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ONLINE SECURITY: MAKING IT SIMPLE: Products Aim to Better Serve Computer Users Befuddled By Ever-Changing Threats.

Posted on: Thursday, 22 June 2006, 06:00 CDT

By Julio Ojeda-Zapata, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.

Jun. 22--Gary Stevens has lots of computers in his house, but one machine proved problematic until recently.

The Windows-based PC, set aside for his two sons, would repeatedly become crippled by viruses and other online infestations even though commercial security software was installed on it. Stevens would have to wipe its hard drive and reinstall its operating system at regular intervals.

For Stevens, this was an epiphany.

"I was paying money quarterly for software that was supposed to protect" the computer, he recalled. "It occurred to me that there had to be a better way."

Stevens, a Jordan, Minn., software developer, went on to design a simplified security program for Windows PCs. That recently released product, Aura, is part of a push to streamline computer security at a time when Net-borne threats are proliferating and average users are increasingly befuddled about how to properly deal with them.

Security-software firms such as Symantec and McAfee will offer revamped suites that, they claim, will be easier to use while protecting PC users from every conceivable Internet danger. McAfee already provides a free test version of its soon-to-be-released Total Protection, code-named "Falcon." This shields users from malicious downloads such as viruses and spyware, as well from junk e-mail, or spam, and increasing online attempts to pilfer personal information.

Even Microsoft, notorious for security holes in its Windows software, is jumping into the security-software field with Windows Live OneCare. The software-subscription service, a companion to the company's Windows Defender anti-spyware software, is intended to shield users from dangers while backing up their data and tuning up their PCs.

But, while redesigned, such big-name security suites will still often hew to a familiar Swiss army knife model: Lots of buttons and windows, flurries of cryptic alerts (reduced, but not eliminated), and the need to continually pay up in order to get critical software updates.

McAfee's Falcon even throws in controls for safeguarding home wireless networks. And the firm isn't planning to release a single, comprehensive security suite but four different ones targeted at various kinds of computer users -- not necessarily a recipe for instant consumer comprehension.

Such complexity, according to experts, has often represented a problem for average users who can't tell a worm from adware, or a phishing attempt from a rootkit infestation.

"I don't think any security solution (exists) that is both easy enough to use and does it all in a way that everyone understands," said Michael Miller, a PC Magazine columnist, who wrote a critical "Open Letter to Security Vendors" in April.

"My mom never knows if her subscription to (Symantec's Norton security software) is up to date," said Mary Jo Foley, a longtime industry watcher and author of the influential "Microsoft Watch" Web log.

She believes Microsoft's OneCare will successfully cater to such people, up to a point, with "one-stop-shop security (for) less sophisticated users who want it all in one place and want it to be easy."

But smaller security-software firms are trying to simplify PC security even further with products that, they argue, are a cinch to install and use.

Aura, a product of Burnsville-based Atka Software, gets rid of the complex controls and settings built into rival products. It takes a basic, blanket approach: Nothing from the Internet gets on the computer, no exceptions, unless the user explicitly authorizes such a download. All blocked files appear in an easy-to-browse list for future reference.

This is effective for protecting casual Internet users from common threats, such as system-crippling spyware and adware. But hardcore users who download lots of files may need extra security software just to be on the safe side, said Stevens, Atka's founder.

A rival program called Prevx1, sold by Derby, England-based Prevx, takes a similar approach. Upon installation, it scours the hard drive to inventory all programs on it. It then ignores any activity involving that pre-existing software while focusing on new arrivals that might represent threats.

But Prevx, too, acknowledges that PC users might want to use its software "alongside existing security tools such as anti-virus software and firewalls."

This mirrors the advice of security experts, who often recommend a "cocktail" of security applications -- multiple anti-spyware programs, for instance, for more protection.

What's more, the big-name security suites focus on fresh threats involving information theft instead of damage to a PC. Such attacks include phishing scams involving official-looking Web sites that can lure users into surrendering credit card numbers and other crucial personal data.

No security program is foolproof, though, so Robert Stephens of Best Buy's Geek Squad tech-help division has this advice for parents with Internet-active children: "If you have teenagers, get a second computer. I'm dead serious. Get them their own computer."

Julio Ojeda-Zapata can be reached at 651-228-5467 or jojeda@pioneerpress.com.

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Copyright (c) 2006, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: Saint Paul Pioneer Press (St. Paul, Minn.)

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