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Posts Tagged ‘ Microsoft ’

Microsoft Threw Out the Playbook for Windows Phone 7

By Fei on February 23, 2010

By Tony Bradley
February 23, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO - One of the biggest stories of the Mobile World Conference was the unveiling–finally–of Windows Mobile 7, rebranded as Windows Phone 7. The story within the story is how Microsoft abandoned the foundation established with the waning Windows Mobile platform, went back to the drawing board, and started from scratch for the latest incarnation of its mobile operating system.

The result is a completely new mobile platform from Microsoft which, at least from initial feedback and reviews, seems to be worthy of further consideration once Windows Phone 7 devices start hitting the streets.

Given the delays experienced by Microsoft in developing Windows Phone 7, expectations were high. Any minor, incremental improvement on the existing platform would have been virtually guaranteed to fail.

Microsoft’s approach with Windows Phone 7 seems to borrow some from the Apple business model that has proven so successful with the iPhone. Like Google, with the Nexus One, Microsoft is reining in oversight of the hardware for Windows Phone 7 devices.

Microsoft has been accused of stealing a variety of design elements and features from Apple over the decades, but one thing it has steered clear of is emulating Apple’s strict control of the end-to-end user experience. However, with Windows Phone 7, Microsoft seems to be embracing that philosophy to some degree.

Traditionally, the best Windows Mobile phones have been the devices built by HTC, and the reason they have been the best is because HTC took the Windows Mobile platform as a foundation, and branded it with its own unique design and interface elements. With Windows Phone 7, Microsoft has spelled out strict hardware and software design guidelines that will restrict such unique development by HTC, but hopefully deliver a more consistent experience for Windows Phone 7 users regardless of manufacturer.

By exerting more control over the hardware and software specifications, Microsoft can ensure that apps developed for Windows Phone 7 will not only work, but will work the same way, across all Windows Phone 7 devices. That level of consistency across Windows Phone 7 devices will help to increase adoption and improve perception of the Windows Phone 7 platform.

What Google seems to have learned from Apple–the same lesson that Microsoft appears to be grasping as well–is that maintaining control of the end-to-end user experience creates a more stable environment for developers to work with, and enables it (Google, Microsoft, or Apple as the case may be) to maximize the potential of the operating system without being handicapped by variations in capabilities from one handset to the next.

Of course, one of the things customers have come to expect from Microsoft is a more open and flexible platform than what Apple offers. Users want the ability to configure and customize their Windows devices–whether PC’s or smartphones–and typically abhor the sort of “dummy-proof-our-way-or-the-highway” approach taken by Apple.

IT administrators enjoy the increased flexibility and capabilities of a more open platform like Windows Phone 7 or Android. One of the issues standing in the way of Apple iPhone adoption in the enterprise is the lack of control provided for IT administrators to be able to configure and manage the devices the way they would like to.

Businesses stand to benefit from the more consistent user experience of Windows Phone 7 as well, though. Rather than having to test and develop for each individual Windows Mobile handset in use, any configuration settings or custom apps will be able to function regardless of the Windows Phone 7 devices in use.

Windows Phone 7 appears to be a significant departure from previous Windows Mobile operating systems. At first glance it seems the Microsoft is heading in the right direction and could recapture some of the lost market share of the waning Windows Mobile platform. We’ll have to wait until the Windows Phone 7 devices hit the streets to see how it really plays out.

Office Tips: Work More Efficiently in Word

By Fei on February 18, 2010

By Rick Broida
February 18, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO - It’s Word-tip week here at Hassle-Free PC. I’ll tell you how to print multiple copies of specific pages, strip out hyperlinks, add filler text, and use keyboard shortcuts to change the font size for selected type. Want more tips for Microsoft Office? Read “Get More From Your Mouse,” “Tips for Windows 7, Word 2007, and More,” and “Cure an Insomniac PC and Other Tips.”

Print Multiple Copies of Individual Pages

Most Word users know how to print multiple copies of a document: Just change the “Number of copies” setting to the amount you need, then click OK.

