Essential Addons for Antivirus

Returnil Virtual System offers 3 products based on their virtualization technology. The tricky part is deciding which of the 3 is right for you.

The Sandboxie tagline "Trust no program" is an apt description for how Sandboxie approaches security. Sandboxie creates a virtual environment for selected programs, allowing the program to run normally but in an isolated space. When you've finished with the program and close it, any changes made will be lost (unless specifically instructed otherwise).

Blue Ridge Secure AppGuard prevents drive-by downloads by preventing anything downloaded from the Web from being run. But there's a problem with this all or nothing approach.

A firewall offers important security protection, but only if its configured properly and used appropriately. Any decent firewall should offer basic NAT protection. Beyond that, mileage may vary. For example, a permission-based firewall that gives carte blanche to Internet connecting applications will not be as effective as a firewall that seeks permission each time. On the other hand, inexperienc…

Phishing filters and toolbars are designed to protect the web surfer from socially engineered phishing scams which try to trick the intended victim into visiting a fraudulent website disguised to look like a valid eCommerce or banking site. The victim thinks they are logging into their real account, but instead everything they enter on the fake site is being sent to the scammers. Armed with this …

HIPS vs Behavior Blocking

Behavior-based PC Tools ThreatFire provides guards against new and unknown threats which signature-based scanners might otherwise miss. ThreatFire runs in the background, monitoring each programs actions, quarantining programs it knows to be bad and alerting on those it considers suspicious. ThreatFire can easily run alongside installed antivirus or other security software, making it an ideal adjunct to existing protection. Even better, the program is completely free for home use.

Today's malware is often focused on identity theft. Even a single infector bypassing antivirus software can cause a lifetime of harm to its victim. Perhaps one of the most important adjuncts to antivirus software is to take measures to protect your identity.

Secunia Software Inspector is free, fast, and so intuitive to use there's simply no excuse for not keeping patches up to date.

The free AVG Rescue CD combines a bootable rescue platform with antivirus and system utilities to help ferret out even the most stubborn infections. Utilities include a file manager (Midnight Commander), Windows Registry Editor, a text editor, and various drive recovery and network diagnostic tools.

It takes more than just antivirus software to prevent infection. Fortunately, following the few simple steps outlined below can provide a good measure of security in very little time.

The Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool (MSRT) is a very accessible (and free) adjunct to existing antivirus protection, but it is not a replacement for antivirus and its detection data is not indicative of overall malware infection rates or of overall malware prevalance.