guard

Given that the builder of the Titanic is said to have famously bragged that his amazing new ship could never be sunk, it's dangerous to argue that an accident like the one that sent the famous vessel to the bottom of the sea 100 years ago could never happen again.

But with the centennial of the April 15, 1912, disaster quickly approaching, there's every indication that modern science and technology in combination with a much greater awareness of seaborne hazards, make such a tragedy -- at least on the scale of Titanic--extremely unlikely today.

It's not, of … Read more

Free USB Guard is an interesting little tool that prevents your system from shutting down if a USB drive or other type of removable drive is still attached. It gives you the opportunity to safely remove the drives or leave them attached and shut down anyway. You can also restart your system or cancel the shutdown. It's portable freeware that can autostart with Windows.

Free USB Guard checks for updates automatically the first time you run it and every time thereafter, unless you uncheck that option in the program's system tray menu, from which you can also check … Read more

When it comes to protecting your PC, there's no substitute for full backups capable of resurrecting your system from total disaster. But we're also big fans of regular targeted backups of personal files, favorites, and other data you don't want to lose, especially if your big backups are fairly infrequent. To be sure none of your important stuff falls between the cracks, we recommend a specialized backup application like Yadis Backup from Codessentials. This free tool creates full, one-to-one backups of your important personal data, settings, and documents that you can access normally, without having to restore … Read more

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish football program was the first to win 11 national championships and the first to win seven Heisman Trophies. Now, it'll be among the first to try out a new protective mouthguard that records and reports impact data to help battle concussions.

Pro and college football are much more concerned with head injuries than they were even five years ago, with more data supporting the theory that multiple concussions--even in youth--can lead to long-term depression, permanent memory problems, and dementia later in life.

The "intelligent mouthguard" by Seattle's X2IMPACT records the g-force … Read more

WinGuard Pro 2010 Lite is a free app that lets you disable and enable certain Windows features via a password without completely preventing access to your PC. It keeps snoops away from your personal data and programs without having to shut down or lock your computer, which lets you keep programs running and files open even as you're locking down your data.

We opened WinGuard Pro, which appeared in our system tray. We clicked the padlock icon, and a small password entry box appeared along with a notice that we needed to set a password. Although there's a … Read more

Comcast is expanding its free Constant Guard anti-botnet service for Xfinity customers to add identity fraud detection to its anti-malware and secure backup service.

The Internet service provider launched a trial of Constant Guard in 2009 and took it nationwide last September, alerting customers when their computers appear to have been compromised by malware.

On Thursday, the company will be adding Identity Guard from Intersections Inc. to its Norton Security Suite and Secure Backup & Share service. The services are free with an Xfinity Internet service subscription.

Customers can pay more for additional identity fraud protection services such as proactive … Read more

The MacDefender phishing malware for OS X has caused a bit of concern in the Mac community. People who inadvertently visit the false "Apple Security Center" Web site are downloading the installer for the scam software and installing it. This has previously required users to interact with the software installer and provide an admin password to install the package; however, as reported on by CNET editor Elinor Mills, a new variant installs the program under the current user's account and uses an install option that does not require an admin password.

Overall this new variant is not … Read more

A new version of rogue antivirus malware that targets the Macintosh operating system does not need victims to type in their administrator passwords to install and infect the machine, a security company said today.

The latest version of the malware has been overhauled to look like a native Mac OS X application and is using the application name MacGuard, according to an Intego blog post. But particularly concerning is the fact that unlike previous versions, which were dubbed Mac Defender, MacProtector, and MacSecurity, MacGuard installs itself without prompting for the admin password.

"If Safari's 'Open safe files after … Read more

SocialGuard is part of a relatively new and burgeoning field of desktop apps that look to address growing parental concerns about how to keep children safe online in the Facebook age. It does a remarkable job of balancing cost with useful tools, although parents should be warned: SocialGuard is designed to make kids safer while encouraging communication, not impose draconian restrictions on your children's Facebook activity.

From the makers of the ZoneAlarm firewall, SocialGuard is a desktop client with deep hooks into Facebook. The company wants parents to use it as a starting place to encourage communication about online … Read more