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Vista: Slow and Dangerous ?

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Lewis

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Vista: Slow and Dangerous
The security program in Microsoft's new version of Windows is so annoying you're likely to turn it off. And that's risky

When I write a column, I almost never feel I have had enough time using the product under review. Even in the rare instance in which deadlines aren't bearing down, I often realize later on that I've missed a fair amount. In the case of Microsoft's Windows Vista, flaws that I thought would grow less annoying with extended use have actually become more troublesome.

Most of the time I spent testing Vista was with sluggish pre-release versions. I expected things to improve when I ran the finished software on PCs configured for the new Windows version. I now realize that Vista really is slow unless you throw a lot of hardware at it. Microsoft (MSFT) claims it will run with 512 megabytes of memory. I had recommended a minimum of a gigabyte, but 2 GB is more like it if you want snappy performance. This is especially true if you're also running resource-hungry Microsoft Office 2007.

The most exasperating thing about Vista, though, is the security feature called User Account Control. UAC, satirized in an Apple (AAPL) ad as a security guy who constantly interrupts a conversation, appears as a pop-up asking permission before Windows will do a number of things: change system settings, install programs, or update antivirus software. UAC may well be necessary to block malicious programs from secretly installing themselves or hijacking your browser settings. But Microsoft has designed it to drive you nuts.
Turn-Off Temptation

A recent experience demonstrates what I mean. I was working away when Windows OneCare, Microsoft's extra-cost security program, suddenly popped open a window asking me if it should give a program called wercon.exe access to the network. To begin with, this is a question that would mystify nearly everyone. (It turns out wercon.exe is a tool that sends error reports back to Microsoft.) When I clicked O.K., UAC asked me if it should let OneCare proceed. You would think Windows would be able to figure this out for itself and that these different security components would work together. But Vista leaves it all to the user to sort out.

There's a real danger here: UAC is such a nag that many folks will just turn it off, which Microsoft has made quite easy to do. Disabling UAC is especially tempting if you have set up limited accounts for your children that let you restrict the sort of Web sites they can visit, the programs they can run, and the amount of time they can spend on the computer. With limited accounts, the kids will have to find a parent whenever a UAC window pops up. But if you give them unlimited accounts to deal with UAC requests, they can undo any restrictions.

Unfortunately, turning off UAC severely weakens Vista's defenses. In a study of Vista security, Symantec researcher Orlando Padilla found that without UAC, Vista's resistance to hostile software was similar to that of Windows XP. Before Vista, Windows promiscuously let programs install new software and make system changes without any notice to the user. UAC goes way too far the other way, requiring intervention for many innocent actions. The version of UAC in Mac OS X works much better, rarely popping up except during a software installation or upgrade.
Immediate Pain

As for general usability, I still have trouble finding once-familiar features that have been hidden in odd places. For example, unlike XP's My Network button, an item on Vista's main menu called Network does not give access to any network settings.

Things don't have to be this way. I've spent as much time with the redesigned Office 2007, and it feels quite comfortable. I'm sure I'll get used to Vista's quirks, Microsoft will smooth out the rough edges, and, in time, Vista's many attractions will outweigh the drawbacks. For now, though, it's a pain.

Wildstrom is Technology & You columnist for BusinessWeek. You can contact him at techandyou@businessweek.com .
 
Lewis, I don't understand all the technical stuff, but we have windows vista and I absolutely hate it. My husband did something to speed it up a little so it's some better, but I still hate it. I wouldn't recommend it to anybody, and we sure won't ever use it again once this one is gone.
 
I have a programmer friend who says that Vista is actually good for security, but very hard to program in. He says that it will take time for programmers to catch up, etc. He's pretty smart so I just listen to him ;)

God bless.
 
I have had some problems but all in all, Vista has been pretty good. I like the new desktop look they added and Media Center.
 
To be honest as a computer tech by trade I have to say I find that column very poorly written. And UAC was written by Microsoft to annoy developers because they were writing programs requiring elevated access to the OS that they didn't need to function. It was also in part to let the end user know what was going on. Its a practice that has helped to some degree with changing how developers program.

I would disagree with disabling UAC being a security risk, if you have a good virus scanning program on your system that auto updates and are running behind a hardware firewall (router with NAT turned on) you will not have many security problems save what you as a user cause. The number one cause of virus/trojens even in an enterprise enviroment is the end user, specifically going to the shady places on the internet, opening mail messages and attachments from people they don't know. Stay away from these, the majority of your problems will be out the window.
 
destiny said:
Lewis, I don't understand all the technical stuff, but we have windows vista and I absolutely hate it. My husband did something to speed it up a little so it's some better, but I still hate it. I wouldn't recommend it to anybody, and we sure won't ever use it again once this one is gone.
destiny, once you get use to it you will be fine,as for me I love Vista. But Tim told me about service pack one which I did not install, silly me, I should have known better.
 
I bought a Toshiba notebook recently, and it has Vista Business Service pack 1 on it. I'ts faster than XP, but that's not suprising since my notebook has 2.4 Ghz Core 2 Duo processor, 4 gigs of RAM.

It takes a bit of getting used to, and yes the popups can get a big annoying, but overall I love Vista, although I would like to see Windows 7.
 
Windows 7 looks a lot more promising then Vista did at release. But I've got a pretty standard rule of no upgrades till the first service pack. It has saved me a tremendous amount of hassle over the years.
 
Yes, I try to wait until various service packs and upgrades have come out before I buy something like that.

That goes for any new product - I'll wati a while, until probelms have been fixed and the prices dropped considerably and then I'll buy it. You have to wait a bit, but there's no harm in that, especially if you get a better deal!
 
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