Vista and OpenDental

[cneelley]

I recently installed Vista Home Premium on one of my home computers, the one that I use to restore opendental backups. I noticed some problems, hard to miss. It seems the problems are related to extra security, put there to help protect us from ourselves and internet bad guys. I see it as a galant attempt to deal with a real big problem. But it causes problems.

Can sombody explain to me why so many programs must be run as administrator, rather than just normal. I know it is a security thing, but there must be a way around it, or do the programs have to be built to compensate?

It is possible to turn off user accounts, I think. Is it wise to do so?

And then there is protected mode for internet security. A security issue that causes problems. Should this be turned off and how does that relate to using internet explorer in xp?

Hard on hardware requirements, graphics intensive. Good and bad in this. Must upgrade. Put there to compete against Apple? Another problem.

After using Vista for 3 weeks, I believe there is a great future for Vista. It is very similar to xp, but can do a whole lot more, now and in the future. Lots of problems compared to xp, but I think those will be overcome soon. SP1 is being released. Like it or not it is here to stay and virtually everybody will be using it.

cneelley

[panamanian33]

Hi cneelley, we can have a very "looooong" conversation on Vista (any version) and software compatibilities . I won't try to reinvent the wheel on this one. Let me give you a Web site here that will answer some of those questions you have and another web page that will give you a couple of workarounds.

Question # 1 "Can sombody explain to me why so many programs must be run as administrator, rather than just normal"
This page can help you with that - http://www.tweak-uac.com/what-is-uac/

Question # 2 "I know it is a security thing, but there must be a way around it"
This site will help you with some of the workarounds - http://www.computerperformance.co.uk/vi ... ontrol.htm

Just a side note here: Most technicians and users I know, initially, hated Microsoft when"Windows XP Service Pack 2 " was released (the famous Windows Firewall) because such firewall will not allow some programs to run properly, but we all passed that hurdle. I'm sure will do the same with Vista.

I hope it helps,

Alex
Projects and Solutions

[cneelley]

Thanks for the info.

I was wondering if you thought that vista security is a bit much for most people. In XP pro, I most often use the administrator account for everything, and I haven't noticed many, if any security related problems. I know that it is recommended that we operate as non-administrative users, especially as regards browing the internet. Sure, browsing the internet as an administrator is a risk, but in practicality, how big a threat is it?

For my office staff, I have user accounts operating for them, for security risks as well as protecting my network. So, I know there are risks, but? What do you think?

cneelley

[panamanian33]

Yes, I do think that Vista security is a bit much for most people. However, if you configure it right you wouldn't have many problems. And let me stress "if it's configured right"

Remember that Windows Vista User Account Control is supposed to address mostly the never-ending problems associated with viruses and malware. Based on this assumption and let's say Windows got it right, then there is an advantage of having users with non-administrative privileges.

My feeling is (and correct me if I'm wrong) that your concerns are in regards to network security, meaning having unauthorized programs or users accessing your valuable data.

Let me tell you, if I may (and I hope I don’t bore some of you out there) what I've done for most of my customers I have under a Service contract (20 dental offices by the way)

There are different types of approaches in network security. The one I implement for Dental Offices is "The Lock Down" approach. This approach is mostly intended to minimize unnecessary support issues. The main example of an unnecessary issue is an employee browsing the internet and getting infected with some sort of malware or virus. This can cost a couple of hundreds both in computer repair and downtime.

Under this approach we focused on three different points:

1. User education. Technology alone will not solve security issues. We demonstrate how a malicous program can enter the network via the Internet and educate users on how to avoid phishing and lousy pop-ups
2. Lock down the network at the perimeter. I don't want to get into a lot of details but basically we restrict access to internet browsing in certain workstations. Also, we install, for example, Mcfee Site advisor (free product) in the computers that we'll be used for browsing the internet.
3. Workstation image backup. We create image backup of all workstation in the network in case of disaster due to hard drive physical failure or virus infection.

Thanks,

Alex
Projects and Solutions