The Vista Defrag Controversy

Ok, so it isn't much of a controversy but it will be missed. What's that? I am referring to the display when using the Windows Defrag.
Thinking back to the days of Windows 95, an operating system that definitely benefited from the occasional defrag process, it was mesmerizing watching the squares fill across the screen as the system was defragmented. With a Win95 system, the best way to get a real benefit from the process was to close all programs and, with everything else closed, what else was there to do but watch the colorful process?
Although I soon realized that it was not necessary to watch the process, which could take a considerable amount of time in Win95, as evidenced by the comments in Ed Bott's "Adios, Defrag display" and Robert McLaw's discussion in "Vista's Powerless Power Users: Someone Neutered My Defrag!"
For the Microsoft explanation, see the Disk Defragmenter FAQ.
Personally, I have been using Diskeeper for too many years now to be concerned about the lost of the display in Vista.

Microsoft.com, A New Look

Have you seen the prototype for the new Microsoft.com? It isn't final yet, but an obvious improvement. These are the issues Microsoft web designers are currently aware of:

Known Issues:

• Throughout the user interface we are still working on “fit and finish” adjustments that will improve the look and feel of the pages.
  
• On the home page the spaces between lines of text are wider than they should be. These will be tightened up before the final release of the page.
  
• If you are running Internet Explorer 6 and are in high contrast mode, some typefaces appear larger than they should.
  
• When text size is set to Largest in Internet Explorer, parts of the page layout become broken, and content at the bottom of the page may not be viewable.
  
• When your browser is in high contrast mode, the container that displays secondary navigation links has a transparent background, which makes the thumbnail graphics and links difficult to see. The container should have an opaque background that makes the graphics and links stand out clearly.
  
• The container that displays secondary navigation links does not scroll with you as you move down a page, as it should.
  
• When you reduce the size of your browser window, the container that displays secondary navigation links does not adjust itself accordingly as it should. As a result you may need to scroll to view all links.

With those issues aside, I think you will appreciate the updated look and feel of the new home page. Interestingly, displaying the current home page in side-by-side tabs in IE7, the Zune image doesn't display on the old page on my computer yet is beautifully displayed on the new page.
I like the cleaner, less cluttered look and hope the final transformation takes place soon.

Microsoft removes IE7 for Windows XP from WSUS

Fortunately, it is a long holiday weekend in the U.S. so there is time to adjust if IE7 was recently downloaded via WSUS for their network from the IE7.0 update rollup package released on 21 November 2006.

From the report at Bink.nu the problem with the 21 November 2006 is a resulting error dialog in Spanish after installation.
A replacement update rollup package will be available for synchronization early next week. For a work-around if this update has been scheduled for installation or via Automatic Update (AU), see the instructions at Bink.nu.

Microsoft Goes After Phishers

At a European Union conference on identity theft in Brussels, Microsoft announced that they are helping law enforcers hunt down phishers and has has initiated 129 lawsuits in Europe and the Middle East. According to ITWire.com:

Microsoft has involved itself because all of the 129 cases use either phony Hotmail or MSN.com pages to trick users into handing over their private information.

That would make sense since both Hotmail and MSN.com are Microsoft entities. Reuter's provides much greater detail in Microsoft brings 129 lawsuits against phishers, further explaining:

"Microsoft can initiate civil lawsuits even when it is not the target of identity theft, because legal systems in many countries allow anyone suffering from attacks to claim damages.
"There are damages to our ability to conduct business. There are damages to our trust with the consumer," Anderson said.
The U.S. company has an investigative team at its headquarters in Redmond, Washington, which uses Web-crawling software and customer complaints to find out where attacks are taking place. Old-fashioned investigative techniques are then used to discover the identity of the phishers.
Before legal action was taken, 253 cases were investigated. Most of the investigations and 50 of the criminal complaints were filed in Turkey. Germany was second with 28 criminal complaints and France third with 11."

That helps, but considering the true number of phishes, it is rather "small potatoes". It certainly raises the question as to why the banks and other targets of phishers are not doing more considering that it is their customers who are the targets.The volunteers of CastleCops PIRT Squad are also working diligently to terminate active phishes. To view a Power Point presentation with 150+ slides discussing phishing, Rock Phish and how the volunteers of CastleCops PIRT squad tackle them download the Pirt.ppt. (The presentation also includes slides about CastleCops and CastleCops services.
Microsoft has a website devoted to anti-phishing. After submitting any "phishing emails" you receive to pirt@castlecops.com learn more about the Anti-Phishing Filter in IE7, go to Microsoft's Anti-Phishing Technologies website.

Are Vista and Office 2007 Aimed at Business Users?

Since I work in an office, the headline "Microsoft's latest upgrade aimed at its business users" in the Delaware Online News Journal caught my attention and so I read on:

"Bill Hartnett got accustomed to the screaming. As Microsoft Corp.'s manager of software sales to financial services companies, Hartnett used to get pelted with complaints about the security and reliability of Microsoft's products.

