2 programs

[nowellp]

Windows antivirus disable notify and Windows firewall disable notify were flagged by ver SB 1.3 so I chose to neglect them under programs.
Is this ok to do?

[spybotsandra]

Hello,

Spybot - Search & Destroy 1.4 has been detecting Security Risks (renamed to "Windows Security Center" on July 30) associated with Microsoft Security Center Registry changes. This is neither a false positive nor a bug. It is just an information.
Spybot-S&D only wants to bring to your attention that "someone" disabled one or more notifications in the Windows Security Center, e.g. the notifications that your virus protection is not active or not up-to-date. If you changed the settings yourself you can safely tell Spybot-S&D to exclude those detections from further scans.
In order to do so please right-click each in turn, then click "exclude this detection from future scans". That way, should any other part of security center settings change, Spybot-S&D will still detect those.
The same is true if you have another security solution installed (like McAfee Security Center or Norton Internet Security). These programs do also disable the Windows Security Center in order to take care of things themselves.
The reason why the changes are flagged by Spybot-S&D is that there are also malware programs that disable the notifications so the user doesn't take note of his security tools not being effective.

Some more information is also available in our forum:
http://forums.spybot.info/showthread.php?t=87

Best regards
Sandra
Team Spybot

[nowellp]

Thank you for the note-Please see the results of my query below.
The following were flagged:
1-Windows.Security.InternetExplorer
2-Windows SecurityCenter.AntiVirusDisableNotify
3-Windows SecurityCenter.FirewallDisableNotify
4-Windows SecurityCenter.UpdatelDisableNotify

I spoke with Mcafee techs and when their security center is installed it "takes over" for the above thereby flagging them as pups. When the Mcafee securuty center is uninstalled, the windows programs are restored to default.
I hope this helps others.

[md usa spybot fan]

nowellp:

I believe that McAfee technician that you talked to is incorrect (or only half right).

If during installation you elect to for the McAfee SecurityCenter to be the default Security Center it will cause the following two detections in Spybot:
Windows Security Center.AntiVirusDisableNotify
Windows Security Center.FirewallDisableNotify
In the 14 months that the following detection has been in Spybot, to the best of my knowledge, no one else has reported any relationship between McAfee and its detection.
Windows SecurityCenter.UpdatelDisableNotify
The following is a relative new detection:
Windows.Security.InternetExplorer
It detects a less restrictive security setting within Internet Explorer that was added to Internet Explorer with the introduction of Windows XP with SP2. From the following Microsoft article:
Local Machine Zone Lockdown
http://msdn.microsoft.com/security/productinfo/XPSP2/securebrowsing/locallockdown.aspx

Prior to Service Pack 2 the Local Machine zone allowed Web content to run with fewer restrictions since local content was considered to be secure. Unfortunately, attackers also try to take advantage of the Local Machine zone to elevate their privileges and compromise a computer."
I am extremely skeptical that McAfee would remove the restriction that Microsoft added and compromise the security of your system.