Optimize Windows Security With Free Cerberus Security Guard

Increase Security/Change System Settings

Every running service on your computer can be an unnecessary security vulnerability. If a service is not required for authorized users and system functionality, it may well be to your advantage to turn it off.

If you’re a Techie, or a highly skilled computer user, it’s very likely that you have the knowledge and skill to make adjustments to virtually all of your operating system manually, using the Services option of Administrative Tools to attain maximum performance.

But a novice, casual, or even an intermediate computer user, will often need a software tool to help determine which services and system components can be safely modified.

Fortunately, there are a number of free tools available that will help any computer user, novice or not, to determine which services or system components can be safely modified.

Cerberus Security Guard, a free application from Best Security Tips, will allow a user to increase system security by disabling or optimizing selected services and system components from a central console. As well, modifications can be made to the operations of Internet Explorer, FireFox/Mozilla, and Media Player.

Since adjusting service settings incorrectly has the potential to create some rather nasty problems, the program offers both a Backup and a Restore function.

An additional advantage in optimizing services and system components is it can often lead to improvements in system performance and boot time; although it’s fair to say that in the Tech community there is some disagreement as to whether this is an accurate statement.

If you decide to install this small application you can determine for yourself if you’ve had an improvement in system performance.

There were a number of things on installation that bothered me – I don’t like applications that configure themselves to auto start on boot; this one did. Since I have WinPatrol installed, it was easy to disallow auto start.

I particularly dislike applications that seek screen access; but again, since I run SnoopFree Privacy Shield on my XP Pro test systems, it was easy to reject this request. Finally, this is one more application that offers to install a so called “Security Toolbar” – automatic rejection.

Quick facts:

Manage Windows security and privacy settings

Central console to make adjustments

Modify Internet Explorer, FireFox/Mozilla, and Media Player

Backup and Restore function

System Requirements: Windows 2000/XP/Vista, Microsoft .NET Framework

Download at: Download.com

Tech Thoughts Daily Net News – July 6, 2009

Lifehacker: Five Best Online Image Editors – Editing your images on a desktop image editor might be ideal, but sometimes you’re away from your home workstation and need to do some impromptu editing. Check out these five options favored by Lifehacker readers.

Windows 7 Deals Rile Vista Users – Vista Ultimate users are fuming and ranting over the Windows 7 upgrade offers Microsoft is extending.

EyeWonder malware incident affects popular web sites – During the last couple of hours, visitors of popular and high trafficked web sites such as CNN, BBC, Washington Post, Gamespot, WorldOfWarcraft, Mashable, …… started reporting that parts of the web sites are unreachable due to malware warnings appearing through the EyeWonder interactive digital advertising provider.

Symantec Releases Norton 2010 Betas – The public beta-test editions of Norton Internet Security 2010 and Norton AntiVirus 2010 will focus on reputation-based malware detection–a technology that can detect zero-day malware that’s never been seen before.

Neuromancer at 25: What It Got Right, What It Got Wrong – The novel, published on July 1, 1984, predicted the World Wide Web, cyberspace, and a lot of other things. Which of William Gibson’s predictions have come true, and which still seem far off?

Fix Slow UAC Prompts in Vista – If Windows Vista is slowing down or blanking your screen before security authentication, it can be fixed by changing the User Account Control settings. Find out how in today’s tip.

How do I … hunt down hard disk resource hogs? – In this Daily Drill Down, Brien Posey shows you how to focus your troubleshooting efforts to restore Windows XP to its past performance levels.

Today’s Downloads:

How to Get Windows 7 Without Windows 7: Look and Feel – Much of the buzz about Windows 7 comes from assorted user-interface improvements: A little eye-candy here, a few window-management tweaks there. Here are some of the downloads you need to get them right now.

Nimi Visuals – Nimi Visuals adds a number of special effects to your Windows desktop, such as transparent windows or glitzy lighting effects when you close a window.

Aero Shake – Windows 7 lets you minimize every window except one, just by shaking. Click and hold the title bar of any open window, then shake your mouse back and forth a few times. All the other windows will funnel down to the taskbar. Shake the window again and its counterparts reappear.

RadarSync PC Updater – Free Driver Update Software

“Different strokes for different folks” – how true that is.

