Windows 7 – Security Essentials You Need to Know

Guest writer Mark Schneider gives you some important pointers on how to take advantage of Windows 7 security features.

Windows 7 is a big deal. Many people, in the tech industry, believe it will be the catalyst for the next tech boom in hardware sales. Could be – Windows 7 is a great OS.

Staying secure in Windows 7 however, still requires users to be careful. If you upgrade to Windows 7, one of the first things I recommend most users do is, go to UAC in “start search” and click on “Change User Account Control Settings”.

Once the UAC window appears, use the new slider interface to move your security settings all the way to the top to “Always Notify Me” – the most secure setting you can have. The reason is obvious: the UAC is there for a reason, to protect you. There’s no point in turning down the protection you already have built in to your computer.

To back up this point, I found a post from Sophos, a security software company, that found a random sample of 10 malware samples infected Windows 7 running UAC, at its default mode. It also ran the test on a machine running no security software.

Neowin, a popular Windows blog, however cried fowl, and ripped the methodology of the “study”. I admit, Sophos sells sell security software so their motives might be questionable. But I still think it’s prudent, and wise, to turn up your UAC.

So the next step after turning up UAC is to make sure you have an antivirus program. The free Microsoft Security Essentials is a fine, free program and I’m running it on several machines. I’d also get Malwarebytes Anti-Malware software, and top it off with SuperAntispyware another great antispyware program.

Microsoft Security Essentials

Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware

SUPERAntiSpyware

Another common item on the security checklist – type “Folders” into “start search”, open “Folder Options” and select “View”. Uncheck “Hide Extensions for known File Types” – this way, if someone sends you a picture you normally see as a .jpg file but it is in fact, an executable file, then you will see the jpg.exe it really is.

Pictures don’t normally have executables in them, and for some unknown reason Microsoft continues to hide known extensions by default.

Security threats being what they are, a few quick techniques will help keep you safe, even with the latest, and greatest, from Microsoft.

This is a guest post by Mark Schneider of the Techwalker Blog, who brings a background as a high level techie, to the blogging world.

Why not pay a visit to Mark’s site today.

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