Still remember the Security Score tool from OPSWAT that we wrote some two years ago? A few days back, OPSWAT has released the next generation of this freeware. Known as OPSWAT GEARS, it enables Windows users to keep their computers secure and helps monitor their devices for potential threats.
As the successor of Security Score tool, GEARS offers the same features from Security Score, plus additional advanced threat detection capabilities to help identify compromised computers. Moreover, GEARS provides secure browsing session with a single click and has the ability to manage multiple devices from the cloud.
GEARS application has a clean interface. All the available options can be found at the left sidebar. The main interface shows you your computer basic and network details, your protection score, the number of advanced threats detected and one click button to start a secure browsing session.
First we take a look at the Security Score feature. It scans your computer for the presence of seven types of applications on your system, namely antivirus, antiphishing, backup tool, patch management, firewall, public file sharing and hard disk encryption. The tool obtains information about the current status of all the mentioned applications and generate your security score. To improve the score of any particular category, simply click into it and hover over the “i” icon for instructions.
Next is the advanced threat detection. GEARS has two unique methods of advanced threat detection to identify threats present on computer that are either not detected by the existing anti-malware software or could not be remediated. In addition to monitoring threat detection logs, the free tool, powered by OPSWAT’s Metascan Online service, scans your computer with up to 40 commercial anti-malware engines to look for suspicious activity or infection.
Also included in the free tool is Session Shield, a feature that allows you to securely access sensible data such as bank records while browsing (on Internet Explorer only). Rest assured that all browsing activities and downloads during the session will be erased after the session ends. Moreover, during the session, any usage of printers, USB ports and network share are not allowed.
For users with multiple devices to manage, the GEARS application can be connected to the GEARS cloud management dashboard. This allows you to easily monitor and manage multiple devices from any browser. By creating an account and managing devices from the cloud, you are also able to take advantage of additional features and configuration options.
OPSWAT GEARS is free for download and is compatible with both 32-bit and 64-bit of Windows 7 and Windows 8. It requires Internet Explorer 9 or higher.
