[X]My Assistant

[DB2ME]

Here is a list of some useful tools that help keep your computer safe and running clean and smooth.

• Adaware - http://www.lavasoft.de
  Ad-aware Standard Edition is THE award winning, free, multicomponent detection and removal utility that consistently leads the industry in safety, user satisfaction, support and reliability.
  With its ability to comprehensively scan your memory, registry, hard, removable and optical drives for known datamining, aggressive advertising, and tracking components, Ad-aware will provide the user with the confidence to surf the Internet knowing that their privacy will remain intact. Let Ad-aware protect your privacy.
  
• Spybot Search and Destroy - http://www.safer-networking.org
  Search & Destroy can detect and remove spyware of different kinds from your computer. Spyware is a relatively new kind of threat that common anti-virus applications do not yet cover. If you see new toolbars in your Internet Explorer that you didn't intentionally install, if your browser crashes, or if your browser start page has changed without your knowing, you most probably have spyware. But even if you don't see anything, you may be infected, because more and more spyware is emerging that is silently tracking your surfing behaviour to create a marketing profile of you that will be sold to advertisement companies. Spybot-S&D is free, so there's no harm in trying to see if something snooped into your computer, too
  
• HiJackThis - http://www.tomcoyote.org/hjt/
  HijackThis is a tool, that lists all installed browser add-on, buttons, starup items and allows you to inspect them, and optionally remove selected items. The program can create a backup of your original settings and also ignore selected items. Additional features include a simple list of all startup items, default start page, online updates and more.
  
• Zone Alarm Firewall - http://www.zonelabs.com
  Zone Labs is the leader in personal and distributed firewall technology trusted on over 20 million PCs.
  Yis a list of some useful tools that help keep your computer safe and running clean and smooth.
  
  • Adaware - http://www.lavasoft.de
    Ad-aware Standard Edition is THE award winning, free, multicomponent detection and removal utility that consistently leads the industry in safety, user satisfaction, support and reliability.
    With its ability to comprehensively scan your memory, registry, hard, removable and optical drives for known datamining, aggressive advertising, and tracking components, Ad-aware will provide the user with the confidence to surf the Internet knowing that their privacy will remain intact. Let Ad-aware protect your privacy.
    
  • Spybot Search and Destroy - http://www.safer-networking.org
    Search & Destroy can detect and remove spyware of different kinds from your computer. Spyware is a relatively new kind of threat that common anti-virus applications do not yet cover. If you see new toolbars in your Internet Explorer that you didn't intentionally install, if your browser crashes, or if your browser start page has changed without your knowing, you most probably have spyware. But even if you don't see anything, you may be infected, because more and more spyware is emerging that is silently tracking your surfing behaviour to create a marketing profile of you that will be sold to advertisement companies. Spybot-S&D is free, so there's no harm in trying to see if something snooped into your computer, too
    
  • HiJackThis - http://www.tomcoyote.org/hjt/
    HijackThis is a tool, that lists all installed browser add-on, buttons, starup items and allows you to inspect them, and optionally remove selected items. The program can create a backup of your original settings and also ignore selected items. Additional features include a simple list of all startup items, default start page, online updates and more.
    
  • Zone Alarm Firewall - http://www.zonelabs.com
    Zone Labs is the leader in personal and distributed firewall technology trusted on over 20 million PCs.
    YOur proven firewall technology protects your identity by keeping hackers away from your passwords, account numbers, and valuable data.
    Our advanced privacy solutions stops Web sites from following you online and stops annoying pop-ups.
    We build software that everyone can use. Novices can protect their computers immediately. Advanced users can personalize their privacy protection.
    Zone Labs continues to win its share of industry awards. These are products you can trust!
    
  • Visual Zone (Zone Alarm add-on) - http://www.visualizesoftware.com/
    Although truly one of the best software firewalls around, ZoneAlarm does an even worse job of gathering and displaying information about attacks than BlackICE.
    Meet VisualZone: the end to all your questions! The information that is collected during the intrusion is complemented by all the information ZoneAlarm missed. And ZoneAlarm misses a lot! But don't worry, VisualZone finds all available information you're looking for.
    
  • Kerio Personal Firewall - http://www.kerio.com/kpf_home.html
    Kerio Personal Firewall (KPF) helps users control how their computers exchange data with other computers on the Internet or local network. Within an organization, Kerio Personal Firewall prevents a single computer from attacks initiated by internal users. Remote workstations and laptops running KPF are protected from Internet born attacks.
    
  • Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer v1.1.1 - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details...;DisplayLang=en
    
    HAs part of Microsoft's Strategic Technology Protection Program, and in response to direct customer need for a streamlined method of identifying common security misconfigurations, Microsoft has developed the Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer (MBSA). Version 1.1.1 of MBSA includes a graphical and command line interface that can perform local or remote scans of Windows systems. MBSA runs on Windows Server 2003, Windows 2000, and Windows XP systems and will scan for common security misconfigurations in the following products: Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Internet Information Server (IIS) 4.0 and 5.0, SQL Server 7.0 and 2000, Internet Explorer (IE) 5.01 and later, and Office 2000 and 2002. MBSA also scans for missing security updates for Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, IIS, SQL, Exchange, IE, and Windows Media Player.
  
  
  Cheers!

[dana]

From a Panda Software press release today...[quote]Microsoft has released version 1.2 of Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer (MBSA), which includes extra features and supports new products.

The improvements incorporated in the new version of MBSA include alternate file support, a check for Internet Connection Firewall (ICF), and custom Internet Explorer zones interpretation.

The additional products supported by this version of MBSA compared to the previous version are the following: Exchange Server 2003, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC) 2.5, 2.6, 2.7 and 2.8, Microsoft Virtual Machine, MSXML 2.5, 2.6, 3.0 and 4.0, BizTalk Server 2000, 2002 and 2004, Commerce Server 2000 and 2002, Content Management Server (CMS) 2001 and 2002, SNA Server 4.0, and Host Integration Server (HIS) 2000 and 2004.

At the moment, version 1.2 of MBSA can be downloaded in English, German, French and Japanese. For more information:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/tools/mbsahome.asp