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The article announces the launch of new computer network security software by the small companies. These software perform health checks on desktop and laptop computers will be available in abundance at this weeks RSA Conference in San Jose, California. Industry leaders Cisco Systems Inc. and Microsoft Corp. are not commenting about their long-promised integration of their dominant network access control (NAC) architectures. The IT managers are wondering whether to go with one of the solutions that is already available or wait for an integrated offering that may never come. The old as well as the new computer network security industry unveil new NAC products and show off updates at the RSA Conference. The show could serve as a launching point for rapid adoption of end-point security products by the business enterprises in the next year. Almost after 14 months of the pledged of Cisco and Microsoft to cooperate, Executives of these companies still have little to say about how their endpoint security architectures will work.

The curtain will fall on Windows 98 this week, as of January 12, 2004, when Microsoft Corp. withdraws the product from the market-place and ceases to provide support or even security-based patches for the operating system. With the release of Microsoft's next-generation "Longhorn" operating system at least two years away, enterprises face upgrading Windows 98-based systems to a newer Windows version, running systems without support or moving from Windows to an alternate platform. In addition, more than 27 percent of the total PCs deployed at the 670 organizations surveyed were running Windows 95 or Windows 98, compared with about 7 percent using Windows XP, according to AssetMetrix, of Ottawa.

The article reports on the issues regarding network security in business enterprises. It tackles topics on Internet traffic, web applications, user activity and network devices. It also discusses the research conducted by Tom Cross, director of security research at computer network security company Lancope Inc., which focuses on the preparedness of organizations against cyberterrorism.

The article reports that Trend Micro Inc. is preparing for a major product expansion that will introduce hardware, software and services that will move the company beyond its prowess as an anti-virus provider. The company is to introduce the new Inter- Scan Web Security appliance, a hardware-based version of the company's InterScan software, with anti-spyware, anti-phishing and content filtering feature, and is planning to release more multifunction security appliances later in 2006. Moreover, Trend is planning an aggressive expansion of its service-based offerings for business enterprises and consumers, including a fee-based version of its free HouseCall security scanning service and intelligence services to help Internet service providers fight compromised computer networks.

Presents tips and advisories in securing corporate server and client network from spyware. Necessity of granting user of set of system administration privileges required to get work done; Importance of delegating limited user accounts and software installation rights in the corporate settings; Efforts of Microsoft Corp. to make limited user accounts work more smoothly in its Longhorn operating system.

Security Profiling Inc.'s SysUpdate 4.1.4.4 and Policy Compliance & Enforcement 1.0 module promise IT administrators one-stop patch and security policy remediation across the enterprise. However, despite decent multiplatform support and some nice features, tests showed the SysUpdate PC & E package needs to mature before eWEEK Labs can recommend it. SysUpdate PC& E differs from Altiris Inc. and Patch-Link Corp. products by way of its modular security policy enforcement capabilities and burgeoning multiplatform support. Remote management console users have no way to see what jobs are being installed across the enterprise, nor can they predict what job will be scheduled next.

Gfi Software Ltd., a security and messaging software maker in Surrey, England, last week, as of January 12, 2004, launched a freeware version of its Network Server Monitor, which automatically detects server failures, enabling administrators to catch problems before users do. ABC Liquors Inc. has been using the monitoring software for about a month, said Brian McConnell, network administrator at the liquor distribution company in Orlando, Florida. The product monitors 15 servers on a LAN, which connects 200 Personal Computers used for inventory control and ordering, among other things. ABC Liquors' 150 retail outlets are connected via a WAN that uses IBM monitoring software, but that product requires separate, powerful hardware, which is more than the company needed for its LAN. The Gfi software runs on a standard Windows 2000 system.