Text 16511, 87 rader
Skriven 2007-03-19 14:53:10 av mike (1:379/45)
Ärende: Vista: Slow And Dangerous
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From: mike <mike@barkto.com>


http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_13/b4027018.htm


===
The security program is so annoying you're likely to turn it off


When I write a column, I almost never feel I have had enough time using the
product under review. Even in the rare instance in which deadlines aren't
bearing down, I often realize later on that I've missed a fair amount. In the
case of Microsoft's (MSFT ) Windows Vista, flaws that I thought would grow less
annoying with extended use have actually become more troublesome.


Most of the time I spent testing Vista was with sluggish pre-release versions.
I expected things to improve when I ran the finished software on PCs configured
for the new Windows version. I now realize that Vista really is slow unless you
throw a lot of hardware at it. Microsoft claims it will run with 512 megabytes
of memory. I had recommended a minimum of a gigabyte, but 2 GB is more like it
if you want snappy performance. This is especially true if you're also running
resource-hungry Microsoft Office 2007.

The most exasperating thing about Vista, though, is the security feature called
User Account Control. UAC, satirized in an Apple (AAPL ) ad as a security guy
who constantly interrupts a conversation, appears as a pop-up asking permission
before Windows will do a number of things: change system settings, install
programs, or update antivirus software. UAC may well be necessary to block
malicious programs from secretly installing themselves or hijacking your
browser settings. But Microsoft has designed it to drive you nuts.

A RECENT EXPERIENCE DEMONSTRATES what I mean. I was working away when Windows
OneCare, Microsoft's extra-cost security program, suddenly popped open a window
asking me if it should give a program called wercon.exe access to the network.
To begin with, this is a question that would mystify nearly everyone. (It turns
out wercon.exe is a tool that sends error reports back to Microsoft.) When I
clicked O.K., UAC asked me if it should let OneCare proceed. You would think
Windows would be able to figure this out for itself and that these different
security components would work together. But Vista leaves it all to the user to
sort out.

There's a real danger here: UAC is such a nag that many folks will just turn it
off, which Microsoft has made quite easy to do. Disabling UAC is especially
tempting if you have set up limited accounts for your children that let you
restrict the sort of Web sites they can visit, the programs they can run, and
the amount of time they can spend on the computer. With limited accounts, the
kids will have to find a parent whenever a UAC window pops up. But if you give
them unlimited accounts to deal with UAC requests, they can undo any
restrictions.

Unfortunately, turning off UAC severely weakens Vista's defenses. In a study of
Vista security, Symantec (SYMC ) researcher Orlando Padilla found that without
UAC, Vista's resistance to hostile software was similar to that of Windows XP.
Before Vista, Windows promiscuously let programs install new software and make
system changes without any notice to the user. UAC goes way too far the other
way, requiring intervention for many innocent actions. The version of UAC in
Mac OS X works much better, rarely popping up except during a software
installation or upgrade.

As for general usability, I still have trouble finding once-familiar features
that have been hidden in odd places. For example, unlike XP's My Network
button, an item on Vista's main menu called Network does not give access to any
network settings.

Things don't have to be this way. I've spent as much time with the redesigned
Office 2007, and it feels quite comfortable. I'm sure I'll get used to Vista's
quirks, Microsoft will smooth out the rough edges, and, in time, Vista's many
attractions will outweigh the drawbacks. For now, though, it's a pain.
===




"The security program is so annoying you're likely to turn it off"



There's that "annoying" word, once again, used to describe Vista.



 /m

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