Of course, undoing the damage caused to your system by malevolent software is often an inescapable task, but few would disagree that it's better to avoid getting infected in the first place. To that end, KIS 2006 offers several features designed to intercept the bad stuff before it has the opportunity to settle into your system.
For example, virtually every form of malware gets its hooks into your system by modifying various settings in your Registry without your knowledge or permission. To prevent this, KIS 2006 includes a Registry Guard feature, which monitors a half-dozen groups of important Registry settings. These include settings that pertain to system security, start-up applications, and plug-ins used by Internet Explorer. If an attempt is made to change or delete a Registry Key in one of these critical areas, you're prompted and asked to confirm the modification.
Similarly, Process Guard analyzes the behavior of all the processes running in memory, and if a suspicious action is detected (for instance, a file replicating itself), it can terminate the process and undo its activity.
And since even Microsoft Office macros can be used towards disreputable ends, Office Guard watches out for macro execution and will prompt you to confirm any operation a macro attempts to perform (or summarily terminate the macro).
KIS 2006's Anti-Spy features can scan your system for spyware and block pop-up windows, and modem users will appreciate the anti-dialer feature, which thwarts hidden programs that run up your phone bill by calling toll or offshore numbers. (It will only allow trusted numbers like your own ISP to be called.) There's also an anti-Phishing feature that's designed to notify you if a Web page is asking for account information under false pretenses.
All KIS 2006 notifications, be they for viruses, pop-ups, hacking attempts, or similar items, are displayed in a small, translucent window above the Windows tray.
