Sophos' Wisniewski elaborated more, explaining that IE8 "includes a new protection called SmartScreen which is similar to the protection in Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. This anti-phishing/anti-malware URL filtering is built into the browser, which can block known bad sites and helps protect users."

In addition, IE8 highlights the actual domain of the URL in bold on the address bar. The added emphasis makes the true domain stand out and can act as a phishing deterrent by alerting the user when a fake or malicious URL may be directing them to a different domain than they were expecting.

As far as Microsoft has come with security, its not perfect. No operating system ever will be. Still, it can't hurt to try so here is a look at some of the areas that Windows 7 is lacking and perhaps some ideas for Microsoft to work on for Windows 8.

1. Windows Firewall. The Windows Firewall is an area where Microsoft has come a long (long) way from its original attempt at incorporating personal firewall protection into the operating system. One of the primary complaints about earlier versions was that it only restricted inbound traffic and did not provide any mechanism for blocking or filtering traffic outbound from the Windows PC. Microsoft has addressed that.