11/5/09
Microsoft: Windows Vista safer than Windows XP
Microsoft's Security Intelligence Report, released earlier this week, says that users of the company's Windows Vista operating system were less likely to be affected by cyber security threats than users of the older Windows XP.
Even an un-patched version of Windows Vista was less susceptible to malware than the most recent update of Windows XP, according to the report. This follows the usual pattern of more recent software being generally safer from malware threats than older versions, as hackers and other cyber criminals have had less time to examine them for vulnerabilities.
Windows XP users are thought to be particularly vulnerable to known exploits in Internet Explorer, older versions of which are frequently used by enterprise customers for backward compatibility reasons, while Windows Vista users are actually more susceptible to non-Microsoft exploits, most notably those found in Adobe Acrobat Reader.
The Microsoft security personnel who prepared the report assert that automatic updating is among the most important tools at the disposal of users, who can ensure that their operating system stays as safe as possible.
[ Back to Blog » ]