So what does it all mean? For web designers and developers like NetPass and their clients, this new standard lifts limit restrictions placed on the use of “web-safe” fonts only (currently just a little more than a dozen are labeled as “web-safe”) in websites, blogs and other online applications enabling increased design flexibility and client brand enhancement throughout an online product without compromising browser standards and compliance.

Under the “web-safe” restrictions, designer and developer options were limited when specifying certain fonts for an online product. So, if a client logo contained a specialty font, it almost always needed to be converted to a graphic in order for the major browsers to display it correctly. This can result in a couple of issues not the least of which is search optimization and marketing SEO/SEM conflicts.

Submitted by Microsoft, Mozilla and Opera, the WOFF uses an encoding tool to embed sfnt-based fonts (such as TTF, OpenType or Open Font Format) through zlib compression resulting in smaller TTF files sizes (as much as 40% smaller according to Wikipedia) and faster downloading to a browser at runtime. WOFF already has support from some modern browsers like Firefox 3.6 and soon-to-be-released IE9, and will soon be adopted by Safari , Google Chrome and Opera.

It is important to note that the new standard does not change font licensing and copyright rules. In fact, abuse of the new compliance through illegal font download and use is a major concern of the W3C, so you can be sure that policing efforts over such issues will most certainly increase. Additionally, there will be some developers who will take the increased font availability and make inappropriate font choices within websites and online applications, but discussion on that is better left for another post (check back often!).
With some of the potential pitfalls comes great celebration as the new WOFF standard will most certainly increase online design flexibility and add value to online products for years to come.

If you would like more information on web typesetting and this and other standards can more positively impact your website, online application, blog or other online product, call us toll-free today at 888.296.7277 or visit our site at http://www.netpass.com.

Often, phishing involves the use of e-mail whose source is disguised as one from an established legitimate enterprise sent to users in an attempt to scam them into providing personal information that may collected and used for identity theft purposes.  In many cases, phishing scams direct users to click links within these e-mails to websites that have also been disguised to appear legitimate where they are prompted to “update” personal information such as usernames, passwords, credit card info, social security numbers, etc.  that the legitimate enterprise already has.  The bogus website then forwards that information to the scammers who use it to steal identities and/or make unauthorized purchases.

While this is a very common occurrence (many of you have received some sort of phishing scam in your e-mail box at some point or another), there may soon be a boom in phishing attempts as a result of the new ICANN (International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) policy approved in October, 2009 that opens the domain registry to include IDN’s (Internationalized Domain Names) whereby domain names may be represented by local language characters or scripts other than Latin such as Chinese or Arabic.

The premise behind this new policy is most certainly a welcome one and we applaud ICANN and all parties involved in the process for their diligence in making it a reality.  After all, making IDN’s available ensures a more global Internet community for all opening new business connections through decreased language barriers.

The concern lies in how these character-labeled domain names translate within browser spot checks, as some of these letters have the same appearance in different languages, while actually being a different character from the computers interpretation.  For example, a URL within an e-mail may say www.legitimatesite.com and when clicked, the URL might translate a character based URL into www.legitimatesite.com even though it’s a dummy site set up to “phish” for the unauthorized collection of personal information for illegal use making it more difficult to discern if you are on a legitimate site or not.

So how do you protect yourself?  There are a few common practices you can adopt that will help protect you from becoming a victim of phishing-based identity theft as follows:

(1)    Always read the privacy and terms of use policies of those companies with whom you do business online.  These policies should include information about how these companies will contact you, what information they will typically request from you (pay particular attention to what they will commonly request by e-mail – most will not send you “change information” e-mails), how your personal information is stored and to whom (if anyone) it may be distributed.

(2)    Even if you feel 100% confident that the e-mail you received is legitimately from the company it says it’s from, never ‘click’ a link within an e-mail.  Instead, we highly recommend you copy and paste the URL from the e-mail directly into your browser.  Even better, simply visit the main website of the company using the known URL and locate the area of interest from there.