Okay, but what if you want to print multiple copies of select pages? For example, suppose your five-page document ends with a registration form. You need only one copy of the first four pages, but you want three copies of page 5.

The secret lies in the Page range section of Word’s Print dialog. As you may know, by selecting the Pages option, you can specify which pages of a document you want for this particular print job. For example, you might enter 1-3, 5, which would print pages 1, 2, 3, and 5.

But you can also use this option to print multiple copies of individual pages. So in my aforementioned example, to get three copies of page 5 and one copy of everything else, you’d enter 1-4, 5, 5, 5.

In other words, each time you repeat any given page number in that Pages field, Word will print an extra copy of that page.

Strip Hyperlinks From Pasted Text

I’m constantly copying text from e-mails, Web pages, and other online sources into Word documents, and always with the same result: a bunch of unwanted hyperlinks for Web links and e-mail addresses. Good luck plumbing the depths of Word’s menus to find a way to remove these links.

One solution is to right-click any linked item and choose Remove Hyperlink, but that’s a pretty slow method if you have multiple links you want to, well, unlink.

Thankfully, there’s a fast, easy, and automated solution: Select the entire block of text, then press Ctrl-Shift-F9. Presto: no more hyperlinks. All that’s left behind is plain text. To my knowledge, this works in all versions of Word.

Quickly Add Filler Text to Your Document

Do you ever need to add some filler text to a Word document? You know, the “lorem ipsum” stuff you routinely see in document mock-ups, presentation materials, and the like.

There’s a secret Word shortcut that makes this surprisingly easy. Just type (or copy and paste) either of the two following lines and then press Enter:

=rand()

=lorem()

The first one generates three paragraphs’ worth of random text; the second produces three paragraphs of the aforementioned lorem ipsum gibberish. You can repeat as necessary to add more filler text to your document.

Didn’t work? You may need to venture into Word’s settings to enable a certain setting. Here’s how to do so in Word 2007:

Click the Office button, then select Word Options, Proofing, AutoCorrect Options. Click the checkbox next to “Replace text as you type.”

Change Text Size Using Only Your Keyboard

I’ve got a keyboard shortcut for you that sidesteps the hassle of reaching for the mouse, then fiddling with toolbar menus, every time you want to adjust the font size.

Using your Home or End keys and/or the arrow keys, place your cursor at the start of the text you want to resize. While holding down the Shift key, press the right or down arrow to select a character or enter line, respectively. Keeping going until you’ve selected all the text you want to resize. (Bonus tip: Adding the Ctrl key to the mix while tapping the right arrow selects an entire word at a time.) Press Ctrl-] (that’s the right-bracket key) to increase the selected text one point size. Press Ctrl-[ to decrease it accordingly. Repeat until the text reaches the size you want.

This sounds a bit more complicated and time-consuming than it is. Trust me: Once you start using the keyboard this way, you’ll spend a lot less time reaching for the mouse.

A Successful Windows Phone 7 Would Help Bing

By Fei on February 18, 2010

By Jeff Bertolucci
February 18, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO - Windows Phone 7, a dramatic upgrade of Microsoft’s mobile operating system, looks fairly impressive out of the gate. In addition to a stylish user interface that’s strongly influenced by the underappreciated Zune HD media player, Windows Phone 7 is tightly integrated with Redmond’s Bing search engine.

Tap the Search button on a Windows 7 device, for instance, and a Bing window appears. Microsoft says the Windows Phone interface is locked, that its hardware partners won’t be allowed to replace the UI. Might those rules extend to the default search engine too? It’s a given that Bing, not Google, will be the default search engine for every Windows 7 phone that ships. Users will likely have the option of digging into the settings to select another search tool (e.g., Google or Yahoo), but most won’t bother.

The Bing Push

If Windows Phone 7 is a big success, Bing’s market share would rise. Redmond has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to build and market Bing, which has become a very capable alternative to Google and Yahoo. Despite Microsoft’s aggressive campaign, however, Bing still has a small fraction of Google’s market share, albeit one that’s rising slowly.

