Archive for Security
Dealing with Nssstub.exe
I dont know why this comes selected especially when it can be difficult to remove. I think users must opt in if they think they want the Norton scan for some reason.
I first went to the Symantec website on instructions on how to remove it but the simple steps given there did not work.
Also the Nssstub.exe was not available in the Control Panel as stated on the Symantec website.
Finally the way I removed it was to delete the task from C:\Windows\Tasks and then after that I deleted the NSSStub.exe from the C:\Windows\System32\Adobe\Shockwave 11\ folder.
I got the location of the NSSStub.exe after searching the registry but in my case I didn't have to make any registry changes.
I didn't like the behaviour of NSSStub.exe especially as at times I couldn't even use the machine but now it looks all good.
delicious
digg
Warning over IE use
According to the BBC, German and French governments have warned users to use alternative browsers instead of using IE to protect security.
But it seems that Microsoft thinks that this problem only affects users using IE6. In France the warning covers all versions of the browsers and not just IE6.
Although this problem may affect all versions of IE, I don't know why people are still using IE6 when IE8 has been available for some time now.
Sometime last year I got moved from IE7 to IE8 through a Windows update and I don't know why the same cannot be done for IE6 - move IE6 straight to IE8.
Getting rid of IE6 altogether will make life a whole lot easier for developers because its far much easier to deal with IE8 than with IE6 insofar as styling is concerned.
I hope Microsoft will issue whatever patch is necessary for this security threat but long term I think use of IE6 should be stopped.
Microsoft launches Security Essentials
This product was announced last year in November and it will now be available to just 19 countries and eight languages.
I think its good to have free security especially for home use and I may try this one out on Windows 7 and see how it goes.
There are other good free already on the market. One of the most popular one is AVG but I prefer Comodo because it incorporates a firewall and its very easy to configure and I have had problems with for a long time now.
Free security from Microsoft
This is an interesting move on the part of Microsoft especially when you consider the fact that OneCare has
been on the market for a less than three years and if it was good then this could be the time it could be getting
more customers for the product.
This could also be a sign that Microsoft has failed to remove the stranglehold on the security market by
players like McAfee and Symantec and now there are also very good free alternatives like AVG.
This new product is to be made available in the second half of 2009 and is targeted at 'small and not powerful
computers' suggesting that maybe its not for every home user but possibly for netbook users.
I use the free AVG anti-virus program and I find it to be very good for me at the moment.
AVG releases Free 8.0
I have used the free anti virus software for a very long time but the new version 8.0 now incorporates protection against spyware through a new combined anti-virus and anti-spyware engine and a safe search facility.
Version 8.0 sports a new user interface which I think is more user friendly compared to the previous one and the download has increased from just over 30 MB for version 7.5 to 46 MB because of the extra components.
I managed to install the new version over the old one without any problems but to complete the installation I had to reboot the machine.
Its good to have such a good anti-virus for free which updates everyday and does not take much resources from the local machine.
The commercial version of 8.0 was released some two months ago and its to see that AVG have been quick to
release the free version.
Completely removing Comodo
When I tried to install the new version I got a dialog box that said that : "COMODO Firewall Pro is already installed. Do you want to un-install it now?" and on pressing Yes nothing happened.
I realised that the 2.4 uninstalling process had not gone well but thankfully I got a solution from the Comodo forum that helped me to completely remove the previous 2.4 Comodo firewall version.
The batch file I got from the forum worked and I have now started using the new 3.0 version.
Its early days but the new version looks quite good even though its no longer straight forward to access functions like seeing the running applications which now fall under the firewall tab.
ISP provided security
I have known about this offer for some time now and basically you get F-secure products for free for the first year and after that you then have to pay some amount per month. I think its actually a good idea to offer consumers the security suite but I think its also good for F-secure if after one year some of the people decide to continue with the suite.
What I find good and interesting is that the download for the security suite does not count towards your broadband usage for that particular month.
I will not be going for the offer myself because I think firewall wise I am okay
with Comodo and for the
anti-virus I think AVG Anti-Virus is
doing a good job for me.
