Windows Defender - an enhanced security feature

Are you preparing for IT certification? With practice questions, study notes, interactive quizzes, tips and technical articles, uCertify PrepKits ensure that you get a solid grasp of core technical concepts to ace your certification exam in first attempt.

Windows Defender - an enhanced security feature

Rating:

Computer and Internet have taken the whole world in their grip. There is no field left where computer is not used. We use computers in education, medial, banks, and big and small enterprises. It is a good sign that people all over the world have become more technology friendly and they are ready to accept computers as an integral part of their job. However, there are certain people who are working to abuse the technology by creating malicious programs such as virus, malware, spyware, etc. to damage computers.

Software developers are creating software, which can protect computers from such threats. Windows Vista has introduced one such tool known as Windows Defender to ward off spyware from attacking computers.

Spyware is a malicious program that is more dangerous than virus. A user can unknowingly install a spyware by visiting an unprotected site or by installing an application that contains spyware. Antivirus software is not enough to detect and remove spyware from computers. That is why Microsoft has introduced Windows Defender, an anti spyware software to protect computers from spyware attacks.

Windows Defender relies on definitions, which are used to detect whether or not a file contains spyware. If a definition is out-of-date, Defender cannot detect spyware. Windows update is used to regularly revise the definitions used by Windows Defender so that it can detect a spyware and protect computers.

Note: Windows Defender can be configured to manually check for updates using Windows Update.

Configure Windows Defender:

A user can access Windows Defender either by clicking on Start > All Programs > Windows Defender or through Control Panel > Windows Security Center. You can configure Windows Defender to perform a manual scan of computers in one of the following ways:

• Quick scan: It configures Windows Defender to scan area of computer, which are prone to spyware attack.
• Full scan: It configures Windows Defender to scan the memory, running processes, and all folders.
• Custom scan: It configures Windows Defender to scan only certain files and folders as recommended by a user.

Note: By default, Windows Defender performs a Quick scan at 2AM.

Capabilities of Windows Defender:

Windows Defender has many features of an operating system. Below is the list of Windows Defender real-time protection activities:

• It examines the changes to the list of programs that start automatically when Windows starts or when a user logs on. An unwanted software can add itself to the Auto Start list and can continue to run.
• It examines the changes to the system configuration. There are many types of unwanted software that attempts to change the default configuration of a system.
• It examines the changes made to Internet Explorer settings. Any changes made to the settings can be risky for the security of computers.
• It examines the changes to Internet Explorer add-ons.
• It examines when an application tries to install itself.
• It examines software that attempts to install as add-ons.

Microsoft SpyNet:

Microsoft has created an online Microsoft SpyNet community that helps a user to know how other users respond to software that has not yet been classified for risks. You can subscribe to this community for free.

Rating: