AVG Brings LinkScanner Malware Detector to the Mac

A company that provides antivirus offerings for PC users is bringing a free link checker to the Mac.

AVG Technologies plans to unveil a Mac version of AVG LinkScanner, a free download that scans Website links for potential threats. AVG says its LinkScanner application checks Web pages in real-time, posting a warning to users if the software finds a Website that could pose potential problems.

"Every single time you click on a link, any time you're accessing information on the Internet, we scan it, looking for malware and phishing attempts," J.R. Smith, CEO of AVG, told Macworld.

AVG's software doesn't rely on blacklisted sites that have been flagged for potential harmful content. Rather, the application uses real-time checking to alert users to potentially problematic sites. The company relies heavily on a large user base--tens of millions of users, according to AVG--to ensure users are surfing to secure Web pages.

Mac users have lived largely free of malware and viruses, as malware creators have focused on attacking more widely used platforms. That figures to change as the Mac becomes a more widely used system, thanks to the growth of both OS X and Apple's mobile iOS. But the real threat is posed by the growth of social networking sites that increase the risk Web surfers could fall prey to phishing and other malicious attacks.

"We're not here screaming that Macs are vulnerable," said Smith, adding that like any platform the Mac OS has its vulnerabilities. Rather, Smith continues, the threats posed by attacks via social networks threaten users regardless of platform. "We're protecting people in some cases from themselves."

Look at the increasing prominence of shortened URLs, Smith said. Savvy Web surfers used to be able to look at a URL and spot a potential phishing attempt; condensed URLs make that harder to do. "You can't see [the full URL]," Smith added. "You can't be your own policeman."

The free download of AVG LinkScanner is designed for Mac OS X 10.5 and 10.6; it runs on Mozilla Firefox 3.x and later as well as Safari 3.x and later, including the newly released version 5 of Apple's Web browser.

source: pcworld.com

Seagate claims world's fastest laptop drive

Seagate has officially announced its Momentus XT, a hybrid hard/solid state drive (SSD) that it claims is the world's fastest 2.5in drive for laptops.

The device is designed to offer performance comparable to a costly Flash SSD, but with the greater storage capacity and lower price associated with standard hard drive technology, according to Seagate.

The Momentus XT achieves this by combining a 7,200rpm drive with 4GB of SSD storage, and using built-in algorithms to put the SSD's speed to best effect. This is independent of the operating system or any applications used, the firm said.

Seagate's Adaptive Memory technology intelligently monitors application and file requests, and puts the most commonly accessed data in the SSD, where it can be accessed much faster than from the magnetic disk.

The Momentus XT is 80 per cent faster than a conventional 7,200rpm drive, according to Seagate, and a laptop will boot twice as fast as one with a typical 5,400rpm laptop drive.

The drive is shipping into the channel and to system vendors now, and Asus has announced that it will offer it as an option for its new Republic of Gamers G73Jh laptop.

The Momentus XT is available in 500GB, 320GB and 250GB capacities, with suggested retail prices of $156 (£108), $122 (£84) and $113 (£78) respectively.

Source: v3.co.uk

Symantec Launches Hosted Endpoint Protection

Symantec Corp. announced the launch of Symantec Hosted Endpoint Protection, a new cloud-based offering for small and medium sized organizations who wish to deploy comprehensive security for their computer systems without the need for additional hardware or management software. Customers will now be able to protect their Windows-based laptops, desktops, and file servers from the proliferation and growing sophistication of threats with the simplicity and convenience of a cloud-based service.

Harnessing more than eighteen years of experience developing award-winning technologies for anti-virus and endpoint protection, Symantec Hosted Endpoint Protection is designed to safeguard endpoint systems with a single solution managed from a Web-based console offering advanced protection from the endpoint to the gateway.

"As the hosted model for messaging security has become increasingly popular for its ease of management and deployment, organizations are similarly motivated by the reduced complexity that cloud-based services can offer while effectively protecting their endpoint systems," said Rowan Trollope, Senior Vice President, Symantec Hosted Services. "Symantec Hosted Endpoint Protection leverages our SaaS expertise to deliver advanced technologies that help protect customer systems without requiring additional hardware, management software, or dedicated IT staffing."

