Archive for May, 2009

Windows XP Versus Vista And Soon Seven

Sunday, May 17th, 2009

I encounter people both at work and in hobby whom are all up in arms over Windows Vista, and insist on sticking with XP or better put, wanting to purchase a machine that came with Vista and put XP on it.

I remember when Windows XP was released, for an operating system it had robust device driver support, lots of eye candy and it brought a version of Windows to the masses which was not reliant on the DOS Kernel. While there was Windows NT and Windows 2000, those operating systems were not in their day, marketed to the masses, but more towards businesses. However with XP’s debut you had plenty of problems with older software being unable to run under it, although said software functioned under Windows 95, 98 and ME. I remember people decrying XP as a piece of junk, being unable to realize that the underlying architecture of Windows XP was far different and superior to that which underlied Windows 95 thru ME.

Windows XP has had quite a run, it went from being a scorned operating system to one people cling onto like a Teddy bear, it also bears the distinction of being one of the most vulnerable and targeted operating systems for viruses and other malware. Alot of this has to do with the fact that Microsoft deviated from their normal release schedule for new OS’s, they gave XP an additional three years of being the only player on stage in the wonderful world of Windows.

In comes Windows Vista, and in comes deja-vu, all the bitching all over again. Major changes in the interface and API’s and more software and hardware got broken. Other nuances Microsoft put in to protect the OS from the ignorance of the operator became annoyances etc.

Mostly word of mouth bitching and moaning gave Windows Vista its bad rap but whatever bad rap Vista took, is not solely at the feet of Microsoft. Windows Vista had a extremely long and often delayed development cycle, during which time developers and hardware vendors had plenty of time to update their programs and device drivers to work with Vista, sadly many of them did not. By the time Vista got released, people could not find device drivers that worked with their printers and other peripherals and they found out that some software would no longer work.

It is easy to blame Microsoft, they are the authors of the worlds dominant operating system, they have gotten hit with anti-trust lawsuits and its founder got filthy rich despite now being heavy into philanthropy. I am not saying that everything Microsoft did was right, but on the other hand, those whom stood a chance of challenging them competitively did everything wrong. Those whom hate Microsoft cannot be convinced otherwise, but if you look at the ads on TV lately, it looks like Steve Jobs is undoing some of his past mistakes, I will let you read into that what you will, however one could say Microsoft stole ideas over the years, perhaps they did, but the one thing they did right was marketing.

In the here and now, one can no longer look back at XP as an option that will remain viable for much longer..

  • Retail Versions are no longer available except for those copies still sitting in retail inventories, Microsoft has stopped shipping them.
  • Except for Netbooks, XP no longer comes pre-installed on new PC’s and Laptops.
  • Microsoft is no longer updating XP except for critical updates.

As time moves on, these limitations will come more pronounced, just as they did when Microsoft sunsetted Windows 95 thru ME. This day is approaching for XP.

Vista has been out for just over two years and has reached a maturity in the same amount of time it took for XP to mature, XP didn’t really mature until Service Pack 2.

However having said all of this, the next release of Windows is around the corner, possibly a release date in late October?  It will be more based on the Vista architecture than anything else, so the good news is that if your hardware and software works under Vista, it will work under Windows 7.

So here is my advice, for what it is worth..

  • If you are running XP and are looking to upgrade your machine, it might be worth the wait to see what Fall 2009 has to offer.
  • If you are running XP and have to upgrade, for whatever reasons, Vista has matured enough to be relied upon, some of its annoyances can be toned down, but I don’t recommend doing so if you aren’t computer literate. Simply look at the software you use and the hardware you have and make sure the publishers have Vista drivers and patches available, at this stage in the game. most do. However with some older hardware like Printers, some vendors have elected to sunset some of their products and no longer develop drivers for newer OS’s, but remember that is a decision the vendor made, not Microsoft. I do own a HP 5850 WIFI printer, HP decided to not make a Vista driver for it, but they did elaborate that Vista included a driver for a earlier model (go figure) which did work.
  • If you are running XP and all is well, you got plenty of resources and reliability, stay put for as long as possible, but don’t wait past the time Microsoft sunsets all support for XP.
  • If you are already running Vista, there may be no real reason to jump to Windows 7 unless you simply desire to be on the bleeding edge?

