Security Center is an additional security feature available on computers running Windows XP Professional with SP2 or later. Security Center monitors the status of a computer’s security settings for Automatic Updates, virus protection, and Windows Firewall and warns users if these features aren’t configured properly.

Although Security Center is enabled and used automatically in workgroups, by default it is not enabled or configured for Windows XP Professional SP2 computers belonging to domains. To enable Security Center for use in domains, you must enable Turn On Security Center (Domain PCs Only) under Computer ConfigurationAdministrative TemplatesWindows ComponentsSecurity Center. Once the affected computers are restarted, all users in the related site, domain, or OU will have the Security Center feature. Once enabled, you can access Security Center from Control Panel or by double-clicking the Security Center icon (the red shield with an x) in the system tray.

Note

When Security Center is enabled, a new icon is added to the notifications area of the Windows taskbar. If there are status issues with monitored areas of security, users are notified with balloon dialog boxes.