Security

Change is never easy, especially when it's one of your favorite services making the changes--and forcing them on you. But, if you're one of the many Twitter users still lamenting the loss of the old-style retweets in the new Twitter, you don't need to be sad any longer. Classic Retweet, a simple Firefox add-on and Google Chrome extension, can return you to the glory days of Twitter's retweet feature, allowing you to append your pithy comments to everything you retweet

Knowing what's happening on your network is a pre-requisite to controlling the traffic. We call that visibility because it combines all of the information the firewall knows, including session and application information, traffic volumes, and rate information, into a way to "see" into your network -- to give you visibility.

If one of the main advantages of a next-generation firewall is application and protocol identification and control, then SSL decryption is a basic requirement. We looked at the SSL decryption capabilities of the next-generation firewalls to see how well they would be able to discover applications, protocols, and URLs hidden within encrypted connections.

We tested the intrusion prevention capabilities of each of the next-generation firewalls to determine how well they work and how the IPS integrates with system management.

You want security software that’s as close to perfect as possible. After all, if just a single piece of malware slips through your defenses, it can wreak havoc on your PC. The question is, how close to perfect is free antivirus software?

Malwarebytes Antimalware Free 1.61 is a supplemental free product that can help bolster your existing security software. The makers of Malwarebytes Antimalware pitch it as a tool for detecting and removing brand-new "zero-day" malware, and it uses a number of different technologies to accomplish this task.

If you think setting up antivirus software should be as simple as possible, Panda Cloud Antivirus 1.5 is for you. Panda stops malware well, and its extremely easy-to-use interface is great for those people who don't want to tweak all sorts of settings.

When it comes retiring PCs at the office or at home, regardless of whether their final destination is a tip or to be sold to recover an investment, it goes without saying that a computer's drives need to be wiped. For the corporate environment, you're going to want to make sure no sensitive data is left behind however benign, and for the home you don't want leave any trace of personal details or credit card transactions that could be picked up and used in identify theft.

Elgato's external SSD is the first of its kind with a 10Gbps Thunderbolt port, which enables data transfers at more than three times the speed of USB. But there are drawbacks, too.

These 2012 Technology of the Year Award winners make life better for the people who toil in service of the enterprises.

Joining the ranks of countless other paid mobile malware apps, CA Mobile Security does very little to stand out from the crowd. The user interface is not very user friendly, and there is no help menu with which you can learn the ins and outs of the app. CA does offer free technical support if you have any questions, but most people probably won't want to call a help line in order to get a smartphone app up and running. Like most other security apps, CA Mobile Security allows you to set parental controls, backup and restore a device, and scan for malware but in the time I've spent with the app I have noticed several quirks and bugs that set it behind its competition.

All the major Web-based email services have junk mail folders and spam filters that strain out obvious offenders. Categorizing messages and filtering out those you don’t want may help, but limits control. It would be nice just to tell your email program which messages you want to receive and when--and dump the rest. Windows Live Hotmail may be coming a step closer to that, with changes announced this week.