Just remember that every OS has its growing pains….

Windows 95, there were 3 incarnations of it, A,B and C.

Windows 98, there were 2 incarnations, remember Second Edition?

Windows ME, well ok, they never should have released this one, a Windows 98 Third Edition would have been better.

Windows XP, there were three Service Packs.

Windows Vista, Service Pack One already out there, with a second one around the corner.

Windows Seven wont be any different. This time next year, I will be laughing when people start bemoaning it for being junk with such criticism being misplaced.

Oh Well…

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Some People Are Gullible

Saturday, May 16th, 2009

I work for an Office Products retailer in the technology department, we offer services on customer computers to optimise, protect and diagnose software and operating system issues. The one thing I see on the diagnose end of the services is people falling for all the social engineering tricks on the internet which leads to them being infected with Rogue Security Applications.

Rogue Security Applications are malware applications that purport to be or disguise themselves as legitimate anti-virus and/or antispyware programs. They have the pretty eye candy filled graphical interfaces the real ones do, they maintain an icon in the system tray and they make it look like they are scanning for and finding REAL infections. They launch at boot time, are all in your face and they demand you register the product in order to clean up your system of all those infections it said that it found. You will find that your internet connectivity is often hampered if not non-existent, your legitimate security software has been disabled, attempts to remove the rogue app are futile in the average persons experience level.

I suppose I could elaborate even deeper on how these rogue applications can ruin your computing experience, but lets just say it is messy. These apps are known to even download more malware and spyware.

While most of the time, no data is destroyed, getting at it is a challenge and depending on how extensive the removal process is, you could end up losing the data. Ill fated attempts at removal often exacerbate or multiply the infection, often leading to one out of frustration having to resort to a destructive full system recovery.

Having seen a number of customers come in with these infections, it is a testament to the fact that some people have no business operating, much less owning a computer.

While it is true that some Rogue Applications can infiltrate a computer through an exploited hole in the operating system, the majority of these infections come in by the operator letting them in. (Remember the Trojans with the Greek Horse?)

The one thing to remember is that having real security applications on your PC is the same thing as having the strongest locks, deadbolts and other devices protecting your home. Neither can protect you if you don’t use them, use them correctly or willingly admit the harm.

More often than not someone was surfing the internet for something they shouldn’t have been looking for, oh like lets says porn or pirated files, or they stumbled across a compromised web site and saw a pop-up that said that their computer was infected with this, that or the other thing and to Click OK for a free scan and fix. OOPS! No means YES to these people and your snagged even if you said NO or tried to dismiss the pop-up with the X. No web site is going to know the health of your PC, don’t fall for this! Hit a web site and get one of these, kill the browser process in task manager or shut off your PC.

Many Rogue Security Applications call themselves what amount to be variations of or a play on the names of real legitimate applications, one example is Anti-virus 360 (Rogue) which is a play on Norton 360 (Real). But there are well over 450 types of Rogue Security Applications out in the wild set to trick the naive into installing them, letting them in or otherwise.

There are people out there whom drive cars and the only thing they know is, how to start the engine and drive, with no clue as to how the car works and how and why its components do their thing. The same could be said for those with computers, many only know how to point and click and make no attempt to learn anything beyond that, consequences be damned.

We Can:

  • Curse Microsoft for making Operating Systems that are vulnerable to attack, but the truth is, no one there can predict every angle one will use to attack an OS with. Our defence industries design the best armor, our enemies then design better missiles which weren’t there when the armor was designed.
  • Curse the authors of rogue applications, viruses and trojans, and we should, but they are just like bank robbers and shoplifters, they aren’t going to go away.
  • Bemoan the millions of dollars the real security software industry has made off of us.

But, the real bemoaning should be done by and towards us the users, those of us whom cannot find the will to take responsibility for themselves, ultimately suffer the consequences. If you don’t lock your doors at night, it is not the fault of the maker of the deadbolt lock, if someone can open the door.

In the computing world, it pays to be wise and not gullible.

 

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