A few blog posts ago, I touched upon Microsoft Security Essentials’ recent accolades from AV-Comparatives, an anti-malware testing group that compares various anti-malware solutions and ranks them accordingly. As reported, Microsoft Security Essentials is one of just two anti-malware packages — the other being F-Secure Anti-Virus 2010 — that were rated “very fast” in every test category included in the company’s comparisons.

Adding to that initial honor, AV-Comparatives has also given Microsoft Security Essentials the award for the best performance of those programs tested.  Subjecting the competing anti-maleware solutions to a variety of tests derived from real-world scenarios — downloading, extracting, copying, encoding files, application launches, etc. — gave a  clear leader in Microsoft Security Essentials.

What became most noticeable was how little Microsoft Security Essentials demanded of a system’s resources, contributing to AV-Comparative’s decision to rank it as the best-performing anti-malware solution that you can get for free. Brisk performance in every major category, while being light on resources, is reason enough to give this highly recommended anti-malware program a look — particularly when you taking into consideration that it’s free, outpacing those solutions that cost money.

Proving its mettle against the competition, Microsoft Security Essentials is a great tool to protect your computer with.

Read AV-Comparative’s findings here.

If you’re interested in using Microsoft Security Essentials, you can find it here.

Related posts:

1. Microsoft Security Essentials outpaces two major rivals
2. Microsoft Security Essentials is struggling
3. Microsoft Security and How Essential It Is

Most recently, hapless internet users have fallen prey to the URLZone Trojan, a decidedly nasty bug that rewrites their online bank statements to conceal fraud.

This bug is tucked away on websites – many of them legitimate – with the Luckyspoilt toolkit. Unbeknownst to visitors of these websites, bogus .PDF files or Javascripts traffic the URLZone Trojan onto their computers.

Once planted on the victim’s system, the bug begins to record keystrokes that are performed whenever they’re logged into their online bank account, pairing that with screenshots it takes of the user’s activity while they navigate the account.  This information is then fed to the source of the bug, a command and control center located  in the Ukraine.

With your information in their possession,  the perpetrators of this fraud transfer money from the user’s account. After the theft, the Trojan forges a bank statement to deceive the user into believing their account is not compromised, always ensuring that their online bank statement reflects a positive balance.

A more in-depth overview of this threat and its implications can be found here.

Geek Choice always advises its clients to exercise vigilance when browsing the internet. If you think your computer has been compromised by malware, call our offices immediately.

Related posts:

1. Mac OS X has a Trojan floating around!
2. Apple releases new update that addresses “guest account” bug in Snow Leopard
3. Protecting yourself from email scams