Just a few days ago I reviewed DriverMax, a free driver backup/download utility, which several readers later pointed out had been crippled by the developer in the latest release. The program now allows only 2 driver downloads per 24 hour period. Limiting functionality in such a way is a counter productive move, in my view.

Contrast that developer decision with the decision of RadarSync Ltd., who did the reverse in releasing their paid update, backup, and download software, PC Updater, as freeware. As I said, “different strokes for different folks”.

I don’t normally recommend software until I have had an opportunity to thoroughly test it, including trying to break it, but in this case, based on the experience of one of my readers , Don N., I’ll make a one time exception.

Let me offer you this quote from Don N.

“Bill, I just installed RadarSync2009 (updated) and it works GREAT! Simple installation with no crappola … couldn’t believe how many outdated drivers I had!

It also allowed me to connect directly to each site for the updates, and also those sites that I had relevant programs. Updates were done without the usual site by site hassles and the installations completed without a hitch”.

That sounds like a pretty good recommendation to me. Thank you Don.

From the developer:

Updates both software and device drivers.

RadarSync`s award-winning software helps you update, backup, download and discover tons of software.

Find and download the latest updates for your computer drivers and applications. Create software Packs to backup your software.

Browse the software playlists of over 2 million community members to discover tons of new, free software.

RadarSync downloads and installs your updates, Packs, and the new software you discover in one easy click – anytime, from any computer!

Protect your PC from security threats – Avoid common computer problems – Easily restore your computer from your backup Packs.

Displays both up-to-date and out of date items – Notifies user when crucial applications are missing – Revised Help files and on screen help.

System requirements: Windows 2000, XP, Vista, and Vista 64 bit

Download at: RadarSync

Virus Alerts – Panda Security’s July 4, 2009 Report on Viruses and Intruders

Courtesy of Panda Security.

This week’s PandaLabs report looks at the Downloader.WFC Trojan, the virus Brontok.KN and the adware AVProtection 2009.

Downloader.WCF reaches computers in an email that includes a link claiming to point to a video of Michael Jackson’s death on YouTube.

On clicking the link, users download a file that passes itself off as a video. On running the file, they really install the Downloader.WCF Trojan.

To fool users, the Trojan redirects them to a legitimate web page displaying an article about Michael Jackson to make them believe the file has run correctly.

Brontok.KN is a virus designed to infect executable (.exe) files. The infected files have a folder icon and the name of the existing folder.

Additionally, it deletes files corresponding to several antivirus programs, and ends processes related to security programs and applications such as the Task Manager or the Command console.

Finally, AVProtection2009 is an adware aimed at selling users a fake antivirus. When it runs, it simulates the installation of a legitimate antivirus.

It then carries out a false scan of the affected system, supposedly detecting threats on the PC.

Afterwards, it informs users that the software is a trial version and that they must purchase a pay version to disinfect the computer.

If users do not purchase the pay version, it also displays pop-up messages.

The objective is to profit from selling the premium version of spoof antiviruses.

You can follow Panda Security’s activity online on Twitter.

Hey Sucker – Read This! Michael Jackson’s Not Dead!

The Web is the success it has become at least partially due to the fact that it can satisfy our curiosity about almost anything we can think of, including the sensational death of Michael Jackson .

We have learned to satisfy this curiosity simply by a mouse click here, and a mouse click there. In a sense, we have developed a conditioned response to “just click”. You are reading this article, in all likelihood, because the title roused your curiosity.

Using the Internet we can snoop, probe, and pry; and question, or confirm, virtually any statement, fact or opinion. We now have access to a quantity, and quality (some might dispute the quality), of information as never before. Sensational news alerts are a particularly delicious enticement.

Naturally of course, sensational news alerts, will continue to be one of the methods cyber-crooks will use to capture Internet users’ attention, particularly in emails, Google search results, and on social networking sites like Twitter and FaceBook.

Michael Jackson email scams

Since Michael Jackson’s death, email inboxes have been flooded with enticing scam emails, along with the usual emails offering pharmaceuticals, expensive watches, and other knockoff products with which we are all familiar.

