Defending Against Malware

Malware, a term used to describe malicious software such as spyware and adware, has had a significant negative impact on IT departments in recent years. Often, malware has been distributed through Web sites that either trick users into installing the software or bypass the Web browser's security features to install the software without the user's consent. Internet Explorer 7 has been hardened to reduce the potential for malicious Web sites to compromise a user's browser or the rest of the operating system. The sections that follow describe other improvements that reduce security risks when users browse the Web.

Protected Mode

Beginning with Windows Vista, Internet Explorer 7 and later versions run in Protected Mode, which helps protect users from attacks by running the Internet Explorer process with greatly restricted privileges. Protected Mode significantly reduces the ability of an attacker to write, alter, or destroy data on the user's computer or to install malicious code. Protected Mode is not available when Internet Explorer 7 and later versions are installed on Windows XP because it requires several security features unique to Windows Vista and later operating systems.