Category: Security

Even if you have a firewall software installed, it can allow some information to be leaked without your confirmation. The LeakOut tool checks if your firewall is configured in such a way as to leak any information easily. LeakOut is a simple tool to demonstrate how it is possible, in certain circumstances, to circumvent the outbound control/filtering systems of personal firewalls. So why not test the configuration of your firewall?

The Windows HOSTS file can be used to redirect a domain name to a different IP address. This technique is often used by malware programs to redirect users of infected computers to phishing websites or to infected websites. You can always reset the HOSTS file back to the default – restoring its contents to the same state as they were when you installed Windows.

When you install AVG 2011 free edition, it starts to make a cache of trustworthy files. These files are then skipped in the future scans making the scan faster. But this caching of trustworthy files takes a lot of time and keeps your hard disk spinning for hours. If you want then you can disable cache server in AVG 2011.

We have previously published an article on how to automatically scan an inserted USB stick for viruses. The latest edition AVG antivirus – AVG 2011 already supports this functionality without using any extra tools. But this option for automatically scanning a removable device is disabled by default in AVG 2011 free edition.

If you download a file from the internet and feel suspicious if the file is clean or infected, then you can use the free online Kaspersky File Scanner to scan this file. The best thing is that Kaspersky File Scanner always scans using the latest virus definitions.

Symantec Security Check tests your computer’s exposure to a wide range of online threats. It’s free and an effective tool that helps determine your Internet security needs. Symantec Security Check checks your system for hacker exposure check, windows vulnerability check, trojan horse check, antivirus product check and virus protection update check.

The popular Russian anti-virus software vendor, Kaspersky, offers Kaspersky Virus Removal Tool 2010 for free personal use. It is is a utility designed to remove all types of threats from infected computer systems. It uses the same detection algorithms and virus definitions as realized in the commercial Kaspersky anti-virus software.

It is always a good idea to scan your files (especially the downloaded files over the internet and the USB sticks your friends bring) with more than one antivirus software products. Even if you have one resident antivirus program installed on your computer, you can still add Emsisoft Commandline Scanner to the right-click context menu to give you the option to scan with it.

These days computer viruses are spreading mainly through two mediums – the internet (web pages, emails and infected software etc.) and the USB sticks. USB sticks can carry autorun viruses which execute as soon as you insert the USB stick. The infamous Conficker worm, first found in 2009, spreads both through the internet and the USB stick. But do not worry, now you can automatically scan and remove all viruses on a USB stick as soon as it is inserted in your computer.