The most recent comScore data for January 2010 shows Google leading the U.S. search market with a 65.4 percent share, down 0.3 percent from December. Bing, by comparison, garnered 11.3 percent of the U.S. market in January, a 0.6 rise from the previous month. (Yahoo Search had 17 percent of U.S. searches last month, a slightly drop from December.)
Android vs. Windows Phone

Mobile devices are the latest battleground in the search wars, and a revitalized Windows Phone 7 would make for a more bruising fight. Google, of course, is gaining mobile market share too. Its Android OS is slated to debut on dozens of mobile devices this year, all of which will have tight hooks into Google Search.

As for Apple’s iPhone, rumors persist that Bing may soon become the device’s default search engine. Cupertino’s relationship with Google continues to sour, particularly in light of Google’s Android push and its iPhone-like Nexus One handset.

A Google vs. Apple battle may be very, very good for Bing. Healthy sales of Windows 7 phones wouldn’t hurt either.

Windows Phone 7 Series: First Impressions

By Fei on February 17, 2010

By Ginny Mies
February 17, 2009

BARCELONA - I had some pretty big expectations for the next generation of Windows phones; the 6.5 update just didn’t cut it. I wanted a smooth, super touch-friendly user interface that is easy to navigate. Oh, and full integration with the Zune software. To my delight, Microsoft delivered and I was generally impressed with Windows Phone 7 Series (Microsoft has dropped the “Windows Mobile” moniker). I do have a few concerns, however, that I hope will be addressed 10 months from now.

I’ve praised the Zune software in the past for being easily navigable as well as very touch-friendly. Windows 7 Series is no different: All of the menus you need are up front and easily accessible in large, clean typeface. One of the biggest complaints of Windows Mobile 6 was labyrinth of menus you had to go through to find what you wanted. I’m pleased with how Microsoft has simplified this.

When you turn on the phone, you have instant access to all of your most-used or favorite apps in the form of live tiles (see image on left) on the homescreen. The user experience is miles ahead of the old Windows Mobile start screens of the past (see Windows Mobile 6 Start screen). To get all of your apps, don’t bother looking for the start button. You simply flick to the left and you’ll see a list of all of your apps.

While the interface was nothing like Windows Mobile versions of the past, it suffered the same sluggishness we’re all so familiar with. Scrolling was a bit sticky in the Internet Explorer-based browser (click on image to the right to zoom) and the pinch-to-zoom capabilities weren’t as smooth as what you’d find on the iPhone’s browser. Contacts also took a bit of time to fill in when I tried to scroll down the list. Disclaimer: My hands-on was with a prototype so this criticism might not hold at launch. Microsoft has 10 months to tweak and update the OS though and I hope that by then, Windows 7 will be ready for primetime.

Microsoft has finally caught up with the competition by delivering a clean, socially-connected interface and implementing features like multitouch and the beautiful Zune media player. Paired with excellent hardware partners like HTC and Samsung, I think Windows 7 phones have some great potential-if the software behaves.

It’s Microsoft’s Game to Lose with Windows Mobile 7

By Fei on February 15, 2010

By Tony Bradley
February 15, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO - Speculation is mounting that Microsoft will show off the Windows Mobile 7 operating system at a wireless industry conference in Barcelona next week. Customers have waited through a series of delays and setbacks, but if those predictions turn out to be true, it could help to generate some renewed excitement over the waning mobile platform.
The Windows Mobile 7 platform is rumored to have an interface based in large part on the Zune HD which has received a fair amount of praise. There are also rumors that Microsoft is forking its business mobile platform and its consumer offering with the addition of a platform based more on social networking and aimed at a teen audience.

Microsoft did develop an interim mobile platform–Windows Mobile 6.5– to add some incremental improvements over Windows Mobile 6, but compared with platforms like Android and iPhone, Windows Mobile is lacking and Microsoft has seen its lack of progress reflected in declining market share.

