Windows 10

Monitoring your computer's security

In Windows 10, security-related options have been gathered in Security And Maintenance in Control Panel. (Veteran users of Windows 7 and Windows 8 will recognize this as the new name for what was called Action Center in those earlier operating systems. In Windows 10, Action Center refers to the list of notifications and buttons that can appear on the right side of the screen.) You can open Security And Maintenance from Control Panel or Settings: In the search box of either app, type security and then click Security And Maintenance. (No keyboard? Open Control Panel, tap System And Security, and then tap Security And Maintenance.)

The Security section in Security And Maintenance provides at-a-glance information about your security settings. Items that need your attention have a red or yellow bar. A red bar identifies important items that need immediate attention, such as detection of a virus or spyware or that no firewall is enabled. A yellow bar denotes informational messages about suboptimal, but less critical, settings or status. Next to the bar appear explanatory text and buttons that let you correct the problem (or configure Security And Maintenance so that it won't bother you).

If all is well, the Security category is collapsed and you see nothing in that category when you open Security And Maintenance. Click the arrow to expand the category, and you'll see all the security-related items that Security And Maintenance monitors.

Security And Maintenance is designed to work with third-party firewall, antivirus, and antispyware programs, as well as with the programs built in to Windows (Windows Firewall and Windows Defender). Systems with more than one program installed in any of these categories include a link to show a list of such programs.

If you don't want to be bothered with alerts from Security And Maintenance about one or more security features, click Change Security And Maintenance Settings. After clearing items you don't want monitored in the dialog box, you won't receive any further alerts, and thereafter Security And Maintenance passively indicates the status as Currently Not Monitored.

Staying on top of security updates

As we noted earlier in this tutorial, Microsoft continues to beef up security in Windows. But as new threats emerge, the task is never done, so perhaps the most important step in keeping your system secure is to be sure that you stay current with updates to Windows and other programs. Microsoft issues frequent updates that provide replacements for installed device drivers as well as fixes to code that has been found to be faulty. Some updates provide new features or enhanced performance, while others patch security holes.

To install updates automatically, Windows uses Windows Update. In Windows 10, you'll find Windows Update in Settings under Update & Security.

You might be interested in knowing more about current security threats, including those that are addressed by Windows Update: What, exactly, is the threat? How serious is it? What workarounds are available? Microsoft Security Response Center publishes detailed information, in the form of a security bulletin, about the threat and the response. To find this information, you can take either of two routes:

  • In Windows Update, click Advanced Options, and then click View Your Update History. Click the link below an item for a brief description, and in the box that pops up click the Support Info link for details. Also notice that each item in the list includes a KB (knowledge base) number.
  • Visit the Security Advisories and Bulletins page (https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/security/dn610807.aspx). Here you'll find links to chronologically ordered information (most recent first) in the following formats:
    • Security bulletin summaries:
      A single document is published each month containing a complete list of security bulletins published during that month. For each bulletin in the list, you'll find a title and an executive summary, a severity rating (see the following page for more information about these ratings), a list of affected software, and a link to the bulletin.
      You can go directly to a security bulletin summary using this URL: https://technet.microsoft.com/library/security/msyy-mmm/, replacing yy with the last two digits of the year (for example, use 15 for 2015) and mmm with the standard three-letter abbreviation for the month (for example, use "nov" for November).
    • Image Security bulletins:
      Each bulletin contains detailed information about the issue, including a complete list-with version numbers-of software affected by the threat and, for each affected version, an assessment of the severity. Each security bulletin is assigned a name in the following format: MSyy-nnn, where yy is the last two digits of the year and nnn is a consecutive number that starts with 001 each year. For example, the twenty-seventh security bulletin of 2015 is called MS15-027.
      You can go directly to a security bulletin by appending the bulletin number to this URL: https://technet.microsoft.com/library/security/.
    • Security advisories:
      Advisories describe security issues that might not require a security bulletin (and with it, a security update) but that can still affect your computer's security.

Each security bulletin includes a rating of the threat's severity. These are the four ratings that are used, listed in order of severity (most severe first):

  • Critical:
    A critical vulnerability can lead to code execution with no user interaction.
  • Important:
    An important vulnerability is one that can be exploited to compromise the confidentiality or integrity of your data or to cause a denial of service attack.
  • Moderate:
    A moderate vulnerability is one that is usually mitigated by default settings and authentication requirements. In other words, you'd have to go a bit out of your way for one of these to damage your system or your data.
  • Low:
    A vulnerability identified as low usually requires extensive interaction or an unusual configuration to cause damage.

For more information about these ratings, see "Security Bulletin Severity Rating System" at https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/security/gg309177.aspx.

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