Windows Hacks: Vista Comes Into View
Our hands-on, in-depth preview of XP's successor, Windows Vista.Scott Spanbauer
Contributing Editor Scott Spanbauer writes the Internet Tips column.
Illustration by Peter and Maria Hoey
Security is the principal reason most Windows users will jump at the chance to upgrade their OS. Vista beefs up Windows' defenses against 21st-century online dangers, many of which overwhelm XP. It streamlines startup and shutdown, and harnesses the copious RAM installed in modern PCs to speed up application launching via the new Superfetch memory manager. The OS also promises new features, including systemwide speech recognition. And its Aero interface uses transparency, shading, and color to pack more information and control into every icon, window frame, and dialog box. (The striking similarity to Mac OS X is purely coincidental, we're sure.)
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Plus: Discover how to tailor Windows XP more to your liking in "Windows Hacks: Registry Remedies"
Safer Windows
Right out of the chute, Vista is more secure than its predecessor. If you install the initial version of Windows XP on an Internet-connected PC, the Blaster worm will bring your whole computer down in a matter of minutes. Microsoft started to take security more seriously in XP Service Packs 1 and 2, enabling the Windows Firewall and automatic updates by default.
Vista gets tougher on Internet-based attacks by including an antispyware tool, and by enhancing Internet Explorer's default security. The new Spyware Protection section in the Windows Security Center reports whether Windows Defender, Vista's antispyware utility (formerly known as Microsoft AntiSpyware), is running. The new General Security section tracks whether the security settings in IE have been lowered to unsafe levels, opening the door to browser-borne attacks. Vista's version of IE won't even let you see the Web until you raise the Internet Zone's security back to 'Medium-High', a setting essentially the same as Windows XP Service Pack 2's 'Medium' setting.
Despite these improvements, Vista fails to close one gaping security hole, at least for ordinary computer users. Windows has long needed a firewall that blocks unauthorized traffic--both incoming and outgoing--to prevent viruses, spyware, worms, and other malware from delivering your private data to servers or from spreading themselves to other computers. Like the one in Windows XP, Vista's firewall does an excellent job of blocking the Blaster worm and other incoming attacks. When you install an application that accepts incoming connections (such as a browser or an instant messenger), the firewall asks you to allow or block the connections. But don't mistake such requests for outgoing-connection security.
Vista's firewall can control whether individual programs initiate outgoing connections, but this feature isn't intended for mere mortals. (Microsoft claims that only IT departments will have reason to use this setting.) By delving deep into the Local Security Policy Settings in Control Panel's Administrative Tools, I was able to block outgoing traffic and create exceptions for individual programs. But these settings are too obscure for most people. If Vista's firewall remains as is, you'll simply need to install a third-party bidirectional firewall such as ZoneLabs' free ZoneAlarm, which is what we recommend for Windows XP users today.
Lockdown, Vista Style
You can also reduce the threat from malicious software by restricting access to key system settings and hardware. Linux, Mac OS X, Unix, and similar operating systems discourage the use of high-privilege accounts for day-to-day computing. That way, when a bad program does get loose, the damage it can do is minimized. When tasks requiring an administrator account's privileges pop up, you simply run that program as the administrator by entering a password.
Windows has offered lower-privilege accounts for quite a while, but they are painful to use, since performing tasks that require higher privileges (such as installing programs or changing security settings) means logging out and then logging back in to an administrator account.
Vista's limited-rights accounts are easier to tolerate: Standard user accounts (which XP calls Limited accounts) and any rogue software running under them are still blocked from many sensitive tasks. But now, Windows pops up a dialog box that allows you to enter an administrator password for the task (see FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1: Higher privileges are just a password away, which makes safer non-administrator accounts more convenient.
). Unfortunately, in Beta 2, when you are logged in under an administrator account, a similar dialog box pops up asking you to confirm every high-privilege task.
Windows XP's log-in security and disk encryption make life difficult for casual snoops, but determined data thieves can still decode the contents of a stolen laptop or hard disk, if they have sufficient time and the right tools. Vista's Secure Startup feature moves the drive encryption key off the disk itself and onto a motherboard-mounted Trusted Platform Module chip, a USB drive, or good old paper.
You can still encrypt volumes and folders as in Windows XP Professional, but Vista's Secure Startup walks you through the process of encrypting the entire drive and saving a 48-bit key to a file on another PC or on a USB drive, or of printing the key on paper (see FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2: Corporate Vista PCs in particular will benefit from the OS's linked startup and disk-encryption controls.
). Afterward, no one can boot Vista on the PC without first accessing the TPM chip (impossible when the disk drive is separated from the system), inserting the USB device, or entering the 48-digit key by hand. Write down or save the key in a file--my USB drive failed to provide the key when I tried to boot a freshly encrypted Vista volume. According to Microsoft, Secure Startup will be included only in the OS's Enterprise Edition, limiting the feature to corporate Windows users.
Keeping Kids Safe
Previous versions of Internet Explorer have parental controls for filtering out adult content, but Vista expands on them by giving administrators (presumably reasonable adults) control over what non-administrator accounts (presumably children in need of protection) can view on the computer, whether it's in a browser, an instant message window, or a game.
Vista's Web controls block content by topic--drugs, alcohol, firearms, and hate speech, for example--and they also filter browser-based e-mail and chat. You can thwart or allow games according to Entertainment Software Rating Board categories, including games that are already installed on the PC (see FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3: Parents can control what their children see, the games they play, and when they can use the PC.