On the other hand, Microsoft is still in third place for smartphone platforms in the United States. It is behind RIM and Apple, but at 18 percent of the market it is solidly ahead of Palm and Google. It has dropped out of second place, and lost a percent of market share over the last quarter, but if any of the other platforms (with the possible exception of the iPhone) were to experience the delays and setbacks that Microsoft has encountered, the market share drop would be much more dramatic.

The relatively small decline in market share for Windows Mobile can be attributed in large part to attrition and impatience. As business professionals lose or break older Windows Mobile devices, or contracts expire and they switch wireless providers, they are forced to choose a new smartphone and the current Windows Mobile does not offer a very compelling platform compared with iPhone and Android.

I personally represent that group. I held out as long as I could–even falling back on an older feature phone for months–waiting patiently for a new Windows Mobile. I didn’t find Windows Mobile 6.5 to be enough of an incentive, but I needed a smartphone and couldn’t continue holding out for Windows Mobile 7. So, now I have an iPhone…for now.

The fact is, barring an announcement that it is simply throwing in the towel and giving up on the mobile operating system altogether, Microsoft still has an audience anxiously waiting to see what it will deliver. Even in third place, Microsoft is easily within striking distance to reclaim second place from Apple, and it could pose a challenge even to RIM’s BlackBerry dominance if Windows Mobile 7 can live up to expectations.

While Microsoft has struggled with its mobile operating system, it still occupies a dominant stake of the server operating system, desktop operating system, business productivity software, messaging, and Web browser markets. Bells and whistles aside, it’s hard to argue with the potential of a smartphone platform that can seamlessly tie in with the platforms and tools that businesses rely on.

RIM, Apple, Palm, and now Google, all recognize and respect Microsoft’s presence in the enterprise. These other mobile platforms realize that integration with Microsoft backend tools–particularly Exchange Server–is imperative to success in the enterprise. No matter how hard they try, though, the solutions are often clumsy or cumbersome, and have a sort of “square peg in the round hole” feel to them.

The core appeal of a Microsoft mobile operating system is the inclusion of native tools that naturally integrate with the existing server, desktop, and office productivity environment. Windows Mobile is uniquely suited to deliver a seamless and familiar experience for business professionals.

Expecting Microsoft to introduce unique innovations or raise the bar in any way for mobile operating systems is probably a recipe for disappointment. Assuming that Microsoft can at least improve Windows Mobile to the point that Windows Phones are more or less on par with next-generation smartphones like the iPhone or Droid will be enough, though, for Microsoft to get the ship pointed in the right direction and begin to reclaim some of its lost mobile platform market share.

Microsoft has a built-in audience and the game is Microsoft’s to lose.

Windows 7 tarnished by notebook battery issues

By Jon on February 5, 2010

By Tony Bradley
February 5, 2010

Microsoft is investigating reported issues with Windows 7 and notebook battery life. The issue seems sporadic, but fairly widespread. It is unclear whether affected systems are simply misreporting the battery life, or if the battery capacity is actually being permanently affected.

Long before Windows 7 was released for general availability in October of 2009, users were reporting suspicious behavior with battery life, or at least reported battery life, when running the Windows 7 RC (release candidate) version. The Microsoft TechNet Forums thread on the matter dates back to June of 2009.

While some issues seem to be a simple matter of Windows 7 not reporting the remaining battery life correctly, or prematurely warning that the battery is nearly dead, there are users who have reported switching operating systems back to Windows Vista, or even a non-Windows operating system, and still experiencing drastically reduced battery life.

Brian Ehlert, a Microsoft MVP, reported in November of 2009:
“Now, Win7 does include the ability to use Vista drivers - that is built on purpose so hardware manufacturers would not have to turn around and immediately write new drivers.

I am using all stock Win7 drivers. So that tells me that it is a core deficiency / bug - not a driver specific bug. Rather a software interacting with hardware bug.

My battery life went from 8 hours to 15 minutes, with only an fdisk, format, and install in between. Yes, totally unacceptable.”

I have been using Windows 7 since before it was available for public beta testing and I have never experienced any battery issues. Granted, my notebook is plugged in at my desk 90 percent of the time. However, I occasionally do roam about and have taken it on road trips and I have been impressed with the power management features of Windows 7, and more than satisfied with the battery life on my Dell XPS notebook.