(3)    If you receive a suspicious looking e-mail (or even one that looks legitimate) that encourages you to click a link to “change” personal information, you may want to contact the actual company by phone (call numbers that are authentic, not those – if any – that are provided in the e-mail) to validate the request and/or report prospective fraud.

Remember, some phishing based e-mails may look so real that it’s hard for even the legitimate company they claim to be to tell whether or not it’s real so always be on guard.

Now that you’re protecting yourself from potential identity theft, are you protecting your personal computer from spyware and viruses?  While you should always be sure that your anti-virus software is active and virus definitions are up-to-date, the beginning of a new year is an excellent time to double check.  Bear in mind that many antivirus and spyware programs are subscription based, so unless your subscription is current, you may not be protected against new threats.  Don’t have anti-virus software installed on your computer?  You should… period.  There are a number of reliable products available for sale including Norton by Symantec and McAfee.  There are also several reliable no-cost anti-virus options available including:

1. Microsoft’s Security Essentials – this antivirus suite is available for FREE from Microsoft and available for Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 users.  Get more information at http://www.microsoft.com/Security_Essentials/.
2. Avast Home Edition – a completely FREE for non-commercial home use.  Home edition does not include anti-spyware capabilities.  For this feature, Avast also makes available a fee-based Professional Edition.  For more information on Avast products, visit http://www.avast.com.
3. ClamWin – a completely FREE antivirus software program for Windows 7, Vista, XP, ME, 2000, 98 and Windows Server 2003 and 2008.  ClamWin is a viable no-cost antivirus solution, but note that ClamWin does NOT offer on-access real-time scanning.  All scans must be manually done on a file by file basis  to detect viruses or spyware when using ClamWin.  To learn more, visit http://www.clamwin.com/.

Note: NetPass does not endorse nor does it vouch for any claims or statements made by the manufacturer and/or distributor of any of the products mentioned herein.  We strongly suggest you do your own research to determine what, if any, of these options may be suitable for you.

Lastly, don’t forget to protect your business, your customers and potential customers by updating the code behind your website and other online products.  Just like anything, keeping your website up-to-date within current industry standards and protocols is paramount to its security and reliability.

Outdated code or code structures that fall outside of current standards and protocol criteria can lead to (1) website vulnerabilities that can lead to site hacking, (2) diminished search engine ranking, and (3) domain blacklisting (often resulting from a site whose code allows others to use the site to mass distribute viruses to web uses).  Smaller implications include sites that just don’t display properly by today’s standards which can hinder how and what visitors see when on your site that can lead to shorter visit times and less “call to action” responses.

At the very least, have your site regularly scanned for vulnerabilities.  NetPass offers this service for FREE to anyone – regardless of whether or not you’re a client, so contact us at support@netpass.com to schedule yours today.

NetPass also offers a variety of SEO (site optimization) services geared towards ensuring websites are compliant and optimized for search engine recognition as part of a comprehensive set of available SEM service packages.  To learn more, contact our Online Marketing division at sem@netpass.com or call toll-free 888.296.7277 ext. 8926.

Protecting yourself, your computer and your online product(s) is a giant step towards ensuring you have the safest 2010 possible.  Want to learn more about anything in this post of more about NetPass and its products and services?  E-Mail sales@netpass.com or call toll-free 888.2986.7277.  Happy New Year to you all!

Yesterday, one of our clients received a wall post that read:

“If you don’t know, as of today, Facebook will automatically index ALL YOUR INFO on Google, which allows ANYONE AND EVERYONE to view it. To change this option, go to Settings –> Privacy Settings –> Privacy –> Search –> then UN-CLICK the box that says ‘Allow indexing’. Facebook kept this one quiet. Copy and pass it …on for all your friends ASAP”.

Today, privacy and the protection of personal information are paramount issues being addressed by anyone involved in the collection and distribution of information, particularly online.  With this, and with all the publicity surrounding Facebook’s recent privacy policy changes, it’s no surprise we received inquiries from several clients on the subject.

