Focus On: Security

To hear some banks and other financial outfits tell it, digital certificates are the answer for all your email security worries. But at the 15th European Institute for Computer Anti-Virus Research Conference, one researcher discussed how digital signatures could be perverted on virtually any operating system, including BSD, Linux, OSX and Windows. Conclusion: A digital signature is only as valid as the combined security of the sending and receiving computers allow.

Ugly surprises are popping up, as more and more people cede responsibility for patching Windows to Automatic Update. Security Update 908531 (Security Bulletin MS06-015), for example, triggered application lock-ups and made folders like "My Documents" inaccessible for afflicted users. Email Battles explains why you can count Automatic Update as a spectacular failure... or a stunning success. It's a "glass half-full or glass half-empty" thing.

After most anti-virus vendors wasted a year before they could detect any near-current version of Hacker Defender, many dismissed their failure as an anomaly. The Hacker Defender blunder just slipped through the cracks, right? Wrong. Late in December, a hacker unleashed an encrypted Hacker Defender along with the code. As, after three long months, fewer than half the anti-virus engines can detect the beasts, chances are excellent that you are not among the protected. Email Battles tells you who can, who can't... and how the a/v industry helps turn frustrated white hats black or gray. Anything but white.

When Windows prevents you from deleting a file it's usually for your own good. But there are plenty of occasions when Windows is flat wrong. Like, when an in-house program doesn't close its own files properly... Or an antivirus program won't completely uninstall... Or residual files are still open after a system crashes. Email Battles covers two freeware programs that, together, make problems like these go away.

Telephone reps love the new systems that combine computers with telephones. ISPs are hard at work convincing customers to disconnect their Old World telephone lines in favor of sophisticated combinations of voice and data. Phone companies are pushing their phone experience as proof that they're equally capable at protecting your data. And above all, everybody has the perfect bundle for *you.* No matter which pitch you swallow, Email Battles shows you the one line in the sand that you must not cross.