2. Using Windows Action Center
In Figure 7,
note the flag with the little red X on it. You might see a similar flag
on your own Windows 8 system, with or without the red X. This flag
denotes the current status of the machine as viewed by the Windows Action Center.
Windows Action Center is intended to provide you, at a glance, with
real-time insight into the current health of your computer from a
security perspective. The Windows Action Center watches a number of
critical system elements in an effort to provide you with coherent,
actionable information. Among the sources the Windows Action Center uses are:
These sources continually report their status to Windows Action
Center. When something is amiss, Windows Action Center notifies you so
that you can decide whether corrective action is warranted.
To view Windows Action Center, complete the following steps:
-
Tap or click the flag icon in the notification area of the taskbar on the desktop.
-
From the shortcut menu, choose Open Action Center to open the Action Center window shown in Figure 8.
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You can change how the Action Center behaves by clicking or tapping Change Action Center Settings in the navigation area at the left side of the window.
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When the screen shown in Figure 9 opens, choose which services should be configured to send messages to the Action Center and then click the OK button.
From within the Action Center, you can take specific
actions to address the issues that are identified as risks. The various
actions, such as configuring Windows Update, are described in other
sections of this book.
