Defender - Quarantined Items

Quarantined items are programs and/or data that is suspicious. When something is put into quarantine Defender will give you an alert level and date. It is up to you to decide if you want to keep or remove the item from your computer.

The reason why Defender uses the quarantine step is because of what is called False Positives. This is where a potienal infection is removed, but in actuality it is not a dangerous program. This way you can tell Defender and your computer it is a safe program, thus you are accepting the risks.

Defender - Software Explorer

In the lower right corner of the Tools window is a link the is titled Software Explorer. When you click on the link you a new window comes up. The right window lists the programs that start up when you start your computer. After you left click on a program you see the details of that program in the right window.

I opened Software Explorer to discover that there were two programs running that I did not recognize. They were both had the name Macrovision FLEXnet. So I did a Google search to find out what they were.

It turns out that these two programs have to deal with Digital Rights Management. In simple terms copyright protection of some material I have on this computer.

If you look in the lower right corner of the screen shot, you will see three buttons grayed out. That means this program from Defender can not be disabled or removed. When you click on certain programs in the left window, these button will only become ungrayed with ones you are allowed to disable or remove.

Defender - SpyNet

In Defender programs are classified as spyware or not. The information for any submitted programs by the users of the product are available to all users. It is displayed as a graph that shows the percentage of people who have allowed, blocked, or removed a particular program. This method of spyware classification allows even the most uncommon software spyware to be categorised from people who have sent in information about a particular software.

To be part of the reporting system.

• Open Defender and left click on Tools
• Then click Microsoft SpyNet
• Select the level of participation that you want by clicking Join with a basic membership or Join with an advanced membership, and then click Save.

I would take time and read through each membership plan to decide which one would be most fitting for the level you want to be involved. Take note of the privacy statement. This is where most people are the most concerned.

Defender - Menu

Once you open Defender and see the status of you computer. The top menu allows you to navigate through Defenders many features.

• On the left, is your Forward and Backward arrows that you will see on all Windows Vista programs. This gives you similar functionality of Internet Explorer.
• The next, from left to right, is a little house to the left of the word Home. by left clicking on either will bring you to the Window that you get when you open Defender.
• The magnifying glass and the word Scan is to scan you computer for infection. If you suspect something virus or Trojan has gotten onto your computer, it is always good to do a out of schedule scan.
• The next icon is the same one you have in Internet Explorer, along with the word History. To the right of it is the word History. Here you will have not doubt this is where you will pull up the history of scans.
• Tools comes with settings you can make to increase or decrease your level of protection. You also can increase how Defender will warn you when there is a possible infection.
  

Defender - Options

Windows is a great addition to Windows Vista. Especially, when it comes to protecting your computer. Defender does not give you many customization options. However, depending upon on the programs you run, they can make a big difference in the level of protection.

In the top menu bar is an icon of a gear that is labeled tools. Left click on this and you will get your Tools/Options window.

In this windows it is broke down into two sections.

1. The top section is titled Automatic settings. This one has to deal with scanning and updating you definitions of dangerous files.
2. The bottom section is all about what kind of action to take when Windows Defender detects a problem. You can choose what to do according the the level of all that Defender sees.
1. High, Medium, and Low alerts are associated with the degree of threat Defender sees.
2. I leave my action at the default level. This is for me works the best. For the individual that goes to website that are known for giving false positive alerts, the Ignore options may be best.
   

Desktop Wallpaper

Windows Vista raised the bar when it comes to desktop wallpaper. One really needs a good graphics card on their computer along with a nice monitor to see some of these beautiful pictures.

You can view them from the Start Orb then Pictures. Then go to Sample Pictures. There you can view them a thumbnails or in Photo Gallery.

Now, on the Microsoft website there is more stunning pictures you can use as wallpaper. These are winners of a PhotoVista competition in Singapore. After looking at these photos, I never thought that Singapore was so beautiful. Go out there and check them out for yourself.

All you need to do to set one of these pictures as a background is right click on it, go down to Set As Desktop Background and then left click. You will then be given options to stretch, center, or tile the image. I usually choose to stretch.

Taskbar Thumbnails

As computers get faster, the availability of nice cute features become more common. One if these features is a thumbnail preview when you hover the cursor over an item in the task bar.

It may not seem important, but if you are like me who has several programs open at the same time. I do forget what is on a particular application.

In the screen shot to the right. I had paused iTunes several minutes earlier to answer a phone call. Then I got busy looking at a webpage. I had forgotten what I had been watching iTunes. So I just moved my cursor over the iTunes link in the taskbar.

Up pops the window of iTunes. Now I am reminded that I was watching DLTV with Veronica Belmont and Robert Herran.