). Even better, for parents who aren't always around to monitor their kids' computer usage, Parental Controls let you specify times when the account can't be used. If you've always wished you could magically disable your child's computer every night at bedtime, now you can. Vista even monitors account activity and reports what the little darlings have been up to, such as the sites they've visited and the time they've spent using various programs.
Unfortunately, in the current beta version, Vista's Web filtering didn't prevent me from viewing adult content in Internet Explorer or Firefox, nor did the reports note my furtive online explorations--or any of my other activity, for that matter.
Faster On, Faster Off
Though computers continue to run faster, starting up and shutting down Windows seems to take a bit longer every day. Vista will speed up your machine's boot process only when your system has hardware that supports the Extensible Firmware Interface. Still, the new OS snaps more quickly out of energy-saving sleep modes on all systems. Microsoft claims that the faster reawakenings are due to Vista's ability to overrule any foot-dragging drivers and applications that take their time shutting down.
Vista's Start menu replaces XP's Turn Off Computer option (which opens a second dialog box of power-off choices) with a new power-off button that forces the OS to write the contents of memory to a file on the hard disk and then slip into low-power standby mode. (Unfortunately, when I tried this on my test system, a hardware incompatibility caused it to reboot instead of going into standby.) Another button lets you restart or shut down the PC as in XP, but the option to hibernate (putting the system in a zero-power mode) appears to be missing for now.
Speedier App Launches
Previous Windows versions prefetch some application files to get them started more quickly, but Vista's Superfetch feature takes this to a new level. XP preloads files that an application has opened recently into available memory before the program calls for them, but Superfetch tracks all the programs you use over the course of months and keeps your most frequently used files in memory permanently (if you have sufficient RAM).
Since system memory is often tight, Vista's ability to use a USB flash or external hard drive as additional Superfetch storage space could be a true time-saver. Plug a mostly empty drive into a USB port, and Vista will ask whether you'd like to use some or all of it to speed up your computer (see FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4: Vista taps USB flash memory drives, in addition to using all available RAM, to speed up your application launching.
). The Superfetch partition Vista creates on the USB drive is encrypted, but USB drives are notoriously easy to lose, so people working with sensitive data may want to avoid using such drives for Superfetch caching.
When I plugged in a 512MB USB drive and reserved 431MB of it for Superfetch, programs launched much faster the second time I opened them; however, my test system had 1GB of RAM, and the applications appeared to launch just as quickly after I unplugged the drive. You'll probably get the best results when you use a fast USB drive (the latest have data-read speeds near 30MB per second).
Automatic Maintenance
While Windows XP lets you refresh your device drivers via Windows Update, they're available only as optional downloads when you visit the Windows Update site. Vista automates new driver downloads and offers them for your installation approval. This could smooth the upgrade process for anyone whose hardware isn't supported in Vista's initial release--if a driver is available subsequently through Windows Update, Vista will bring it to you rather than making you find it.
Vista's error reporting is more automatic as well. When applications crash in XP, you're asked if you'd like to send a report to Microsoft--but it's not like Microsoft will reply with a fix. When Vista encounters a problem, and you elect to report it, you'll get an answer back with a solution, if there is one. Of course, if the response is useless, we'll all be racing to disable this link with the Redmond mother ship.
Refreshed for Success
Vista's Aero interface looks slick, but more significant, it makes Windows and its applications easier to use by endowing screen elements with photorealistic depth, color, texture, and transparency. Along with the Aero look are several new and welcome utilities. We were shocked--shocked!--to find that many of these tools are eerily similar to programs bundled into Apple's Mac OS X.
Windows Media Player 11 receives a streamlined interface, with simplified music library navigation, bigger controls, and iTunes-like light colors (see FIGURE 5
FIGURE 5: Windows Media Player 11 sports a clean, simple look that could keep users from switching to other players.
). The new image manager, Windows Photo Gallery, applies the same interface design to picture viewing, simplifying the process of printing images, burning them to DVD for television viewing, or viewing slide shows on the PC. And Windows Movie Maker can now burn your movies to DVD thanks to Vista's Windows DVD Maker program (as with Windows Media Player's DVD playback support, however, you'll have to pay extra to download the necessary codec). Vista also introduces a new Windows Calendar that supports the iCal standard, and it lets you publish and subscribe to calendars on the Web.
Living with Windows XP for so long without a significant update has made me realize that it's a pretty good operating system. Vista's improved security features and performance tweaks would make it a very good one, but the OS's sleek interface and useful new tools suggest something that's even better: coolness.
Aero Interface
Begin at the Start
The new Start menu in Vista places the Windows search box a click closer. The OS also features a new Lock option that will activate your password-protected screen saver. The menu's Power Off button in the bottom-right corner combines the power saving of Windows XP's standby mode with the safety of hibernate mode (saving your current state to RAM so that it awakens faster, but also to your hard drive so you won't lose data if the power goes out).
Explorer Reveals More
You'll see more information about the files and folders you select in Vista's Explorer through the new horizontal Preview pane that appears at the bottom of each folder window. Along with the highlighted file's size, creation date, and other standard information, you'll see a list of the keywords that you have assigned to it, as well as the star rating you've designated for it. On music files you'll also see the album title, genre, and other metadata displayed in the pane.
Preview Your Open Windows
Switching between open programs is easier in Vista than in previous Windows versions because you can see a thumbnail of each window's contents when you hover your mouse pointer above its taskbar shortcut. The dynamic nature of the thumbnails means that you can even view playing video and running processes in the mini-windows.