I came across this today and wanted to share it with everyone. It’s AntiVirus, AntiSpyware, Firewall and more. These are the guys that inform Microsoft when “Windows” has a security problem. IT IS FREE FOR ONE YEAR.

http://www.eeye.com/html/products/blink/personal/matrix/

If you are a geek like me, then listen to security expert Steve Gibson talk with the creator of this product. (You’ll want to fast-forward through the first 5 or so minutes.)

Security Now Archive Page

I currently use AVG and am very happy with it, but I’m going to try this new product anyway and well, if I don’t like it, I’ll just put AVG back on.

If I come across any issues, I’ll update this posting…

UPDATE: 05/13
- I found the firewall notifications a little annoying and since I am behind a hardware firewall (Linksys Router) I disabled Application and System firewall.

UPDATE: 05/19
- Sorry, on my older system I found that it just slowed me down too much so I uninstalled and put AVG back on. Also, I’ve installed AVG’s new Anti-Spyware tool to give it a try.

Steve Gibson, security expert of GRC.com, talks about browser security.

Why is Internet Explorer so insecure? What can you do to secure it? And why is it so hard to make a secure browser? Steve talks about security policy vs. browser flaws, how he uses IE safely, and why Java and Javascript are inherently more secure than ActiveScript and ActiveX.

Have a listen, read on-line, or view PDF…

Booting up my computer this morning I see that Microsoft has finally fixed this security flaw mentioned in my previous post.

If any of you have followed the instructions I quoted and installed Ilfak Guilfanov’s patch then it is now safe to remove, as long as you have applied the Microsoft Updated from today. You SHOULD REMOVE THIS PATCH to restore full functionality to Windows Metafile processing once Windows has been officially updated and repaired.

To Remove: Simply open the Windows Control Panel “Add/Remove Programs”, where you will find the “Windows WMF Metafile Vulnerability HotFix” listed. Remove it, then reboot.

The Security Now pod cast from “This Week In Tech” has an interview with Ilfak Guilfanov if you are interested in listening in.

SN-021.mp3

URGENT SECURITY WARNING

I want to help spread the word about a threat that is going around the net right now which Microsoft has known about since December, but has yet to fix.

I won’t bore you with all the techno babble that goes along with this threat, but I’ll give you the resources to learn more about it or simply just fix it.

To learn more go to: http://grc.com/sn/notes-020.htm

To listen to security expert Steve Gibson talk about it, listen to this MP3.

For Windows XP users, both Home and Professional, here is a temporary fix to the problem:
http://www.grc.com/miscfiles/wmffix_hexblog14.exe

Way to start 2006 with at bang Microsucksoft.