What can someone do if they know your postal address?
2600 ran an article on this a few years back. The 'hacker' was able to get a credit bureau to update someone’s record with just a persons name and address. Then they applied for a card with a company who used this bureau. They got the card without raising any red flags and then began receiving pre-approved cards for the person in the mail.

Nice huh? Of course the article didn't mention how much information the USPS keeps track of or how to get below their radar.

As for the interesting MBSA discussion going on… MBSA is a nice tool. It does have 'bugs' just like any other software. Do not rely on it exclusively. In some instances it will list a patch as installed that is not and/or list a patch as not installed that is actually installed. Related to this something I've seen on servers is a discrepancy between Windows Update and MBSA one says patch X, Y, and Z are missing while the other might say patch X and Y are missing and patch Z is installed. Again this is a thankfully a rare occurrence so the extra analysis to determine which one is wrong (sometimes both) is not a huge time sink.

As for recommending Shields Up I stand by that recommendation. The user asking the original question indicated his/her n00b status. The information presented on that site is in an easy to understand USA today type format. It may not cover security in depth or offer DOD level security recommendations but it does go step by step with hand holding how to disable file and print sharing, unused services, close unused ports, get a free firewall etc. Almost everything an n00b needs to get started.