In the past few years Microsoft have added a number of advanced security features to Windows, making it ever more difficult for malware to infect your PC.

What they haven’t done, in most cases, is provide any interface to control these options. So there’s no easy way to see how your PC is configured right now, or change those settings, without diving into the Registry. But fortunately there is a simpler alternative, in the shape of the newly released Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit 2.0 (EMET).

Launch the program and you’ll immediately see the current status of your PCs Data Execution Prevention (DEP), Structured Exception Handler Overwrite Protection (SEHOP) and Address Space Layout Randomisation (ASLR) settings. (If you’ve never come across these acronyms before, essentially they’re all technologies that work to block potential security holes that are often exploited by hackers in an effort to attack your PC.)

This is immediately useful as you’ll be able to see how secure your PC is right now.

If DEP, SEHOP and ASLR are all set to “Application Opt In” on a Windows Vista or 7 system, for instance, then you’re running with the recommended security settings.

But If DEP or ASLR are disabled then you’re not benefiting from their malware-blocking abilities, and you’re probably more exposed to dangers than you need to be.

Changing your settings is as simple as clicking the Configure System button, and choosing the appropriate option: changing SEHOP from “Application Opt Out” to “Application Opt In”, for example.

And while DEP, SEHOP and ASLR normally have a range of restrictions – they may only be available on Windows Vista or 7, perhaps only to programs that are compiled with a special flag – the EMET can deliver these protective features to just about program, on any platform from Windows XP onwards.

The Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit 2.0 can deliver valuable extra security to your PC, then, but there is a potential down side. Applying some of these security technologies to programs that don’t support them can lead to crashes, and if drivers or Windows services are affected then this could prevent your PC from booting (unless you use Safe Mode).

This isn’t a program for the PC novice, then. Be prepared to spend some time testing your apps if you make any changes, and it’s also wise to read the EMET user manual to get a clear idea of what it can do (Start > Programs > All Programs > Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit 2.0 > Users Guide.)