Email scams work because the cyber-crooks responsible use social engineering as the hook; in other words they exploit our curiosity – the reason you clicked on this article. The fact is, we are all pretty curious creatures and let’s face it, who doesn’t like sensational topics.

Knowing this, email scammers (cyber-crooks), will continue to exploit our natural curiosity, to create an opportunity designed to drop malicious code, including rootkits, password stealers, Trojan horses, and spam bots on our computers.

With the worldwide Internet population now estimated to be 1.08 billion users, email scammers (cyber-crooks), have a huge playing field in which to practice their crafty scams.

Cyber-crooks, I’m convinced, must feel as if they are in cyber-crooks paradise given the opportunities such a large number of generally unaware potential victims present for illicit monetary gain.

Security experts (including me), argue that a significant number of malware infections could be avoided if users stopped “just clicking haphazardly” or opening the types of files that are clearly dangerous. To this point however, this type of dangerous behavior continues despite the warnings.

It continues to be true  that the majority of typical users, that I meet, are unaware of the very real dangers that spam emails and social networking links, hold for their safety, security and identity protection.

On the other hand, I’ve noted that aware Internet users rely on their own experiences and common sense to avoid malware infections. Generally, they are well aware of the hidden dangers on the Internet and have overcome that natural tendency to “just click”.

While on the Internet keep the following tips in mind:

Don’t click links in emails or social networking sites. If they come from a known source, type them on the browser’s address bar. If they come from an untrusted source, simply ignore them.

Don’t open emails that come from untrusted sources.

Don’t run files that you receive via email without making sure of their origin.

Keep your computer protected. Install a security solution and keep it up-to-date.

Despite the title of this article Michael Jackson is dead. Yes, I know you knew this.

Elsewhere on this site there are additional articles dealing with current email and financial scams.

See: Bank of America Alert – Update Your Account Scam!

See: Online Banking – Be Safe, Not Sorry!

See: Avoid Trojans/Viruses – Stop with the Crazy Clicks Already!

Tech Thoughts Daily Net News – July 4, 2009

Firefox 3.5 Boasts Major Improvements – The latest Mozilla Web browser fixes key flaws and adds some nice new capabilities under the hood.

Why Is Microsoft Windows 7 Pricing So Confusing? – Microsoft has announced the pricing scheme for the various versions of its new Windows 7 operating system pricing. And once again, Microsoft is insisting on confusing some folks. At the same time, Apple offers a relatively easy pricing plan for its upcoming Snow Leopard operating system.

10 Milestones in Portable Music – On the 30th anniversary of the debut of Sony’s original Walkman, we look back on the most memorable moments in the portable music revolution.

Lifehacker: Celebrate the Fourth of July with a New Desktop Wallpaper – If ever there were a holiday that yields colorful and flashy desktop wallpaper, it’s definitely the Fourth of July. Celebrate the Fourth on your desktop with these swanky fireworks wallpapers.

How severe can the impact of the Conficker worm be on a single city council? – Pretty severe according to a recently released a report which details the financial costs of a Conficker incident affecting Manchester City Council’s network – 1.5 million pounds in clean up costs and lost revenue from the downtime.

Free Antivirus Apps That Will Work for You – Microsoft isn’t the first vendor to offer free antivirus software to consumers and small businesses. Several vendors have free general available versions of their malware protection suites. Their strategy: get customers interested and open opportunity to partners. Here are few worth free AV packages worth considering.

Opera Sings on Windows Mobile – Opera Mobile 9.7 Beta offers improved page rendering, fast tabbed browsing, and a beautifully transparent user interface for Windows Mobile. Get the full scoop in our detailed review.

Security experts have warned of a security flaw that has been found in the iPhone – “This is about as bad as it gets as the vulnerability seems to allow unsigned code to run which circumvents a core part of iPhone’s security model,” said F-Secure’s Patrik Runald.

Stop Searching for Drivers – Let DriverMax Do It!

DriverMax takes the hassle out of reinstalling drivers.

So, the last time you had to do a full re-install of Windows, (if you haven’t yet you will), you discovered that the most frustrating part of the process was the installation of all those device drivers.

Most of us tend not to think about device drivers until the time comes when we end up searching high and low for the original install CD’s following an operating system re-install, or worse, spending hours on the Internet tracking down those hard to pin down drivers.

