Features
Spring clean your PC
20080115 [Computer Buyer]
Inside the security centre
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1 Warning signs All versions of Vista include the Security Center to look after the various tools that protect your system, such as firewall, anti-virus, automatic updates and malware protection. If any of these are disabled or need attention, a warning icon will appear in the system tray. You'll see this soon after turning on a new PC, because anti-virus doesn't come with Vista; you have to add it yourself. Security Center will alert you if your anti-virus product is absent, disabled or out of date. Some PCs come with a trial version of an anti-virus package, and you'll be alerted when it times out. You can click the icon or the pop-up message to open Security Center, which can also be accessed via Control Panel. |
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2 The bulk of the Security Center window is purely informative. If any of the security options are disabled, they appear in red rather than green, and the option to enable the associated feature is displayed. You can get more detailed control over individual options using the links to the left of the window or by running the relevant program and adjusting its settings. The Firewall section indicates whether Windows' own firewall is enabled or if other firewall software is installed, while Automatic Updates indicates whether or not system updates will be automatically downloaded and installed. The Malware Protection section monitors Windows Defender, which helps protect against spyware, as well as informing you if you haven't installed anti-virus software. Finally, the Other Security Settings section ensure that Internet Explorer's settings are secure and that User Account Control is enabled to prevent unwanted system changes by users. |
