IM Guard protects users of Instant Messaging applications such as MSN Messenger from access to any potentially malicious URLs received from any participants in the conversation. Such URLs can lead to phishing sites or sites which attempt to exploit your web browser.

Summary tab:

• IM Guard is now - click ON / OFF to toggle between switching the IM Guard tool off or on, respectively.

• Threats blocked - this field displays the number of potentially malicious URLs that were blocked during the current Spyware Doctor session. This number is reset to 0 when Spyware Doctor is closed. Clicking this number displays the Results tab.

• Guard the following against references to bad sites - displays a list of Instant Messaging applications installed on the operating system which IM Guard supports. Selecting or clearing the check box of a listed application respectively enables or disables protection against the receipt and distribution of potentially malicious URLs.

Results tab:

• Results - displays a cumulative list of conversation windows that IM Guard detected and blocked during the current Spyware Doctor session. For each detection, information is also displayed on the name of the participant that sent the potentially malicious link and the time it was sent. The results list is cleared when Spyware Doctor is closed.

• Clear Results - clears the entire contents of the Results list.