2. Windows Vista: Benefits For Mobile Computing

Vista has lots of new features. Here are some features that are especially valuable for mobile computer users.

Security

Mobile computers are especially prone to security breaches because they are often used away from well protected home or business networks. If Vista offered mobile computer users nothing more than its security enhancements, it would be worth the price of admission.

Good security is unobtrusive, so it is with Vista's protection from hackers and viruses. Unlike XP, Vista was built from scratch with security at the forefront of each design decision, as a result not only will Vista be inherently more secure when its launched, it will be harder for hackers to gain entry and easier for the security experts to hook in their products to provide protection in years to come.

In Vista, the User Account Control (UAC) manager enforces the principle that every program, even a program that belongs to the Administrator, runs with minimal privileges. In the case of the Administrator when a program needs extra privileges, the UAC manager intercepts the request and warns that a program is requesting extra privileges. The UAC waits for the Administrator to click "OK" before completing the action.

Another new security initiative in Vista is Windows Service Hardening. The idea is to restrict the scope of Windows Services and thus improve security. Windows Services no longer have limitless rights and scope. Instead each service has only the rights needed to do its job. In the past, hackers have attacked the operating system via Windows Services. In Vista these hackers are in for a surprise, even if they were able to successfully hi-jack a service such as Telnet or SMTP, the new "hardening" means they have no scope for their nefarious deeds.

Allied to windows service hardening, is registry restriction. The idea is that normally, Vista only exposes a subset of the registry to a program or service. However the Administrator can still see the whole registry with regedit.

The idea in Vista of allowing programs to do their job, but nothing extra extends to Internet Explorer 7. Vista's new browser runs with much reduced privileges, while it can still do its job as a browser, it provides no back doors for hackers to exploit. Now we don't want you to think that increased security reduces functionality for legitimate tasks, because it does not. In the case of Internet Explorer 7 the pure browsing abilities have been enhanced, for example, anti-phishing features which really do identify and block access to rogue sites pretending to be banks.

We have only scratched the surface of security, if you want to know more download Microsoft's 50 page White Paper on Vista Security. Vista was designed to be the most secure Microsoft operating system available. Other systems may be more secure now, but once Microsoft gets the bit between its teeth in a particular area, it delivers the goods. We'll will stick our necks out and predict that in 5 years everyone will be saying praising Microsoft's operating system as the most secure. That system maybe son-of-Vista or Vista with SP5, but Microsoft seems determined to achieve the premier security position.