I asked my colleague, veteran Microsoft guru Mark Minasi, about his experience. Minasi replied “I’ve been running Windows 7 on my Lenovo since May and haven’t noticed any difference in battery consumption.”

Microsoft released an official statement on the matter, saying “We are investigating this issue in conjunction with our hardware partners. The warning received in Windows 7 uses firmware information to determine if battery replacement is needed. We are working with our partners to determine the root cause and will update with information and guidance as it becomes available.”
The implication is that the issue is related to an error between Windows 7 and certain hardware firmware versions. That theory may or may not support the fact that some users claim the battery itself is being permanently affected.

Do business users need to be concerned? The jury is still out. It all depends on what the actual root cause of the issue is, and whether it is simply a miscommunication between the firmware and Windows 7 resulting in misreporting the remaining battery life, or if there is something more insidious going on that actually causing the battery capacity to dwindle permanently.

Obviously, if notebook battery life is being permanently impacted so that it lasts a meager 15 or 30 minutes rather than the six to eight hours you might expect, there is reason to be concerned. Once the dust settles on Microsoft’s investigation into the issue, business users may need to look to Microsoft or notebook vendors to replace batteries if it is determined that the issue is more than simple mis-reporting.

Microsoft Could Make the iPad a Great Business Tool

By Fei on February 4, 2010

By Bill Snyder
February 4, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO - Apple has made a bone-head play that damages the iPad’s potential for business. But, Microsoft, believe it or not, could come to the rescue. Here’s why:

Apple put iWork–not a great tool to begin with–on the iPad. It’s better than nothing, but while iWork can read Microsoft Office formats, it can’t be set to save DOC files by default. What a mistake. While Apple’s home and student customers may be fine with this annoying limitation, business users can’t be endlessly exporting documents to share with colleagues and customers. Unless Apple makes this important change to iWork on the iPad, the forthcoming tablet will be a good device to view written content, but will fall flat when it comes to creating it.

But suppose Microsoft (hold the boos, please) decided there was money to be made here, and created a version of Office for the tablet? Given the relative lack of storage and so on, iPad Office couldn’t be full-featured, but since most of us only use a fraction of Office’s capabilities, that wouldn’t be a show stopper. In fact, we’d have a device that would be useful for small business, and would probably cut deeply into sales of netbooks.

Apple has some additional work to do as well. If the iPad is to become the super-light computing device of choice, it has to support a full-featured browser, and that means supporting Flash. Whether Apple likes it or not, Flash is ubiquitous, and going to a Web site and getting that annoying error message and chunk of blank screen is a bummer.

Google Docs and ZOHO: Online But Not Offline

Am I serious about Microsoft stepping in? Yes, it would be a great idea, and it would make money for Microsoft. But I’d be surprised if Ballmer & Co. had the imagination to make that move. So, I don’t expect it to happen, at least not immediately.

But there are alternatives, albeit limited, you can likely use as soon as the iPad hits the stores.

Google Docs would probably run fairly well on the iPad, but there are two caveats. The first has to do with screen real estate, the second with Google Gears.

When the iPad is in the editing or writing mode, a virtual keyboard pops up, making it hard to see the tools you need to write and edit a document. You might be able to work around this issue, but it would certainly slow you down.

More serious, I think, is the lack of support for Google Gears, which is necessary to run Google docs offline. Without that capability, there’s no way to work on documents on an airplane, for example, which is a mighty big downside. When Google and the somewhat similar ZOHO are used offline, they can later be synched with the cloud versions, ensuring that you have the current versions of your documents. (Thanks to Harry McCracken of Technologizer for mentioning these points to me.)

ZOHO also needs Google gears to work offline. However, since the Safari browser already supports parts of the developing HTML 5 standard, it shouldn’t be too long until ZOHO, and likely Google, will work offline on the iPad, says Raju Vegesna, ZOHO’s chief evangelist.
HTML 5 is expected to reduce or even eliminate the need for the many of the plugins needed today by browsers. Indeed, HTML 5, which is strongly backed by Apple, should ultimately make the Flash-support issue disappear, Vegesna says. But how long that will take is unclear.

