I think Windows Vista and 7 are very safe, but computer users do stupid things. Piracy is one of the things; from download pirated files they risk a virus. So that’s not the OS being insecure, it’s the user being stupid. I have never gotten a virus that I did not download and run purposley.

The latest scam arriving at Vista’s doorstep is to dupe the unwitting user into downloading software that is supposed to protect the user. The conficker worm to name just one XP-Vista annoyance.

Pure marketing hype from Microsoft. Unless they’ve removed the createRemoteThread API function (doubtful since it would break compatibility) and completely removed ASCII support, Windows will remain inherently flawed and vulnerable. (See this article: http://philosecurity.org/2009/01/12/interview-with-an-adware-author for more information on these flaws.)

BTW, can you still turn off UAC completely? Thought so. Is UAC still just an ‘Okay’ button instead of an Admin password? Thought so.

I disagree, the uac is a bad idea, nothing is good unless you have to type in a password which is secured by focusing the keyboard to the text field and by sha1 or something like that.
Like how Apple does their system, you can’t install anything to admin access without your password and the password fields can’t be key logged without you having admin access in the first place.
To break the uac all you need is a application that controls the mouse just like vnc and moves it to the uac window, which you can of course find out where the uac window is by a screen shot.

Those practices you mentioned can go most of the way toward complete protection, but not all the way, unless you’re writing all of your own software, and following the whole “least privilege” concept while doing so.

Theoretically you can lock down your software to make it impenetrable, but if you’re using the web, the technology keeps changing, and you’ll keep sacrificing the functionality of web sites for your own security until you get tired of it, and upgrade your software for compatibility. At that point, you’re again at the mercy of the developers, and their mistakes and trade-offs are yours also.

Unless you wrote your own OS (with least priv, etc.) you’re at risk when you connect to other computers. You’re completely dependent on the developers to anticipate every possible problem, and of course it all feels secure until, suddenly, one day it doesn’t.

If there are any flaws in your OS (or software you use) they will eventually be exploited, and if you’re overconfident, the exploitation will last longer than it would otherwise.

Some of us can sit back and say we know enough to mostly protect ourselves now, but when we were beginners we were absolutely dependent on the software. And even now, unless we have the time and technical ability to understand the actual coding makeup of the programs we run, we are still taking our chances with other developers whenever we connect our computer to other computers.

Again, if you didn’t write it/understand it yourself, and you don’t get help from someone who does, then you wont even KNOW if or when you get exploited, until enough people get nailed and it shows up in the news. By then, you may have already lost something valuable.

Safety is a moving target. You can reach it, but it will move again while your head is turned. If you want to use the benefits of these technologies, you just have to keep chasing.

I suppose one question is, can they prove it is the most secure? I hear people go on and on, but I also only hear of people trying to hack windows not trying to hack Mac. Is this because Mac is more secure and a waste of their time, or a limited number? I don’t know. I haven’t asked.

But rather than going back and forth here about what different people think and believe, ask for proof from the source of the claim.

I think in the past it was the user who protects the OS since earlier versions of windows were mostly for technically inclined people but MS is now trying to make it the OS that protects the user. Hopefully this is true with windows 7, because it would be nice.

I find this kind of strange for a number of reasons. Like you i have been around windows for a long time i cant however imagine that they think vista and 7 is more secure than linux and osx.

If they do think so and this is obviously the case then tell me why i need to run a antivirus program to ensure my computer is in tip top running condition.

Not only that but you only have to look at the top 500 super computers in the world and what O/S they are running.

It kind of baffles me in the end why they think this but i suppose the good thing about this is if you believe in your product enough to care about and how others see it then i guess thats only going to make it better.

Safer than linux and OSX personaly no i dont think so but where would we be without direct x.

Ben

I’d really like to get a chance to try the new windows, because unfortunately for me Vista was a fairly negative experience (Brand new ‘vista ready’ ASUS laptop that ran like a turd and blue screened regularly and didnt support Dx 10 very well) but I have heard some pretty promising things about the new windows.

That said, part of my angst about windows led me to get a mac for my desktop, and to be honest, I’m pretty happy with it. Perhaps its the known hardware/software combination , but its stable as hell, and the security model seems just right. Anything requiring privelege escalation gets a password pop up, but it seems to do it in a way that isnt obtrusive like the Vista one seems to be. There should never be a good reason to ask for root permissions more than once. I’m told that microsoft made it annoying on purpose to pressure software developers. As a consumer that makes me almost hostile, because I certainly don’t pay money for a company to make my day more irritating.

Hopefully windows 7 has got that balance right.

What? Is Ballmer on crack again?

When there’s 300,000 viruses for Linux and I need to have a built in anti-spyware in addition to running an antivirus program, both real time scanning everything, and the OS pesters me every time I click on anything, I’ll believe them.

Til then, consider the source.