Make Windows Vista Safer with Windows Security Center

Windows Security Center is a fantastic little computer program which, when configured properly, can help make ensure that your Windows Vista remains safe and unspoiled by viscous forms of viruses, spyware, trojan horses, malware and hacking attempts. Windows Security Center allows you to check your computer’s security status and enable some very help PC safety measures such as Windows Vista’s neat little built-in firewall, malware protection, and Windows Defender - Windows answer to spyware and unpleasant programs that may linger on your system.

Where can I find Windows Security Center?

Simply click your handy little Windows Start button and go to Control Panel.

Upon doing so you will be presented with the following screen which contains a wealth of useful links that may seem a little daunting at first; simply go to the option called Check this computer’s security status that is located under the Security header and right next to the Windows security badge graphic on the left column.

How do I enable Windows Security Center’s safety features?

With ease - that’s how! Obviously at this point you should be looking at the main Windows Security Center menu which will detail which options are currently enabled by displaying a green light or a red light when they are disabled.

As you can see, I have all my built-in Window’s Vista security essentials enabled as they display a friendly little green light. You should have each and every option enabled by default however it is not uncommon if not. We want to enable all of the following Windows Security Center features:

• Firewall - I’m currently using ZoneAlarm for Windows Vista. ZoneAlarm Pro is a fantastic commercial firewall which has won numerous awards which I highly recommend. There is also a free version of ZoneAlarm available however most the more powerful features are only available in the ZoneAlarm Pro and ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite packages.
• Automatic updating - this option lets Windows Vista know that it has your permission to download essential Windows Vista updates from the official Microsoft website whenever updates and upgrades are available; this may be due to new Windows Vista security vulnerabilities being discovered which could compromise your PC’s safety.
• Malware protection -Windows Security Center generally categorises both anti-virus and anti-spyware under this area. I’m currently using AFG Free Edition by Grisoft which is a great free anti-virus product. For a small fee you can also upgrade to AVG Internet Security which not only provides a much better anti-virus solution as well comes bundled with other highly useful anti-spyware and anti-spam programs too.

  As for anti-spyware software, I have used and been a big fan of Ad-Aware from Lavasoft, Spy Sweeper from Webroot software and Spybot: Search and Destroy. However I mainly stick with just Spybot: Search and Destroy and Windows Vista’s built-in anti-spyware program, Windows Defender which I have used since the beta was first released for Windows XP service pack 2.

• Other security settings - this basically covers a couple of miscellaneous safety settings which pertain to internet security.

Simply click the small little downwards-pointing arrow next to each and every green light and you will notice that there will usually be a brief sentence letting you know what just what kind of action you will need to take to remedy to situation and earn yourself that pleasant little green light. Simply follow the recommended steps that Windows Vista provides and you can’t go far wrong.

For those of you whom might be curious: here is what my Windows Security Center looks like when everything is enabled, functioning correctly and generally lit up like a Christmas tree:

From the picture above you can see that all of my essential computer safety programs are activated and doing their job; these again include my: ZoneAlarm firewall, Anti-Virus Guard (AVG) anti-virus software and Windows Defender.