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In an effort to better protect its members from the ever-increasing tide of worms, viruses, spyware and other security risks, America Online Inc.s AOL on Friday rolled out a stand-alone application called Safety and Security Center.
The tool fills the gaps in Windows with anti-virus, anti-spyware and firewall protection.
AOL has tapped McAfee Inc. to provide the virus scanning engine and firewall, which is designed to protect both dial-up and broadband Internet users.
AOL Spyware Protection 2.0, meanwhile, utilizes Computer Associates Inc.s PestPatrol technology to remove over 28,000 different spyware and malware programs.
Employing the same feature found in AOL Explorer and Netscape, Safety and Security Center boasts phishing protection that blocks access to questionable Web sites.
AOL works with a number of partners to keep an updated list of known phishing URLs and collections of reports of suspicious activity from users.
Parental controls are also included that allow parents to prohibit their children from accessing certain Web sites. Parents can set an online timer and track the Web usage of their kids using the AOL Guardian “report card.”