Here’s what we know.  First, Facebook recently posted the following message in response to the alert being circulated:

“Worried about privacy? Your information is safe.

There have been misleading rumors recently about Facebook indexing all your information on Google. This is not true. Facebook created public search listings in 2007 to enable people to search for your name and see a link to your Facebook profile.”

As you see, the original “rumor” is actually partially true by Facebook’s own admission.  Facebook has allowed indexing of partial information including information labeled in your settings as available to “Everyone.”  To the best of our knowledge, this continues. You can, however, resolve this by changing your privacy settings as outlined in the “rumor” statement to prevent further indexing (or indexing in general if you’re thinking about setting up a Facebook account for the first time).  If your information has already been indexed, it will be there for a while and there’s not much you can do about it.  We do recommend, however, that change your settings to best protect yourself as much or as little as you deem necessary.

As always, we recommend anyone signing up for a any Internet service whether it be banking, gaming, social networking or anything else requiring any personal information read the terms of service/use and privacy policy thoroughly before providing any personal information to any source.  If you would like to learn more about privacy guidelines, etc., we recommend you start by visiting the Federal Trade Commission website’s privacy information area online at: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/menus/consumer/data/privacy.shtm.

In truth, the number of web browsers available is mind boggling considering its intended purpose.  Why?  More than likely this is due to the fact that most computer users nowadays use their browser more than any other application.  It’s used for communications, research, marketing, training, education, photo and file sharing, social networking, and much more.  Some are actually using browsers to access programs like word processing, spreadsheets, database, games, etc. using “cloud” technology (reserved for another blog series… stay tuned!).

It is for this reason we begin our Standards and Compliance series discussing browsers and website coding & development protocols.  At some point you’ve probably looked at a website or other online product on one browser, for example Internet Explorer, then looked at the same site or product on another computer using another browser such as Firefox and noticed variations in the way that site or product displays.  In the beginning, there were no development standards which resulted in sites that looked fine in one browser but displayed and, often times, function much differently in other browsers.

As browsers evolved, so did the advent of baseline standards, but each browser developer would create “short cut” tags that web developers could use to achieve certain display results such as blinking characters, text scrolling, etc.  Because these “short cut” tags were often produced by a single browser developer, they typically only worked on that browser.

While browsers still don’t play nice with one another, the creation of standardizations in web development such as WC3 is forcing the issue a bit and “encouraging” browser developers to comply with code standards in a more uniform fashion.  Fact is though these browsers will also be competing with one another so the ultimate responsibility for ensuring a web site displays consistently from one browser to another lies in the hands of the agency developing and coding the website.

Since many browsers have yet to fall in line with WC3 compliance, it is important for anyone looking to have a website built to consider a firm that can offer and guarantee WC3 compliance within the coding structures of the entire online product.  Already have a website?  Get it checked for compliance as soon as you can.  Our team is highly educated on WC3 compliance and, in addition, has developed other development methodologies and standards designed to best ensure cross-browser friendliness for all NetPass produced products. For a FREE no-obligation WC3 compliance evaluation, call us at 888.296.7277 or e-mail compliance@netpass.com.

Join us soon for our next Development Standards & Compliance series post where we’ll discuss how compliance impacts search engine optimization and online marketing campaign initiatives.

Recently, we concluded our series “7 Days to Windows 7” which featured seven daily posts about what consumers and businesses could expect with the launch of Microsoft’s Windows 7 operating system.  This successful series met with great enthusiasm from our clients and the public in general and we continue to compile your experiences for a forthcoming NetPass blog topic entitled “Windows 7: The First Thirty Days” scheduled for post on or about December 5, 2009.

As we review your ongoing submissions, another common theme has come to light.  It seems that while the majority of you still use Internet Explorer (and Safari for Mac users) as your primary browser application for surfing the web, quite a few have begun exploring other browser options such as Firefox and Chrome (by Google).

