Security That's Free Seems Not That Secure

This post has been brought to you by Michael Domingo, executive editor of new media. Michael's filling in for Doug, who'll be back for Friday's edition.

I've been using Microsoft Security Essentials for a few months now, ever since it was downloadable. Good thing too -- the license to my other AV solution expired just as MSE went online and I had no budget to buy anything else.

MSE has been solid so far, quietly alerting me to intrusions once in a while. But, like anything that's free, I've got two worries with MSE: One, how much longer will it remain free? Two, how long will it continue to keep out the riff-raff (that is, will I have to pay in more ways than one later on)?

Posted by Michael Domingo on 11/04/20095 comments

Doug's Mailbag: Windows 7 Migration a Rocky Road for Some

As promised, here are more of your Windows 7 migration stories. Some of them went swimmingly, while others...not so much:

As an MCSD, MCSE and MCDA, I figured I would have no problem installing Windows 7 from the DVD Microsoft sent me. It should have been a clean upgrade for my quad-core system running Vista 64-bit with the latest service pack. Wrong! First the installation adviser demanded I uninstall Live OneCare, which I did, leaving my computer unprotected for several hours until installing the free Microsoft Security Essentials. Worse, I rely on my database servers and when I tried to install Windows 7, it demanded I uninstall the latest version of SQL Server, which I would expect to be compatible with Windows 7. The uninstall wizards run per instance, so I had to run the uninstall multiple times for each of my server instances. Worst of all, the Windows 7 installation then hung on a bogus warning saying that I was trying to upgrade from 32-bit to 64-bit or vice versa, when I was upgrading from 64-bit Vista and had selected 64-bit Windows 7.

At this point I gave up; the risk to my programs and data from upgrading to Windows 7 was unacceptable. The MSDN site download speed was crawling, perhaps because of developers downloading Windows 7. It took all night to download the gigabyte-plus needed to revive my database servers and an hour the next morning to install and configure it. As someone professionally committed to drinking the Microsoft Kool-Aid, this was a disappointing experience!
-Martin

I luckily fall into the category of user who had a flawless upgrade experience from Vista. I purchased a tricked-out HP Pavilion Elite back in December '08 that came preloaded with Vista 64 Home Premium (quad-core, 4GB, 1TB). In August '09, thanks to MSDN Access, I was able to upgrade to Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit and followed the Microsoft instructions to a T. My programs and data were backed up, the OS was upgraded, the applications and data restored without a flaw. I was told in advance which drivers and applications would be incompatible (minimal) post-upgrade, so I uninstalled them and updated them after the upgrade.

In the three months since then, I've had zero problems with the fabulous new OS. I should mention that Vista caused no problems for me either, but having a high-end machine certainly helped in that regard.
-Greg

I upgraded my home computer on Saturday. I bought a new hard drive and did a clean install. I already upgraded from XP to Vista and didn't want to run into problems, nor did I want to lose my old installation of Vista should major problems arise. The clean install went well until it asked me to enter the product key. I kept getting a message that the product key was invalid. I called the Microsoft support number only to reach a message saying that they were closed! I called at 3:30 p.m. PDT on a Saturday. I was stunned to find that Microsoft support was closed after such a huge launch. Most people upgrading would be home users and installing outside normal work hours.

It took about a half-hour to find a fix on the Internet (fortunately, I have more than one PC). The fix was to continue the install leaving the product key blank. Then, I needed to go back and upgrade Windows 7 over the existing copy just installed. It worked and accepted my product key.
-Lloyd

Did two in-place upgrades from Vista with no problems: 32-bit Vista Home Premium to Windows 7 Home Premium, and 32-bit Vista Ultimate to Windows 7 Ultimate. But I did an upgrade of Vista Business to Windows 7 Enterprise (32-bit) and Symantec Endpoint Protection gave lots of problems and still can't get Cisco VPN client to install without a blue screen. At least Windows 7 recovers and reboots back into Windows 7.

My assistant and I each did an upgrade of Vista Business to Windows 7 Enterprise (64-bit) with no problems. I have done fresh installs of Windows 7 Enterprise (64 bit) on three new hard drives and had no problems. So our experience has been mostly favorable.
-Greg

I have not run into this issue after upgrading four different machines, but what I did experience were long upgrade times and performance that I was not fully satisfied with when compared with the RC I was running (although performance was definitely improved over Vista).
-Asif

I migrated the family PC this weekend from XP to 7. I have been migrating computers since moving from DOS and I must say that Microsoft has finally made migration a boring exercise -- boring because it did everything it was supposed to do and I did not spend time troubleshooting errors. It just worked. I spent most of my time in two of three phases: pre-install (making a fresh image in case I wanted to revert back to XP, making extra backups of specific data that I never want to lose since the XP migration is a fresh OS install, and using Microsoft's Easy Transfer feature which did exactly what it said it would do) and post-install (again, Easy Transfer and then deciding which programs to reload on 7 and installing them). The installation phase of 7 on the PC was smooth and quick.

