Tech DC

My favorite free security software for Windows is Microsoft Security Essentials from Microsoft, the folks who should be protecting their operating system.
Microsoft just came out with a beta of their next version, Microsoft Security Essentials 2.0 featuring:

Windows Firewall integration– allows you to turn on or off the Windows Firewall during setup.
Enhanced protection from web-based threats [...]

I have mentioned several times that Conficker is considered the most dangerous virus to date.
The Atlantic Monthy magazine has a great article titled The Enemy Within on the history of Conficker and where we are now. It’s a fascinating read for both technical security buffs and non techies.
It starts:
The Enemy Within by Mark Bowden
When the [...]

Bootable CDs to the Rescue
Some viruses are so bad that they lock you out of your computer’s administrative controls. When that happens, consider using a bootable CD that can clean the hard drive of viruses. This often fixes things enough to let you get into Windows and make further repairs.

AVG Rescue CD
My favorite is the [...]

Gina Trapani wrote up a great article on the infamous Antispyware 2009 and how to get rid of it. This software pretends to be legitimate antivirus software, but is itself a virus. There are many variants of the software and I wrote about one of them called Antivirus XP 2008.
How to Remove XP AntiSpyware by [...]

I used to tell people that the newest Internet Explorer 8 was safe enough. But recent events have changed my mind. The Chinese attacks on Google over Christmas were perpetrated using a vulnerability that exists in all versions of Internet Explorer. Microsoft still hasn’t fixed this.
Because of security concerns, both the German and French governments [...]