Vista Tutorial - Is Windows really trustworthy?

It is time that Microsoft raise the bar of security and fix the
problems in house before Windows X is released.

This letter was mail to Steve Riley on 08/25/08

One item not mentioned in the letter by added 08/26/08 is the effect
that installing Search 4 has on the closing of Internet Explorer 7.
Since indexing is turned on by default, IE 7 takes about 30 seconds to
close under Windows XP. By disabling indexing IE 7 closed much faster.
Under Vista, IE closes in about 30 seconds with Search 4 installed.
There is no way to turn off indexing in Vista or if there is I haven't
found it yet. Nor was it mentioned that under XP, I tried to uninstall
Search 4 and Windows uninstaller said it wasn't installed. (Why was
the service running after I rebooted my machine?) Under Vista, why was
it hard to remove Search 4? When I uninstalled Search 4, I got a
message that Windows was doing an update, stage 1, 2 of 3 before Vista
reboots before Vista is updating stage 3 of 3. So what do the "update
messages mean when Vista is shutting down?

Added 08/29/08
UAC question: If UAC is enabled on a Vista machine and an user sees 10
seconds of blank screen before the UAC command is ready to run, how
much time is wasted with UAC?

also added 08/29/2008:
I wonder why HP is still selling Vista machines that show with NIS
2007 and NIS 2008 installed that the firewall is turned off?
http://solutions.symantec.com/sdccom...n&ct=us&src=gg.
I know that HP has been aware of this bug (feature) since 10/2007. I
wonder what other bugs that not been fixed? How do I find out?


August 24, 2008

RE: Is Windows really trustworthy?

Steve Riley
Microsoft Corporation
Trustworthy Computing Group
1 Redmond Way
Redmond, WA 98052

Dear Sir:

I have been reading about Microsoft spending $300 million to brand
Windows better since Vista is not meeting something (my terms). I
really don't care about meeting something but I care that Windows is
not really safe and Microsoft is to blame for this.

Problems that I have:
1. Windows by default does NOT delete temporary Internet files. I
wonder why and even if this is check, temporary files are not deleted.
I have checked removed Internet files when the browser is closed. I
just run CCleaner and found that I have 3,793 files or 47.1 Megs. of
files.
2. When I run Disk Cleanup, I have noticed over the years that
cleaning up these temporary files is a hit and miss operation. Why?
Programmers can install their temporary files in a least 3 folders but
Disk Cleanup only looks in 1 folder. But cleaning that folder is not
guaranteed to clean all files and folders in that 1 folder.
3. Why doesn't Microsoft force Sun
4. to delete Sun's temporary files default settings? Is there a
way to force Sun to delete previous versions of Java when the user
installs a new version?
5. Why doesn't Microsoft make Adobe have better security
procedures? There is no real Adobe to clean up Flash temporary files?
Is there a way to embed a virus is a Flash object? Is there a way to
add the playing a Flash object in a Microsoft security zone? I guess
what I want to do is to stop getting those Flash ads that appear on
web sites prior to going to that web site. Pre load that Flash ad…
6. Is there a way to stop IE from accepting a web site request to
install an Active X control like Google Toolbar? I wonder if a
programmer can add an Active X control without user acceptance when in
administrator mode. Or with UAC disabled?
7. Is there a way to know whether Adobe's Air and Microsoft
"Silverlight" create temporary files? If so, how do I delete them? Is
there a way to embed a virus in an Air and Silverlight object?
8. I recently had a problem losing Vista's Sidebar. I was able to
find a VBS script that fixed my problem. I wonder why Sidebar went
missing after I installed Windows update agent 7.1.6001.784. I also
wonder why there is no way to uninstall this update. I now wonder what
other Vista updates do not have an uninstaller?
9. After I lost the Sidebar, I run sfc /scannow. The operation
created a log file called CBS.log which I was encourage to look at. I
wonder why it took me the better part of 10 minutes to change the
permissions of the file. Why?
10. Why do I have basically file folder structures in Vista? (User
and Document and Settings folder)
11. Why doesn't Vista notify the user when an update fails?
12. Does Microsoft really know what they want to do with cloud
computer? I have (a) Foldershare; (b) Live Mesh; (c) Skydrive; and (d)
workspace.officelive.com. So why do I want to do use these items. What
not combine these items into one new site?
13. We also have sites like live.sysinternals.com. Does Microsoft
have other live sites? Is there a listing of other public live sites?
Or how do I find all the public Skydrive sites that are accessible
like https://cid-63265f352b9da32c.skydriv....com/home.aspx. Are
these sites searchable? How did Donna and Cindy find my spaces
account? How do I find who Donna and Cindy are?
14. Does anyone know of all the blog sites at Microsoft.com? How
do I get a listing of all these sites so I can determine if any of
these sites are meaningful to me?
15. When Windows updates and installs Search 4, I have noticed (1)
Search 4 installs with indexing turn on by default and (2) in Vista,
the search desktop is not available. Why?
16. Why is the reliability monitor a day late? How can someone use
this tool to troubleshot Vista? When I had Sidebar to shutdown, this
event was never an item in this monitor? I wonder why? When an
application fails and appears in this monitor, why is there no
indication that this application restarted?
17. Is there a better way to setup permissions and other security
items in Vista? I have using computers since 1976 and find that these
2 items are confusing to me and I wonder what a new user feels about
these 2 items. I understand why Microsoft is doing this but what about
other ways to this?
18. Is there a way to monitor the checksums of the files on the
machine and know when the checksum changes? Like Symantec does with
their product like..
19. Is there to determine that what files are associated with
programs? I have a file called PSIService_2.exe which I have no idea
what application installed this program. Other than disable the
service and see what happens?
20. Is there a way to make that each program uninstall's all the
installed objects? I mean all especially ALL the objects installed.
(Symantec is my worst offender)
21. Is there a way to have Microsoft work with the reseller
partners to "create" a set of best practices that these partners can
pass on to their customers?
22. Is there a way to determine via these partners what is wrong
with XP/Vista etc? What areas are getting the most help calls?
Hardware, non operating system calls and operating system calls? And
sub categories within the 3 main categories? It would be nice to see
an industry breakdown of these items? Are these items being fixed or
addressed by the user, PC vendor (software and hardware) etc?
23. Has Microsoft ever done follow-up on Vista users what Window
applications that are being used regularly? Aero? What about Dell, HP,
Lenovo, etc?

Based on the above items, I can understand why individuals and
corporations are bypassing Vista. Maybe Windows 7 may be better.

I still have to make a decision whether to install Vista Ultimate over
Home Basic. Or should I install a version of Linux. Which version of
Linux do you recommend for my Compaq Presario F730US?


Sincerely yours;



David Sherman

"David Sherman" <dshermin@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:v0igb4pp1mr130u6os83grl039u6v9k9pn@xxxxxxI can hardly wait for you to post the response, especially to the last
question about an appropriate Linux version for a Compaq product, asked of a
Microsoft employee ;-)

Buffoonery.

"David Sherman" <dshermin@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:v0igb4pp1mr130u6os83grl039u6v9k9pn@xxxxxxNot here, IE closes as soon as I press the red 'X'. I have Search 4
installed.
10 seconds? I never have to wait.