One of my concerns was that the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor told me that three of my hardware components would have issues with 7. I assumed that was due to the driver being an XP driver and had Windows 7 drivers waiting. Turns out that the install disk had the correct drivers for the hardware already and set them up with no problems.
-Clyde

I was able to complete an XP to Windows 7 Pro upgrade with no major problems. I made an image copy of my XP system using Clonezilla, made backups of my data using conventional copy tools and also ran the Microsoft transfer tools so I was covered for possible issues. I then used Laplink PCmover to capture my settings as I didn't have time to do a clean install. Ran the Custom Install and re-ran Laplink PCmover. So far, the only software needing to be reinstalled was my AV and firewall. System has been working fine since Oct. 23. Boot and shutdown times are much improved.

System is an AMD X2 2.8 GHz with 4GB of RAM and 250GB disk. As my hardware is 64-bit-capable, I tried to use the 64-bit version of Windows 7 Pro but it balked at upgrading an XP 32-bit system. Understand MS is looking at this. May retry the upgrade if MS provides a fix.
-Keith

On my test box, I installed Windows 7 as a standalone and fresh install. Surprisingly, the install when fairly smooth with only 512MB of RAM and 40GB HD. The installation took two reboots due to my machine being low on resources. It is my guess that the Windows 7 upgrade woes are probably due to not enough RAM installed, or marginal RAM.

I personally don't like or trust upgrades with any OS including Linux. The best success I have had with upgrades is to use a fresh HD set to master, and set the other existing HD to slave. You will also have to unattach the existing HD until the new OS is installed, and all application software is installed. Now you can reattach the other HD, then invoke the 'F key' combination to choose (in this case) Windows 7 to boot. You can now drag all your data to the new drive, or remove the OS and use the drive as a data drive. I hope this helps those who are having trouble with their upgrades.
-Dan

I spent two days trying to upgrade Vista Ultimate to Windows 7. If I wasn't paying close attention, I would've discovered the computer in a BSOD state. Otherwise, I would notice that it was hanging at 62 percent for too long and I would eventually do a force reboot. Of course, I tried the recommendations from Microsoft, which you have posted, but to no avail. The results were always the same. In the end, I got so fed up that I installed from scratch. I am now trying to do the same on another Vista OS. In this case, I discovered that the computer didn't have SP1 installed. The strange thing is that it doesn't want to take SP1. I have only just begun trying to conquer that issue, however. But I am expecting to run into the same issues as with the other upgrade and wonder whether I should even bother.

I have worked professionally in IT for over 10 years. It was after about three years of fighting with 98, 2000, XP, NT4, ES4, ad nauseum that I began the trek into open source. Despite whatever headaches I have had with Linux/Unix installs, drivers, etc., I was always able to find a community of users wiling and ABLE to help you out. In this case, whereas Microsoft holds all the cards in its hand (proprietary), there is little support the community can offer and Microsoft itself seems surprised by the problems that have arisen. Hence, the solutions Microsoft can offer are limited. Whereas I originally thought Windows 7 would be a game winner for Microsoft, I now think we may see another Vista catastrophe.
-Curtis

Posted by Doug Barney on 11/04/20091 comments

Windows 7 Upgrade Workaround a 'Hack'?

Doug is out for today, but will be back for Friday's edition. Meanwhile, helping fill in for him today is Online News Editor Kurt Mackie.

Microsoft rolled out its latest OS last month during a profound world economic downturn. The word "consumer" may finally disappear from the U.S. lexicon as credit-busted, increasingly jobless Americans hunker down, saving perhaps a few lumps of coal for the approaching winter.

Though consumers actually bolstered Vista sales when it was first introduced in late 2006, Vista's poor driver support early on, as well as its additional hardware requirements, steered many IT pros away from upgrading. In fact, IT pros showed such a resolute rejection of Vista that about 80 percent of commercial PCs still use XP, according to a Forrester Research third-quarter report.

Posted by Kurt Mackie on 11/04/200914 comments

Prepping for Office 2010

There are several kinds of Office users: those that refuse to budge from the older versions with the older interface, those that moved to 2007 and like the ribbon...and those that moved to 2007 and don't like the ribbon. Then there's me. I found the ribbon easier to learn than I anticipated, but am still sometimes befuddled as to how to perform basic functions -- just like Office 2003!

When it comes to migration, there are also several kinds of users. Some may still refuse to budge from the older versions with the older interface. Others on these older versions may decide that Office 2003 is too old and jump to 2010. Ribbon lovers likewise fall into a couple of categories. Many believe the big advance was 2007 itself. Power users may upgrade to get the latest and greatest features.

Posted by Doug Barney on 11/02/20092 comments

Help for Windows 7

Microsoft wants to make Windows 7 as smooth as possible. It's trying to fix some upgrade glitches, has XP Mode for older apps, and now has a bevy of new support options.

Posted by Doug Barney on 11/02/20092 comments

Doug's Mailbag: Windows 7 Migration Stories, More

Michael is skeptical about whether any of Gartner's analyses -- including it's most recent one about Microsoft's relevance (or lack thereof) -- should be taken with more than a grain of salt:

You're wrong in taking Gartner somewhat seriously, but then we've got to talk about something don't we?

