Four months since Windows Vista SP1 was released to manufacturing, the driver incompatibility issues affecting the implementation of the service pack are still unresolved. Vista SP1 RTM'd on February 4, 2008 along with Windows Server 2008. At that time, Microsoft informed that it was postponing the general availability of the release in order to give hardware developers a chance to adapt a set of problematic drivers which failed to integrate properly with the service pack. As a result, Vista SP1 didn't drop via the Download Center and Windows Update until March 18. But it looks that the extra time Microsoft provided hardware manufacturers to get their drivers playing well with Vista SP1, a source of obvious end user frustration, failed to deliver an actual result.

On June 5, Microsoft explained that Vista SP1 was still not being delivered to some machines running Vista RTM but featuring problematic hardware device drivers. The Redmond company continues not to serve SP1 through Windows Update or Automatic Updates for Vista copies which include a small set of device drivers causing functionality issues following the implementation of the service pack. With a few exceptions, the list is identical to what Microsoft published back in February.

Obviously, since the Redmond giant has put its evangelism wheels in motion, the hardware manufacturers did provide updated versions of the drivers. However, the problematic items were not tweaked to play well with Windows Vista SP1. In this context, the best course of action is to make sure that you have the latest versions of the device drivers available installed prior to deploying Vista SP1 in case the service pack is not delivered through WU or AU.

Here is the list of Vista SP1 problematic drivers as of June 5, 2008. (Please check the hardware vendors official websites for updated versions of the following device drivers tailored to Windows Vista SP1)

"Audio drivers
Realtek AC'97
• For x86-based computers: Alcxwdm.sys - version 6.0.1.6242 or earlier
• For x64-based computers: Alcwdm64.sys - version 6.0.1.6242 or earlier
IDT/SigmaTel
• For x86-based computers: Sthda.cat - published 12/17/07 or earlier
• For x64-based computers: Sthda64.cat - published 12/17/07 or earlier
IDT/SigmaTel
• For x86-based computers: Stwrt.cat - published 12/17/07 or earlier
• For x64-based computers: Stwrt64.cat - published 12/17/07 or earlier
Creative Audigy
• For x86-based and x64-based computers: P17.sys – versions earlier than 5.12.1.2004
Conexant HD Audio
• For x86-based computers: Chdart.sys - version 4.32.0.0 or earlier
• For x64-based computers: Chdart64.sys - version 4.32.0.0 or earlier

Display drivers
Intel Display
• For x86-based computers: Igdkmd32.sys – versions between and including driver 7.14.10.1322 and 7.14.10.1403
• For x64-based computers: Igdkmd64.sys – versions between and including driver 7.14.10.1322 and 7.14.10.1403

Other drivers
• Texas Instruments Smart Card Controller with the GTIPCI21.sys driver file – version 1.0.1.19 or earlier
• Sierra Wireless AirCard 580 with the Watcher.exe application – version 3.4.0.9 or earlier

Symantec software driver for Symantec Endpoint Protection and for Symantec Network Access Control clients
• For x86-based computers: Wgx.sys – versions 11.0.1000.1091 or earlier
• For x64-based computers: Wgx64.sys – versions 11.0.1000.1091 or earlier

Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo LA 1703 Notebooks that have a BIOS release date of March 14, 2008 or earlier."

Source: microsoftarticles.blogspot.com

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Ever had the feeling that Microsoft is scrambling to salvage what little it still can out of Windows Vista? While continuously claiming that its latest Windows client is not a failure, and pointing to the 140 million licenses sold as of March 2008, the Redmond company seems keen on demonstrating that it can pull the operating system out of the sinking sands of public opinion. In this regard, Service Pack 1 is indeed used as a floating device, but a tad of marketing on the side can't possibly hurt, can it? The focus for the time being, as far as Microsoft is concerned, is business users. Traditionally slow to upgrade to a new Windows release, corporate clients are now looking at Windows XP SP3 and Windows 7 as alternatives to Vista upgrades. The software giant is working to push Vista SP1 down their throats even if XP SP3 continues to work, and despite the proximity of Windows 7.

"This one is for all you IT professionals out there. A lot of you are probably having discussions inside your company about when to deploy Windows Vista, or you've deployed it and want to know which of the new capabilities can have the biggest impact on your business. To help in your evaluations we've released a new white paper, The Business Value of Windows Vista: Five Reasons to Deploy Now. This document summarizes the top enterprise features, latest customer case studies, and research on the capabilities of Windows Vista all in one place," revealed Christopher Flores, Director Windows Communications.

