Posts Tagged smartscreen

Smart Screen: Top Tips

Aug 13

Posted by Blue E Blogger in Tips & Tricks | No Comments

This week the team at Internet Explorer have been taking you through the SmartScreen Filter feature from IE8 that has blocked over one billion attacks since its launch last year. In our final post of the week we wanted to offer some quick tips to protect your PC against virus attacks.

1. Make sure the SmartScreen Filter is turned on. To activate it:

  – In Internet Explorer, click the Safety button. Point to SmartScreen Filter, and then click Turn On SmartScreen Filter.

  – In the Microsoft SmartScreen Filter dialog box, click OK.

2. Can’t find SmartScreen? Are you sure you have Internet Explorer 8? Get the latest IE to offer the best protection against malware attacks http://www.microsoft.com/uk/windows/internet-explorer/browse-with-confidence.aspx

3. Get Security Essentials for your PC. It’s free, yes free and offers additional protection http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/default.aspx?mkt=en-gb#dlbutton

4. If you think your PC may already have a virus give it a quick virus scan http://onecare.live.com/site/en-us/default.htm

5. Make sure your machine always has the latest updates http://www.update.microsoft.com/microsoftupdate/v6/vistadefault.aspx?ln=en-us

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SmartScreen: One Billion Blocked Attacks

Aug 11

Posted by Blue E Blogger in In the news | No Comments

We’re thrilled that since we’ve launched SmartScreen the web has become a much safer environment, with the system already blocking over a Billion attacks since its launch in March 2009. Our very own James Pratt, Product Manager at Microsoft, revealed this impressive milestone on his personal blog.

Within his post James highlighted some key facts including:

NSS Labs have recognized the Internet Explorer 8 SmartScreen Filter as a leader in protection against Socially Engineered Malware in their August 2009 and March 2010 reports which compared Internet Explorer 8 to Chrome, Firefox and others.

Our malware block rates continue to improve because we continue to improve the SmartScreen service back-end. For example, in August 2009 we had blocked about 70 million attempts to download malware or about 18 million blocks per month. At the time, according to Net Applications, about 15% of the internet population used Internet Explorer 8. In the last two months, we’ve blocked 100 million attempts to download malware. Last month, according to Net Applications, nearly 26% of the internet population uses Internet Explorer 8. There are 1.7 times more users on Internet Explorer 8 than August 2009 but we’re blocking 5 times more malware month on month.

 

This fantastic achievement was covered across the web including Softpedia and IT Pro and showcases another example of how Internet Explorer 8 continues to protect its customers.

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The Power of SmartScreen

Aug 9

Posted by Blue E Blogger in Uncategorized | No Comments

Last week the team discussed how Internet Explorer 8 has kept itself as the number 1 internet browser , this week we wanted to continue this by showcasing one of the most powerful elements of IE8; SmartScreen.

SmartScreen Filter is a feature in Internet Explorer 8 that helps you avoid socially engineered malware phishing websites and online fraud when you browse the web. Since its launch in 2009 SmartScreen has blocked over one billion malware attacks.

But how does it work? When you have the SmartScreen Filter turned on, if you attempt to visit a Web site that has been reported, the screen below appears and advises you not to continue to the unsafe Web site.

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Cyber Threats: Phishing Top Tips

Jul 23

Posted by Blue E Blogger in Tips & Tricks | No Comments

In our final post of the week the Internet Explorer team have compiled a list of top tips to help you against the threat of phishing scams.

1.  Make sure you have the latest Internet Explorer installed on your machine with SmartScreen filters turned on http://www.microsoft.com/uk/windows/internet-explorer/browse-with-confidence.aspx?WT.mc_id=Search&WT.srch=1

2.  Recognise a phishing email. Emails sent to you may look authentic but simply techniques such as ‘typo-squatting’ usually give websites away. For example rather than “www.microsoft.com” it might be typed “www.micosoft.com”, “www.mircosoft.com” or “www.verify-microsoft.com”. For more information visit http://www.microsoft.com/protect/fraud/phishing/symptoms.aspx

3.  Be suspicious of any email with urgent requests for personal financial information

4.  Avoid filling out forms in email messages that ask for personal financial information. You should only communicate information such as credit card numbers or account information via a secure website or the telephone

5.  Install up-to-date antivirus and antispyware software. Some phishing e-mail contains malicious or unwanted software that can track your activities or simply slow your computer. Try new antivirus and comprehensive computer health services like Windows Live OneCare. To help prevent spyware or other unwanted software, download Windows Defender

6.  Check website addresses! When reading your emails, hover your cursor over the links in the email, whilst the cursor is over the link, look at the status bar at bottom of the screen which will show the correct URL for the link.        

7.  Always ensure that you’re using a secure website when submitting credit card or other sensitive information via your Web browser

8.  Don’t use the same username and password details for multiple accounts – once the data snatcher has access to one account, it will be easy for them to access all the others.

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Cyber Threats: Phishing

Jul 19

Posted by Blue E Blogger in Tips & Tricks | 1 Comment

Last week we spoke about the malware virus and this week, continuing our series discussing cyber threats, we’re talking about phishing. Not to be confused with the world of fishing rods, phishing is usually carried out across email or instant messenger where people are directed to a fake website and asked to enter their personal details.


