Windows XP with SP2: A First Look at Today’s Networking Infrastructure

Windows XP is fondly remembered today, but in fact the initially shipped version of that operating system was probably the most insecure product Microsoft has ever shipped.
That wasn’t obvious at the time, of course, but during the first year of XP’s release, hackers launched an unprecedented number of electronic attacks on the system, causing Microsoft to halt new OS development for about nine months so that it could devise its Trustworthy Computing initiative and apply the security principles it learned during this process to its products. The first product to ship after this period was Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2), which included a number of security technologies that Microsoft had originally intended to ship first in its next OS, now called Windows 7.

Before moving on to what’s changed since then, we will look at the security technologies
Microsoft introduced in XP SP2 to see how they compare to their Windows 7 counterparts. When you think about it, many OS security features are directly related to networking because the most common way for hackers to attack a PC is electronically, over the network; and with pervasive broadband Internet connections becoming increasingly common, understanding these technologies is critical for anyone using a Windows PC today:

• Automatic Updating: Beginning with Windows XP with SP2, Windows users received a full-screen advertisement for Automatic Updating, the Windows Update–based service that automatically keeps your Windows PC up-to-date with the latest critical security updates. Microsoft also began using subfile patch-management technologies, keeping the download sizes to a minimum and speeding updates.

• Windows Firewall: While the originally shipped version of Windows XP did in fact ship with firewall software, it was disabled by default and most Windows software was written with the assumption that no firewall existed. Because firewalls are designed to control the network traffic coming into and going out of your PC, this type of software is key to preventing unwanted software—such as viruses and other malware—from performing dangerous actions and potentially enabling a hacker to remotely control the PC.

• Windows Security Center: In XP SP2, this dashboard monitors the state of the firewall, antivirus, and automatic updating functionality installed on the computer and ensures that they’re running and up-to-date. (The Windows Vista version was improved to monitor other security features, including antispyware, User Account Control, and Internet Explorer 7’s anti-phishing feature, among others.) In Windows 7, this functionality has been expanded yet again to include system maintenance and other monitoring. As a result, the feature has been renamed Action Center.

• Internet Explorer: IE6 was dramatically improved in SP2 with a new pop-up blocker, protection against so-called “drive-by” downloads, a new Manage Addons applet, and other security-oriented features. Manage Add-ons was significantly enhanced in IE7 and Windows Vista, and of course IE8 adds even more security controls.

• Attachment blocking: Both Outlook Express (e‑mail) and Windows Messenger (instant messaging) were upgraded with blocking functionality for unsafe attachments in XP SP2. Today, both products have been upgraded significantly and moved into the Windows Live initiative, with Windows Live Mail and Windows Live Messenger, respectively.

• Wireless networking: In the originally shipped version of Windows XP, wireless networking configuration was almost nonexistent. If there was a wireless network nearby, the system would simply connect to it, security be damned. Microsoft changed this behavior slightly in Service Pack 1, adding a block that prevented automatic connections to insecure networks. In SP2, Microsoft applied several changes that were later included in Vista as well, including a new Wireless Connection application and a simple Wireless Network Setup Wizard. Things are even simpler in Windows 7, as you’ll soon see.

Put simply, Windows XP Service Pack 2 was a tough upgrade because the security improvements broke a lot of existing applications, causing headaches for users, IT administrators, and application developers at the time. However, these security changes were necessary and have made the transition to Windows Vista and Windows 7 that much easier.

Source of Information : Wiley Windows 7 Secrets (2009)

Windows Classic

Like Windows XP, Windows Vista includes a user experience called Windows Classic that resembles the user interfaces that Microsoft shipped with Windows 95, 98, Me, and 2000. (It most closely resembles Windows 2000.) This interface is available on all Windows Vista product editions, including Starter Edition. Classic is included in Windows Vista primarily for businesses that don’t want to undergo the expense of retraining their employees to use the newer user experiences.

Even though Microsoft markets Windows Classic as being identical to the Windows 2000 look and feel, in fact there are numerous differences. Therefore, users will still require some training when moving from Windows 2000 to Windows Vista and Classic mode, or will need to reconfigure various Windows Classic features so the system more closely resembles Windows 2000. For example, the Start Menu and Explorer windows still retain the layouts that debuted with Windows Vista, and not the styles you might be used to in Windows 2000, although you can fix this somewhat. To use the old Start Menu, right-click the Start button and choose Properties. Then, select the option titled Classic Start Menu, and click OK. It’s a bit more complicated to use a Windows Explorer look and feel that is closer to that of Windows 2000. To do so, select Computer from the Start Menu and then press the Alt key to display the Classic menu (which is hidden by default in Windows Vista). Select Folder Options from the Tools menu to display the Folder Options dialog. Then select the option titled Use Windows classic folders and click OK. Your system should now look a lot more like Windows 2000.

If you work in the IT department of a business that is considering deploying Windows Vista, you can actually roll out a feature called Classic Mode via Group Policy (GP) that does, in fact, confi gure Windows Vista to look almost exactly like Windows 2000. Classic Mode essentially combines the Classic user experience with the secrets mentioned previously.

Source of information : Wiley Windows Vista Secrets SP1 Edition

The Role of the Registry in Windows XP

Most hacks and mods you make to your computer fall into one of two categories:

• Programs that you install and run, either continuously (such as antivirus software) or sporadically (such as registration key sniffers).

• Changes to the Registry, either performed manually (which is rarely necessary), using one of the hooks that are built into Windows, or by using a program that knows which Registry entries to hack.

You probably know that the Registry is Windows’ central repository of information.
You may not know that, in fact, the Registry is a horrendous mess, poorly organized (in fact, it’s a stretch to use the terms organized and Registry in the same sentence), sprawling, bloated and . . . well, a lot like Windows XP.

The Registry made its debut in Windows 95 (although there was something called the “Registration Information Editor” in Windows 3.0), and it’s been devolving ever since. Thousands of programmers have stuck their entries in the big database without coordinating among themselves, and it shows.

The Registry’s one great redeeming social value: It’s always there. If a programmer needs to save something so it’ll be around a week or a day or a second from now, the Registry is the obvious place to put it. In addition, many Registry entries are maintained by Windows on the fly, changing to reflect the current operating environment, who’s logged on to the PC, and so on.

The core of the Registry lies in a bunch of files that you can’t edit directly —
Windows won’t let you get into them.

• Default stores settings that are applicable to all users.

• SAM has information from the Security Accounts Manager service.

• SECURITY, as you might imagine, holds security settings. You can’t get
at SAM or SECURITY with Regedit; you have to use Windows’ built-in security programs.

• Software and System hold settings for all of your software, including Windows and other Microsoft software, which end up in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE and \SYSTEM Registry keys.

• UserDiff has data that modifies default settings to form the HKEY_CURRENT_USER key.

Don’t be afraid to go into the Registry, but make sure you know what you are going to accomplish before you go in and stick to what you intended to do. Avoid the temptation to poke around and change things just because you think you know what they do.

Or, heck, if you’re like me, you can go in and change things just to see what goes “bump”. . . er, “dump.” I’ve been playing with the Registry for about a decade now, and it’s exceedingly rare to lock up Windows or make changes that can’t be readily undone. Still, if you want to make changes to the Registry that push the envelope, make sure that you have a current System Restore Point.

At the same time, I suggest you avoid Registry cleaners — packages that you buy to scan your Registry and remove entries — like the plague. I talk about them in Chapter 1. I’ve never seen a Registry Cleaner that made a big difference in performance. I’ve seen plenty of screw-ups caused by removed entries that the Cleaner just didn’t understand.