Vista downgrade...
Seems the only people that have had a Vista WOW experience are Microsoft's Vista team. Echos are heard all across Microsoft's Redmond campus, "WOW... I can't believe people want to downgrade from Vista to XP". Yep! That's right, many users that have purchased new PCs with Vista are downgrading to XP, and in some cases to Linux. You may be wondering, what's going on?
Microsoft is now letting PC makers offer a downgrade option to consumers who buy Vista Business or Ultimate machines that want to switch to Windows XP. Fujitsu, Lenovo, Hewlett-Packard, and Dell have all taken steps, one way or another, to allow consumers to downgrade from Vista to XP. I want to make it clear that the downgrade option is for businesses only. Consumers who purchased new PCs with Vista Home Premium do not have the downgrade option.
I'm going to read between the lines and give you my views. The mass majority of consumers are not ready for Vista because of it's demanding hardware requirements and the excessive cost of the Vista software. Due to this, Vista sales have been extremely low. Microsoft has seen it's Vista ship steadily sinking and are attempting to patch a hole in Vista's sinking ship. Not only does Microsoft patch their software, they are attempting to patch sales with this downgrade option. Microsoft is in business to make software and money. It is my opinion that Microsoft has put more emphasis on making money than on making good software. Vista is not necessarily bad software, it's just that most businesses want their OS to be lean and mean with out all of Vista's bloat and visual effects. On the home front Vista should serve most users well if they purchase a new PC with lots of RAM and a hefty video card.
One thing I've noticed is that Vista has also pushed some user over to Linux. Could it be fear, uncertainty, and doubt that has caused these Windows users to move to Linux? Surely the FUD factor has not turned its ugly hand on Microsoft. Oh well, what goes around comes around.
Friday, September 07, 2007
What's UAC?
A lot has been written lately about how badly Vista stacks up to every ones expectations of being the best OS ever. I'm not here to ridicule or praise it, however where there's smoke.... there is usually fire. Vista has taken lots of flak over its new UAC feature. It has even been suggested by some to simply turn UAC off to stop the annoying permission pop-ups.
What is UAC you might be asking? UAC stands for User Account Control, which is a feature that is built into Vista to help keep your computer secure and prevent virus and spyware from installing.
Here's a look at how UAC works. In earlier versions of Windows users logged on with total administrative privileges, therefore being able to make any change to the system without being prompted for permission. Vista has two types of user accounts: standard user accounts and administrator accounts. Standard users have limited administrative privileges and user rights; they cannot install or uninstall applications, change system settings, or perform other administrative tasks. In Vista you should log on as a standard user with limited privileges. When making changes to the system or installing a program Vista's UAC will pop-up asking for permission to perform the task as an Administrator.
For those of you that think they must run as an Administrator; Vista runs in Administrator Approval Mode, therefore providing additional protection for administrators. Vista will run most programs with standard user permissions even if the user is an administrator. If a user wishes to run a program that requires administrator permissions or make system changes, they must give permission through a UAC prompt. This helps prevent malicious software from making system-wide changes without the administrator's knowledge. Let it be known, Administrator Approval Mode does not provide the same level of security or protection as a standard user account.
With UAC turned on, malicious software can not install on your computer unless you give it administrative privileges to do so. If you always run as a standard user with UAC turned on and you find spryware on your computer. Guess what? It's your fault... you granted it permission to install. Vista and User Account Control is not a cure-all for malicious software, however it is another layer of protection you should be using along with anti-virus and anti-spyware software.
The User Account Control concept is not new, it's just new to Vista. Unix and Linux have always used this method of logging on to their systems. Humm... looks like Vista has snitched one of Linux great security features. Oh well, maybe this is one of those 235 patents that Microsoft claims to exist in Linux and open source.
A lot has been written lately about how badly Vista stacks up to every ones expectations of being the best OS ever. I'm not here to ridicule or praise it, however where there's smoke.... there is usually fire. Vista has taken lots of flak over its new UAC feature. It has even been suggested by some to simply turn UAC off to stop the annoying permission pop-ups.
What is UAC you might be asking? UAC stands for User Account Control, which is a feature that is built into Vista to help keep your computer secure and prevent virus and spyware from installing.
Here's a look at how UAC works. In earlier versions of Windows users logged on with total administrative privileges, therefore being able to make any change to the system without being prompted for permission. Vista has two types of user accounts: standard user accounts and administrator accounts. Standard users have limited administrative privileges and user rights; they cannot install or uninstall applications, change system settings, or perform other administrative tasks. In Vista you should log on as a standard user with limited privileges. When making changes to the system or installing a program Vista's UAC will pop-up asking for permission to perform the task as an Administrator.
For those of you that think they must run as an Administrator; Vista runs in Administrator Approval Mode, therefore providing additional protection for administrators. Vista will run most programs with standard user permissions even if the user is an administrator. If a user wishes to run a program that requires administrator permissions or make system changes, they must give permission through a UAC prompt. This helps prevent malicious software from making system-wide changes without the administrator's knowledge. Let it be known, Administrator Approval Mode does not provide the same level of security or protection as a standard user account.
With UAC turned on, malicious software can not install on your computer unless you give it administrative privileges to do so. If you always run as a standard user with UAC turned on and you find spryware on your computer. Guess what? It's your fault... you granted it permission to install. Vista and User Account Control is not a cure-all for malicious software, however it is another layer of protection you should be using along with anti-virus and anti-spyware software.
The User Account Control concept is not new, it's just new to Vista. Unix and Linux have always used this method of logging on to their systems. Humm... looks like Vista has snitched one of Linux great security features. Oh well, maybe this is one of those 235 patents that Microsoft claims to exist in Linux and open source.
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