As threats become more complex and the global workforce increasingly more mobile, analysts have predicted that businesses will demand highly effective security solutions that are easy to set up and require minimal maintenance– features especially important to small and medium sized businesses that have limited resources to stay current with evolving security requirements while managing a myriad of additional IT responsibilities.

"Customers often experience pain when increased IT resources are required to stay abreast of evolving endpoint threats," said Christian Christiansen, VP of Security Products and Services, IDC. "To reduce these difficulties, customers want turn-key, endpoint solutions that provide the latest protection levels with easy set up, zero maintenance, and automatic upgrades. Security SaaS implementations can fully provide these solutions."

Symantec Hosted Endpoint Protection leverages the Symantec Global Intelligence Network, one of the largest security research networks in the world, and benefits from the network's rapid threat identification and response. With Symantec Hosted Endpoint Protection, automatic security updates occur transparently over an Internet connection keeping employee systems current whether workers are in the office or on the road.


Source: techarena.in/news

Fake anti-virus software a growing online threat

Google said Tuesday that fake software security programs rigged to infect computers are a growing online threat with hackers tricking people into installing nefarious code on machines.

An analysis of 240 million Web pages by the Internet search giant during the past 13 months revealed that fake anti-virus programs accounted for 15 percent of malicious software it detected.

"The Fake AV threat is rising in prevalence, both absolutely and relative to other forms of Web-based malware," Google said in its findings.

"Clearly, there is a definitive upward trend in the number of new Fake AV domains that we encounter each week."

Fake anti-virus (AV) peddlers rig websites to frighten visitors with pop-up messages warning that supposed scans have found dangerous malicious software on machines.

The scam goes on by selling victims programs that hackers claim will fix the purported problems but which in fact usually plant nefarious computer code on machines.

Such transactions can also leave credit card information in the hands of cyber crooks.

"Surprisingly, many users fall victim to these attacks and pay to register the Fake AV," Google said.

"To add insult to injury, Fake AVs often are bundled with other malware, which remains on a victim’s computer regardless of whether a payment is made."

Google has refined tools to filter out booby-trapped Websites and hackers have evidently responded by flitting from one domain name to another.


Source: ca.news.yahoo.com

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Importance of AVG Antivirus Protection

When your PC behaves strangely like, applications taking longer to launch, computer is running very slow, hard disk becomes inaccessible, etc. it indicates that your system is infected from malicious programs. In such a situation, it becomes necessary to install updated antivirus on your system. You can install any antivirus on your system, provided that you have purchased genuine copy of that antivirus.
Features
AVG antivirus offers many benefits to you like protection against malicious programs, etc. Now, you can do banking, shopping, surfing, searching, chatting, e-mailing, downloading files, etc. without any terror of infection by malicious programs. This antivirus offers you protection against online scammers, hackers, etc. It protects you from phishing attack by securing your confidential information from intruders.
Usability
AVG antivirus 8.5 is integrated with many new facilities, which were absent in its earlier version. You can easily download and install AVG antivirus 8.5 on your system with the following steps:
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STEP 3: Reboot your computer when installation file gets saved.
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Limitations
You can face blue screen error while installation of AVG antivirus. It can freeze your system and would not be able to work with some of the applications installed on your system.

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Windows 7 is the latest Windows operating system, and is successor of Windows Vista. It is available in many editions namely, Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate.
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Windows 7 consists of Action Center, which consolidates all the messages from Windows Defender, User Account Control, etc. In case, Windows 7 requires your attention, the Action Center icon will appear in the taskbar.
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Windows 7 offers you the facility to perform all your tasks with your fingers, like browsing online newspapers, flicking through photo albums, shuffling files and folders, etc. You can perform an upgrade installation of Windows 7 on your Windows Vista based PC, with the following steps:
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Limitations
While performing Windows 7 installation, you can face a technical error. You may face issues while sharing files between Windows 7 and Windows XP systems.