Microsoft rolls out client-based spyware tool

Product Test and Buyer's Guide This newsletter is sponsored by Arsenal Digital Solutions Data Protection for SMBs: Beyond Tape Backup As more employees work from remote locations, the risks and potential costs of data loss are too great. The stakes are even higher for small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs), as they lack the resources a larger company can use to survive a data loss. In this paper, you'll learn how more and more SMBs are using on-demand data protection services as an affordable, workable solution to their growing backup, recovery and business continuity challenges. Product Test and Buyer's Guide, 05/08/07 Microsoft rolls out client-based spyware tool By Barry Nance Microsoft this week rolled out a new subscription-based, Windows-centric, antimalware tool called Forefront Client Security (FCS). The company touts FCS as significant upgrade from its freely available Windows Defender program mainly due to an accompanying centralized management console. Get the latest thinking on the core issues reshaping the new data center. Download our new Executive Guide "Data Center Decisions" to sharpen your competitive edge. The comprehensive range of topics includes: Data Center Trends, User Case Studies, Heat/Power issues and key products for the data center. Click to Download In our Clear Choice Test of the newly minted FCS code, we found it is indeed an easy-to-administer desktop-based antimalware tool with helpful reports and painless deployment. The FCS Security Agent software stymied spyware and other loopy miscreants at an industry average rate in our tests (see How we did it). However, FCS as a desktop malware tool is not as effective as a gateway-based tool, mobile users have to return to the office to acquire administrative changes, and it doesn’t have the sort of selective blocking capabilities offered with newer versions of competitive products. For more on this test, please click here. Check out the Antispyware Buyer's Guide to dig into a listing of antispyware products - both client-based and enterprise-level - that aim to detect and remove malware from any type of computer.

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Contact the author: Barry Nance runs Network Testing Labs and is the author of Introduction to Networking, 4th edition, and Client/Server LAN Programming. His e-mail address is barryn@erols.com. This newsletter is sponsored by Arsenal Digital Solutions Data Protection for SMBs: Beyond Tape Backup As more employees work from remote locations, the risks and potential costs of data loss are too great. The stakes are even higher for small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs), as they lack the resources a larger company can use to survive a data loss. In this paper, you'll learn how more and more SMBs are using on-demand data protection services as an affordable, workable solution to their growing backup, recovery and business continuity challenges. BONUS FEATURE IT PRODUCT RESEARCH AT YOUR FINGERTIPS Get detailed information on thousands of products, conduct side-by-side comparisons and read product test and review results with Network World’s IT Buyer’s Guides. Find the best solution faster than ever with over 100 distinct categories across the security, storage, management, wireless, infrastructure and convergence markets. Click here for details. PRINT SUBSCRIPTIONS AVAILABLE You've got the technology snapshot of your choice delivered to your inbox each day. Extend your knowledge with a print subscription to the Network World newsweekly, Apply here today. International subscribers, click here. SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES To subscribe or unsubscribe to any Network World newsletter, change your e-mail address or contact us, click here. This message was sent to: security.world@gmail.com. Please use this address when modifying your subscription. Advertising information: Write to Associate Publisher Online Susan Cardoza Network World, Inc., 118 Turnpike Road, Southborough, MA 01772 Copyright Network World, Inc., 2007