaining a high level of protection for the computer.Installation this time was quick, easy and glitch-free,with no error messages.The program offered to run quick virus and spyware scan before installation,which is sensible,as some viruses can interfere with the installation of anti-virus programs.The whole installation took less than 10 minutes.
Norton 360 required much less configuration than Norton products we have used in the past.There was an absence of irritating pop-up alerts and warnings asking us to confirm whether we were happy to allow commonly used programs such as Internet Explorer or music download services to access the internet.

Virus and Firewall protection was top-notch:the program managed to detect and disinfect all five recent threats that we unleashed on ourtest computer.lt was a simple process to remove these and the program’s scanning time was impressive.

We found that the additional modules offered by Norton 360— a disk defragmenter, automatic file backup, registry cleaner,and junk file remover — varied in their effectiveness.The automatic backup module had serious shortcomings in its ease of use,for instance. It was difficult to select individual files to back up,and despite the fact that we specified the manual backup option; it kept trying to run automatically.

The other features worked well, though.The registry cleaner is a genuinely useful and effective addition to the software but we’d question the usefulness of the disk defragmenter, junk file remover and phishing protection when these are included with Windows and with Internet Explorer 7.
An automatic form-filling feature is intended to protect all of your passwords (you type in a master password to access them) and allows you to quickly fill in commonly requested fields such as names and addresses with a single click. This doesn’t work on sites that ask the user to type in security words, though, so we found it was of limited use.