What to look for in a antispyware program? Should I buy on or get it for free?

Oh, yeah, spyware... again? Wherever you turn your head, you can't escape it, and if you want to work on your computer without worries, you may even have to pay for a good antispyware program...or even two.

Windows Defender is a free antispyware software (it comes with Windows XP and Vista) that is supposed to protect your pc against spyware. But why do so many people choose other third party software? Today it's time to reveal 10 reasons that make Microsoft's program not good enough to deliver effective protection.

To allow only certain users to access your shared files or printer, you need to create accounts for them. Let's see how!

Why create user accounts?

Security doesn't mean that once you got a firewall and a good antivirus , everything's fine. When more people use the same computer, restrictions must be used to ensure that personal data remains confidential. This is exactly the main purpose of creating user accounts in Windows Vista, so that each user is able to have its own files, its own settings, and be the only one able to change them (apart from the system administrator, of course).

Creating user accounts for password-protected sharing

• Click Start, enter the Control Panel and choose User Accounts and Family Safety.
• Choose the first selection in the screen that appears Add or Remove User Accounts.
• Inside the accounts management screen that appears, choose Create New Account.
• Create a Standard User or an Administrator, depending on your needs. While the first one can use most software and change settings that don't have anything to do with other users or the security of your computer, the Administrator-class users have complete access, being able to make any changes.
• After creating the accounts, return to the User Accounts area from the Control Panel.
• Choose Manage Another Account and click the user names you have created.
• For each of them, choose Create Password and assign a password.
• Select Accept Changes when you are happy with the password you have entered. The user names and passwords have to be created on any PC that you are going to share files on to for access from other computers on your network.

At last, if you have Public folder sharing turned on, you can simply copy or move files and folders to that location, and anyone with a user account and password on your computer, as well as all network users are going to gain access to your Public folder and subfolders.

Related articles:

• Protect your computer from spyware with Windows Defender
• About viruses and Windows Vista Antivirus
• Protect your computer with Windows Vista Firewall
• How to create a network in Windows Vista
• Share files, folders and printers

While Windows Vista doesn't have an antivirus, it comes with a capable antispyware application built in. Let's find out how to use it!

Windows Vista doesn't come with a full featured antivirus program built in, but most people agree that its antispyware solution, called simply Windows Defender, does its job well. Since it is integrated in all Windows Vista versions, all that you should do is getting to know it better, so let's start today's trip!

What is spyware?

First of all, you should know that the threat that Windows Defender was built to fight is called spyware. This term has come to describe a wide range of unwanted software, including annoying (and unwanted, of course) pop-up ads, jokes that can ruin your day and, worst of all, stealthy programs that can steal private information such as bank account information or personal emails.

In most cases, programs recognized as spyware are not a direct threat to your data or security, but you shouldn't take any chances, so be sure to use Windows Defender on a regular basis and keep it updated! Now, let's see how things are done.

How to use the Windows Defender

Just like most components included in Windows Vista, using the Defender is not hard at all, but some guidance can help you get started in an instant. The things we'll learn about Windows Defender are how to run it automatically, how to monitor programs that run on your computer and how to perform manual scans.

Running Windows Defender Automatically

• Press Start, go to All Programs and choose Windows Defender.
• Inside the Windows Defender window, go to Tools, and select Options.
• From the Options dialog box select the Automatically Scan My Computer check box if it's not already selected.
• Now, set the frequency, time of day, and type of scan you want to be performed automatically from the drop down lists.
• Be sure that the Check for Updated Definitions Before Scanning check box is selected, so every automatic scan will use the latest spyware definitions available.
• Despite the fact that Windows Defender is activated by default in Vista, you should scroll down inside the Options dialog box and make sure that the Use Windows Defender check box is enabled.
• Click Save to finish and apply your changes.

Monitoring programs with Windows Defender

Windows Defender integrates with Internet Explorer and scans all downloaded files, as well as protecting you from unwanted programs that may try to run and came as email attachments or using another method. While this automatic monitoring feature is excellent, the user can also manage and monitor the new installed programs and even more.

• Press Start, go to All Programs and choose Windows Defender.
• Inside the Windows Defender window, go to Tools, and select Software Explorer.
• In the Software Explorer window, click the Category button.
• Now, choose a software category to display
• Click the program you want to monitor.
• Depending on the category selected, your options may change.
• To display the Task Manager, click Task Manager, while for Startup Programs, you can use the buttons to remove/disable/enable those items.
• Before removing programs from Startup, be sure to check the information such as publisher, version, installation date/time to verify whether a certain program is unwanted or not.
• When all your work here is done, click the Close button to exit.

Manually running Windows Defender Scans

• Press Start, go to All Programs and choose Windows Defender.
• Inside the Windows Defender window, click the down-arrow on the Scan button.
• Now, choose one of the three available options: Quick Scan, Full Scan or Custom Scan.
• While the Quick Scan scans only the places that are more likely to have "visitors", the Full Scan checks every single file on your computer, and it's going to take a longer time.
• If you choose Custom Scan, you should click the Select button in the Select Scan Options dialog box that opens and configure the Drives and Folders to scan.
• Click OK after setting the scan options.
• Now, click Scan Now and take a coffee break! ;)

These were the basics of using Windows Defender, and if you take your time to learn them, this may prove really useful in the future. As always, we advise you to stay clean and update your Windows Defender as often as possible and download files only from safe locations!

