Windows Defender is an application designed to detect and remove known spyware from your computer. It is based on a solution initially developed by GIANT Company Software, a company which was acquired by Microsoft in December 2004. Before Windows Vista's launch, Microsoft has changed both the application and its name several times. Now it is included by default in all versions of Windows Vista in order to enhance the security of the operating system.

Even though Windows Defender has been criticized for its shortcomings in detecting and blocking spyware applications, many users might choose to use it for several reasons: it is free, easy to use, light on system resources and it offers a basic set of protection features.

For those of you who would like to give Windows Defender a try, we created this quick overview of the application interface and its main functions. Also, in the upcoming weeks we will publish a few articles about some of Windows Defender's most useful features.

When changing operating systems and migrating data, you might end up not being able to access some of your files or folders anymore. This can happen due to the fact that your user has lost ownership of those files & folders or it no longer has the required permissions. In this tutorial will try to address this type of issues and help our readers that reported having such problems.

Even though the procedure is a bit long, you will see that things are not very complicated.

The Windows Security Center was first included in Windows XP Service Pack 2. Its main purpose is to provide the ability to view and change the status of computer security settings and services. Even though it looks the same, Windows Security Center evolved a bit in Windows Vista.

Now the Security Center monitors a wider variety of settings and informs the user if there is a problem. In this guide we will show you how to configure it.

One of the most interesting novelties in Windows Vista is the inclusion of Parental Controls. These controls allow parents to manage what their children can do on the computer. Parents can dictate which websites children can visit, which games they can play and which programs they can use - and when.

In this article we will show you how to configure Parental Controls and how to view the activity reports of your children.