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Editor’s Dossier

Greeting VSNers,

I hope 2012 is treating you well.

One of our objectives for VSN is to provide you with short, easy-to-use tutorials on using VIPRE. We want you to be able to use VIPRE to its utmost capacity so you can better protect your valuable information and your computer itself. In line with that, we have a very special treat for you in this issue: a grand tour of VIPRE by one of our Product Managers, providing you with additional insight on just how powerful and robust VIPRE is and how you can use it more effectively.

In Deb’s Deep Dive, our esteemed contributing editor talks about Virtualization and what it means to home users. Deb delves into how virtualization works, and how it can increase your security.

My column (Larry’s Cool Spot) discusses an interesting approach to passwords, providing you with an approach that is easy to use, easy to remember yet should still thwart the bad guys.

We of course have our usual Tour de Force of news and fun.

We are here to help you protect your computer, your home network and your vital data. As always, if you have questions or suggestions about the newsletter, let us know by sending email to vipresecuritynews@gfi.com.

Best,

Larry Jaffe
Editor, VIPRE Security News

VIPRE News & How-Tos

Take a tour of VIPRE

Did you know you can schedule when VIPRE scans your computer? Or that VIPRE can securely erase files from your computer permanently? Yes, VIPRE does more than just scan for viruses and other malware. Are you taking advantage of all of its security features? Let’s take a quick tour and find out!

When you open VIPRE, the screen you see is called the “interface.” The interface includes the TOOLBAR MENU, SYSTEM TABS and HELP ICON for quick access to product features, settings and support:

The interface opens to the OVERVIEW tab by default. Use the OVERVIEW tab to view the current status of your protection. Scans and threat definition updates can also be completed from here:

Use the SCAN tab to select the type of scan to run, such as a Quick Scan, and to set your scan preferences:

Use the FIREWALL tab to customize your firewall, web filter and process protection settings and also to view your firewall connections and activity:

NOTE: FIREWALL tab and features are included in VIPRE Internet Security only

Use the MANAGE tab to manage your history reports, quarantined items and allowed/blocked risks as well as to schedule automated scans:

Use the TOOLS tab to securely erase your computer files, to remove your search history and to view computer settings that are normally hidden.

In upcoming issues of VIPRE Security News, we’ll discuss the capabilities of each of the system tabs in depth. Next issue we’ll tackle the SCAN tab: how often you should schedule quick/deep scans, the best time of day to schedule scans, scanning on a PC vs. a laptop and more useful tips.

As always, call VIPRE tech support at +1-877-673-1161 or chat live with a support technician if you need assistance.

VIPRE Recognition

Recent awards, reviews and results

Here’s what some leading security testing organizations and publications have to say about VIPRE:

VIPRE is performing extremely well among competing solutions as evident by our standing in the Virus Bulletin RAP (Reactive And Proactive) tests. According to Virus Bulletin, “the test measures products’ detection rates over the freshest samples available at the time the products are submitted to the test, as well as samples not seen until after product databases are frozen, thus reflecting both the vendors’ ability to handle the huge quantity of newly emerging malware and their accuracy in detecting previously unknown malware.” The following chart shows average scores achieved in the last four comparative reviews:

VIPRE was also once again certified by the AV-TEST laboratory during its most recent round of tests, outperforming much of the competition for its protection against malware infections and usability. VIPRE is certified by AV-TEST, ICSA, Virus Bulletin (VB100) and West Coast Labs.

In Nov. 2011, PC Magazine said, “VIPRE offers the most accurate spam filter of any current suite.” This month, PC Magazine reinforced its earlier evaluation of VIPRE by ranking it second among some of the biggest names in the industry for its spam-fighting capabilities.

Shortly after launching the latest versions of the product, PC Authority remarked on VIPRE’s low-impact on system resources by saying, “The key advantage of [VIPRE Antivirus 2012 and VIPRE Internet Security 2012], though, is that they’re so lightweight. Even when scanning your system and displaying the program’s interface, we saw no more than three running processes, which rarely reached 10% CPU utilization…”

Recognizing all the work the VIPRE has done on the usability front, PC Advisor reviewed VIPRE Antivirus 2012
and said it is “very easy to use” and that “VIPRE Antivirus is a straightforward antivirus engine which delivers quality protection without slowing you down.” For VIPRE Internet Security 2012, PC Advisor said, “…you get a strong antivirus engine, with both fast on-demand scanning and in-depth real-time protection. An email filter keeps you spam-free, while browsing protection checks your downloads for safety, and prevents you from reaching dangerous websites.”

Deb’s Deep Dive

Virtualization: What it means to home users

Virtualization has been a big buzzword in business computing for years now, but some home users still don’t really know what it is, or how they can use it to make their own computing lives better. This time, we’ll take a look at virtualization technologies for home computer users: how they work, what they can do for you, and how they can increase your level of security.

If you start to delve into the topic of virtualization, you’ll find that it’s a complex one. There are a number of different types of virtualization deployed on business networks, for different purposes. Server consolidation refers to running multiple virtual servers on one physical machine. This saves on hardware costs and lowers power consumption. Virtual
desktop infrastructure (VDI) refers to running multiple users’ desktops on a server that they connect to over the network, instead of on their local machines. Application virtualization refers to connecting to programs that are running on a server and having them appear on your local desktop as if they were running locally, right alongside your local applications.

