Text 11009, 78 rader
Skriven 2006-05-18 16:52:38 av Mike '/m' (1:379/45)
Ärende: Security feature in Microsoft's new Windows could drive users nuts
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From: Mike '/m' <mike@barkto.com>

There's that word "annoying" in reference to Vista once again.


http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/2006-05-15-vista-security_x.htm?csp=34

===
SEATTLE — An annoying surprise awaits 2 million consumers expected to
enthusiastically step forward in the next few weeks to help Microsoft test its
new Windows Vista PC operating system.

Volunteers will test Vista Beta 2, a near-final version of the much-hyped
upgrade of Windows. The testing is the last step leading up to Vista's broad
consumer release, scheduled for January.

Beta 2 testers can expect to encounter an obtrusive security feature, called
User Account Control (UAC). Designed to prevent intruders from performing
harmful tasks, the feature grays out the computer screen, then prods you to
confirm that you really want to do certain functions.

In early test versions, the queries crop up so often that they interrupt
routine tasks, such as changing the time clock or deleting shortcuts. And UAC
sometimes triggers an endless loop of dialogue boxes that can be curtailed only
by rebooting, says Paul Thurrott, news editor of Windows IT Pro magazine.

"Microsoft completely botched UAC," Thurrott says. "It's almost criminal in its
insidiousness."

Microsoft counters that refinements are being continually made. "The final
product will be very usable and have a good balance of security," says Windows
senior product manager Alex Heaton.

Once scheduled to arrive in 2004, Vista has been beset by delays, the latest
nudging its public launch from fall to early 2007. Vista improves on Windows
XP; it is the cornerstone of the software giant's push to extend its products
deeper into the workplace and home. Yet Microsoft has struggled to infuse Vista
with tighter security, partly because of a decision to let older software
applications run on it, says Michael Cherry, tech security analyst at
Directions on Microsoft.

Most Windows applications are written to take advantage of the fact that the
operating system treats users as "system administrators" with carte blanche to
alter basic system configurations. Trouble is, this has opened the door for
cybercrooks to infect Windows with malicious programs that steal data and use
infected PCs to carry out cyberfraud.

Microsoft should have set stricter parameters for Vista, Cherry says. But it
hasn't required software developers to retool system administrator access.

Instead, it devised workarounds. The result: UAC's labyrinth of dialogue boxes.
"Windows historically has been wide open," says Andrew Jaquith, senior analyst
at the Yankee Group. "By trying to restrict what people can do, it's going to
cause a lot of pain."

Security experts worry that Vista users will dismiss the dialogue boxes,
clicking through them rapidly and undermining any security benefit. Or they
will figure out how to turn off UAC. "Consumers, sadly, are probably going to
disable it," Thurrott says.
===

"An annoying surprise"

"Microsoft completely botched UAC," Thurrott says. "It's almost criminal in its
insidiousness."


... and in USA Today.   Not exactly a techie haven.

http://ichart.finance.yahoo.com/z?s=MSFT&t=3m&q=l&l=off&z=m&a=v&p=s

Vista doesn't seem to be generating the right type of buzz....


 /m

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