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How to make Vista look even cooler | |
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| Time: 13:08 EST/18:08 GMT | News Source: Microsoft | Posted By: Jonathan Tigner | ||
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Steve Lamb points out some third-party commercial and community-provided tools to enhance your Windows Vista experience. The tools include a 3D virtual desktop interface, alternative application switchers, an enhancement for Vista's Start Menu searchbox, and other tools to tweak Vista's look and feel. | ||
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| #1 By 15406 (216.191.227.68) at 3/30/2007 2:04:26 PM |
| Vista looks even cooler when in a bootloop from the .ANI exploit. However, I do have to give MS credit. While this exploit owns every other Windows OS, it only crashes Vista and that's a definite improvement. I don't know how easy it is to recover from the bootloop, but it's better than one more spam zombie. However, I have to slam MS for their craptacular advice. Don't browse any websites or read any documents or emails. Nice. They could have said use Firefox until we get a patch out (which would protect their users since FF doesn't allow the silent drive-by download like IE7 does) but we all know protecting users isn't as important as the politics. |
| #2 By 28801 (65.90.202.10) at 3/30/2007 2:12:32 PM |
| Way to stay on point Latch!!! |
| #3 By 15406 (216.191.227.68) at 3/30/2007 2:15:11 PM |
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#2: What can I do when every other site on the web has been running the .ANI story since yesterday, except PassiveWin.
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| #4 By 28801 (65.90.202.10) at 3/30/2007 2:41:10 PM |
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With respect to FF - It is the most secure browser except when browsing! Try hitting a porn site with FF and watch the antivirus software light up.
And let me know when more than 10 people get hit with that malformed animated cursor bug. |
| #5 By 13797 (206.194.127.223) at 3/30/2007 2:55:43 PM |
| Even using Firefox doesn't solve things, Latch. There are indications that under some circumstances, even Firefox isn't a panacea in this case. According to a post by Alexander Sotirov on Bugtraq, security company Determina has been able to exploit the vulnerability even when running Firefox. |
| #6 By 15406 (216.191.227.68) at 3/30/2007 3:02:37 PM |
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#4: Slam FF all you want -- I really don't care. Just be advised that it won't activate the exploit just by visiting a page like all versions of IE supposedly do. As for victims of the exploit...
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2007/03/30/tech-msanimatedcursorflaw-20070330.html Looks like it's been active in the wild since at least February. "The company noted that it has added the ability to detect the flaw to its Windows Live OneCare security software suite and plans to issue a security update for the operating system." MS is using the exploit of one of their customers to plug Live OneCare. Nice. |
| #7 By 15406 (216.191.227.68) at 3/30/2007 3:10:40 PM |
| #5: If the web pages serves up the exploit and the user runs it, regardless of browser, that would make sense. It's the silent download that's the killer. I'm sure more information will come out once this has been thoroughly analyzed. |
| #8 By 2459 (69.22.113.215) at 3/30/2007 3:17:03 PM |
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Windows Live OneCare safety scanner, the product MS talks about in their advisory, is a free product.
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/935423.mspx Your characterization of the vulnerability and MS' advice is also incorrect, as the exploit crashes Explorer, not the OS, and MS didn't advise against browsing websites or opening emails. They advised caution in doing so (which should be taken anyway). On Vista, you need to execute the .ani file via the shell because it's otherwise mitigated by IE's protected mode. This post was edited by n4cer on Friday, March 30, 2007 at 15:17. |
| #9 By 15406 (216.191.227.68) at 3/30/2007 3:46:52 PM |
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#4: I generally don't surf Russian porn sites, but I would be interested in a link for any page you know that downloads a file to FF invisibly.
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| #10 By 15406 (216.191.227.68) at 3/30/2007 3:50:22 PM |
| #8: I thought OneCare was a pay service, something like $50 per year? How do you exercise caution when the browser will download the exploit silently, other than to stop using it? 'Be careful' is fairly useless advice. |
| #11 By 28801 (65.90.202.10) at 3/30/2007 4:05:15 PM |
| #6: Interesting... How did you know it was a Russian Porn site? |
| #12 By 2459 (69.22.113.215) at 3/30/2007 4:22:30 PM |
| OneCare is a pay service. Windows Live OneCare safety scanner, the product MS mentioned, is not. You exercise caution by not going to untrusted sites (like the type you mention in your previous post) and not browsing HTML emails from unknown sources, i.e., using the same security common sense that you should already be using. You can also run affected applications, or all applications, in a lower security context. |
| #13 By 15406 (74.104.251.89) at 3/30/2007 9:50:59 PM |
| #12: That's good advice, but the average user isn't going to do anything and they make up 99% of the desktops out there. |
| #14 By 2960 (24.254.95.224) at 3/31/2007 9:38:57 PM |
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Don't worry guys, Parkker will be here shortly to spicen things up. As soon as his search for "Firefox" finds the word in this story :)
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| #15 By 32132 (64.180.219.241) at 3/31/2007 9:58:48 PM |
| Firefox isn't mentioned in the "How to make Vista look even cooler" story. |
| #16 By 32132 (64.180.219.241) at 4/1/2007 1:31:24 AM |
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What I think is really cool is that NetApplications already has Vista at 2.04% of the web browsing computers. And thats the average for March.
