A Microsoft  report released Monday indicates that Windows Vista significantly outperforms Windows XP when it comes to enhanced security. Infection rates for Vista were significantly lower than XP during the first half of 2009, the Security Intelligence Report said.
But whether the user is running Vista or XP, Microsoft said the most current service pack available is always the least susceptible to security attacks. That's hardly a surprise given that service packs include previously released security updates, together with changes to default settings and additional security features. However, Microsoft Vista SP releases consistently beat those for Windows XP in all service-pack configurations.
The infection rate of Windows Vista SP1 was 61.9 percent less than Windows XP SP3 during the first half of this year, according to the report. Moreover, comparing release to manufacturer (RTM) versions, the infection rate of Windows Vista was a staggering 85.3 percent less than Windows XP, the software giant added.
Browser Vulnerabilities
On the downside, web browsers continue to represent one of Microsoft's vulnerability hot spots. Microsoft software accounted for six of the top 10 browser-based vulnerabilities that were attacked on PCs running Windows XP, but only one out of the top 10 on Vista machines, the report said.
For browser-based attacks on PCs running Windows XP, Microsoft vulnerabilities accounted for 56.4 percent of the total. By contrast, Microsoft vulnerabilities accounted for just 15.5 percent on Windows Vista-based machines, the report said.
Still, browser-based vulnerabilities should continue to be a top concern for businesses, whether they are using Vista or still running XP. The good news is that Windows security can be immediately improved without having to upgrade to Windows 7, noted Gartner Vice President Neil MacDonald, who is urging businesses to "get off" Internet Explorer 6.
"I don't care if you go to IE7, IE8, Firefox, Chrome or Opera," MacDonald said. "Anything is better than IE6 from a security perspective, and this doesn't require a move to Windows 7."
Windows 7 Enhancements
Enterprises already planning an upgrade to Windows 7 can look forward to a number of important security enhancements.
"Some are completely new -- like AppLocker and BitLocker To Go," MacDonald said. "Others are improved over what shipped with Windows Vista -- like BitLocker -- but are new to XP users." (continued...)
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