Still, in order to catalyze upgrades to Windows Vista, now with Service Pack 1, Microsoft employs the same set of arguments currently associated with a failed Wow. The company places the focus on increased security, mobility, productivity, reduced TCO, and streamlined deployment. The only new addition to this equation is Service Pack 1. The fact of the matter is that all these arguments are just as valid for Windows Vista RTM. And yet, business users have failed to crowd to the latest Windows operating system, choosing to stick with Windows XP and, in some cases, even with Windows 2000. If SP1 doesn't do it for them, certainly a list of five upgrade reasons, however elaborate or true, will not spark Vista upgrade fiestas across enterprises.

Here is the complete list provided by Flores, for Vista SP1:
"1. Improves the Security of PCs and Confidential Data. Windows Vista Enterprise had 20% fewer security vulnerabilities than Windows XP SP2 did in 2007-and it includes BitLocker Drive Encryption to help protect your confidential data.

2. Unlocks the Potential of Today's Mobile PCs. Windows Mobility Center helps users quickly access key mobility settings all in one place and research shows that Windows Vista can help customers save as much as $251 per mobile PC, per year.

3. Makes You and Your People More Productive. Find the information you need on your computer and reduce time spent searching for information by up to 42%.

4. Speeds ROI with Rapid Deployment and Migration. New imaging technologies and free deployment tools make the process of deploying Windows Vista easier than with any previous version.

5. Reduces Support and Management Costs. The costs saving can come from multiple places including reduced help desk calls, less time spent on image maintenance, or a lower energy bill."

Source: microsoftarticles.blogspot.com

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Windows Vista Is Ready - For your business, claims Microsoft. Microsoft released Windows Vista to corporate customers in November 2006 and to the general public in January 2007. But it wasn't until 2008 that Windows Vista was actually ready for businesses. It took Mike Nash, Corporate Vice President, Windows Product Management, over a year and a half to acknowledge that the Redmond company had failed to hit the sweet spot with its latest Windows client from the get go, and that it had to work throughout 2007 to perfect it. In this context, the release of Service Pack 1 is a milestone synonymous with Vista's readiness for business adoption.

Nash stressed that an investment in Vista SP1 makes sense even in scenarios of companies dealing with a limited budget to manage their IT infrastructure not only for the favorable cost/benefit factor, but also for the fact that migrating to the new operating system would prove a good idea even after Windows 7 drops on the market.

"Investments [in security and reliability] often meant changing the way that applications and drivers run on Windows, and they impacted the initial performance and compatibility of systems. Many people saw the value of the work we had done on things like data protection, search, mobility, and deployment - but there was a tradeoff between those benefits and device and application compatibility," Nash explained.

Throughout 2007, Microsoft hammered away at the operating system in order to soften all the rough corners, struggles which culminated with the release of Vista SP1. At the same time, the company's evangelism efforts paid off, as the hardware and software ecosystem became increasingly tailored to Vista SP1. According to Nash, this is the right time to give Windows Vista, now with SP1, another try.

"It is my firm belief that Windows Vista is ready for your business. If I ran an IT organization, I would first test and remediate my applications on Windows Vista. Then I would make sure that all new machines had 2 GB of RAM and run Windows Vista Enterprise Service Pack 1. For existing machines, with modern processors and less than 2 GB of RAM, I would consider upgrading the memory, BIOS and drivers, and then loading Windows Vista Enterprise SP1," Nash revealed.

Source: microsoftarticles.blogspot.com

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To NTFS or not to NTFS—that is the question. But unlike the deeper questions of life, this one isn't really all that hard to answer. For most users running Windows XP, NTFS is the obvious choice. It's more powerful and offers security advantages not found in the other file systems. But let's go over the differences among the files systems so we're all clear about the choice. There are essentially three different file systems available in Windows XP: FAT16, short for File Allocation Table, FAT32, and NTFS, short for NT File System.

FAT16
The FAT16 file system was introduced way back with MS–DOS in 1981, and it's showing its age. It was designed originally to handle files on a floppy drive, and has had minor modifications over the years so it can handle hard disks, and even file names longer than the original limitation of 8.3 characters, but it's still the lowest common denominator. The biggest advantage of FAT16 is that it is compatible across a wide variety of operating systems, including Windows 95/98/Me, OS/2, Linux, and some versions of UNIX. The biggest problem of FAT16 is that it has a fixed maximum number of clusters per partition, so as hard disks get bigger and bigger, the size of each cluster has to get larger. In a 2–GB partition, each cluster is 32 kilobytes, meaning that even the smallest file on the partition will take up 32 KB of space. FAT16 also doesn't support compression, encryption, or advanced security using access control lists.

