The functionality of the Windows Vista Security Center (available in the Control Panel) has been increased with a (more) advanced firewall, an improved Windows Update, Windows Defender to prevent the installation of spyware, User Account Control and the supervision of the security settings of the internet connection. This makes the Security Center the place for changes in the settings concerning many security issues. In addition to the Security center, the Network center (available in the Control Panel as well) has been added to Windows Vista. The Network and Sharing Center describes the security settings for the visibility of the computer in the local network and the settings for sharing of files and printers with other computers in the network. Both the Security Center and the Network and Sharing Center are described on this page.
By default, Windows Vista does not contain virus scan software. That is the reason why the Security Center shows an orange colored shield in the system tray with the warning message that Windows is not sufficiently protected against viruses. This message also shows up when Windows does not recognize the installed anti virus software. If the security reaches a lower level in comparison to the default security levels, the Security Center comes up with a warning by showing an orange or even red colored shield in the system tray.
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Disabling the Security center messages
If those warning messages are needless, disable them in the Security center,
Change the way
Security Center alerts me (at the left in the task pane), activate the option
Don't notify me and don't display the icon (not recommended). Disabling the
service Security Center
(which does not affect the installed security tools and settings) is more
drastic, but does also solves this issue. In both cases, the Security Center
will not show any alert messages anymore about the security issues.
TIP: There are multiple free virus scan software available for Windows Vista, like AVG Anti-Virus, AntiVir and AVAST. All are recognized by the Security Center.
Windows Vista Update
After the setup of Windows Vista has been
finished and the internet connection is established, Windows Update
checks whether there are essential updates for Windows and the hardware.
Manually checking for updates is easy with the option Windows Update situated in
the Control Panel. The Windows Update function is not web based anymore (like
the previous Windows versions), but integrated in the Windows software which
results in a much faster update function. Checking for updates can be done for
Windows only, but also for other Microsoft products (like MS Office). For the
most enhanced consumer version (Windows Vista Ultimate) there are also
Windows Ultimate Extras
available, but the number offered is still astonishing low.
The button Install Updates will install the presented essential updates immediately. The option View available updates shows the optional updates. If an update must be ignored for any reason, hide the update by right clicking it and to select Hide update (restoring hidden updates is done by the option Restore hidden updates in the task pane).
The option Change settings makes it possible to change the frequency, exact time and the type of updates. By default, all updates (optional and Microsoft updates included) are downloaded and automatically installed. If there are essential updates available, a shield will show up in both the taskbar and the on/off button in the Start menu. This indicates that the available updates will install automatically at shutdown. It is only advised to change those settings if the internet connection is slow or if the update of Microsoft software is not desirable.
TIP: For some updates, Windows asks the user to reboot the computer to finish the installation of the update. When there is still a user logged on, a reboot is not always desired. The automatic rebooting of Windows can be disabled by a change in the registry, in which case the update will be installed at the next boot. This is done by adding a new DWORD value NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers with the value 1 in the registry key HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU.
Windows Vista Service Pack 1
Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista is available and can be installed automatically
with Windows Update. The update is also available as standalone version
in Microsoft's Download Center (download
32-bits version:
www.microsoft.com,
download 64-bits version:
www.microsoft.com).
These downloads are quite large because this Service Pack can be used for all
Windows Vista languages.
Disable the virusscan software before installing SP1. When the installation of SP1 is finished and working properly, then the files to undo the installation of SP1 can be deleted. This saves some 1 Gb of disk space! Deleting these files is done with the command VSP1CLN (enter this command in the area Start Search of the Start Menu) followed by the Y-key to confirm the definitve deletion of the files.
Deleting the update files
By default, Windows Update stores the update files in the folder C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution.
In time, Windows Update will download and install many updates. Because
the downloaded update files won’t be removed after installation, this folder
keeps growing. By deleting the already installed update files, a lot of hard
disk space will become available for other purposes. This can be done by
deleting the folder SoftwareDistribution (files included), which can only
be done by first disabling the service Windows Update. Right click the
service Windows Update (see the page
Windows Services) and
select Stop.
The folder C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution
can be deleted a few seconds later. The update
history (see the screen dump) will be deleted as well, but that causes no
problem. Restart the service and Windows will recreate the deleted folder. The
only thing left to do is to enable the option to update other Microsoft products
at the bottom of the Windows Update-page (if Windows comes up with an
errormessage, disable User Account
Control temporarely at the moment the errormessage takes place to fix this
problem permanently).
TIP: Deleting the folder C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution also fixes a few frequentley occuring problems with Windows Update (like error messages and the incorrect functioning of Windows Update). If there is still a problem with Windows Update after deleting this folder, make sure the service Windows Modules Installer is enabled.
Windows Firewall
The Windows Firewall settings can be
changed by the option Windows Firewall
of the Control Panel. The firewall
doesn't control the networkconnections individually anymore (like Windows XP
does) but verifies the incoming traffice of all the networkconnections together.
The tab Exceptions (available through the option Change settings)
makes it possible to change the settings (to allow or to block) for some programs individually. The more advanced Windows Firewall settings can be changed
by the shortcut Administrative Tools
of the Control Panel, Windows Firewall with advanced Security.
The
Windows Firewall can be disabled by deactivating the
service
Windows Firewall, but only do this if you have secured your
internetconnection with firewall
software (in most cases the Windows Firewall is disabled automatically
by a newly installed alternative firewall.
Windows Defender
Windows Defender (new in Windows Vista) offers some additional security
against spyware and other malicious software.
If other security tools have been installed (or if you don't like it...),
Windows Defender can be disabled. To do this, disable the
service Windows Defender
and deactivate the program on the tab Startup of the
systemconfigurationtool MSCONFIG.
The Network and Sharing Center (available in the control panel) is the place to be to check the status, analyze and solve problems concerning the network. The Network and Sharing Center has settings for sharing files, printers and public folders. If there is no need to share files over the network, most options can be disabled (as shown in the screen dump) to raise the security level.
The link View computers and devices (at the left in the task pane) makes it possible to browse with the Windows Explorer quickly through the network. This will show the connected router (but not the modem connected to the router), the shared (public) folders/files and the shared printers of the computers connected to the same network. Right click the hardware (modem, router) and select View device webpage to open the managementpage. There is no need anymore to type the IP-address into the addressbar of the Internet Explorer.
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