The type of virtualization that’s of interest to most home users is desktop virtualization in which you run a virtual machine (VM) with its own operating system on top of your regular desktop OS. The VM’s operating system can be the same or different from the host OS. In other words, you could have a Linux machine running in a window on your Windows desktop (or vice versa). You can also run Windows in a VM on a Mac (but not the other way around, thanks to Apple’s licensing terms).

To create a virtual machine, you need VM software. You can use VMware Workstation for Windows or Linux, which costs $199. You can use Parallels Workstation for Windows and Linux or Parallels Desktop for Mac OS X, which costs $49.99 or $79.99, respectively. You can use Microsoft’s Windows Virtual PC, which is free. You can use VirtualBox for Linux, Windows or Mac, which is also free and open source. And there are others. But an important point to remember is that in addition to the VM software, you still have to have a license for the operating system you install in the VM (except that Windows 7 Pro and above includes a free license to run XP in a VM).

Once you have VM software installed, you create one or more virtual machines. You can run multiple VMs at the same time, but each uses some of your host computer’s memory and processor cycles so you need more system resources for more VMs. Once you have an operating system installed in a VM, you can install applications on it just as on your physical machine (and again, you need separate licenses for those). VMs can connect to your local network and/or the Internet just like a physical computer. Each VM appears as a separate computer on the network.

Virtual machines can increase security because the applications on them don’t affect your host computer. So you can install Windows in a VM and use its web browser to go to sites that could be dangerous. If the VM gets infected with malware, you can delete it and create a new VM. Your host machine is safe (unless it’s a worm that spreads over the local network and you have the host machine and VM joined to the same network). VMs are also great for trying out software. If there’s a bug that crashes the VM, it doesn’t crash your host machine. And of course, VMs are good for backward compatibility (that’s what Windows 7 XP Mode is all about); you can install an older OS in the VM and run your old programs on it, in a window on the desktop of your new OS.

Virtualization is a great technology, and it’s getting better all the time. It’s definitely not just for business computers anymore.

Until next week,
Deb Shinder
Contributing Editor, VIPRE Security News

Larry’s Cool Spot

Halt! Who goes there?

If you ever watched old war movies, you cannot fail to notice the sentries patrolling the border questioning the veracity of anyone that got in their sights with that familiar question “Halt! Who goes there?” The party being questioned had to answer with the password or suffer the consequences. Well I am afraid that passwords have gone the way of these old flicks, and it is more than time for a new means of authentication to reach into your various protected sites, networks, and even your computer itself.

Passwords get cracked all the time, and as we have been preaching her for quite some time, passphrases or passcodes are the way to go. The problem is passcodes are not easy to remember so folks go for the simple, one-size-fits-all medium-strength protection. Well, sit back and relax, we have a way for you to easily remember a passphrase yet still be inscrutable to your average and even not-so-average criminal hacker. Eight years ago Bill Gates said the password is dead. We aim to make it so.

There must be a reason that simple passwords still reign supreme. Most likely it’s because they are easy to remember. Unfortunately, some of them are so dumb that even a monkey could figure them out. Really folks, do you think that “password” is an adequate password?

SplashData makes a password management tool and recently released their 2011 25 Worst Passwords. Their list was compiled from files containing millions of stolen passwords posted online by hackers. By the way, changing your o to a zero as in “passw0rd” is not much better. Here is their top 25; you should by all means avoid them.

1) password 2) 123456 3)12345678 4) qwerty 5) abc123 6) monkey 7) 1234567 8) letmein 9) trustno1 10) dragon 11) baseball 12) 111111 13) iloveyou 14) master 15) sunshine 16) ashley 17) bailey 18) passw0rd 19) shadow 20) 123123 21) 654321 22) superman 23) qazwsx 24) michael 25) football

So despite all the warnings, folks still use easy-to-guess, easy-to-remember, weak passwords. Don’t make it easy for the bad guys to break into your accounts. The criminals often simply make repeated attempts to break into accounts by using common passwords until they get through. It’s like leaving your key in the door after you get home. It invites trouble.

There are several excellent password management tools on the market. They can generate passwords as well as remember them for you. LastPass, RoboForm and SplashData are some good ones we have reviewed or mentioned in the past. These are excellent tools if you wish to go that route. There are also devices for fingerprint and facial recognition. It is up to you make sure your system is secure.

But if you are interested in a simple and practically foolproof password solution, I suggest the following. It will be easy to remember and should keep the big bad wolves from getting in the door. I like the idea of passphrases. In the past, best practices suggested codes of 14 characters. But we are no longer limited to that in Windows. With this in mind, 15 characters or more becomes safer and stronger. So what is a passphrase and how do you generate it simply, memorably and very important formidably. A passphrase would consist of several words, characters and numbers joined together including the spaces to form your code. I like to take my words from a line in a book or poem, substituting characters or numbers where appropriate. This makes it easy for me to remember and still maintain strength. Frankly a passphrase even without the addition of characters is much stronger than a single password. Plus it can be a lot of fun as you get to improve your literary prowess by memorizing your favorite lines.

Keeping your computer and your valuable information safe and secure is difficult in these cyber-hostile times. Let’s lock the bad guys out and kill the password. Viva la passphrase