The malicious software often tricks users into going to familiar websites such as banking and auctions sites that are in fact fake. One way you can protect yourself against phishing is by installing Internet Explorer 8 and making sure your SmartScreen filter is turned on

In our Wednesday post we will showcase some examples of phishing in the press and round up our week with some helpful tips on how to protect your PC against this virus.

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Cyber threats

Jul 13

Posted by Blue E Blogger in Uncategorized | No Comments

Over the coming weeks we’re going to be dissecting some of the most common cyber threats out there and offering advice on how best to protect your PC against them. This week we’re going to talk about the most common threat to your PC: Malware. Since its launch in March 2009 Internet Explorer 8 has stopped over 560 million attempts to download malware.

So exactly what is Malware I hear you ask? Short for malicious software, it is a software designed to infiltrate a computer system without the owner’s knowledge or permission. The expression is a general term used by computer professionals to mean a variety of forms of hostile or annoying software or program code.

Software is considered to be malware based on the perceived intent of the creator rather than any particular features. Malware includes computer viruses, worms, trojan horses, spyware, dishonest adware, crimeware, most rootkits, and other malicious and unwanted software.

But how does Internet Explorer 8 block malware? By using its SmartScreen technology IE8 focuses on identifying and blocking sites on the web that are distributing malicious software.  SmartScreen can block new threats from existing malicious sites, even if those threats are not yet blocked by traditional anti-virus or anti-malware signatures

In our posts this week we will be highlighting the effects of malware and how you can protect your PC against it.

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Microsoft and Expedia.co.uk Launch First Dedicated Browser for Travel Enthusiasts

Jun 2

Posted by Blue E Blogger in Announcements | 1 Comment

Microsoft and Expedia.co.uk have launched the first dedicated and optimised web browser for travel enthusiasts, available for download at http://www.expedia.co.uk/ie8.aspx.

To simplify the travel search process, Microsoft is bringing the easy to use functionality of Expedia.co.uk direct to the browser to provide ready-access for every step of the travel process from choosing a destination through to the latest weather and currency fluctuations as their trip approaches.

The new Expedia.co.uk version of Internet Explorer 8 helps travel enthusiasts with a range of straightforward features which will update dynamically with useful information such as flights and room prices – keeping travel enthusiasts up-to-date as they browse the web and carry on with their day. These features include Accelerators which are predefined Favourites to help users navigate to the most relevant websites in one click, as well as customised Webslices that bring external website content direct into the Expedia page without needing to open new tabs and search.

  • Expedia Last Minute Deals – the simple to use drop down menus include car hire, flights and hotel, flights, hotels and package holidays for all Expedia’s best deals
  • Expedia Hot Hotel – categorises results by star rating and average guest review to deliver the very best hotel deals from over 123,000 hotels found on Expedia.
  • Expedia Weather – provides local forecasts for the selected destination
  • Expedia Currency Converter – simplifies the maths with up to the minute exchange rates

In addition, SmartScreen filter will help the 40 per cent of Brits who don’t know how to protect themselves from online identity theft as it helps keeps online travellers safe from dangers like malicious software and phishing threats. Internet Explorer 8 offers the best protection against socially engineered malware compared to other browser (NSS Labs, Feb 2010 ).

Additional features include Expedia Visual Search which answers specific queries within the Expedia site and delivers results in both images and text so users get the full picture of where they’re booking. Users can also download the Expedia Holiday Countdown gadget direct to their desktop so they know exactly how long they have to wait until they depart.

The Internet Explorer 8 Expedia browser can be downloaded here: http://www.expedia.co.uk/ie8.aspx.

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IE8 SmartScreen has blocked over 560 million attempts to download malware

Mar 15

Posted by Blue E Blogger in Uncategorized | No Comments

At the recent RSA 2010 Security Conference in San Francisco, Microsoft Program Manager Eric Lawrence was struck by how many of the speeches warned about the threat that socially-engineered malware poses to the security of the Internet.

Malware, which is short for malicious software, is designed to infiltrate a computer without the owner’s consent. In recent years it has become a real concern as many people often think they are downloading games or free videos when in fact they are downloading Trojans and viruses. Our data shows that one out of every 250 downloads is the result of a user being tricked into downloading malware to their PC.

Microsoft works tirelessly to stop malware and is proud of the protection the SmartScreen® Filter provides to IE8 users from such attacks.

To quote Eric:

“Since we launched IE8 in March 2009, SmartScreen has blocked over 560 million attempts to download malware, recently averaging over 3 million blocks per day! Hosted in datacenters around the world, SmartScreen’s URL Reputation Service (URS) has evaluated over 250 billion URLs to help keep IE8 users safe from malware. Even more impressively, since IE7’s Phishing Filter was introduced in 2005, the URS has processed over 5.7 trillion reputation requests in order to block malicious web sites. Every day, Microsoft receives around 300 million telemetry reports from IE8 users and processes 4.1 billion URLs looking for malicious websites and files. On the back end, our systems and analysts evaluate over 1 terabyte of binaries every day to help identify sites delivering malware.”

Internet Explorer 8 is the latest version of Internet Explorer and has been designed to provide market leading protection against malware. Older browsers will not have the same level of protection. If your family and friends are not using Internet Explorer 8, please encourage them to upgrade for a safer Internet experience.

For more information visit http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2010/03/05/ie8-smartscreen-filter-protecting-users-at-internet-scale.aspx

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