November 9th, 2006
Microsoft: No Antivirus Required for Vista?
By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
That’s what Jim Allchin says anyway. With ASLR (Address Space Layout Randomization), PatchGuard, and parental controls, he’s let his seven-year-old use the system sans AV … and he’s very confident there’ll be no malware downloaded to the system.
Allchin’s statement came in response to a question about his relative level of confidence that Vista would be more secure than Windows XP SP2. In response, he noted there were key security features added to Vista which could not be added to Windows XP SP2 even though, he said, his people apparently tried to do so.
Two such features — namely Vista’s new parental controls, and Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR), which renders the object code of the system kernel in memory differently each time to thwart the designs of malicious code — render his son’s Vista machine comfortable enough for him to use, even though production-quality anti-virus software for the unit has yet to be completed. Source: BetaNews
We Say: I’ll believe it when I see it 
. Really though, you could most likely run a restricted XP SP2 system (meaning running as users, not admins) and be pretty safe. Most people (like me) run their systems as admins though. On the other hand, I wonder if McAfee and Symantec stock’ll drop once more people “hear” this statement by Allchin.
Jim Frost says:
With proper security antivirus really shouldn’t be necessary; all applications would be unwriteable. This is why they’re really rare on UNIX or Mac systems. (It’s not that those systems are less popular; remember, Macs used to have a lot of viruses before OS X.)
November 9th, 2006 at 7:09 pm
R says:
I think “LOLZ” works here.
November 10th, 2006 at 11:59 am
j2 says:
I have XP-64 and haven’t been running antivirus in about a year. As long as you know what your doing, you should be fine. Plus no hooking in XP-64 or Vista. So there you go. I’m already practicing what he’s preaching. With no issues
November 10th, 2006 at 1:12 pm
spoon says:
And Windows NT 4.0 did not need to defrag either. I think at first it might work this way, but to me this only opens a challenge for the up and coming virus writers out there.
November 10th, 2006 at 6:31 pm
Venture Chronicles says:
[…] Jim Allchin says Vista will have all the security you need so you won’t need antivirus software anymore… I am announcing today that I will no longer require oxygen. In either case the claim is one that requires a big leap of faith to believe in so Allchin is probably better off waiting until the operating system actually ships before making such a claim. At any rate, the UI looks really nice. Technorati Tags: microsoft Posted in Companies || […]
November 10th, 2006 at 8:15 pm
Nester Edwards says:
Even though there’s no Antivirus software specifically designed for MS Vista yet, you’re just begging to be get a virus that will get past the new security features.
Once the viruses gets onto your hard drive, they’ll definitely wreck havoc. However, it’ll probably take more time for it can do it’s desired damage.
Stating that your Vista computer doesn’t need an antivirus program is like making a car without seat belts or an airbag… THE STATEMENT IS THAT WRECKLESS!!!
November 11th, 2006 at 2:34 am
Emma says:
He let his 7 year old daughter use the computer without anti-virus software… when the operating system hasn’t been released yet and a microscopic portion of the computers online are running it? Oh! How daring!
November 16th, 2006 at 4:52 pm
Hackers Blog » Blog Archive » Allchin on AV in Vista says:
[…] Link here (via realtech and Jeff Nolan). […]
November 17th, 2006 at 6:38 am
kahunaroad.com - Gadgets, tech stuff, simple programming, and software reviews …. » Microsoft: No Antivirus Required for Vista? says:
[…] Microsoft: No Antivirus Required for Vista? By Greg No Antivirus Required for Vista? Microsoft: No Antivirus Required for Vista? […]
November 29th, 2006 at 6:31 am