What many don’t know is websites and web applications can look and function differently from one browser to another which may impact a visitors experience and often times can determine how long they stay and whether or not they respond to your site’s call to
action(s).

For many years, our firm has developed websites and web applications to look and act consistently across the primary (and many secondary) browser spectrum. This is extremely important, now more than ever, to ANYONE with a website and/or web application(s).  With this, we are pleased to announce that in the coming days, our firm will begin an extended blog series that deals specifically with development standards and compliance giving our readers an inside look at the what, why and how strict development protocols and site code optimization impact page views, time on site, return visits, search engine marketing, and more.

So stay tuned right here at http://blog.netpass.com for further notice on this exciting new series.  And don’t forget to visit http://www.netpass.com ongoing for news related to this and other important NetPass web design, development, programming, e-commerce, multimedia, hosting and SEO/SEM service and product options.

While we made every effort to address the key additions and modifications we felt were essential to anyone looking to upgrade, there are most certainly some new and enhanced features you’ve found (or will find) as you explore the new Windows 7 environment. And, we want the rest of our audience to know too.

Now that Windows 7 is available, we’re asking you to submit your impressions, opinions and tips/tricks you’ve discovered while using the new OS by submitting comments right here at http://blog.netpass.com.  We will be accepting submissions through November 20th.  You may also submit directly via e-mail to w7comment@netpass.com.  We will review all submissions and some of you will be selected as featured contributors to a special “Windows 7: The First Thirty Days” post that we’ll publish on December 5, 2009.

The original series will continue to be available at our blog.  By popular demand, we will also be posting a printer-friendly downloadable version of the entire series on our website soon so visit the news section at www.netpass.com often for details.

We hope you enjoyed this series as much as we enjoyed bringing to you.  We look forward to your reviews and comments.

Whether you’re running Windows Vista, XP or an earlier version, we strongly suggest you do a couple of things to test whether your computer is right for Windows 7 before upgrading.  First, you should download and install the free Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor from http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/downloads/upgrade-advisor.  Now, make sure all peripherals such as Printer(s), USB wireless adapters, external hard drives, etc. are plugged in and powered up then launch the Upgrade Advisor from the Start menu.  Once the Upgrade Advisor opens (see figure 1), click the Start Check button. Now go get a cup of coffee, clean your closet, or maybe take a vacation because the process can take some time (ok, maybe not long enough for that vacation, but you get the idea).

When the Upgrade Advisor has finished, a new window should appear (see figure 2) containing the Advisor’s findings.  This report is divided into three (3) sections as follows:

1. System – This will tell you whether or not your computer meets hardware requirements to run the Windows 7 OS.
2. Devices – This details what drivers Windows 7 will automatically install during the upgrade process and which ones will require manual installation.  Those drivers listed with green check marks are those Windows 7 will install for you. You should make note of the names and manufacturers of any drivers in the list without the green check mark as you will need to  manually install these after the upgrade is complete.  In most cases the report will make available a URL that leads to a website that will have some or all of the drivers you need.  If you  visit that website and download the drivers, we recommend you save them CD, DVD, Flash Drive, or secondary Hard Drive.  DO INSTALL OR NOT RUN WINDOWS 7 DRIVERS UNTIL YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY UPGRADED TO WINDOWS 7.
3. Programs – This report looks very similar to the ‘devices’ report with green check marks designating compatible programs in Windows 7.  Chances are good there will be some programs that will not show compatibility.  Don’t fret.  Refer to Day 2: Playing Well With Others in our series which provides information on program and application incompatibility and how you can still run many of these programs using Windows XP mode.

At this point you will know if your computer is Windows 7 ready.  If so, you’re ready to upgrade, right?  Not so fast!!  The next most popular question we’ve received is “Will I lose all of my contacts, e-mails, photos, music, documents and/or other critical files/data if I upgrade?” The answer is no… maybe.

