Windows Vista News

Joanna Rutkowska, a security researcher known for picking apart the security mechanisms built into Windows, is to demonstrate new ways for hackers to invade Windows Vista, including rootkit techniques and ways to defeat BitLocker drive encryption.
Rutkowska recently announced she will be running a training session called "Understanding Stealth Malware" during the Black Hat Briefings and Training event in Las Vegas, which runs from 28 July to 2 August.

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A big focus during Microsoft’s earnings report last week was the sharp increase in the number of premium Windows editions licensed by computer makers. I
followed up on the subject in today’s newspaper
, looking at what has caused the shift and how it reflects Microsoft’s broader strategy. In short, analysts say the quarterly trend was fueled by the way company crafted the different Windows Vista versions. Specifically, it can be traced to sales of Windows Vista Home Premium, over Windows Vista Home Basic.

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Time and again we were told by Microsoft that Vista is the most secure operating system the company has ever produced. But just recently, Microsoft technical fellow
Mark Russinovich
is lowering the security expectations built into Vista. So, what’s the truth about Vista security?
Early testing suggests Vista is significantly more secure than previous versions and this obviously the truth. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean an end to Microsoft’s security headaches.

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There are those who believe, really believe in completely open source software, nothing proprietary and it’s a dream, it’s here but for most users it’s just a dream or not a concern at all. It’s Ubuntu versus Vista in everything from installing the operating system to configuring devices and installing drivers and which one comes out on top.
I don’t really color myself a believer in open source, so long as the software package is “free” to use, what do I care if the code is open source or not, I just want good free software, that’s all but I also want it to work with little fuss. One open source application I like is OpenOffice, it’s a good package and a nice option for those who don’t want to spend $400 for Microsoft Office and can’t get the student and/or government discounts on it. I’ll admit, I use both Office 2003 and 2007 and both are far more polished than OpenOffice but for free… OpenOffice is okay.

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We’ve all heard the stories and even called them rumors at some points but it’s not just stories and rumors, these situations are real, very real, almost too real. Many have complained about the new Vista licensing scheme, I’m not going to defend it but until today my thoughts were “how bad could it be?” It’s bad, it’s real bad.
Microsoft got the brilliant idea that any copy of Vista can only be transferred once provided it is uninstalled from the old system and there is no way to deactivate your serial key so that’s a strike. I don’t know exactly what Microsoft considers to be a “transfer” but the system is either flawed, didn’t apply to my situation or did I say flawed?

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Despite the fact we were told that Windows Vista would be much more secure than Windows XP, Microsoft technical fellow Mark Russinovich is lowering the security expectations built into Vista, particularly User Account Control (UAC).
Russinovich, in a talk at last week’s CanSecWest security conference, made predictions for the future of malware and anti-malware developments. He said that in time hackers will become familiar with Vista, and will develop new exploits, so that viruses, password-stealing Trojans, and rootkits will continue to thrive and be a menace to Windows users.

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Shifting to Vista: No driver dramas yet, but the networking is rubbish

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DALLAS —  From the movie-like graphics in the action game “Gears of War” to the nearly photorealistic racer “MotorStorm,” video games have come a long way since the bouncing blocks of “Pong.”
A new breed of visually striking games promises to light up computer screens with even sharper, more lifelike graphics than ever before. But unlike the popular ”
Gears of War
” or “MotorStorm,” the games won’t be debuting on Sony Corp.’s (

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