Microsoft Windows Vista in Software

Security

With the amount of negative publicity Windows XP has endured around security, it's been a key focus during Vista's development. There are far too many changes to go into detail here, but for a full picture, take a look at www.pcpro.co.uk/links/149_vista2

You'll soon become acquainted with Vista's most obvious security introduction - User Account Control (UAC). Every time a potentially harmful process is launched, Windows locks down and a UAC dialog box will demand your attention. It's proved to be one of Vista's most controversial features, and a source of vocal complaints throughout the beta programme. While it remains intact in the final product (and can certainly be annoying in the early stages of an installation), it becomes less intrusive in everyday use.

Equally important, Vista makes it far easier to run as a Standard Account than XP, with its equivalent Limited Account. It will allow you to do all the day-to-day jobs such as running most programs or deleting your own files, but not access anyone else's files, install or uninstall software or delete files that the computer needs to run. And games, which rarely ran under XP's Limited Account, should all run too. Even experts should run a Standard Account when they don't perform admin-related tasks, although you'll have to create one manually.

Vista also sees a huge boost to the Windows Security Center. This is broken down into four components: Firewall, Automatic Updating, Malware Protection and Other Security Settings. If you buy anti-virus software, for example, Microsoft intends it to "plug into" the Security Center console, and be controlled from there.

The new bi-directional Firewall is also far more configurable than its XP equivalent, and will operate almost silently - that is, it pops up with a message only when it needs you to take action. Best of all, we don't see any need to install a third-party firewall at all, especially if you're using a router to connect to the internet.

The Malware protection section covers both spyware and viruses. Vista includes Windows Defender anti-spyware, which is installed by default and runs silently in the background, using Windows Update to download new definitions. In our tests, it hasn't quite managed to beat some standalone offerings, but it should be enough to keep you out of trouble. The omission of virus software is controversial, but free anti-virus software such as AVG's (http://free.grisoft.com) is already available and Vista-compatible.

"Other security settings" is the place to go if you want to switch off User Account Control or change your internet security settings - closely tied in with Internet Explorer 7. This also benefits from an optional phishing filter, which checks sites you're visiting against blacklists, as well as forcing windows to display an address bar, so you can always tell where you really are. It also runs in the new Protected Mode (not available in the XP version of IE7), effectively denying the browser access to your files and the Registry.

Parental controls are another nifty new feature. Much like the current crop of internet security suites, these allow you to control the amount of time users can browse, the sites they can visit, which games they can run (for example, by age rating) and which other programs they can run too - such as blocking instant messenger apps.

The final notable inclusion is BitLocker drive encryption, which is only included in the Ultimate and Enterprise editions. It can either use a TPM (Trusted Platform Module) built onto a motherboard or, via a more convoluted process, a USB thumb drive. There's little to lose by opting for the former (performance is barely affected), but the possibility of the thumb drive being lost or failing leaves us uneasy about recommending the latter.