http://marketshare.hitslink.com/report.aspx?qprid=2 |
| #17 By 23275 (24.179.4.158) at 4/1/2007 12:22:22 PM |
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#14, TL, I don't know if you checked it out, but the article includes some work the guys at WinCustomize, developed to work with and extend Windows Vista'a DreamScenes called, DeskScapes, http://dream.wincustomize.com
It's free and once installed one may download the DeskScapes created by people [some 13 pages of them are available]. Many are very nice and I am sure there will be many more available, soon. Once DeskScpapes is installed, you'll see an addtional option in the Vista Personalization console - Control Panel | Personalization | Desktop Background | DeskScapes Animated Backgrounds <Drop Down> Just download new DeskScapes and drag and drop them into the DeskScapes Animated Backgrounds window. I've downloaded about 15 DeskScapes that interested me and a few of them a very nice. There is also a free DreamMaker application that you can use to make your own scenes. Be sure to register at the site, which will allow you to download as many DeskScapes as you like - there are session limits for unregistered visitors. Registration is free. DreamScapes are stored by default in, C:\ProgramData\Stardock\DeskScapes\Dreams - you may drag and drop new scenes there and double-click any one of them to set a new animated background as a shortcut and bypassing the personalization menu. This is a good way to overcome occasional errors when setting a DreamScape via the personaliztion menu. This post was edited by lketchum on Sunday, April 01, 2007 at 12:39. |
| #18 By 32132 (64.180.219.241) at 4/1/2007 5:35:10 PM |
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And Distrowatch has Vista at 4.1%.
http://distrowatch.com/awstats/awstats.DistroWatch.com.osdetail.html |
| #19 By 37047 (216.191.227.68) at 4/2/2007 8:32:40 AM |
| #18: I just checked your link, and Vista is at 3.7%. That would indicate a 0.4% drop in one day. Could that be people trying Vista, and then uninstalling it from their new machines? |
| #20 By 32132 (64.180.219.241) at 4/2/2007 9:14:38 AM |
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One site can fluctuate. Distrowatch is a running total for the month. We are only on day 2 of April.
NetApplications is thousands of sites. Those numbers were the average for the month. 2.04% of all PC's is a huge uptake. This post was edited by NotParker on Monday, April 02, 2007 at 09:20. |
| #21 By 2960 (24.254.95.224) at 4/2/2007 9:31:20 AM |
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#17,
Yep, and in fact I used them until I rebuilt my machine this weekend (to get rid of the WinXP Dual-Boot. Don't need it any more). Interesting, but I've decided to stay away until DreamScenes is polished and has a final release. I have no way to prove it, but I think it was responsible for my boot-to-temp-profile issues I had if my machine sat overnight at the login prompt. TL |
| #22 By 23275 (24.179.4.158) at 4/2/2007 10:28:52 AM |
| #21, I think that the behavior you saw after your system sat at the log in screen is related to how the machine reads the hibernation cache in Vista. Curious, did you lock the machine while in a session; log off, or switch user - leaving your session in state, or did you allow your system to sleep, or hibernate according to a power management profile? Thanks - the information would be useful to us to better understand the relationship between the hibernation cache file and the settings/state applied at the time. I do suspect that without dual-boot, your system will not display this behavior. Also, do you have multiple physical drives in separate volumes in the system that exhibited the behavior? Thanks! L |
| #23 By 2960 (24.254.95.224) at 4/2/2007 12:27:01 PM |
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Let's see if I can cover all that :)
Two drives. 300GB (C) and 160GB (D). Each was one partition. XP on C, and the D drive was the data drive. I had the profile data stored there. I first imaged the ENTIRE machine's drive structure, just in case. I then resized Drive C and split it between XP and Vista Ult. C was XP at 150GB, D was Vista at 150GB (rounded for simplicity sake). Installed Vista on D as dual-boot, and have run with it that way since Vista was released, up to this weekend. The profile bug did not show up right away. It showed up about a month ago. What I do is, at the end of the work day, I reboot the machine and let it sit at the login prompt until the next morning (or next time I use it). About a month ago, instead of logging into my proper profile, it started deeming my profile 'damaged' and would boot into a temp profile instead. After restarting, it would log into my normal profile fine. The issue only cropped up if the system was left sitting at the login screen for an extended period of time. I believe something in the background that runs was doing something to my profile that messed with Vista's head. I did not have Hybernation enabled. I had the power settings at High performance, and the system never sleeped. Only the screen shut down. Why? Because I don't trust hybernation. It simply doesn't work right on ANY computer or os reliably IMHO :) I'm so sick of troubleshooting users Laptops with hybernation issues. In fact, even with my fresh install, the system crashes out in hybernation. I forgot to turn it off after i re-did it and found it that way this morning. It's off now! I'm sure it's a driver issue in this case, given the state of drivers in Vista (particularly nVidia and Creative, which I do have the latest versions of so-called WHQL releases). I gave up on Hybernation years ago and have no desire to re-visit it. TL |
| #24 By 2960 (24.254.95.224) at 4/2/2007 12:30:19 PM |
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BTW... With Vista, I've given up on having a separate Data Drive. Instead of making this process easier, Vista has made it more complex.
You can't count on everything being encapsilated in the "My Documents" folder any more. Now, it's scattered all over the damned place in your User Folder. A huge step backwards in data management IMHO. Now I just run good backups daily and keep it where Vista wants it. Initially I did try to move it, but ended up with one hell of a mess that took me days to get straightened out. TL |
| #25 By 23275 (24.179.4.158) at 4/2/2007 12:51:02 PM |
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#24, TL, check out both off-line files and folder redirection support in Vista - http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2007/01/29/working-with-offline-files.aspx
Vista supports some pretty granular options and a lot more in the way of virtualization than most people are aware of - certainly, as these are available to about any user folder - you may even drag and drop them all over the place and using off-line folder support, drag them onto a protected server on your LAN/WAN [which is what we do and many of our customers do]. |
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