I remember reading many years ago the Gartner report predicting OS2's success over Windows. What would be very interesting is an evaluation of the reliability of predictions from the likes of Gartner, Forrester, etc. I suspect that the result would be similar to the reliability of the prediction for the 10th day in a 10-day weather forecast -- most but not all the time will it be wrong and only as good as a random guess across reasonable possible outcomes.
-Michael

Posted on 11/02/20091 comments

Doug's Mailbag: Gartner's Microsoft Diss, XP Mode, More

Doug had a few choice words for the analysts at Gartner this week after they questioned whether Microsoft was still relevant. But the firm didn't score too many points with readers, either:

You're pretty spot-on when it comes to Gartner, only you're not hard enough on them. Other than keeping the unemployment levels from rising, I see little need for the spittle these "analyst" companies produce. How can anyone take seriously these companies and authors (I use that term loosely), when whatever they write is never held accountable? They don't have a long enough track record of correct observations to give any of their poorly conceived reports any credence.

We can be grateful for two things: They keep people employed (however illegitimately) and they put their write-ups online so they kill fewer trees. Unfortunately, actually reading the reports leads to a loss in productivity and dead brain cells (sometimes followed quickly by an Excedrin experience).
-Scott

Gartner is just too wrapped up in all its own hype. One of the problems with a lot of groups like Gartner is that they haven't been around long enough to remember their IT history. Vendors have been predicting the demise of the fat client for almost as long as the PC has existed. As early as 1984, IBM was pushing diskless PCs which booted off of a central server where its applications were to reside. Every few years, a new incarnation of thin client products appears using the latest variation of the client/server model.

To be sure, there is plenty of room for thin clients and the client/server model, but the model is not a panacea! In the right niche, these products have always done well, but as a replacement for a generic computing platform, they have never gone anywhere -- and there is no reason we should think they are going anywhere now.
-Marc

Of course, Microsoft is still relevant. They have the ultimate fat client, but you can argue that they have a pretty good thin client since XP is running on so many netbooks.

I do have a gripe with their Windows Mobile (I have not tried WiMo 6.5 yet). Through version 6.0, I have had to reset my phone once per day. They can't blame that on secondary hardware vendors. Thankfully, it just hangs instead of popping up a BSOD. They have almost forced me to go to an iPhone.
-Joseph

You wrote, "Those who can't do, analyze." Ouch, that hurts.
-Anonymous

Posted by Doug Barney on 10/30/20090 comments

Windows 7 Migration Woes

Some Vista users thought they died and went to heaven when Windows 7 shipped. But for some, the gates weren't so pearly, as the Win 7 upgrade was either difficult or impossible. In a handful of cases, the install goes great 62 percent of the way...and then stops. Ouch. Others get caught in an endless reboot cycle (which I used to call Windows 3.0).

Posted by Doug Barney on 10/30/20097 comments

Exchange 2010 Info Trickles

Exchange 2010 is in the hands of manufacturers and should be broadly available for purchase soon. So why is Microsoft still letting its details out in dribs and drabs? So it can get publicity, like this here newsletter item. Once again, I get suckered by the big Microsoft PR machine.

This information is actually of interest to potential customers, so I might as well share. The big news, which customers should and may already know, is that mobile access to Exchange servers is free, or at least that's what a Microsoft blog indicates. But if you want integrated voicemail, you best get an enterprise license, the company says. Overall, the CALs will be roughly the same as previous versions, with Enterprise CALs running at $35.

Posted by Doug Barney on 10/30/20090 comments

No Rush for MS-Yahoo Deal

I've heard so much about the Microsoft-Yahoo search deal that I'm always surprised to learn that it's not yet consummated, and that Yahoo search still drives Yahoo. Looks like I'm going to have to get used to this as the deal is apparently more delayed than a Microsoft software release.

The deal between the two was supposed to be finalized this week, but Microsoft and Yahoo didn't finish their paperwork. Now it's on hold for an unspecified period of time. Since I use Yahoo only for IM, I suppose I can wait a little longer.

Posted by Doug Barney on 10/30/20090 comments

Green Advice?

Have you greened your datacenter, server rooms, desktops or even storage arrays? If so, how'd you do it? Your advice and experiences could help drive an upcoming feature story on green computing and datacenter efficiency. Let me know how you can help at [email protected].

Posted on 10/30/20090 comments

Microsoft Gets Gartnered

If you want attention, you must do something outrageous, even if it's falsely outrageous. We have Madonna kissing Britney, celebs purposely leaking risqué tapes, and now Gartner publicly questioning whether Microsoft is still relevant. And, like a dope, I'm falling for the Gartner bait.

At a recent Gartner event, analysts grilled Stephen Elop, head of the MS business division. These know-it-alls argued that Microsoft hasn't adapted to the new world and still pushes fat clients and monolithic applications.

Posted by Doug Barney on 10/28/20098 comments