bit-tech.net

Microsoft honcho says Vista doesn't need anti-virus

Microsoft honcho says Vista doesn't need anti-virus

Vista is far more secure than XP, says Allchin.

Jim Allchin, the outgoing head of Microsoft's Platforms and Services Division, says that he is happy to let his son run Windows Vista and surf the net without anti-virus installed, such is his faith in the security features built-in to Windows Vista.

Speaking on a conference call to talk about the gold release of Vista, Allchin said that the security measures that had been put in place meant that Microsoft was a way ahead of the black hat hackers seeking to exploit vulnerabilities.

One of the features is Parental Controls, which allows high-level users to control the accounts of others - what pages they can go to, set zones of access, limits on download types and the like.

The other is Address Space Layout Randomisation, which fiddles key Windows components just enough to make each Windows Vista install slightly different from any other, meaning that any exploit designed to take advantage of a hole in one particular configuration may not transfer to another machine.

"That's to be proven, so we will see about that. But I need to say the following: Windows Vista is something that will have issues in security, because the bar is being raised over time. But in my opinion, it is the most secure system that's available, and it's certainly the most secure system that we've shipped. So I feel very confident that customers are far better off by using Windows Vista than they are with anything that we've released before."

Would you be happing running Vista without AV? What do you make of the differences between the 32-bit and 64-bit versions when it comes to security? Give us your thoughts over in the forums.

32 Comments

Discuss in the forums Reply
quack 10th November 2006, 10:32 Quote
Haha... that's gotta be a joke, right?
Mother-Goose 10th November 2006, 10:33 Quote
Well I don't need a new car, but I want one!
JADS 10th November 2006, 10:34 Quote
I believe the term is "fatally optimistic"
fini 10th November 2006, 10:36 Quote
link at the bottom of the article's messed up.

Can anyone remember that politician feeding his kid a hamburger around the time of BSE?

fini
mclean007 10th November 2006, 10:38 Quote
I'd be happy to do the same at the moment TBH, because the installed user base of Vista systems is tiny and the black hat hackers have had very little time to dig around for exploits. Come January, when everyone and his dog has Vista on his new PC (so (a) it's worth the hackers' time to write exploits, and (b) there will be lots of unsecured machines full of viruses trying to make their way onto my machines) and the hackers have unrestricted access to the final release version of the OS, there is no way on earth I'll be running an unprotected Vista machine.
Matkubicki 10th November 2006, 10:41 Quote
Some of us are perfectly happy running unpatched XP SP2 without a virus checker, its called taking care, using a NAT router and having a skin of your pants attitude!
FooSai 10th November 2006, 10:44 Quote
yeah... and in other news:
"microsoft have just opend a new bungee jumping platform at their head office.... no rope necessary."
DougEdey 10th November 2006, 11:19 Quote
Well, considering the AV companies couldn't get access to the kernel to do anything, I think the guy has been backed up before.
specofdust 10th November 2006, 11:30 Quote
Perhaps his faith is more in his son, than in windows Vista.
Mother-Goose 10th November 2006, 11:33 Quote
I'd like him to be right I guess, it would be nice, but the very nature of the internet means he wont be :(
Buzzons 10th November 2006, 11:38 Quote
im happy to run a PC with no AV, why does anyone need it? just dont click stupid links, dont visit porn/warez sites that force you to donwload crap and dont click on attachments in ur inbox.

not really that hard.


A firewall on the other hand, i run one on the cisco 837 i have, and a pix 501 behind that for added fun.

Oh and on NAT.. its not a security feature, never has been, never will be, you can bypass NAT in a few seconds by forging packets,its not really that difficult.
perplekks45 10th November 2006, 11:47 Quote
I'm sure the time Vista retail comes around hackers won't need more than 2 or 3 days to find a hole. I mean it has been hacked once before, hasn't it? By this polnish(?) girl...
mikeuk2004 10th November 2006, 12:14 Quote
Quote:
But in my opinion, it is the most secure system that's available, and it's certainly the most secure system that we've shipped.

Like they havnt said that before on previous windows releases.

Yes he is 100% right that you wont need a AV software, well for the first few days its released anyway. As the hackers need time to purchase it and crack it.

Lets come back to this thread at the end of january when there has been 2-10 security updates released.

