'Buffer' Your PC Against Attack

It is a virtual certainty that you have some type of antimalware protection installed to protect your computer. Antimalware software works to defend your PC against 99% of the threats out there. The problem, however, is that antimwalare software typically relies on some type of definitions or signatures of known threats. That means the software can only protect against threats if it remains updated to include the latest definitions, and that there is a window of vulnerability between when a new threat starts spreading and when the antimalware vendor releases an update that can detect it. Another approach is to protect your PC by 'sandboxing' your applications. A 'sandbox' allows applications to only run within the designated space and protects core functions and critical system files. However, sandboxing is often too restrictive to be practical. You want your PC protected against attacks, but you need the software you install and use to be fully functional as well. Trustware has a solution worthy of taking a look at. Their BufferZone Pro product is available for Windows XP, and there is a beta-version available for Vista. BufferZone Pro uses a combination of code certification, trust inheritance, application virtualization, and sandboxing to divide your programs into two categories: trusted programs and alien programs. Unlike straight sandboxing, BufferZone allows alien programs to run and create their own registry keys and files, and execute fully with no restrictions. However, BufferZone monitors the files and processes associated with 'alien' programs and prevents them from altering trusted files or critical system components. You can download a 30-day evaluation of BufferZone Pro for Windows XP, or the beta version of BufferZone Pro for Windows Vista from the Trustware BufferZone web site.