FAT32
The FAT32 file system, originally introduced in Windows 95 Service Pack 2, is really just an extension of the original FAT16 file system that provides for a much larger number of clusters per partition. As such, it greatly improves the overall disk utilization when compared to a FAT16 file system. However, FAT32 shares all of the other limitations of FAT16, and adds an important additional limitation—many operating systems that can recognize FAT16 will not work with FAT32—most notably Windows NT, but also Linux and UNIX as well. Now this isn't a problem if you're running FAT32 on a Windows XP computer and sharing your drive out to other computers on your network—they don't need to know (and generally don't really care) what your underlying file system is.

The Advantages of NTFS
The NTFS file system, introduced with first version of Windows NT, is a completely different file system from FAT. It provides for greatly increased security, file–by–file compression, quotas, and even encryption. It is the default file system for new installations of Windows XP, and if you're doing an upgrade from a previous version of Windows, you'll be asked if you want to convert your existing file systems to NTFS. Don't worry. If you've already upgraded to Windows XP and didn't do the conversion then, it's not a problem. You can convert FAT16 or FAT32 volumes to NTFS at any point. Just remember that you can't easily go back to FAT or FAT32 (without reformatting the drive or partition), not that I think you'll want to.

The NTFS file system is generally not compatible with other operating systems installed on the same computer, nor is it available when you've booted a computer from a floppy disk. For this reason, many system administrators, myself included, used to recommend that users format at least a small partition at the beginning of their main hard disk as FAT. This partition provided a place to store emergency recovery tools or special drivers needed for reinstallation, and was a mechanism for digging yourself out of the hole you'd just dug into. But with the enhanced recovery abilities built into Windows XP (more on that in a future column), I don't think it's necessary or desirable to create that initial FAT partition.

When to Use FAT or FAT32
If you're running more than one operating system on a single computer, you will definitely need to format some of your volumes as FAT. Any programs or data that need to be accessed by more than one operating system on that computer should be stored on a FAT16 or possibly FAT32 volume. But keep in mind that you have no security for data on a FAT16 or FAT32 volume—any one with access to the computer can read, change, or even delete any file that is stored on a FAT16 or FAT32 partition. In many cases, this is even possible over a network. So do not store sensitive files on drives or partitions formatted with FAT file systems.

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Run Native Linux Applications in Windows Vista - Via Ulteo Virtual Desktop. Binaries tailored specifically to the open source Linux operating system can coexist on the same desktop with Windows Vista and Windows XP programs via Ulteo Virtual Desktop. Essentially, the promise of the Ulteo Virtual Desktop is to deliver Linux applications on Windows via the Ulteo panel. The virtualized environment will permit end users to run native Linux solutions right on the Windows Vista desktop, and integration complete down to the level of sharing the Windows Aero graphical user interface.

"At the moment, you will find a selection of applications that include: Firefox web browser enabled with Flash & Java, the full OpenOffice.org office suite that can deal with your MS Office documents KPdf to deal with your PDF documents, Kopete: the multi-Instant Messaging software that supports MSN and other protocols, Skype, Thunderbird + Enigmail, Gimp and Digikam to manage your pictures and Inkscape and Scribus to create great graphics and newspapers," reads a fragment of Ulteo's description.

But most importantly, Ulteo permits users to seamlessly add and remove layers of applications, from desktop items to gaming products, with development solutions planned to be added in the future. By any measure, Ulteo is a virtualized Linux operating system, but not in the sens of traditional virtualization software. This allows Ulteo to provide a level of performance which is very similar to a genuine Linux platform. The secret behind this is the fact that Ulteo is based on the coLinux port of the Linux operating system to Windows.

"Ulteo Virtual Desktop requires a PC (x86-based) with a modern 32-bit CPU and at least 512MB RAM. At least 4 GB of free HD space is required. A PDF reader is needed. For a better experience, we recommend a DualCore CPU and 1GB RAM. Ulteo Virtual Desktop has been tested successfully on Windows XP and Windows Vista (32-bit only for now)," Ulteo makers added.