But then again it could be a few months that vista is safe from hackers as you need to sell an arm and a leg to buy a new pc powerful enough to use it, and to afford vista itself before you can hack it.
Mighty Yoshimi 10th November 2006, 12:19 Quote
O dear, more Microsoft fun :)
Lowsidex2 10th November 2006, 12:35 Quote
i haven't ran anitvirus for a couple years and my computer and my games are happier for it. Of course I am very careful about where I go online and run windows firewall and have a router firewall with never a problem. Every once in a while I run an online virus check but I'm still clean. IMO the net isn't that dangerous with a little common sense.

I have been victim in the past though, even with AV, when my surfing/DL habits were less innocent :D
TheColdLord 10th November 2006, 14:09 Quote
As mentioned above....it will be safe for a few days...until it is purchased by hackers and cracked. Of course I think it will take a little time to crack it, but not to long. The cracked version of the windows will probably be a bit tricky to install...seeing the little packege problems.

Sure hope that windows knows what its doing...:)) :)) :)) :)) YEAH RIGHT
DXR_13KE 10th November 2006, 14:44 Quote
Microsoft honcho says Vista doesn't need anti-virus

HAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHHAAHHAHAHAHAAHA!!!!!!!!!!

"and this just got in, a flock of mangosepigdogcows have been spotted flying over frozen hell air space, more news at 9."
Boswell 10th November 2006, 15:14 Quote
So wait a second.. did they actually say "you don't need an Anti Virus Program".. or are you interpreting what they are saying - the parental controls can be so powerful that the child could not access the sites with virus on in the first place - to "Microsoft honcho says Vista doesn't need anti-virus". Or something else? Because the only quote I saw was someone explaining basicly that Vista is going to be a very secure operating system.

Ed
ps I'm not criticizing your article... I'm just questioning it because it could be slightly misleading.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mikeuk2004
Like they havnt said that before on previous windows releases.
Sure but it clearly going to be more secure with every new release - it would seem a bit silly to release an operating system that isn't as good as the previous one.. then say it is better... doesn't really make sence - thats because it never happens, the newer OS will be an improvement -maybe ME was an exception but I don't know much about ME and why it was flawed etc. - all I have heard is that it was pretty bad...)
Quote:
Originally Posted by mikeuk2004
Yes he is 100% right that you wont need a AV software, well for the first few days its released anyway. As the hackers need time to purchase it and crack it.
Unfortuanately they have had all year to "crack it" (I think you mean "hack" or exploit), due to them "testing" it (within the beta stages), therefore they can release their virus whenever they feel like it - or when it's ready.
mclean007 10th November 2006, 15:20 Quote
Quote:
Originally Posted by Buzzons
Oh and on NAT.. its not a security feature, never has been, never will be, you can bypass NAT in a few seconds by forging packets,its not really that difficult.
No security is perfect - with enough time and effort, your machine could be compromised. The thing is, it's not worth a skilled hacker's time to spend hours cracking your machine's security when your next door neighbour has left his unpatched machine directly connected with no firewall or anything. A NAT router offers some protection insofar as it prevents an attacker from directly connecting to your machine by its IP address, which gives you some protection from port scanners, which will simply give up when there's no response and move on to the next IP address - it's not like there's any shortage of poorly defended PCs. Sure it's weak, but it's better than nothing. I use a NAT router in combination with a software firewall and a realtime AV scanner (with occasional full system scans), and have never had any kind of virus/malware related problem.
EK-MDi 10th November 2006, 19:08 Quote
Quote:
Originally Posted by DougEdey
Well, considering the AV companies couldn't get access to the kernel to do anything, I think the guy has been backed up before.
Actually it's only Symantec who have been trying to do that, because they clearly don't understand that there's no need to get access to the kernel. With Vista, Microsoft have made the effort to remove everything (software and drivers) out of the kernel layer, effectively making the OS a whole lot more secure, stable, and on top of that, meaning no more reboots after software and drivers updates.
EK-MDi 10th November 2006, 19:11 Quote
Quote:
Originally Posted by aon`aTv.gsus666
I'm sure the time Vista retail comes around hackers won't need more than 2 or 3 days to find a hole. I mean it has been hacked once before, hasn't it? By this polnish(?) girl...
Yep, it was in a conference conducted by Microsoft, called Blackhat,which was done on numerous occasions during the development of Vista, where Microsoft set the challenge to a bunch of hackers to find a hole. And once they eventually do, they get working on the hole and how they could resolve the problem.
EK-MDi 10th November 2006, 19:14 Quote
Quote:
Originally Posted by DXR_13KE
Microsoft honcho says Vista doesn't need anti-virus

HAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHHAAHHAHAHAHAAHA!!!!!!!!!!

