McAfee, the AV division of Network Associates, has released a virus vulnerability assessment tool designed to help firms spot weaknesses in anti-virus defences.
McAfee's ThreatScan software works in conjunction with McAfee's anti-virus management console, ePolicy Orchestrator, to scour the enterprise network for devices which may be vulnerable to virus infection.
Many companies offer vulnerability assessment, either as software or a managed service, and McAfee seeks to differentiate its product by emphasising its abilities at picking up avenues for viral infection.
Network Associates has its own stand-alone vulnerability assessment tool, called CyberCop, which David Emm, a marketing manager at McAfee, said provided a wider - but less focused - audit of security flaws than ThreatScan.
News source: The Reg
McAfee's ThreatScan software works in conjunction with McAfee's anti-virus management console, ePolicy Orchestrator, to scour the enterprise network for devices which may be vulnerable to virus infection.
Many companies offer vulnerability assessment, either as software or a managed service, and McAfee seeks to differentiate its product by emphasising its abilities at picking up avenues for viral infection.
Network Associates has its own stand-alone vulnerability assessment tool, called CyberCop, which David Emm, a marketing manager at McAfee, said provided a wider - but less focused - audit of security flaws than ThreatScan.
News source: The Reg
It's that last bit, acknowledging the fact that you might not use Messenger, which makes it seem benign. Surely, this fix has more to do with some idiosyncrasy in 'Windows connectivity' than Messenger itself. Right?
And when we consult the related MS 'knowledge base' article, we're told that "to improve connectivity and system performance, even if you do not use Windows Messenger, Microsoft recommends that you install this update."
Man, they desperately want you to install this fix.
And the result? Do you get 'better connectivity and system performance?' Of course not. The only result is that Messenger is now back on your machine, consuming RAM even when you have no use for it, and haranguing you to obtain an MS Passport.
The only thing this Critical Update does is integrate Messenger into Outlook Express. And by default it runs on startup, and runs in the background. So now you have to go to Outlook Express/Tools/Windows Messenger/Options/Preferences, and turn it off.
Assuming, of course, that you already uninstalled it according to the instructions above. Otherwise it will run no matter what you do.
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