TrendMicro Browser Guard, Explorer Security Plugin

One of the biggest threats on the Internet these days are zero-day vulnerabilities that tend to get exploited quickly by people with malicious intents. The problem with these kind of vulnerabilities lies in the fact that the majority of computer users do not update their systems immediately. Reasons for this are manifold and range from patches that are not yet available to being unaware or incautious.

Third party tools can mitigate the impact of security vulnerabilities on the system. Firefox users can for instance protect their web browser with the excellent NoScript add-on to avoid the majority of browser attacks if they use the add-on correctly.

TrendMicro Browser Guard 2010 is a free toolbar that has been exclusively designed for Microsoft's Internet Explorer. The program is compatible with all Internet Explorer versions from Internet Explorer 6 to the latest Internet Explorer 9 releases running on 32-bit or 64-bit editions of Windows XP or newer Microsoft operating systems.

The key benefits according to TrendMicro are:

• Protects against zero day exploits
• Detects buffer-overflow and heap-spray attacks
• Protects against execution of shell code
• Analyzes and protects against malicious JavaScript
• Connects with Trend Micro Smart Protection Network to maximize detections

How effective is the program? That's a question that I cannot answer. I tried finding reviews and tests of Browser Guard 2010 but did not find any.

The security added by Browser Guard look solid on paper and it would be very interesting to see how the program fares against threats in real usage scenarios.

Users who work with Internet Explorer can download Browser Guard 2010 directly from Antivirus.com.

Update: the Browser Guard web address has changed, and we had to modify it. It is now pointing towards the TrendMicro homepage where the latest version of the software can be downloaded. The latest version comes with improved trojan detection algorithms and better detection in general thanks to new technologies.