Facebook expands Anti-Virus Marketplace with 7 new partners

Facebook’s "The Anti-Virus Marketplace" or The AV Marketplace has now been updated to accommodate seven new partners to its existing network of security companies. What this means is that now Facebook users will be able to download software from avast!, AVG, Avira, Kaspersky, Panda, Total Defense, and Webroot. Users will also have access to new anti-virus software for their mobile devices from many of Facebook's existing partners such as Microsoft, McAfee, Norton, TrendMicro, and Sophos. A user can download free anti-virus software for their PCs, Macs, and mobiles from the AV Marketplace. 

Offering better security

Facebook adds that its new anti-virus partners will bring to the table the latest software and comprehensive intelligence. The 7 new partners, like the existing ones will work towards protecting Facebook's community, which is now over a billion users strong. It plans to achieve this by improving the URL blacklist system. Facebook's URL blacklist system looks through trillions of clicks each day, and before each click, the system gets back to the databases of the AV Marketplace partners to ensure that the website that a user is about to enter is safe. "This means that whenever you click a link on our site you are protected both by Facebook and 12 of the industry leaders in computer security. We will be cooperating with these partners more in the future, and look forward to announcing new tools soon," reveals Facebook.

Facebook launched its AV Marketplace roughly six months ago, and the social networking giant shares that in the six months that followed, over 30 million of its users visited it. Since its launch, Facebook claims to have introduced new phishing protection, while announcing the launch of phish@fb.com -- an email address for the public to report phishing attempts. In July, Facebook launched new malware checkpoints which enable users to enroll themselves to keep their devices free of malware.

If you have been spotting a slightly different looking top navigation bar in your Facebook account, then you are among the chosen few on whose profiles Facebook is testing it. Inside Facebook now reports that some users have been spotting a rather different-looking top navigation bar, in which the Search bar has been pushed closer to the company logo. The icons to view friend requests, messages, and other activity notifications have been moved further right on the bar. In fact, closer inspection reveals that Facebook has completely done away with the 'Home' button. Users viewing the test design have to click on the Facebook logo to go to their news feed.

Facebook is known for introducing cosmetic changes to the profile appearance and to the way images are displayed. The tweaks to the top navigation bar are under test, and there is no saying if the changes will actually find their way to user profiles. The most prominent of the changes that Facebook introduced to user profiles in the recent past remains the Timeline.