QuickOffice and Roambi Could Help

Then there’s QuickOffice, a nifty little app that runs on the iPhone and a number of its competitors. It gives basic editing capabilities to use with Word and Excel documents, and allows you to view (but not edit) PowerPoints.

Clearly, that’s not the way you want to work all the time, but I find QuickOffice helpful even when used on the small iPhone screen. It should be quite a bit better after the company tweaks its app to take advantage of the comparatively huge iPad. That should happen by the time the tablet reaches consumers, the company told me on Monday.

Roambi produces colorful charts and graphs from your spreadsheets and business intelligence reports, making complex data readable on the small iPhone screen, so it should work on the iPad. The processing occurs on Roambi’s secure server. Like QuickOffice, it is available from the iTunes app store.

Yes, You Can Run Windows 7 on an iPad

By Fei on February 1, 2010

By David Coursey
February 1, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO - Want to run Windows 7 on the new Apple iPad? Citrix says it will soon be possible–at least virtually–using a new version of its Citrix Receiver software.

Promised to be ready when the tablet computer ships in March, Citrix says the new software, based on the current iPhone version, is a response to questions about how the iPad might find a home in the enterprise.

“If your company has XenDesktop or XenApp you will be happy to know you will be able to use your iPad for real work as well,” wrote Citrix Vice President Chris Fleck in a company blog.
“It turns out the 9.7 inch display on the iPad with a 1024×768 screen resolution works great for a full VDI XenDesktop. Windows applications run unmodified and securely in the data center, and even multiple applications at once.”

Citrix says the iPad’s larger screen solves many of the challenges users’ faced because of when using the iPhone with a virtualized Windows desktop. (Which sounds pretty painful, if you ask me).

“The iPhone restrictions of screen size and small keyboards are overcome with the iPad. The iPad looks to be an ideal end-point device that can empower users to be productive wherever they are and IT will be able to safely deliver company-hosted virtual desktops and apps without worry,” Fleck wrote.

While it might be interesting to add iPads to a company’s enterprise environment, Fleck admits the new Receiver software might also be a way for customers to justify the purchase of tablets that employees will buy anyway.

“Let us know how you’re going to put it to work,” Fleck writes, concluding his post, “Even it’s just to rationalize buying another gadget.”

The iPad isn’t likely to be perfect for many business apps, besides presentations, but companies already supporting virtualized desktops many find applications and users that make sense for Apple’s new tablet.

Malware Aims to Evade Windows 7 Safeguards

By Fei on February 1, 2010

By Erik Larkin
February 1, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO - Experts agree that Windows 7 has enhanced security to ward off attacks on vulnerabilities in old software. But what if a money-minded online scammer can persuade you to download malware onto your PC?

“Windows 7 is more secure, and upgrading to it is a big improvement,” says Chester Wisniewski, a senior security advisor with software-maker Sophos. “But it’s not going to stop malware in its tracks.”

Exploits Take a Hit

Digital crooks generally use two tactics to install malware on a PC. Exploits often take the form of a snippet of attack code hidden on a Web page–often a hacked-but-otherwise-benign site. When you browse the page, the exploit hunts for software flaws in Windows or in third-party programs such as Adobe Flash or QuickTime. If it finds one, the exploit may surreptitiously install malware without any hint of the attack.

In contrast, social engineering attacks try to trick you into downloading and installing bot malware that poses as a useful program or video. Some attacks combine tactics, as when a scammer sends an e-mail message encouraging you to open an attached PDF file, only to trigger an exploit buried in the file that then hunts for a flaw in Adobe Reader.

Security upgrades in Windows 7 could help prevent many attacks that target software flaws. ActiveX attacks, once the bane of Internet Explorer users, may “pretty much disappear” due to IE 8’s Protected Mode, says H.D. Moore, chief security officer at Rapid7 and creator of the Metasploit testing tool.

