Spyware-killing Vista could take out rivals

The more I read about Vista, the more it's marketing campaigns are starting to look like nothing more than spin and the product launch as such seems to be growing on the collective consciousness the same way that a policial election campaign does. I'm finding it harder and harder to keep a straight face when reading of the many wonderful changes that Vista will bring, especially since none of the other Windows products have ever delivered anything in terms of promised levels of increased security. How many hundreds of critical security patches have been released for XP SP2, which was I seem to recollect, the "final word" in bullet-proof security for Windows?

The other thing about this article is the "inevitable" fall of the anti-spyware industry because Vista will crush all spyware at a single stroke and of course the market penetration of Vista will be so huge that there won't be any legacy systems left to infect. Yeah, right, exactly like there are no Windows 95, 98 and Me installations around today at all.

When are the corporate goons at MS and all the supposed expert consultancies going to join us back here in reality? If they can locate it at all, of course. After all, it's been a long time...

 

Thanks for the link, Ron.

Two issues mentioned have long-needed addressing:

But one hopes that for those of us who want to run as Administrator, there will be the option to do so.

There will be user options/decisions to make here. This will be effective as long as the user understands what is going on. Might be a steep learning curve for newcomers to computing.

Microsoft has always wanted its software to be easy and non-restrictve to use, which has created a security nightmare. It will be interesting to see just how much they can "tighten up" their products and not make using them overwhelming for the "average" user

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-rich

 

My thoughts exactly. And "Spyware-killing Vista could take out rivals"... what? "Rivals"? Oh yeah, the spyware phenomenon is so huge for non-Microsoft operating systems, that they will be left in the dust in that respect. Yawn.

 

when i get it i'll still use firefox as an extra security thing along with my usual anti spyware programs will a new version of spywareblaster be made for vista?

 

This guy knows already the truth about Vista.

And CNET is already referring to the third party solutions in case Spyware-killing Vista doesn't take out rivals.

 

so when i install Windows Vista i will be installing Windows defender (antispyware) fair enough. as i will have this in Windows Vista. well i would be able to have my standard antispyware installed right. adware se, spybot-search & destroy etc..

so i would be able to use Windows Defender for realtime protection and the other antispyware and antitrojans for just scanning right?

 

The more I read about Vista the more interested I become in something like Linspire -- which is *Linux-for-the-technically-inept" (such as meeee.).

 

I think that the bigger issue here isn't how effective Visa and Defender are, but the fact that there will be a lot of people out there that will simply say "I have Vista, and it has anti-spyware built in, so I don't need anything else". That alone will take a chunk out of competing software.

I don't think that there's much dispute here that running as a limited user, rather than an administrator, does make it harder for malware to install. That coupled with the absence of things like hooks, will indeed make it harder for the malware writers to make malware.. they'll have to get more clever and skilled. We're already seeing this with things like rootkits that are becomming more popular. This also means that products competing with Microsoft will also have to make their products better to catch the malware, and to compete. The standards will be raised, and that will certainly kill off some of the smaller malware scanners that don't really know what they're doing.. we can only hope that includes some of the scams.

 

And perhaps that declaration of not needing antispyware might even be mostly true! who knows?

True.

Scams? If you are scamming somebody, who cares if it is effective or not. How would they be affected by Vista anyway?

 

I honestly believe you will be hard pressed to find anyone in this entire globe who would offer much arguement to those very important matters you point out that proves Microsoft is nothing more than a get rich quick scheme.
They have already proven they detest customer Loyalty, not by revealing the soon released Vista to make up on security, but they turned their backs completely on loyal Me/98 customers & users by their latest announcement to abandon support entirely for those platforms instead of returning to them as a dependable company would do for a complete re-write.
With HIPS programs around now like System Safety Monitor they can no longer hide behind the LIE! that those systems are not capable to be adequately secured.
They are only out-dated in the fact that Microsoft chooses to ignore them completely and avoid them like the black plague, a very bad choice that will ultimately cost them dearly with that wrong decision.
People are not as ignorant and gullible anymore as they hope you are.
XP is turned out to be the WORSE platform for serious security issues ever! Not even 98 is ever in that position, it's been questioned in many circles by qualified experts if you can ever really safely clean an XP unit after affected by a rootkit. Not even 98 is as vulnerable as that or ever needed to have a "patch day" established for it.
No one is going to trust or place confidence in a software company (Microsoft) that finds it an easy matter to turn it's back on it's customers and it's own works while at the same time grossly making exaggerations or other claims that they cannot back up with solid proof.
Microsoft shot theirself in the heart big time this time when they announced dropping support for 98/Me entirely instead of proving themselves worthy of consumer confidence by revisiting and redressing 98/Me one final time before moving ahead with Vista.

 

Good points. But don't forget that even XP Home is to be dropped from their clutches far sooner than XP Professional. Since XP Professional is used by many corporates, MS won't do too much to upset them as their custom is worth loads of money to MS. XP Home, on the other hand, is predominantly used by home users who represent a much smaller market for MS and can therefore be ridden over roughshod without the merest squeak of protest.

The only problem there is that many of the users of XP Home happen to also be high-flying techies who are fairly vocal when they are wronged, so despite not fitting into the nice small compartment that MS would like all XP Home users to squeeze into, they are a fairly vocal group who have already forced MS to rethink their policy with respect to the killing off of XP Home.

And so it goes. As I said above, MS inhabit a reality which bears little resemblance to the one we all operate in. They are terribly bad at predicting the needs of their users and even worse at delivering products to meet those needs. In fact when all is said and done, the major strength of MS is their marketing expertise. They are brilliant at getting people to buy their stuff, even if their stuff doesn't work properly and even if all their previous stuff was proof of that.

They are not good at software production at all, merely very very good at marketing their software. But I feel that their efforts are starting to pale and their strategies are becoming more transparent to cynics like me. What can be done to awaken the paying majority to this?

 

I can't help but believe that Microsoft in Vista is at least going to finally reap some real security rewards by virtue of the returns or better put, the developments that many of the better equipped security vendors made possible in their own efforts to fill those gaps left by microsoft in the first place.

After all they do realize that they have to make some small inroads to improvements in that direction if they ever hope to sell a single CD aside from the usual promotional discounts they offer to schools and other business & educational institutions i would think.

Who better to pattern after than those vendors who have proven successful to those ends so far.