New Laplink Suite Blocks AttacksNew Laplink Suite Blocks Attacks

Laplink on Thursday unveiled a security suite that focuses on protecting Windows PCs from spyware and other unhanded threats.

PCdefense, claimed the Kirkland, Wash.-based company best known for its Laplink remote control software, fills the holes in other security software by concentrating on identity theft protection and privacy safeguards. Laplink sees PCdefense's competitors as Microsoft's for-free AntiSpyware (which has been renamed "Defender"), and the for-a-fee Spy Sweeper from Webroot and Norton Internet Security from Symantec.

"We were concerned that conventional approaches to security were simply not adequately protecting people and their PCs," said Thomas Koll, Laplink's chief executive, in a statement.

PCdefense roots out rootkits, added Koll, detects and deletes keyloggers, includes an anti-virus scanner, and lets users crank out disk images that can be saved onto CD or to another drive, then retrieved and loaded on a resuscitated PC after a catastrophic crash or to a new machine in the case of theft or loss.

The program can be downloaded from the Laplink site for $44.95.