The arcane-sounding Address Space Layer Randomization makes it harder for crooks to find a vulnerability for a running program in your computer’s memory. The related Data Execution Prevention feature attempts to prohibit an attack from taking advantage of any flaw that it may discover.

“These two, in particular, could have a very large impact,” says Wisniewski. Still, though ASLR and DEP were expanded to protect more programs in Windows 7 than in Vista, they don’t cover all applications.

Vista Safer Than XP?

For a sense of what that impact might be, we can look at how Vista fared against malware. Microsoft’s latest Security Intelligence Report covers the first half of 2009, prior to Windows 7’s release. It’s based on data from the Malicious Software Removal Tool, which Microsoft distributes via Automatic Updates to fight common malware infections. According to that data, the infection rate for an up-to-date Vista computer was 62 percent lower than that for an up-to-date XP system.

It’s possible, of course, that Vista users are technologically savvier on average, and so less likely to fall victim to malware. The sample sizes for XP and Vista, which Microsoft didn’t include in the report, might skew the statistics, as well.

But Sophos’s Wisniewski thinks that ASLR and DEP are factors, too. And since those features are expanded in Windows 7, there’s reason to hope they’ll continue to be effective.

“I don’t see this going away anytime soon,” says Moore. He notes that there are plenty of ways crooks can and likely will continue to ply their evil trade against the new OS. But “it does raise the bar,” Moore says.

Hacking People, Not Programs

Exploit-based attacks may be harder to pull off against Windows 7, but social engineering attacks may be as dangerous as ever. And the theoretically less-annoying User Account Control does little to disable poisoned downloads.

In October, Sophos ran a test to see how Windows 7 and UAC would handle malware. First, the testers grabbed the first ten samples of malicious software that came into their lab. They then ran those samples on a fresh Windows 7 machine with UAC at its default settings, and with no antivirus installed.

Two samples couldn’t run on Windows 7 at all. But at its default setting, UAC blocked only one sample, leaving seven pieces of malware that loaded right up.

Sophos’s test highlights two points. First, Wisniewski and others say, UAC isn’t designed to block malware as much as it is to encourage programmers to write software that doesn’t require special privileges–so you shouldn’t count on it for protection.

Second, if a bad guy tricks you into downloading a Trojan horse, ASLR and DEP don’t matter. IE 8’s SmartScreen filter and similar features in other browsers might block known nasties, but the malware universe is bigger than that.

Social engineering ruses include using a hijacked social network account to send malware lures to friends of the owner, sending a link to a supposed video taken of a friend, and hiding a poisoned URL in a shortened link of the type commonly used on Twitter. (For more on such dangers, see “How to Stop 11 Hidden Security Threats.”)

Toss in other tried-and-true scams such as videos that instruct you to install a codec file (but instead lead you to a malware download), and phony documents attached to e-mail messages that appear to come from coworkers, and it becomes clear why Windows 7 users can’t let their guard down.

Windows 7 Hack: Playing with ‘GodMode’

By Fei on January 25, 2010

By David Ayala
January 25, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO - Have you ever wondered what else lies under the hood of that new Windows 7 laptop you got recently? The clever folks at CNET have found a simple hack that will grant access to all of those options in one easy-to-set-up shortcut.

The aptly named GodMode is a built-in, yet unadvertised feature in Windows 7 that gathers all Windows utilities in one spot. To access it, simply create a new folder and name it:

GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

And that’s it! Open it up and you’ll find access to display options, backup/recovery, power management and more. This is a useful trick for those of you that easily forget where to access the defragmenter or the device manager. You may even find a useful utility you didn’t know existed.

For quite a few years now, Microsoft has tinkered with its Control Panel in order to provide a robust set of options in an elegant and accessible package. GodMode is certainly not the solution to that problem. By throwing all of the settings into one spot, it’s more akin to organized confusion than friendly accessibility. GodMode probably won’t work too well for Grandma, but for those of you that get giddy at the thought of tweaking your settings, you might want to get this shortcut up on your desktop.

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