Address Space Layout Randomisation (ASLR)
System memory in Vista is allocated in a random manner. This unpredictability prevents malware from being able to ‘guess’ where particular portions of system code reside. Microsoft calls this technology Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR). This feature isn’t anything new and has been in use on Linux for quite some time now. It’ll almost virtually stop buffer overflow attacks completely as an attacker cannot predict where his target code is.
Bitlocker Drive Encryption
Windows Ultimate and Enterprise editions will support Bitlocker Drive Encryption. If an unencrypted hard drive is stolen or disposed of without first being securely erased, thieves can then gain access to the data stored on it rather easily. Bitlocker performs full drive encryption, secure erasure of sensitive data and has the ability to verify at boot time that the hard drive hasn’t been tampered with while the PC was turned off.
By encrypting the entire drive, all files are protected, including swap files, hibernation files and any memory dumps, which could be subjected to analysis. If a stolen hard drive is installed in a different PC, Bitlocker will refuse to decrypt the drive - now this can only happen if a special security chip called the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) is installed on the motherboard. In order to stop users from accidentally locking themselves out of a hard drive should they wish to transport it to another PC, Bitlocker has its own disaster recovery console which can get you out of problematic situations.
Two Way Firewall
It’s about time Microsoft did this - at last the Firewall supports both inbound and outbound blocking, as Windows XP’s Firewall only supported outbound blocking. So now you can grant or deny outbound network access on a per-application basis.
So there you have it. In my opinion Vista is the most important Operating System to come out of Redmond since Windows 95. Most users won’t realise this just yet, but myself and many other users who have waited years for this will have done so. So far Microsoft aren’t doing the best job of advertising Windows Vista, I’ve seen Gears of War for the Xbox 360 advertised more heavily then this OS, but the fact still remains that this is an extremely important OS, and one that cannot be ignored.
Most XP users will bash out the fact that it still offers little over Windows XP. It’s mainly because they don’t understand where the key upgrades are in the OS. Forget about the shiny new eye candied interface for a moment because all the changes are under the hood. Windows XP wasn’t a big step from Windows 2000 because it essentially is Windows 2000 with a friendlier graphical front end ala Fisher Price GUI, with lots of wizards bolted on. Vista is not XP with graphical bells and whistles, its total re-write of a flawed OS, not to mention a massive resource hog for Microsoft’s wallets. Vista and the Xbox 360 have eaten away at Microsoft’s finances more than anything else.
So how was my Vista upgrading experience?
Well for starters, I have rebuilt my PC to handle this bloated operating system, so it had better work smoothly and it does! I’ve had this machine running Windows XP Media Center 2005 for the few weeks it’s been built up and it’s been rock solid, aside from a rather odd ‘loss of USB functionality’ issue, which turned out to be Windows XP’s fault all along. Windows Vista arrived on release day (Jan 30th 2007) and I scampered off home as quick as possible after work to install it.
Installation was extremely smooth, and hassle free taking exactly 21 minutes! I was onto the Vista desktop in no time at all, but now faced my main hurdle - Hardware Drivers! Despite having access to Vista for little over 9 months now, most hardware manufacturers have been rather slow in producing Vista compatible drivers. Now I can understand ATI & Nvidia having hassle with this as they have to almost re-write their drivers to deal with a new screen rendering engine which renders Vista on their GPU’s now. However companies like Creative Labs have been pathetically slow as Vista’s powerful new audio capabilities have highlighted just how poor Creative’s drivers really are, and their Beta drivers are a joke. Just to mock them further, Realtek have released fully functioning (to my knowledge) drivers which function perfectly.