November 17th, 2008
A deep dive into Windows 7 (build 6801)
Security, backup, and recovery
You can talk all you want about security features in Windows 7, but at the first break in the conversation, the one question on everyone’s lips will be, “Have they fixed User Account Control?” Those annoying UAC prompts have been a source of consternation for Windows Vista users, who seem them as pointless nagging.
In Windows 7, Microsoft has tweaked UAC enough that the annoyance factor will drop down to acceptable levels for most people. So what’s changed?
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For a closer look at all the changes in Windows 7, see the image gallery that accompanies this post. |
The options dialog box for the UAC feature now has four settings instead of just two. Those intermediate settings are the default for standard and administrative users in Windows 7.
For starters, the Secure Desktop option, which dims the desktop and switches to a different security context when a UAC prompt appears, is off by default. In addition, a new setting allows any user with an Administrator account to run signed Windows binaries without having to click through a UAC consent dialog box.
The flip side of security is backup and recovery. Vista introduced some much-improved backup solutions but earned brickbats for their implementation. In Windows 7, the entire backup experience is streamlined, to make it easier to set up automated backups and view their progress. In addition, three big backup complaints are finally addressed:
- You can now include or exclude specific folders from file backups.
- You can define any network location as a destination for an image-based backup, a la OS X’s Time Machine.
- You can create a System Recovery disk from the Backup and Restore Center so that you don’t need to rummage around for your original installation media to restore a complete backup.
The one outstanding question for Backup is whether Microsoft will make image-based backups available for home editions of Windows 7. Currently, that option is available only with the Business and Ultimate editions of Windows Vista. It would be a welcome change to see these features available to every Windows user.
Ed Bott is an award-winning technology writer with more than two decades' experience writing for mainstream media outlets and online publications. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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| 11/18/08
