Sean Walther's Blog

Computer Security: Microsoft Security Essentials

I’m not always the biggest fan of Microsoft, but I have to admit they have a large reach and significant resources.

Recently a friend of mine mentioned his MSN account got hacked, and that it was a vulnerability in “some Microsoft software”.

It’s scary just how much your email account controls nowadays.  In my friend’s example, his credit cards were manipulated, his facebook account stolen, his email was hijacked (duh), and many of his other accounts linked to that email were stolen.  Our email account is used to validate bank accounts (occasionally, although many other means of security are used), many of our “social” accounts, medical records, credit cards, and almost everything we do.

Microsoft recently suggested that he install their recent piece of security software to prevent this …

What can you do to protected yourself, for free?

Recently (in the past 6 months, I’m not ahead of the curve on this one) Microsoft released Microsoft Security Essentials.

It is free (for those of us with legitimate copies of windows, if yours isn’t legal, you shouldn’t try this), and seems to be benign.  It runs silently in the background (Microsoft learned from that annoying UAC thing), and hopefully does what it says it does.

Microsoft has tried “Defender” before, and this looks like an update to that product line, but it is more passive.  It is free, because it does NOT supply many of the things we expect from security software.

Microsoft Security Essentials is a basic virus / security / spyware protector.  I am running it on my systems to test it out right now.

I recommend installing this, even if you already have other anti-virus software, because I trust Microsoft will leverage this tool to help secure both Microsoft services, and software to the best of their ability.

What else can I do for computer security?

I’m running Windows 7 64-bit and currently do very little to protect from viruses.  My computer automatically updates every day with patches, but that is about it.  I have no other security software installed.

The best thing to do for computer security is know that most people out there, do NOT want to give you a service for free.  You also need to know that you are, most likely, not special.  You did NOT win that prize, that “attractive” girl doesn’t want to talk to you in particular, and the only thing “just a click away” is a virus or malware.

Otherwise, a well maintained firewall, upgraded routers, and general safe email behavior keep a system clean.

I have not had a virus on my computer since I adopted Vista a few years ago, and hope to maintain that record.

Tags: Defender, Hack, Microsoft, Microsoft Security Essentials, MSN

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