The Security Center is the one-stop to check up on all the security settings on the OS. It displays the status of the most important security elements which are required to protect Vista. Clicking on the Security Center you will find information on:
- The Firewall status
- Status of Windows Updates—specifically if Automatic updating is on
- Malware protection—here you can find out if you have an antivirus software installed, and if so, are the virus definition files up to date; you can also find out the status on Windows Defender or any third-party anti-spyware product
- The “Other security settings” keeps a track of the Internet security settings and whether the UAC feature is turned on
While the right-hand side of the Security Center display status information, the left-hand pane will give you one-point access to each of the programs that the Center is tracking. You can thus access:
- Windows Update
- Windows Firewall
- Windows Defender
- Internet Options
from the left-hand pane; this helps you make immediate changes to these security systems if the Security Center finds something amiss.