Related articles:

• Protect your computer with Windows Vista Firewall
• About viruses and Windows Vista Antivirus
• Protect your network using user accounts

Despite the fact that there's no Vista Antivirus built in, we have some interesting things to tell you about Windows Vista and viruses.

Some older programs may not be yet compatible with Windows Vista, but when it comes to viruses, you shouldn't try your luck. There is no Windows Vista Antivirus that comes from Microsoft, and while the Windows Defender can protect you from a certain category of threats, you'll find yourself unprotected from many other computer "diseases".

What is a virus?

Most definitions say that a virus is a computer program that replicates itself by attaching to another program, just like the viruses from the real world do. The difference is that while the viruses we all know in the real world attack living beings, the computer viruses attack your data or, in some cases, you hardware devices.

There are more different "species" of computer viruses, and sometimes there's no clear border between them, so you can forget about "worms", "Trojans", "dialers" and other terms - they are all viruses, and that's enough to know!

What about Windows Vista Antivirus?

As we said before, there's no Windows Vista Antivirus, so you have to choose a third party program to help you fight viruses, but until then, there are some things that you must keep in mind to avoid becoming endangered.

How to keep away from viruses

Even when using an antivirus software, some bad things may happen, or your antivirus settings may leave some security holes that you should watch carefully. While we won't talk about third party antivirus programs now, you should be really careful to respect the following:

• Always keep your Windows Vista up to date. Last updates can prevent a lot of trouble, so be sure to have the latest updates installed as soon as possible!
• Be careful with your emails! Files attached to email messages can be infected, and if the sender is a friend (or seems to be one), that doesn't mean you don't have to be cautious!
• Web sites can be another source of viruses, so be careful where your Web surfing takes you! Try to avoid warez sites and other obscure online places (porn websites), because you never know what lies beneath a friendly interface
• Use an antivirus software! If you don't want to install and have such a program run all the time, you can use various online scanners, such as Panda Online Scan . While they won't protect you all the time, at least you'll be able to tell if your system is clean or not.
• If you decided to use an antivirus, be sure to enable all its automatic scanning capabilities! This way, if you download virused content, the harmful code won't be allowed to execute.
  

Choosing an antivirus for your needs can be a rather tricky job, and checking our reviews can help you make a decision. The first Vista Antivirus we'll have here is Avast , but there are more to follow, so be sure to check back from time to time and don't forget to stay safe!

Related articles:

• Protect your computer with Windows Vista Firewall
• Protect your computer from spyware with Windows Defender
• Protect your network using user accounts

To protect your computer from intruders, Windows Vista Firewall must be turned on and set the right way. Let's see how!

The same way previous Windows versions had a firewall built in, the Windows Vista Firewall is present for the same purpose - to protect you from the outside world. Unless you use a Virtual Private Network (VPN), your firewall, together with your antivirus software will shield your computer from incoming threats.

What is a firewall?

A firewall is a software application that acts like a barrier between your computer and the outside world - the local area network and, of course, the Internet. Firewalls can be built into your operating system, like Windows Vista Firewall (which we're going to talk about today), or installed as additional programs.

How to use Windows Vista Firewall

Using Vista’s built-in firewall is not hard at all, but the start seems to be the hardest part, as always, so let us guide you...

• Open your computer's Control Panel, and choose Check This Computer's Security Status
• The Windows Security Center windows opens, and the Firewall is the first item to be noticed in the upper area; be sure that the Firewall is marked as On
• If the firewall is off, click the Windows Firewall link located in the left pane and then choose Change Settings
• In the Windows Firewall window that opens, select the On button and press OK

You are now sure that the your computer is protected from unwanted network connections.

To take care of things the right way, you should create exceptions for the programs you want to allow to connect to the network or Internet and don't have predefined exceptions already.

How to Create Exceptions

Creating exceptions can be done in 3 ways:

1. click Unblock when Windows Vista Firewall blocks a program and asks you what to do
2. set up a program exception in the Exceptions tab
3. open a port in the Exceptions tab in the firewall.

The easiest way is to let the program ask you what to do, but sometimes you need to set the exception manually first, so let's see how this can be done.

• Open Control Panel and click on "Allow a program through Windows firewall" under the Security section
• make sure the Exceptions tab is selected and click Add Program
• Once the Add A Program dialog box appears, choose the program for which to allow connections, or simply click Browse and select the program from your computer
• Click Change Scope and select the range of computers allowed to connect to yours

A lot of complaints exist about the reliability of the Windows Vista Firewall, and no matter how accurate these reports may be, we know there's always something better than what you get with your operating system, and we'll show you an alternative really soon. In the meantime, feel free to learn the basics of using a firewall with Windows Vista’s build-in firewall!

Related Articles:

• Protect your computer from spyware with Windows Defender
• About viruses and Windows Vista Antivirus
• Protect your network using user accounts