Be cautious of the people who contact or attempt to contact you.

You may never know, today’s advanced technology can also be used as instruments of deception.

Never entertain unsolicited phone instant messages, email messages or any other type of communication from unknown individuals/parties asking for information especially private and undisclosed ones. Some may even request information about your company so unless you are certain about the person’s authority, never supply the information.
Some people would try to “fish” for financial information using the email, never respond to these especially email solicitations for this information. Beware of the links and documents attached with the message following links sent in email.

To be continued…

What is a phishing attack?

Phishing is done by people who desire to obtain information, be it personal or most oftentimes financial to be used for their own motives. People who perform phishing attacks usually make use of email or web sites. They may send emails from a reputable institution such as bank accounts asking for information. And when the recipient of the message responds with the requested information, they will be able to use it to access to the accounts.

This leads to several net crimes, they can invade your accounts to extract personal information, pretend that you are them or even steal money from your bank account.

Thousands of cases like these were reported in the past years. So it would be wise to be cautious in who we spill our private information.

To be continued…

Customer Support
AVG Technologies has provided AVG Anti-Virus 8 users with an e-mail technical support within. In their site Grisoft.com there is FAQs site which will be useful for users who are having trouble. There is also a downloadable 124-page users’ manual in PDF format. Like the previous versions AVG does not provide telephone technical support or a free online user’s forum for entertaining questions from troubled users..

Conclusion
Overall, AVG Anti-Virus 8.0 works great on the detection and removal of virus, malware and spyware. It also works well in blocking Web threats. Future updates are also available to strengthen it and improve its performance. But it would be better if it has more technical support options in the future.

New Feature: The Link Scanner

The AVG Anti-Virus 8.0 newest addition, the Linkscanner technology promises to give AVG a more versatile protection. Linkscanner, developed by Exploit Prevention Labs, is known to obstruct malicious content from Web sites from getting in your computer.
Adding this to the system, surfing online with AVG Anti Virus 8.0 seems to be more secure than before.

What AVG Anti-Virus 8.0 linkscanner feature lacks is additional information about the exploit, unlike the standalone Linkscanner Pro package, which provides detailed information about the exploit it finds as well as a rich log archive so that sites with malicious software can be easily identified.

Although not as powerful as the Linkscanner Pro, AVG’s Linkscanner works great for an additional feature.

To be continued…

Interface

The user interface of the AVG AntiVirus 8.0 is an improved version of the previous design. However it turned out to be somewhat complicated, the right windowpane seems too crowded with the large icons (there are nine icons). Under each icon is a note that indicates whether the feature is active or not. When an icon is clicked the application will either display additional information about that tool (if an icon tool is clicked) or run that specific scan.
On the other hand the left windowpane only has three selections.

The Overview , Computer Scanner, and Update Now Options.

Computer Scanner has only one option, Scan All.

Update Now is intended to search the grisoft.com for updates.

There is a toolbar on top of the windows which contains the advanced feature options.

To be Continued…

AVG just released the AVG Anti Virus 8.0 last March 2008. And it is now equipped with the Linkscanner Technology, an advance that can actively block malicious content from site in the world wide web. These sites may either be hijacked or designed to send malicious content that can harm your computer. There are thousands of reported cases about this matter around the globe.

Also the AVG integrated its three past innovations (the antivirus, antispyware, and antirootkit) into one powerful product. T also features the drive-by download protection that contributed to AVG’s award winning effectiveness

It does a great job in the blocking and removing virus, malware and spyware. However its somewhat exhibits slow performance when it was tested by CNET Labs. Even though the individual applications load fast, the scan and boot appeared to be slow.

To be Continued…

By: MJ

The first of its kind, the ZoneAlarm ForceField is a virtualized browser security service specially fitted to cater to the safety needs of online web surfing. Using a one-of-a-kind virtualization engine, it shields the computer and its sensitive data from internet threats like phishing, dangerous file downloads, and spyware.

It works by creating an exact replica of your computer’s digital identity. The replica also performs the same activities that you do but can take hits from the internet threats. Identity thieves, phishers, and other threats are outsmarted by the fake identity and are fooled into thinking they have hit jackpot when in reality, they have not.

By: MJ

1. It actively searches for threats. Each week, it scans over 595 million websites. When it encounters a new high-risk threat, it automatically downloads real-time security updates without any intervention required.
2. It is quick to report attacks on websites or brands and also does a report on web server Achilles’ Heels. Part of the daily activities of WebSense is to watch the websites and brands so that any attack can reported immediately. It also conducts a search from a hacker’s point of view of any vulnerabilities in the web server.
3. It has industry-grade web filtering capabilities that are some of the most accurate and comprehensive in today.

By: MJ

Based on the corporation’s own ThreatSeeker Network, WebSense Web Security Suite is a revolutionary solution to web security threats. WebSense Web Security Suite protects organizations, companies, and corporate from known internet threat attacks as well as new ones. Some of the threats that Web Security Suite protects against are bots, phishing attacks, spyware, malicious mobile codes, and keylogger backchannel communications. The suite also offers the Web Protection Services that protects organization or corporate websites, brands, and servers.

The difference that Web Security Suite has over the others is that it blocks spyware and keylogger backchannel communications from reaching their host servers. This innovative approach has revolutionized the front of combating internet threats.

By: MJ

Just now, AT&T Corporation has just released a highly technical network based security service that provides instant Web Security via advanced Web content and instant-message filtering. The new addition to their enterprise security portfolio is now available to several US companies as well as other parts of the world. Companies are enabled to conduct filters for malware and spyware without the need for bulky hardware or other software requirements through the new service. An additional feature is that AT&T’s Web Security is specially designed to monitor and watch all the non-encrypted traffic in the Web. Companies can merge the new service with existing AT&T security solutions or choose for the service to act independently.