Hartnett speaks openly about those dark days because he's sure they're well past. He and his colleagues contend the company is about to give businesses compelling reasons to not just tolerate Microsoft, but to be thrilled with it.
The occasion is the launch of crucial upgrades to Microsoft's most widely used and most profitable products. All at once, Microsoft is releasing a new Windows operating system, known as Vista; an update of the Office "productivity" package, which includes Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint; and server software that handles behind-the-scenes functions."

Mr. Hartnett and others expecting a massive run by businesses to upgrade to Vista and Office 2007 will most likely be in for a disappointment. Although I expect I would find the enhancements to Office 2007 exciting and more productive, I wonder if I will even see them installed on my office computer before I retire.
The standard operating system where I work is Windows 2000. It is only as hard drives fail that they are replaced with Windows XP. Because the majority of the staff in the area where I work have W2K (new in 2001), that is what is on my office desktop, with XP on the test box.
There is a valid reasons for delays in the work place. In addition to "off-the-shelf" software programs, there are over 3000 custom applications in the company where I work. Testing each application for compatibility and making changes is a daunting challenge, particularly when those applications are tied to manufacturing and other critical processes in the work place.
Another reason for delays in upgrading is that having older computers in a large company means that more than just an upgrade is required. Rather, a complete replacement would be necessary since the older computers will just not be able to run Windows Vista. Replacing thousands of computers and operating systems can take years.
Thus, even though Windows Vista and Office 2007 may be aimed at business users, I expect it will be closer to two years after release before larger companies start the replacement process.

Microsoft's AntiSpyware Tool Removed IE

According to a report at BBSpot.com, a recently released Microsoft AntiSpyware software apparently detected Internet Explorer as spyware, and removed the program from their systems, according to a report at BBSpot.com. Oops!
Of course the report by BBSpot was intentionally not specific, with no indication as to whether the software was from Windows Defender or from the Malicious Removal Tool. From that alone the reader would realize it is a parity. Reading on, however, the reported quote made for a further chuckle:

"Elias Weatherbee, a Microsoft representative, said the program was "only in beta" and that "a fix was forthcoming." "It shows how powerful our AntiSpyware program is," said Weatherbee. "Not only is it able to remove spyware from the system, but also the source of most spyware. Our competitors can't match that."
A representative from Lavasoft, which sells Ad-Aware another spyware removal program, complained that Microsoft was using its monopoly and knowledge of the operating system to 'offer features that others can't match.'"
"Tough shit," said Weatherbee.

Although a joke, can you imagine a competitor complaining about Microsoft using their knowledge of the operating system that others cannot match? Seems like truth and fiction do often run hand-in-hand.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Looking at the picture realistically -- joke aside -- the writing has been on the wall since Microsoft entered the anti-spyware detection and removal field. With real-time protection free, we may see a change in business swing away from smaller companies like Lavasoft. Customers are going to question the need to pay a license renewal fee for real-time protection such as Ad-Watch when such protection is free from other sources.

VIsta Compatible Antivirus Software

Update 25 February 2007: See Vista Compatible Antivirus Software in Windows Vista Bookmarks for the most current information.

Although the list at Windows Vista RC1 Antivirus Providers is for Vista RC1, it is a starting point to determine whether the antivirus software you use on your computer is compatible with Windows Vista. Of course it is expected that most of the major companies are working hard to get to that point.
Sophos has joined the growing list of antivirus software programs that are Vista-compatible and joins Avast, shown below.
From the Sophos website in "Sophos protects Microsoft Windows Vista":

Sophos Anti-Virus for Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista, version 6.5 includes:

• Protection against viruses, spyware, adware and PUAs
• Application control, which allows businesses to set their own policies regarding whether user groups are allowed to run software such as IM clients, VoIP, peer-to-peer file sharing and distributed computing projects
• Behavioral Genotype™ Protection to guard against unknown threats
• High performance scanning with Decision Caching
• Central management and update features, using Enterprise Console
• Automatic updates against the latest threats every 10 minutes

Customers using Sophos Anti-Virus for Windows 2000/XP/2003, version 6.0 will be updated to support Vista automatically, without any user intervention.
"While other security vendors aren't happy with how Vista has implemented its increased security, Sophos has been working closely with Microsoft and fully supports new functionality, such as Kernel Patch Protection (also known as PatchGuard)" said Richard Jacobs, CTO at Sophos. "Sophos Anti-Virus running on Vista provides unprecedented protection."

Here is the information on Avast

"With the public release of RTM version of Windows Vista in November 2006, ALWIL Software anticipates massive deployment of this new platform, especially among home users. These users appreciate new features of Windows Vista such as the new Aero interface, enhanced support for mobile computing, and improved full-text search, and now, thanks to avast! antivirus, users can also be thoroughly protected against malicious threats.
Note: The minimum version of avast! Home/Professional Edition compatible with Windows Vista is 4.7.892."