With Windows 7, Did Microsoft Created A Os Which Doesn't Require 3rd Party

[Richard-BKK]

The real question is, did Windows 7 finally showed that it is a real Operating Systems, and it can stand allow without 3th party software. Nope It cannot, Microsoft is still advising people to install anti-virus software, and the basic firewall doesn't seems to offer much protection against out going data. Also it is for a average user impossible to understand...

First question, which secure OS give the default choice unblock...., first choice needs to be read it again bigger or so...

[Richard-BKK]

The moderator Reimar, has instructed me to keep a limit on opening more topics. So I try combine topics.

It is clear that Windows 7 will not run very well on processors which are very old, it was not designed to run smooth on anything which cannot a least can accept SSE2 coding, still Microsoft went to lots of coding to make sure that for some functions you needed a modern processor, still they did not looked a security options in the same processors they want to support.

We talking about functions which will eliminate code to hi-hack actual code to get executed, which is currently a problem with worms which wave themselves into the code so even antivirus packages cannot find them...

Is this a sign that Microsoft, has little intension to shutdown the whole "I need tools to Run Windows" business....

[nikster]

Well another way of looking at security is that it starts with the user. Many if not most modern trojans and viruses spread through email that tricks people to run code in some way or another. This is not something an operating system can prevent.

The other way to spread malware is via drive by attacks on the browser. The last I heard about that is that IE8 in theory supports sandboxing, but in practice it doesn't really work. Sandboxing is the only method that would be able to eliminate drive by attacks - the OS would at an operating system level prevent IE from writing anywhere on the disk except in the cache. So if a malicious website hijacks the browser, they couldn't do anything useful with it.

All other attempts of making browsers safer are not going to work - for every hole they plug, hackers uncover two more. There's an endless supply of zero day exploits due to the complexity of the software that needs to play Flash and movies, display all sorts of image formats, and has hundreds of other functions as well.

One thing you can blame MS for is that they _again_ enabled the Autoplay function for Flash drives by default. Now that is simply dumb, and there is no excuse. It means viruses can readily spread through Flash drives with no user interaction. Autoplay is a barn-door sized security hole and yet it's still enabled in W7.

[endure]

Are the firewalls and anti-virus software available in Linux part of the operating system or are they third party? How are you defining what is an 'operating system' and what is 'third party' software?

[jackdanielsesq]

Your first statement is completely & totally ambiguous, badly written. Not sure if it is a question or a statement. Small wonder the request.

BR>Jack

First question, which secure OS give the default choice unblock...., first choice needs to be read it again bigger or so...

[endure]

Your first statement is completely & totally ambiguous, badly written. Not sure if it is a question or a statement. Small wonder the request.

BR>Jack

First question, which secure OS give the default choice unblock....

Novell Netware used to.

[Nagatus]

Well another way of looking at security is that it starts with the user. Many if not most modern trojans and viruses spread through email that tricks people to run code in some way or another. This is not something an operating system can prevent.

Granted, the OS can't prevent it, but what it can do is to protect itself, ie. only allow the user to write to specific places and to specific files, specifically the one the user owns or a temporary directory. This way any harm will only affect the users own files, and not corrupt the system itself. This may sound like only a very tiny difference but is actually quite important. If you need to salvage something from the system you can for example use an other account on the system. But it maybe impossible to even have a system that will protect the users actions harming users own data

IMO an OS should not allow a regular user to write anywhere they want, not even after clicking some meaningless "OK" button on some equally meaningless dialog box.

[Nagatus]

Are the firewalls and anti-virus software available in Linux part of the operating system or are they third party? How are you defining what is an 'operating system' and what is 'third party' software?

Firewalls are part of, if not all, a great majority of Linux distributions. Antivirus software is not normally a part of a normal installation, mainly due to lack of viruses for Linux.

I define "operating system" as a collection of software that comes bundled via a single software source, be it a cd, dvd, what ever, basically a compilation of programs that the packager has seemed proper to include. It is up to the user whether to install/use them all.

"third party" naturally is some other collection/single piece of software.

Don't want to argue how precise my definition is, just IMO

[surface]

IMO an OS should not allow a regular user to write anywhere they want, not even after clicking some meaningless "OK" button on some equally meaningless dialog box.

While it's easy to say that, you can't blame MS for wanting to actually sell their OS and make a profit on it. Can you imagine all the people that would forget their administrator password if they defaulted home users to running under a normal user account? UAC does work around this a bit, but MS and the OEM's would have to increase their call center staff 100 fold. Most people probably don't even remember their own accounts password since Windows is set to automatically login.

[2008bangkok]

Crazy thead..about nothin not even cabbage fodder

[wxpwzrd]

I think this OP needs a career change.

[raro]

It is clear that Windows 7 will not run very well on processors which are very old,

define old, but I installed RC1 on an 5 year old AMD Athlon 1600 with 500 kB RAM. Upgraded to 1 MB as it was a tad to slow with 500 kB and now it is running at satisfying speed for normal office use.

[Plus]

Why do they still allow people to run their machine in full administrative mode by default?

Ever since I created a separate account, anytime anything wants to be changed on the system, it asks me for admin password. I can't install a virus without it even if I wanted to.

Of course if you give this password to the kids...., but it seems like the first natural step to protect the computer.

People can remember their e-mail passwords, they can surely remember one big mother of all passwords - the admin. Users can be set to autologin or login with blank, it doesn't matter as much.

[h90]

Firewall and Antivirus is something additional.

No reason to install it on a computer which isn't connected to the internet.

[Thanh-BKK]

Firewall and Antivirus is something additional.

No reason to install it on a computer which isn't connected to the internet.

Ouch!

I hope nobody follows that advice My boyfriend's nephew, 9 or 10 years old, has a computer. One that i built for him. He didn't have internet (at all!) until April this year and used that computer exclusively for doing school work (mostly in Word) that he saved to a thumb drive. And he played games, TONS of games, that he borrowed from friends of bought in the village nicknack shop, those burned CD's for 10 Baht a piece.

Oh, he lives out in the sticks, some 30 kilometers from Chiang Mai, the village has only gotten telephone lines this April. Now he's got ADSL.

I didn't install AV for him, too, thinking "he's not on the net so it can't update anyway". Neither could Windows (XP SP2).

Prior to getting ADSL i had to re-install that computer twice - last x-mas and when i got there this April. Both times it was so full of viruses that it was completely un-usable. Where they came from? I found out when i plugged in my cell phone to get an internet connection to install AV.

When i later plugged that same cell phone into my boyfriend's laptop with Avast, it immediately warned me of a whole bunch of viruses IN MY PHONE. And how they got there? From the nephews computer. And there?? Same way - via the thumb drive that he uses for his school stuff - and hence from the school computers! Or from the CD's that he bought or borrowed. However checking some of them didn't find anything.

Now he's got Avast on his machine which updates daily since he's got ADSL, as does Windows, and there hasn't been a problem since. However i highly recommend to also get an AV program on a Windows machine that is not online. And at least update it from time to time by hooking up a cell phone to get a temporary internet connection.

Best regards.....

Thanh