Well, help is at hand. DriverMax is a free register ware program that makes it easy to search for, backup and reinstall all your Windows drivers. Using DriverMax, you simply export all of your current drivers to a folder, or a compressed file of your choice.

Even better, the latest free version (June, 2009) of DriverMax allows you to download the latest driver updates. No more searching for your drivers. No more frustrating Internet searches or inserting one installation CD after the other.

After reinstalling Windows, the Import Drivers wizard helps you install the drivers that you exported earlier. The entire operation can usually be done in 5-10 minutes, as opposed to the hours that the alternative requires.

All you need to do then, is restart your computer and all those drivers will be automatically reinstalled.

Quick Facts:

Wizard based user interface

Export drivers based on filtering

Export drivers to a folder or to a compressed folder

Fast exporting and importing of drivers

Free registration code required within 30 days

This is a great little application that should be part of your recovery toolbox.

Requirements: Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP and Windows 2003

Note: You will be required to create a free account, and log in, before you can start downloading the updates that you need.

Download at: Innovative Solutions

Update: July 4, 2009 – One of my readers, Cappydawg, has pointed out that this application now restricts users to just 2 driver updates daily. You may find this to be an unreasonable restriction. Checkout RadarSync 2008 which apparently has no such restrictions – this is a free program.

Tech Thoughts Daily Net News – July 3, 2009

Lifehacker: Firefox 3.5 Portable Available for Download – Firefox lovers have no doubt already updated to the recently released Firefox 3.5 for its amazing new features, but if you’re more the portable type, Firefox 3.5 Portable Edition is officially available for download.

iPhone SMS security warning – The iPhone could stifle innovation, an academic has claimed Security experts have warned of a security flaw that has been found in the iPhone.

Firefox 3.5 Armed with Privacy Controls – Mozilla adds new privacy features to the latest version of its Firefox browser in response to features in Internet Explorer 8, Apple Safari and Google Chrome. In addition to a Private Browsing mode, Firefox 3.5 has Forget This Site and Clear Recent History capabilities.

Microsoft to offer Family Pack for Windows 7 – Ed Bott: Apple’s defenders point to the OS X Family Pack as one of the biggest differentiators between their favorite OS and Windows. That difference is likely to go away when Windows 7 is released.

MySpace, Web Servers Not Liable for Assaults, Court Rules – Internet servers such as MySpace cannot be held liable when minors are sexually assaulted by people they first meet on a website, a California appeals court ruled in an opinion filed this week.

Windows XP User: I’m No Thief – A year after Microsoft assured this reader his copy of XP was legitimate, the company changed its mind,

Social Networking Security – Recent attacks on social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and others have left users exposed to having their accounts hacked into, or worse. Here’s an overview of the phenomenon, and some hints for protecting yourself.

Vista Erroneously Finds Phantom Files – If Windows Vista’s search keeps finding files that are deleted, there’s a way to get rid of these phantom files. Find out how in this tip.

YouTube increases upload limit – You can now upload files of up to 2GB to the YouTube video-sharing site, enabling more members to post high-definition footage.

Cooliris – A Cool to the Max Browser Add-on

If you don’t have Cooliris installed on your computer you’re missing out on the best of what the web has to offer.

Web 2.0 has given us new and exciting ways to utilize the and interact with the Internet. I have to admit, when I stop to consider the benefits of Web 2.0, and the applications that got us here, the first application that comes to my mind is Cooliris.

Not Twitter, and not FaceBook, which, in my view, are just two of the social utilities that have been overhyped to the max, and which continue to be, along with many other social networking applications, tremendous gateways for cybercriminals.

Cooliris, on the other hand is a wonderfully fluid and superbly crafted free add-on for Safari, FireFox, and Internet Explorer, which allows me to interact with the Internet in ways I never considered possible on a web browser.

The developers of this free Internet Browser add-on, as well as being the developers of Cooliris Previews, a tool I couldn’t function without, on the Web, are a very talented group of people with true insight into how to create and develop tools to expand our internet horizons.

Expand your own Internet horizons, download and install Cooliris, and while you’re at it, if you’re a FireFox user, download Cooliris Previews. You’ll be glad you did.

