After over a year of marketing, Microsoft is still trying to convince computer users that an upgrade to the Windows Vista operating system will solve some major security issues. Is an upgrade worth the time and expense? As my favorite accounting professor always said, the answer depends on your situation.
Do you really need a new operating system?
Upgrading to an new operating system (OS) shouldn't be an impulse decision. For users of Windows 2000, Windows Vista may be a worthwhile upgrade if purchased with a new computer system.
Loading Vista onto a Windows 2000 box is a recipe for heartbreak, even if the old hardware
passes Microsoft's compatibility tests. Vista really needs a dual core CPU and dedicated graphics cards to run well. Many older computers that run Windows 2000 may not support the 1 GB of RAM that Vista needs, too.
Windows XP users who stay current with their service packs and patches may not need a Vista upgrade. Vista requires more powerful hardware than the average XP box, although some recent computers that shipped with XP might handle Vista with acceptable speed.
Are there Vista device drivers for your hardware
Microsoft has added security features to device drivers in Windows Vista. Hardware manufacturers and driver developers must distribute signed drivers, because Vista won't install unsigned device drivers by default. Users should read the documentation and reviews carefully before installing any device driver, even those obtained directly from a manufacturer.
This is an important step in planning for an upgrade to Windows Vista. If your small business relies on printers, scanners, video cards or other hardware that was purchased before 2007, take a few minutes to check the manufacturer's website for updated Windows Vista drivers for these devices.Older legacy devices might work fine on your current computer, but the Vista drivers may provide only the most basic functions - if the drivers are even available.
Reputable third-party sties like
WinDrivers and
WinFiles also have excellent lists of Vista hardware drivers. Searching for drivers on Google and Yahoo can be risky, because the paid results may lead to sites that distribute hacked versions of drivers that contain bonus software such as keystroke loggers and password sniffers.
Plan ahead for starting over
I've always advised users to start fresh every 12 to 24 months by wiping their hard drives and reinstalling Windows XP. Registry cleaning programs like
jv16 PowerTools can help prolong the life of a Windows install, but eventually the Windows registry will swell with data.
Microsoft's System Restore feature, which is available in Windows XP as well as Vista, merely rolls the registry back to a previous state. System Restore doesn't remove programs, files or documents from the hard drive.
You can use the recovery or restore procedure that shipped with your computer to restore your computer to its original set of programs. It can be time-consuming
Check your computer's documentation, as many manufacturers ship this recovery software as as a hard drive partition. If you have the option to create recovery DVDs, do so. It's usually too late to make these disks after there's a problem that requires the recovery procedure.
One short cut is to burn and save a disk or partition image of a fresh install, as Fred Langa often recommended when he was writing about Windows XP. This requires some advance preparation, as you will want to create this restore image after you've installed a core set of programs and essential data. You'll also want to run Windows Update and bring your computer up to the current standard.
Do all of this without doing everyday work on your computer. It doesn't make sense to install your anti-virus program if it requires an annual subscription. Plan on installing these programs after you create or restore the disk image.
The choice of a disk or partition image is very important, too. If your computer's recovery process includes a special partition on your hard drive, you should create an image of the entire drive, not just the C: partition. If you delete the recovery partition, and you don't have a backup of those files, it may take time and money to get a fresh copy of the recovery application from your computer's manufacturer.
This article at TweakHound has a good overview of image creation in Windows XP, and most of this applies to Vista as well. Creating your own disk image is a quick way to start fresh, and an essential part of disaster recovery planning (DRP) for any business, especially small companies.
User Access Control
Far too many Windows users run their computers in an administrator-level account. Hackers and phishers have rely on this behavior to take control of computers. One major addition to Vista is User Access Control, or UAC. It's a security system that lets users do tasks like installing programs and perform updates while running in a limited account. While companies such as Apple have lampooned UAC's "block or allow" approach, Microsoft is hoping that software developers will learn to write programs that work without triggering UAC prompts. It's still too easy for a user to turn off UAC, however.
The Vista Firewall
Windows Vista includes a rewrite of the Windows XP firewall that was deployed in Service Pack 2. Unfortunately, the Vista firewall still shares a major weakness with its XP cousin. The Windows Firewall only blocks inbound packets, and does little or nothing to stop the computer's applications from sending outbound packets.
Fortunately, most of the major software firewall vendors offer two-way products that provide more protection, especially for users who travel with their computer. Home and small business users should still use a hardware firewall built into a router or another network appliance to provide additional protection for their network and computers.