Microsoft senior vice president Bob Muglia said at TechEd 2006 in Boston that Windows Vista will be the most secure operating system. I hope it will be at least the most secure Windows ever. Here are some features that will make Vista more secure:
Reduced privileges
Services are now run with reduced privileges that contain profiles specifying allowed file system, registry and network activities.
Spyware and malware detection
Windows Defender detects spyware in real-time and the Malicious Software Removal Tool periodically scans the PC for known prevalent viruses.
Better firewall
Vista will add to the firewall in XP full directional filtering and application blocking.
User Account Control
User Account Control forces programs to run in a specific Integrity Layer and request elevated privileges from the user when performing system commands or writing to system directories.
Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer 7 in Vista runs in a "Protected Mode" and has a phishing filter. The phishing filter is the new pop-up blocker, as it will become a standard feature in most toolbars and browsers (see Google Toolbar for Firefox, Firefox 2, MSN Search Toolbar).
BitLocker
BitLocker Drive Encryption is a data protection feature that provides encryption for the entire OS volume. Using a Trusted Platform Module chip located on the motherboard or USB stick, BitLocker encrypts data while it is being written to the disk.
After people will start using it, Vista will not be as secure as it may look now. And hopefully security won't mean prompting the user to type the admin password everytime he wants to install an application or delete a shortcut.
Related:
Windows Vista live preview
Well, looking back, I think it is safe to say that Vista neither struck out or hit a home run with their security. I would say they probably hit a nice lazy single up the middle. The jury is out on Windows 7, but so far they are at least taking some big swings and have hit some mammoth fly balls. Are you loving the baseball analogies or what?
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