Source: news.softpedia.com

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Application incompatibility is one of the aspects that have managed to deliver extensive damage to the adoption rate of Windows Vista. However, as Vista matured throughout 2007 and with Service Pack 1 in 2008, so did the ecosystem of software solutions orbiting around the operating system. Despite this, the actual perception of application incompatibility managed to survive, especially in corporate environments. If one end user can deal with a program that is incompatible with Vista rather easy, the same cannot be said about an enterprise dependent on a specific business application with tens of thousands of machines.

"Part of this is perception based on fact - Windows Vista is built on a new architecture that promises tightened security and reliability. Consequently, the applications that ride on top of Windows Vista need to communicate with the kernel in different ways. So what has helped fuel current perception around application compatibility? Why did many applications 'break' in the migration from Windows XP to Windows Vista?" Microsoft asked rhetorically.

And it seems that application compatibility issues consistently point to a single culprit: User Account Control. The watch dog Microsoft introduced in order to train both end users and developers to utilize and respectively build applications running with standard privileges for security reasons has come back to bite Vista uptake.

"Standard user mode limits file and registry access by applications on the computer. User Account Control exposes non-compliant actions, with permission prompts to standard and administrator users. Changes in permissions will cause most of the issues with earlier versions of applications, where administrative access was assumed during development and testing," Microsoft explained revealing the first reason for Vista application incompatibilities.

But two additional sources of compatibility problems are also connected with the UAC. Microsoft pointed to Internet Explorer 7 Protect Mode killing web-based applications as well as the Windows Resource Protection preventing programs to writing to protected areas of the operating system. In the end, the Redmond company traded flexibility for security, and legacy applications tailored to Windows XP running with administrative privileges bit the dust.

Additionally, Microsoft informed that "operating system and browser version numbers change with each release, which might cause issues with applications that check for a specific version number upon installation. Application shims are available to fool the application into thinking the operating system or browser is the application-required version."

And on top of it, the new driver model introduced in Vista, that enables the eye candy Aero graphical user interface, along with undocumented APIs, also caused compatibility issues. Over a year since Vista hit the shelves, the Redmond company claims that the operating system benefits from in excess of 15,000 signed devices and components and the advances brought on by Service Pack 1. In this context, Microsoft is not shy to put forward an invitation to give Vista, now with SP1, another try.

Source: news.softpedia.com

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Future Microsoft security products could make use of an additional operating system running on top of Windows in order to protect the underlying platform from malware. A new patent from the Redmond company titled: "System and method for proactive computer virus protection," authored by Adrian Marinescu was awarded on May 20, 2008, describing a solution that is a step forward from the reactive antivirus approach. Proactive technology is currently implemented into all modern top security products available on the market, and as such objections might be raised to Microsoft owning a patent.

However, the Redmond company's patent specifically refers to delivering a dispensable, virtualized operating environment designed to masquerade the actual operating system in order to simulate the execution of potentially malicious code and determining from the behavior whether it is malware or not. The virtualized operating system which would run on top of Windows would be completely isolated from the platform in case the simulated executable is actually malware.

"In accordance with the invention, a virtual operating environment for simulating the execution of programs to determine if the programs are malware is created. The virtual operating environment confines potential malware so that the systems of the host operating environment will not be adversely effected during simulation. As a program is being simulated, a set of behavior signatures is generated. The collected behavior signatures are suitable for analysis to determine if the program is malware," is explained in the description of the invention.

Microsoft has failed to inform whether the solution is a standalone product or integrated into its security offerings. The system described in the patent is tailored to Win 32 operating systems, but according to Microsoft, it can be easily extended onto other platforms which also make API calls. There are, of course, two major issues with this patent. First, members of the security market are bound to object to Microsoft owning a patent on proactive detection. Second, modern malware authors generally take precautions in writing malicious code that checks whether it is running in a virtualized operating.

"Components of the virtual operating environment include an interface, a virtual processing unit, API handling routines, an Input/Output emulator, a loader, a stack data structure, and a memory management unit that manages a virtual address space. These components perform operations similar to a real operating system that receives API calls including but not limited to generating events so that stub DLLs may be loaded into memory, employing a memory management unit to map physical locations in memory to a virtual address space, and allowing potential malware to generate Input/Output (hereinafter 'I/O') when making API calls. The present invention generates computer-executable instructions that are only capable of being filtered by the provided virtual operating environment," reads an excerpt of the patent.

Source: news.softpedia.com

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