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Norton Confidential
This is really neat
piece of kit for those who want to make sure that they are doing
important roles like Internet banking within a secure environment.
Confidential is designed to scan sites visited and make sure that you
are really on the website that you are under the impression that you are
visiting.
It runs software called crimeware to ensure that you
are not entering sensitive data into sites that may be hiding behind
fake links etc. Prime examples of these are the spam emails reporting to
be from eBay of PayPal asking you to log into your account. The
crimeware makes sure that you are really on those sites and gives you a
warning red flag if you are not.
Installation of the program is easy and the package
integrates itself with other Norton products. When going to sites that
are requiring data from you, Confidential will scan the site first and
will either warn you that it is a site that is phishing your details or
if it’s one of the prechecked sites, it will come up as Norton Trusted
which will work until a hacker figures out how to put code in to tell
Confidential it’s trusted. The Symantec crew are pretty much on top of
that sort of thing though so it should all be good.
This software is a really neat feature also for those
who are not regular internet users as if you hit a site that is not
trusted or is a phishing site, Confidential will actually shut that page
down and replace it with a warning about the security risk it has
detected. You do have the option of opening up the site, but really
would you want to if your software is telling you that your personal
details are at risk.
Using an InfoVault, Confidential will safely store
your sensitive information and you can open a session where it will
allow you to use your passwords at certain sites. It also has the
feature built into it where if you use the same username and password at
more than one site it will prompt you to make sure that you are aware
that you are using those details at more than one location. This is a
nifty feature and one that does remind you of the importance of using
more than just one password, sure they are all hard to remember but if
the bad guys catch you using one, they’ve got access to everything.
Confidential also provides adequate support against
most keylogging software on the market. Keylogging is when the hacker
has software on your machine that records the keystrokes that you use in
online banking and other sensitive sites and also can take screen
captures so the hacker knows what site you are using and what you keyed
in to get access. Confidential will shut down most keylogging scripts
and corrupt screen shots that are being sent back to the source of the
hack, so that is one heck of an innovation.
One downside to the software is that if you are
impatient then it’s going to frustrate you a little with the speed of
getting onto some of the sites that you might visit. Remember that
Confidential is installed to help you be safe though and it can take
some time for it to scan a site and ensure it is a safe one for you to
browse. A small price really to pay for protecting your vital
information.
I really liked this program and have no problems
recommending it. It’s a must for internet novices and even those who do
have some experience online. Let’s face it, some of these fake sites
look so realistic that unless you are checking everything it’s easy to
make a fatal mistake and Confidential makes sure that doesn’t happen.
Bravo!
System
Requirements
Platforms:
Windows® XP Home/ XP Pro/XP Media Center Eligible for a free Windows
Vista™ compatibility update*
Windows® XP
Home/XP Pro/XP Media Center
.
300MHz or higher processor
.
256MB of RAM
.
125MB of available hard disk space
.
Microsoft® Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher
Required for all
installations
.
DVD or CD drive
*
Microsoft® Windows Vista™ compatibility update subject to production
release of the Windows Vista operating system within the service period.
Separate downloads may be required. For more information, go to
www.symantec.com/vistaupdate/. See Microsoft for Windows
Vista system requirements.
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