Ok, we understand this is vague, but note that there’s no way we can guarantee that in everyone’s individual situation, nobody will lose anything in the upgrade process.  However, there is something you can do to best ensure you don’t lose valuable information in the upgrade process… backup anything you want to keep (an excellent habit ongoing).  Some programs like iTunes, Quickbooks, etc. offer backup options within the application itself and we strongly encourage you to use them.  Other files, folders, etc. containing photos, images, documents, spreadsheets, etc. can be backed up using conventional media such as CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, thumb (a/k/a Flash) drive, or external hard drive (last we checked, you can get an external hard drive with an adequate amount of storage space for as little as $49.00 – a purchase well worth the cost).

There is an alternative method for backing up your stuff that is more compact than using individual programs and “drag and drop” processes.  Windows offers a free Easy Transfer utility that can be downloaded from http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/products/features/windows-easy-transfer.  Once downloaded, start the installation process then launch the Easy Transfer utility from the Start menu and follow the step-by-step process choosing options that are best for you and your backup needs. 

While we have tested this utility to a rather large degree of success, the only sure fire way of ensuring you have successfully backed up everything is to manually backup and then check your back ups before upgrading.

The final question we’d like to address is “There are three varieties of the Windows 7.  Which one is best for me?” While individual needs will vary, for most individual users Windows 7 Home Premium edition will be the flavor of choice.  This edition offers everything required for home computing including Windows Media Center that plays a wide variety of multimedia formats including DVD and also features a built-in DVD maker for making movies and burning files, images, etc. to CD, DVD and even Blu-Ray disks directly from Explorer.  The Home Premium edition has includes a full backup utility that can create a full system image (we touched on this in Day 5 of the series – Reliable Recovery) alongside “previous version” functionality that allows you to retrieve files you may have accidentally deleted or modified.  For Vista, this feature was only available in the Business edition so this is a nice addition to the home version.

Windows 7 Professional offers all of the features available in the Home Premium edition with the addition of some advanced networking features such as Location Aware Printing (lets the user choose different default printers for different networks with encryption capabilities to protect individual systems), remote desktop (enables others with permission to connect to your Windows 7 PC across the Internet from just about any computer), and probably the most celebrated feature Windows XP mode (discussed in Day 2: Playing Well With Others) which ensures greater file and program compatibility by allowing users to enter XP mode to run programs, etc. that may not be compatible in Windows 7.

Windows 7 Ultimate of course offers all of the features available in the Home Premium and Professional editions with additions like extra enterprise (like Direct Access and BranchCache) and security (just as BitLocker-to-go which lets the user encrypt files on both the computer AND removable disks like USB thumb – a/k/a flash – drives) features along with multiple language support on the same PC.

One important note is that you can upgrade your version whenever your needs require it through the Anytime Upgrade feature built into Windows 7.

So you’ve tested your system to be sure it’s Windows 7 ready, you’ve backed up your files, data, etc., and you’ve determined which flavor of the new OS is right for you.  Now you’re ready to upgrade to Windows 7.  And Windows 7 makes it easy.  Just insert the provided media or run the downloaded purchase and follow the installation instructions.  Once completed, we strongly recommend you install and activate antivirus software before restoring your backups.

Your upgrade should now be complete.  We hope you’ve enjoyed this series and the information we’ve provided.  Our hope is that it has armed you with enough knowledge to successfully transition to the new Windows 7 and quickly start enjoying everything the new OS has to offer.

While this series ends with this post, please use http://blog.netpass.com as your regular resource for valuable information related to computers, the Internet, web site design and development, application programming, multimedia (including online game) production, secure e-commerce (cart development and transaction processing), web site hosting, and online marketing (SEO/SEM).  Or, visit our website at http://www.netpass.com to learn more about our firm and how our 15 years experience can help you and your company reach new heights online.

