active security monitor free security

Active Security Monitor : a free security diagnostic from AOL.

By now you have (hopefully) protected the PCs in your home. You've

shielded them against viruses, spyware, and a host of potential

maladies using a range of defenses.

But how do you know for sure those protections are the right

protections? Except for a glowing icon, how do you know your

safeguards are safeguarding anything at all?

That's where Active Security Monitor (ASM) comes into play. A free

security diagnostic from AOL, this tool monitors your home network to

ensure all the right security functions are in place.

ASM won't actually protect you from anything, but it will help manage

your existing protections, and that can be an important thing. From

"not enough" security, many home users have gone to the opposite

extreme of "too much" -- or at least too much to keep track of. With

so many firewalls, intrusion detectors, anti-spyware tools, and

anti-virus apps, it can become difficult to keep track of the full

scope of one's security situation.

ASM simplifies the management of such tools. It continuously monitors

your PC and delivers a consolidated overview, reporting on such common

applications as a current anti-virus scanner, a firewall, spyware

protection, wireless security, and various Windows and Internet

Explorer security settings. Perhaps best of all, no AOL membership is

required.

ASM will not tell you whether your security apps are working, or how

well, but it will tell you whether you have all the appropriate apps

in place.

Having reviewed your configurations, the application reports back with

an overall security rating of zero to 100, much like a credit score,

and offers specific suggestions on how to improve your score.

(Step-by-step instructions for plugging security holes usually can be

found by clicking the "Improve Score" tab.)

The path toward improvement typically includes recommendations for

products, services, and articles that might help you resolve any

security vulnerability. While this may sound like a forum for hawking

corporate wares, in fact these tips and explanations are almost always

straightforward and helpful.

Another handy feature helps users gain a long-term perspective.

Presented in graph form, this feature displays a computer's relative

score over a period of time, thus helping the user track how well

security is being maintained on that machine.

Users may have certain expectations about AOL products. Super

easy-to-use and intuitive interface? Absolutely. One of the pleasures

of this application is the ease with which one can view and navigate

the relevant information.

But what about the frequent expectation that AOL products will be

bulky, slow, and a little on the weak side when it comes to actual

features? Here ASM far exceeds expectations, with a quick and simple

download and installation to go along with product functionality that

delivers just as promised. The diagnostic features are right on the

money.

Some users have complained that Active Security Monitor identifies

problems that aren't there, overlooking existing protections or

diagnosing false problems. These problems appear to be scarce and in

any case the complaints seem to point to a program that is at times

being a little overly cautious. We'd rather have a false positive than

miss a genuine problem.

In releasing ASM, AOL has made a strong case for the need for such a

program. The company conducted a study with the National Cyber

Security Alliance and found that 81 percent of home PCs lack at least

one of three critical protections: updated computer virus software,

spyware protection, and a secure firewall.

More than half of survey participants either had no anti-virus

protection or had not updated the software within the last week, while

44 percent did not have a properly configured firewall and 38 percent

lacked any form of spyware protection.

But you're protected, right?

Well, how would you know, really? Perhaps you installed a bunch of

staff a while back and it was the right stuff at the time. Antivirus,

anti-spyware, firewall, etc. -- how can it be that things have gone

wrong since then?

It could be that these protections have gone stale. Maybe you missed

some essential updates. It could be that some applications were not

configured properly to begin with or that they're no longer doing what

you thought they would.

Certainly an advanced user is (hopefully) not going to struggle with

these issues, but for an average home user the eclectic mix of current

protections can present challenges.

To stay on the safe side ASM offers a tool that is free, quick, and

easy to use -- just how we like our apps.