Security Wizard Beta Test Program

An open invitation to Wilders Members

For over six months a team at Gizmos Freeware has been been working on a security advice wizard. The purpose of this wizard is to provide guidance to average computer users how they can best defend their computers from malware and other security threats using free products.

Wilders members will be well familiar with this problem and the difficulty in appropriately answering it.

What do you say to an computer user when they ask you for security advice? The answer will depend on the version of Windows being used, the level of technical skills of the user and the risk level of activities the user engages in.

What we have attempted to do with the security advice wizard is to ask the user questions to assess all these variables and then come up with security advice that is appropriate to the operating system, the user's technical knowledge and risk level.

Designing the wizard required us to come up with security recommendations for dozens of different possible combinations of these variables. Some of these combinations provided an almost impossible challenge. What do you say to Windows 98 user with limited technical ability who engages in high-risk activities?

Difficult or not we have tried to come up with the best advice we can. And here's where we would like assistance of Wilder's members.

We are inviting all Wilder's members to participate in a closed beta of the security wizard to help refine the recommendations of the wizard.

How to participate in the beta test program

Participation is simple. Just login to this site from the left sidebar using the credentials below. If at the moment you are already logged in,  you will need to logout, and login again using the beta test credentials

Username: wilders
Password: betatester

Once logged in you will see a link to the security wizard beta in the left sidebar. Just click that link and you are ready to roll.

Run through the wizard trying out different combinations and see if you agree with the recommendations for particular combinations. If you don't agree just leave a comment at the bottom of the page. 

If it is important that you keep in mind that wizard is designed for average users, not security experts so many of the recommendations are practical rather than ideal. For example with users of limited technical ability we recommend the use of the Windows firewall even though it has many limitations. The reason we recommend the Windows firewall for such users is that more advanced firewalls are simply beyond their ability level.

So please bear this in mind when you make comments: we are looking for practical suggestions that are appropriate to the user's technical level.

When completed the security wizard will be offered to the general public free of charge as a community service. We encourage your participation and advice in this community project to provide average users with the best possible security advice.

Thanks guys.

The Security Wizard development team