NetPass, LLC is an Interactive Advertising and Multimedia Agency located in Central Florida. Information contained in this post has been researched and reported individually by the author. Any statements, opinions, or views expressed herein are the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of NetPass, LLC or its ownership. NetPass, LLC is not affiliated with or contracted by Microsoft or any of its affiliates, wholesalers or distributors for the purposes of this series.

Today we’ll open it up a bit and talk about seven of the lesser known tips and tricks designed to further enhance user experience that you may not normally notice in Windows 7, but will be happy you discovered once you begin using the new system.

#1 – Eliminating the Projector Display Blues: Anyone who has hooked a computer to a projector for presentations has most likely spent 20 minutes or more on average trying to get the presentation to display on the big screen.  Windows 7 makes this process much easier by introducing the projection shortcut key set – Windows key + P – which launches a window similar to the one shown in figure 1. This screen offers several display options. Just choose the one best for your application and that’s it! The end of the Windows projector display blues.

Note:  The Windows Key (see figure 2) is generally located between the Ctrl and Alt keys in the lower left hand corner of the keyboard.  Don’t have a Windows Key?  You can open the same screen by going to the Start Menu and in the Search Box type displayswitch.exe. 

#2 – “Shake” the Desktop Clutter: This is one of those features you wouldn’t think much about until you started using it.  Sometimes our desktops get with a bunch of open windows. The old way required minimizing each of these windows which as we all know can be time consuming.  In Windows 7, all you have to do is use your mouse to grab a hold of a window’s title bar and give it a “shake” which in turn will minimize all open windows immediately clearing your desktop so you can do what most of us do… open more windows!

#3 – Stop the Start Menu Madness:  Most of us don’t have icons on our desktop for every application we run, so to open some you have to use the Start menu.  This process remains constant in Windows 7.  However, in the new OS, you can now open multiple instances of a program without having to crawl through the Start menu over and over by simply hovering over the program’s icon in the task menu and holding down the Shift key while clicking on it.  Great time saver.

#4 – Enhanced Localized Search: Windows 7 introduces more intuitive search features that are quicker and more accurate.  Now you don’t have to pour through the Start menu (see figure 3) or strain to find the program, file or folder of choice on your desktop.  Just type a keyword associated whatever you need and let Windows 7 find it for you instantly.

#5 – Direct ISO Burn:  An ISO file, or ISO image, is an “image” of an entire CD or DVD. The entire contents of a CD or DVD disc can be perfectly represented in a single ISO file.  In Windows 7, if you download an ISO, you can now burn it directly by double clicking on the ISO file itself.  Windows 7 will open the “Burn Disc Image” dialogue and offer to burn the ISO to disk.  Unlike previous Windows versions, now you won’t need any third party applications to accomplish this task.

#6 –  Opening Tasks without Mouse Clicks through Pinning:  Once a task is pinned to the task bar, you’ll only have to press the Windows key +{corresponding number} which will then open the corresponding application directly from the task bar without having to click it.

#7 – Sharper Text, Easier Reads: Alongside the new look and feel associated with Windows 7, you’ll be glad to know that Microsoft took display a bit further in this new release with the introduction of personal display optimization.  By simply opening the Start menu and performing a search for cttune.exe, you’ll launch a display wizard (see figure 4) prompting you to identify which text looks best FOR YOU. It’ll even display a few screens  essentially performing a “faux” eye exam personalized to your vision to help adjust the text display to more of your liking.

Over the past 6 days we’ve introduced you to enhancements, additions and even a few tips and tricks that you’ll experience in the new Windows 7 Operating System.  Tomorrow is the final day of our series where we’ll present a checklist of things we recommend you do before installing your new Windows 7 software. So don’t miss tomorrow’s post and thanks for visiting http://blog.netpass.com.

NetPass, LLC is an Interactive Advertising and Multimedia Agency located in Central Florida. Information contained in this post has been researched and reported individually by the author. Any statements, opinions, or views expressed herein are the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of NetPass, LLC or its ownership. NetPass, LLC is not affiliated with or contracted by Microsoft or any of its affiliates, wholesalers or distributors for the purposes of this series.