Fast facts: (from the Cooliris site)

Search

It’s the fastest way to search Google Image Search, YouTube, Flickr, Hulu, online retailers, and other sites. Zip through search results on the 3D Wall with our search function. Switch engines effortlessly without having to re-enter the search term.

Works with hundreds of sites

Cooliris is built around the industry standard Media RSS format, and works on hundreds of sites across the Web.

Slideshows

Double clicking an image or pressing the toggle button brings you to full screen slideshow mode. There, you can play, pause, fast forward, and rewind at will.

Channels: News & Entertainment

Hulu, ESPN, BBC, SonyBMG, MSN, and more …Catch the latest news, sports, and entertainment. Even enjoy full-length movies and TV episodes.*

Preferences

Customize the look and feel of Cooliris – modify the number of rows, background image, wall angle, slideshow speed and more!

Local File Support

Quickly find and view photos stored on your computer. Enjoy images from your Hard Drive, Desktop, iPhoto, and more.

Sharing

Share stuff with friends by dragging and dropping content from the 3D Wall. You can share as many items as you’d like, and even add a personal message.

3D Window Shopping

Window shop some of the world’s largest retailers by comparing products visually on the Cooliris 3D Wall. Highlight an item to learn the price or click the shopping cart icon to jump to the corresponding product page of the retailer.

Jump to Page

A picture tells a thousands words, but sometimes you just want to see the detailed story behind it all. Cooliris makes that easy. A click of a button lets you toggle between Cooliris and the corresponding web page of any item.

Favorites

Keep track of the best items in Cooliris by adding it to your own custom feed!

Maximize/Restore

Toggle between full screen and tabbed mode.

System Requirements: Cooliris currently supports FireFox (Windows XP/Vista and Mac), Internet Explorer, and Safari (Mac), iPhone

For a Cooliris video preview checkout YouTube

Download at: Cooliris

Tech Thoughts Daily Net News – July 2, 2009

“’Mafiaboy”: Cloud Computing Will Cause Internet Security Meltdown – Notorious black-hat hacker warns that cloud-based computing will be “extremely dangerous,” and explains how he got into hacking at age 15.

IT professionals will not drop Windows XP quietly (if ever) – To put it politely and succinctly — most IT professionals are not looking forward to it. In fact, many are actively and passionately against the very idea.

Lifehacker: Google Voice Is Cool, But Do You Need It? – Here’s our guide for the curious and uninvited on whether your phones need some Google juice.

The Best Way to Photograph Fireworks – Here’s what you need to know to capture the excitement of a summer fireworks display.

Lifehacker: How to Crack a Wi-Fi Network’s WEP Password with BackTrack – You already know that if you want to lock down your Wi-Fi network, you should opt for WPA encryption because WEP is easy to crack. But did you know how easy? Take a look.

The death of Michael Jackson, brought the Net to a standstill at worst, a slow-down at best – Can you even imagine what would happen if there was a genuine national emergency, such as an outbreak of war with missiles flying? Seriously, if the death of a celebrity can almost bring down the Net, then the system has serious issues that need fixing.

Reset the Administrator Password – We inherited a PC. We can reset the PC password, no problem. But how do we reset the password to access Safe Mode?

10 ways to survive office politics – Office politics will never go away. It’s a fact of company life. However, destructive office politics can demoralize an organization, hamper productivity, and increase turnover. Here are some tips, applicable for both staff and management, on dealing with office politics.

Avira AntiVir Personal – If you have good e-mail habits–don’t open unknown messages, don’t run mystery attachments without scanning them, etc.–then the free version of Avira’s AntiVir is probably all you need to keep your computer free of viruses. Consistently rated in the top five for effectiveness, AntiVir is also low-profile.

Get a handful of useful Windows Vista configuration tips and tricks – Not everyone is going to jump on the Windows 7 bandwagon when it first arrives and many of you who made the move to Vista will stick with it for a while. Chances are good that you are still on the lookout for some handy tips and tricks to help you get the most out of the operating system.

Don’t Get Tricked by Fake Microsoft Update E-Mails – I do not know about you, but for the past couple of days my inbox has received several e-mails claiming to be from Microsoft while touting links to updates for Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express. Naturally, I clicked on those links right-away and installed me some updates (not).