"and this just got in, a flock of mangosepigdogcows have been spotted flying over frozen hell air space, more news at 9."
You clearly have something against Microsoft, don't you? In every news article relating to Microsoft, I haven't read any positive remarks of the company in any of your posts. I mean, just look at your sig.
Renoir 10th November 2006, 20:25 Quote
I used to get the odd virus when using ie6 on a pc connected straight to an adsl modem but since I started using a laptop behind a nat router and firefox I haven't had any malware that I know of and it's been at least six months. I agree with the sentiment that if you're just sensible when surfing the web you're 90% there. Plus you have the added bonus of more system resources for your other apps.
Cthippo 10th November 2006, 21:53 Quote
Quote:
Originally Posted by EK-MDi
You clearly have something against Microsoft, don't you? In every news article relating to Microsoft, I haven't read any positive remarks of the company in any of your posts. I mean, just look at your sig.

And you're clearly a fanboi, it all balanmces out in the end.
DXR_13KE 10th November 2006, 23:15 Quote
Quote:
Originally Posted by EK-MDi
You clearly have something against Microsoft, don't you? In every news article relating to Microsoft, I haven't read any positive remarks of the company in any of your posts. I mean, just look at your sig.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA sorry... let me respond to that by splinting it up:

"You clearly have something against Microsoft, don't you?"
YES they are a monopoly and they said this about XP and NO they are the ones that made computers what they are now.



"In every news article relating to Microsoft, I haven't read any positive remarks of the company in any of your posts."

really? are you sure? i think i posted something nice about the 360 some days ago...... and about they locking the kernel..... and i did not like it when symantec went after them about this...... i clapped my hands when they told they wont limit the number of installations you can do.


"I mean, just look at your sig."

my sig is a quote from the sig from a friend, he hates windows, i looked at it and laughed, so i posted it here so some people would laugh.



Microsoft is.... just another company, 98% of the guys around here either don't care or don't like them the other 2% are like you....... i am the part that does not care that much, if they want to screw them selfs in the ass, let them, i don't really care, i just want to buy Vista as soon as i have cash, it is cheaper and i have a machine that runs it, but i will get an AV software anyway because i simply don't trust ANY company with my sensible data.


as for you dude...... please calm down a little, everyone has a right to express what they think and feel, people hate pork, people hate corn, people hate rice, people hate sony, thats the way it is.
I thank MS for the way my computer works, it is really user friendly.

i just hate to smell BS in the morning.
B3CK 11th November 2006, 01:49 Quote
Prop'A'ganda "."
EK-MDi 11th November 2006, 01:55 Quote
I just found out that this piece of news isn't even true, LOL.
Just read this and see how.
plagio 11th November 2006, 09:53 Quote
Quote:
Originally Posted by Buzzons
im happy to run a PC with no AV, why does anyone need it? just dont click stupid links, dont visit porn/warez sites that force you to donwload crap and dont click on attachments in ur inbox.

Why having an internet connection than ?
Tyinsar 11th November 2006, 10:34 Quote
Quote:
Originally Posted by Article
...Address Space Layout Randomisation, which fiddles key Windows components just enough to make each Windows Vista install slightly different from any other, meaning that any exploit designed to take advantage of a hole in one particular configuration may not transfer to another machine.
Does it also mean that errors are going to be a (bigger) *!%# to find & fix? And what about customizations?

Have any of you played with this in the betas / RCs?
Quote:
Originally Posted by plagio
Why having an internet connection than ?
To read Bit-Tech of course :D
quack 11th November 2006, 23:17 Quote
Quote:
Originally Posted by EK-MDi
I just found out that this piece of news isn't even true, LOL.
Just read this and see how.
Thanks for reading my post. :D
cebla 12th November 2006, 23:30 Quote
I don't use Anti-Virus on Windows XP so no I won't be using AV on Windows Vista.

I use a hardware firewall and I have never had a problem as long as I am behind that. The only virus I ever got was at a friends place when I had no firewall.
Log in

You are not logged in, please login with your forum account below. If you don't already have an account please register to start contributing.



Discuss in the forums