Looking Ahead to Windows Vista: Part 2 New Features and Enhancements Abound in Vista Joseph Moran
Considering how long it's been since a new version of Windows came out, you would expect Vista to have more new features than you can shake a stick of RAM at, and you'd be right. Still, chances are that you don't want to run Vista just to have the latest and the greatest, but also because you're looking for ways the new OS can help your small business be successful, such as by letting your PCs run faster, operate more reliably, or perform tasks they couldn't before.
Part one of our look at Vista offered an overview of Vista's capabilities and outlined the various "flavors" of the operating system that will soon be available. Here in part two we'll focus on features that are either entirely new or significantly improved compared to Windows XP and highlight those that can benefit your small business in the areas of productivity, reliability, or security.
Productivity
Start Menu
At first glance, Windows Vista looks strikingly similar to XP, but the familiar appearance belies significant interface changes just below the surface. The Start menu — which now eschews the word "Start" in favor of the Windows logo — has been reorganized to make it less cumbersome and easier to find applications. For example, as you navigate through Program Groups, Vista's Start menu remains in place instead of expanding to fill the screen the way XP's does. In fact, a built-in search box lets you find an application (or file) by typing its name so you don't need to wade through layers of menus to find the item you want.
Easier Browsing
Vista also comes with Internet Explorer 7, which includes a host of its own interface improvements. Most notably, support for tabbed browsing lets you reduce desktop clutter by loading multiple Web sites within a single browser window. Even better, Vista's IE 7 can display all your open Web pages as preview thumbnails, letting you easily view a page's contents before you switch to it.
Desktop Searching
Windows XP has never earned particularly high marks for its ability to quickly and easily find files buried on your hard drive, but Vista's search feature is much more powerful and integrated. There's a search box available in nearly every operating system dialog box, and Vista saves time by starting the search immediately and narrowing it down as you type. Vista's search feature also lets you look for any file without having to know file extensions or type wildcards.
Sync Center
In Windows XP, synchronizing files can be inconvenient because you need to go to one area to synchronize files with a server (Windows Explorer) and another to sync up a handheld device (ActiveSync). Vista simplifies the process with Sync Center, a utility that lets you synchronize data with different sources like PDAs, smartphones, and network folders from the same place.
Security
Firewall
Windows XP was the first version of the Windows operating system to include a built-in firewall, which was followed by a much-improved version in XP Service Pack 2. Vista's firewall boasts additional enhancements, including the capability to automatically stop all inbound traffic to a system unless Windows has been updated with all the latest security patches. In addition, it provides better protection than XP's firewall by monitoring not just inbound traffic but outbound traffic as well. This feature lets it prevent unauthorized applications from sending data from your computer.
User Accounts
When setting up systems, small businesses often create limited user accounts for many employees in order to prevent them from installing unauthorized software and to minimize access (and potential damage) to the system's configuration. The catch, however, is that some applications simply won't install (or even run) unless the user is logged in using an administrator account.
There are other unpleasant side effects as well, such as the inability to perform benign tasks like adding a printer or modifying non-critical system settings. The solution to this problem in XP is to give users administrative access to their own machines, in spite of the risk that entails, but either scenario can easily result in lots of support calls.
Fortunately, Vista offers more flexibility with its significantly revamped user access rules. A new Standard user account replaces the Limited account and allows employees to perform many routine computer tasks for themselves as well as modify many settings related to their own personal profile.
XP's hobbled Limited account is gone in Vista, replaced by a Standard account that can install software and change personal settings while still maintaining system security.
In cases where an application requires administrative access, the system can prompt the employee to provide valid credentials rather than simply being rebuffed. This also guards against silent or "drive-by" installations of spyware from Web sites, downloads, or packaged software.
Data Encryption
Business systems often contain all kinds of proprietary and confidential data and, needless to say, when such a system gets lost or stolen, a company can find itself in significant competitive or legal jeopardy.
To help safeguard sensitive data Vista builds on the file-encryption capabilities of XP with its BitLocker feature, which can automatically encrypt the complete contents of a hard drive rather than just selected files and folders. On systems that include a special chip called a Trusted Platform Module (TPM), BitLocker can encrypt an entire system without even changing the way a user logs into the system.
You don't necessarily need new hardware to take advantage of BitLocker since it can also work with non-TPM systems, but in this case it does require a USB flash drive (to store encryption keys and passwords) that must be inserted whenever the system starts.
More Secure Browsing
In addition to the usability improvements discussed earlier, Internet Explorer 7 in Windows Vista also includes a number of security enhancements. A Protected Mode — which debuts in Vista's upcoming Beta 2 and will not be available in IE 7 on other Windows versions — works in conjunction with Vista's new user account rules to limit a Web site's access to the system, which should prevent malicious sites from hijacking browser settings or copying any files to the system.
Whenever you go to a site, a phishing filter automatically checks it against a database to determine if it may be fraudulently trying to obtain a user's confidential information. Finally, clearing the myriad browser caches has been made less cumbersome, requiring only one click to delete your entire browsing history instead of the three or more required in XP.