Let’s say there’s an issue with the installation of a particular driver that causes Windows to crash. Windows 7 will detect the boot failure and present a user with a screen (see figure 1) that immediately offers the user a few options to choose from: (1) launch the built-in recovery environment or (2) if the user already knows that the issue was a one-time glitch and should already have repaired itself (unplugging a bad USB device for example), select the option that will attempt to start Windows again normally. Selecting option (1) will direct Windows 7 to make an attempt to repair the issue on its own (see figure 2) and if automated repair is unsuccessful, begin restoring Windows to an earlier restore point (see figure 3). Restore points have been around since Windows XP and typically are created every time a major event happens to the system, such as a Windows update, or installation of new software.

Eventually, the WinRE will ask you to reboot as shown in figure 4. If everything works the way it is developed to, the Windows 7 welcome screen will appear. If not, WinRE will restart the process and make another attempt at restoring the system. Since there are a number of reasons for system failure, this process is not full-proof. However, we instigated several system failures under a variety of normal crash circumstances and found the new WinRE to be reliable.

Since the Windows 7 OS is capable of repairing itself without additional software or additional media requirements, system recovery in Windows 7 is much more user-friendly and will most certainly save users time, money and perhaps most important of all… user sanity.

Tomorrow is day 6 of our 7 days series. With only two days left, we’ll be spending the remainder of the series talking about additional tips and tricks available in the new OS alongside a final checklist of things we recommend you do before installing your new Windows 7 software. So join us again tomorrow and thanks for visiting http://blog.netpass.com.

NetPass, LLC is an Interactive Advertising and Multimedia Agency located in Central Florida. Information contained in this post has been researched and reported individually by the author. Any statements, opinions, or views expressed herein are the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of NetPass, LLC or its ownership. NetPass, LLC is not affiliated with or contracted by Microsoft or any of its affiliates, wholesalers or distributors for the purposes of this series.

The UAC concept had been missing from the Windows platform for some time considering UNIX has deployed UAC methodology through its “sudo” system since the early 1980’s.  So what took so long?  In short, probably consumer expectation.  Fact is, we are creatures of habit.  That is, we are most comfortable doing what’s familiar to us like pressing the Shift button to capitalize a letter.  Now imagine if you had to click the Shift button then the Control (Ctrl) button then the Escape (Esc) button then the Backspace button to capitalize a letter.  Many might become frustrated by all the extra steps because they were never required before.  While all of these steps would ridiculous for mere capitalization, when it comes to security the added elevation authorizations found in the UAC concept are essential.

For Windows users, UAC driven security protocols were effectively born with Vista which is good.  They flourish in Windows 7 which is great.  Many developers have already begun writing and releasing software, drivers, etc. that reduce the amount of user elevation required to finalize a process.  The programmers on the Windows 7 project have followed suit by incorporating ‘auto-elevation’ within the operating system further reducing the amount of user elevation required without compromising any of the benefit of UAC in general.  Here, if part of the Windows system is marked to allow auto-elevation and requires Administrator permissions, it will do so without prompting the user to proceed.

So while you can still be a superuser within your own computing environment, automated  elevation and other UAC enhancements in Windows 7 promises to offer a more enjoyable user experience while maintaining overall security.

Join us again tomorrow for day 5 of our 7 day blog series “7 Days to Windows 7” where we’ll review system recovery enhancements.  Thanks for visiting http://blog.netpass.com.

NetPass, LLC is an Interactive Advertising and Multimedia Agency located in Central Florida. Information contained in this post has been researched and reported individually by the author. Any statements, opinions, or views expressed herein are the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of NetPass, LLC or its ownership. NetPass, LLC is not affiliated with or contracted by Microsoft or any of its affiliates, wholesalers or distributors for the purposes of this series.