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Friday, April 20, 2007
Vista: The surprise is on you
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I was an advertising copywriter for years. One skill of that trade is turning a negative into a positive. So when I was selling bland-tasting bacon made from turkey, I wrote a headline for the package that said: Bacon without the guilt!
Microsoft doesn’t need my help, but I’m going to give it anyway by suggesting a headline for the packaging for Vista: Surprises inside the box!
Vista sure has some surprises, and today we’ll talk about how I’ve dealt with them. That way you’ll be prepared when one of them jumps out of the box and says “boo!.”
I’ve used Vista since its early days of testing and I am finally used to it. That’s not exactly a raving endorsement. But considering that it was as troublesome as a new puppy for the first months, this is a big shift for me. Vista is tolerable now that I’ve dealt with those surprises.
The Catch 22 of upgrading
If you’re installing Vista on a PC you own now, you’ll need to upgrade the machine so it has enough oomph to run Vista properly. The catch is, the upgrade can bring problems of its own. Some video cards and printers - even those that claim to be Vista compatible - get along with Vista only in the way dogs and cats get along.
After literally months of messing with my new ATI Radeon video card, I finally got everything working correctly last Sunday. I should have done more research before buying. My mistake? I read reviews but didn’t check out user opinions.
Do a Google search before buying a “Vista-ready” component and pay attention to comments from individual users. Often this will turn up problems not mentioned by the experts. Do your search by including the name of the product you are considering along with Vista. Sandwiched in with the reviews, you’ll find rants and raves from users.
If I had kept reading about my video card I would have found several sites complaining about problems installing the software. A search after the fact turned up a personal Web page that linked to a bug fix contained deep on the manufacturer’s page. I would have never located it on my own. Listen to experts, but don’t ignore users.
The most secure Windows ever
That’s true. Vista is more secure than XP. But not secure enough.
One feature of Vista - touted by reviewers and Microsoft alike - is that Vista includes a firewall that monitors both incoming and outgoing traffic. It’s a half truth.
To understand my point, you need to know that firewalls are a big deal since they reduce the chances that an outsider will break into your machine or plant programs that monitor your online activity.
Some firewalls, like the one included with Microsoft XP, have a one-way firewall. It just checks traffic coming into your computer. It doesn’t monitor outgoing traffic that could contain information being sent out by some spying program that slipped into your computer.
Vista’s firewall is supposed to be two-way. But even the experts have trouble correctly configuring that feature. Even then, it isn’t a topnotch firewall. Don’t just take my word for it. Do a Google search for “Vista firewall” and read about it yourself.
You can buy better commercial security programs. For instance, these two programs: ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite 7 ($50) or Norton Internet Security 2007 ($70) are terrific.
But all this represents another Catch-22. These security suite bundles are all-in-one programs that include anti-virus protection as well as the firewall. So, to use them you need to remove any free anti-virus software. That’s becaue it’s not a good idea to run two anti-virus programs at the same time.
Truth is, using a security suite makes sense. That way you know that all the security programs will work together.
But it leaves you with a choice. Stick with an anti-virus program that is free and compromise on the firewall, or pay for a suite program that includes a better firewall.
Personally, I’m sticking with my free Grisoft AVG antivirus and using the so-so firewall included with Vista. I feel OK with that since my router also serves as a hardware firewall. But if security is a paramount concern for you, you’re better off with one of the commercial packages.
Browsing around
Another feature of Vista is the new Internet Explorer 7 (which you can also download separately and use with XP). It is another security improvement claimed for Vista. The claims are true, but - surprise - IE 7 has some flaws that make it subject to attacks.
The problem here is something called ActiveX. It is designed to let programs from the Web run on your computer. Vista monitors the use of ActiveX and goes a long way toward fixing the obvious security hazards of that capability.
But some experts- the people at PC World for instance - think any use of ActiveX is too big of a risk. If you want to close that potential doorway into your computer, here’s how to do it.
Click on tools, Internet Options, Security and then Custom Level. Scroll to the heading “Run ActiveX controls and plug-ins” and select Disable. That means that you won’t be able to use some features of Web pages that depend on ActiveX, so the decision is up to you.
The good news? Vista is an improvement over XP now that I’ve shaken out some of the bugs.
Just keep in mind that one of the features of Vista isn’t listed on the box. You won’t see my headline: Surprises inside the box!
And that’s no surprise.
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