Recently in my Windows Live group , LIVESOAPBOX we have all been discussing the new Windows Security Essentials beta which will now provide the only missing part of the security measures already built in to Windows 7. Those of you who haven’t yet downloaded and tried out Windows 7 will not be familiar with how ALL aspects of your computer including SECURITY and MAINTENANCE are now all taken care of by the ACTION CENTRE therefore leaving only ANTI-VIRUS as the only security feature not actually built into the Operating System and which therefore needs to be additionally installed.  I will attempt here to explain to those of you who aren’t familiar with Windows 7 how to make full use of the ACTION CENTRE.

You can think of the ACTION CENTRE as a complete ‘all round’ maintenance and security feature that only requires you the user to set up just once in order to keep the whole of your computer running smoothly and safely, and as far as setting up the ACTION CENTRE to suit yourself is concerned,  the default settings will probably be more than adequate for most average users of Windows 7.  The only thing that you will  have to set up will be your own choice of schedule for Windows Defender to carry out a scan of your computer including whether or not to do a quick scan or a full scan, and when to schedule any backups of your system and your files including where to place those backups.  As an ordinary user you don’t really have to know HOW it all works, but I will try and show you the parts of the Action Centre that you will no doubt notice the most as you use Windows 7 especially how it Alerts you to either problems or requests you to perform certain tasks in order to keep everything running smoothly.

On the Windows 7 taskbar you will see a small white FLAG icon to the right hand side next to your Internet connection icon and the Speaker icon.  If all is running smoothly with your computer, this white flag icon will remain white so you have a very prominent reminder right where you can’t help but notice it that all is well.   If something is amiss however, the white flag icon will have a red cross through it as shown, which again you can’t help but notice easily.  If you then click on the flag icon you will receive a ‘pop up’ window informing you of any problems OR outstanding actions that you need to take in order to keep everything running smoothly but unlike some security programs this window will not pop up or bother you until YOU click on the flag when it shows a red cross.  If you just ignore it, it will just remain a warning, so it is not obtrusive at all and its entirely up to you when to actually instigate any action.  Of course if the ACTION CENTRE does require your attention because there is something seriously amiss, then a small balloon will pop up just above the taskbar informing you of this, but this only occurs when there is a serious security problem for example, such as the Windows Firewall being disabled.

These alerts can range from informing you that Windows Defender has not done a scan of your computer yet and therefore needs to do so, to reminding you that some security updates need to be installed and will do so automatically when you next ‘log off’.  It will also warn you when you first install Windows 7 that there is no ANTI-VIRUS program installed and that you need to install one.  But the ACTION CENTRE is far more versatile than just acting as a warning and alert service!  If you click on the white flag to open the actual ACTION CENTRE itself, you can then see just how comprehensive and far reaching this part of Windows 7 actually is. On the left hand side in the sidebar area, you can change the ACTION CENTRE settings to suit yourself, Change the USER ACCOUNT control settings, view any archived messages made by the ACTION CENTRE about your computer and also view your computers PERFORMANCE information.  For now we will just take a look at the main window choices. This is divided into two main areas, SECURITY and MAINTENANCE. You will notice that each area has a drop down arrow to the right, and if you click on the SECURITY arrow, you will then be able to access the SECURITY list.

As you can easily see, this is pretty comprehensive and let’s you know just what has been enabled on your system. If you aren’t sure about a particular setting or how you should have these settings configured then you can click on the blue helpline at the bottom of the list to find out more information to help and guide you in how to have the settings configured.  As you can see, I don’t have NETWORK ACCESS PROTECTION  enabled, so let’s just find out more about it and whether or not I ought to have it ‘switched on’ So if I now click on the blue ‘WHAT IS NETWORK ACCESS PROTECTION’ another ‘help’ window will open which explains what NEP is and who it is useful for. As I am not a NETWORK ADMINISTRATOR nor do I have a NETWORK as such, just one computer, then I now know that I can safely leave this feature switched off without putting my computer into any danger. So now let’s take a quick look at MAINTENANCE.

First in the list is CHECK FOR SOLUTIONS TO PROBLEM REPORTS. What does all that mean? Well, whenever the ACTION CENTRE reports any problem with the running of your computer, it first tries to find a solution to the problem. Lets say that you were having problems connecting up your printer, then ACTION CENTRE would first of all try to find a solution, perhaps by searching online for a new driver for example. However, if it couldn’t find a solution, then that problem would be logged as not resolved but in the meantime a new driver might come available later,  so by asking ACTION CENTRE to recheck for solutions to any previous problems that may have manifest themselves in the past, those problems can then be resolved.

Following that there is the BACKUP schedule and the date and time of the last back up made followed by CHECK FOR UPDATES which also will report if there is any action you need to take regarding that area.  At the bottom of the SECURITY list is TROUBLESHOOTING SYSTEM MAINTENANCE. Again, if there is any problem here you will be informed.  Notice that Windows is ACTIVELY checking your system for maintenance problems. This means in essence that the ACTION CENTRE is continually monitoring the whole of your system to make sure that it is working at its best.  You can change the TROUBLESHOOTING settings here if you wish by clicking on the blue sentence underneath.

Obviously this post only covers the surface of the ACTION CENTRE but tries to give those who have not yet tried out Windows 7 an inkling as to just how everything to do with the SECURITY of your system and also its MAINTENANCE for optimum running have been incorporated right there inside the operating system so that you can relax and feel safe and secure. Next post about the ACTION CENTRE I will try and dig a little deeper into how to set it all up to just to suit you.

TG