Comparison of Windows Vista and Windows XP
Encyclopedia
This page is a comparison of Windows Vista
and Windows XP
. Windows XP is currently the dominant operating system
in the desktop
and personal computer markets, with an estimated market share
of 62.21% as of May 2009. Windows Vista is Microsoft
's successor to Windows XP, and currently holds a market share of 23.90%.
Windows XP and Windows Vista differ considerably in regards to their security architecture, networking technologies, management and administration, shell & user interface, and mobile computing. Windows XP has suffered criticism for security problems and issues with performance. Vista has received criticism for issues with performance and product activation. Another common criticism of Vista concerns the integration of new forms of digital rights management
(DRM) into the operating system, and User Account Control
(UAC) security technology.
problems with many of the games and utility programs that work in Windows XP. As of July 2007, there were about 2,000 applications that specifically carried the 'Vista Compatibility Logo', although the majority of applications without the logo will run without any problems. This number is low compared to the number of programs that can currently work under XP, either natively or in simulation modality.
Another test was performed by Tom's Hardware in January 2007. Applications such as Unreal Tournament 2004
and the graphics benchmarking
suite SPECviewperf 9.03 suffered heavily from the lack of support for the OpenGL
graphics library under Vista. They reached the conclusion that Windows Vista clearly is not a great new performer when it comes to executing single applications at maximum speed. On the other hand, they did not find evidence that Windows Vista's Desktop Window Manager
consumes more energy than Windows XP's window manager. All of the tests were performed on a computer with an 2.93 GHz Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 processor, 2x 1024 MB DDR2-800 RAM
, HIS Radeon X1900XTX IceQ3 graphics card, 150 GB Western Digital
WD1500ADFD hard drive and a Gigabyte
GA-965P-DQ6 motherboard
.
. In Windows XP, every user is set up as an administrator by default (unless added through Computer Management). As a result, most home users ran all their software with Administrator access. However, this left most users unwittingly open to potential security threats, such as hacking and malware
downloads. A large amount of existing software doesn’t run well as a standard user, due to developers not implementing the principle of least privilege
in their design and testing. For example, many poorly written applications often assume incorrectly that they will have read and write access to the entire filesystem and system Registry
. Denying such an application access to any of these assumed rights can cause the application to fail. Sometimes, a person logged on as a standard user under Windows XP can't perform user-specific tasks such as changing the system clock and calendar, changing the computer's time zone
, or changing the computer's power management
settings due to so-called "LUA bugs".
User Account Control
in Windows Vista improves this by limiting application software
to standard user privileges until an administrator authorizes an increase in privilege level. In this way, UAC prevents users from making inadvertent changes to system settings and locks down the computer to prevent unauthorized applications from installing or performing malicious actions. Windows Vista is able to work around many LUA bugs in third party applications with its file and Registry virtualisation feature, as well as application compatibility shims. Internet Explorer 7
's Protected Mode utilizes User Account Control to isolate IE from other applications and prevent it from writing content to any location, except the Temporary Internet Files folder. Internet Explorer 7 is available for XP, but does not support Protected Mode on XP. Windows Vista also includes Windows Defender
, a spyware scanning and removal tool that is also available for Windows XP for free. Enterprise and Ultimate editions of Windows Vista
include BitLocker Drive Encryption
, which aims to help protect data in the case of stolen devices.
Vista implements address space layout randomization
, that makes it considerably more difficult for malicious code to exploit Return-to-libc attack
s than on previous versions of Windows, particularly on 64-bit systems. Furthermore, Vista implements heap management enhancements that make it much more difficult to carry out buffer overflow
attacks.
64-bit editions of Windows Vista require all kernel-mode drivers to be digitally signed, initially making it difficult for rootkit
s to install until Alureon
managed to overcome this obstacle in 2010 by subverting the master boot record
.
The firewall in Vista has been rewritten, allowing both outbound as well as inbound traffic to be blocked.
is the default visual style in Windows XP
. It is available in three color schemes: Blue (default), Olive Green, and Silver. Windows XP Media Center Edition comes with Royale as the default theme.
In most editions of Windows Vista, the default theme is Windows Aero
. Aero offers translucent window effects, as well as live thumbnails, animated transitions and Flip 3D. However, it requires a compatible graphics card, with a WDDM driver, DirectX
9 support and 32-bit
color; otherwise, Windows Vista is displayed using "Windows Vista Basic" visual style.
Windows Vista
Windows Vista is an operating system released in several variations developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, and media center PCs...
and Windows XP
Windows XP
Windows XP is an operating system produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops and media centers. First released to computer manufacturers on August 24, 2001, it is the second most popular version of Windows, based on installed user base...
. Windows XP is currently the dominant operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
in the desktop
Desktop computer
A desktop computer is a personal computer in a form intended for regular use at a single location, as opposed to a mobile laptop or portable computer. Early desktop computers are designed to lay flat on the desk, while modern towers stand upright...
and personal computer markets, with an estimated market share
Market share
Market share is the percentage of a market accounted for by a specific entity. In a survey of nearly 200 senior marketing managers, 67 percent responded that they found the "dollar market share" metric very useful, while 61% found "unit market share" very useful.Marketers need to be able to...
of 62.21% as of May 2009. Windows Vista is Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
's successor to Windows XP, and currently holds a market share of 23.90%.
Windows XP and Windows Vista differ considerably in regards to their security architecture, networking technologies, management and administration, shell & user interface, and mobile computing. Windows XP has suffered criticism for security problems and issues with performance. Vista has received criticism for issues with performance and product activation. Another common criticism of Vista concerns the integration of new forms of digital rights management
Digital rights management
Digital rights management is a class of access control technologies that are used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals with the intent to limit the use of digital content and devices after sale. DRM is any technology that inhibits uses of digital content that...
(DRM) into the operating system, and User Account Control
User Account Control
User Account Control is a technology and security infrastructure introduced with Microsoft's Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 operating systems, with a more relaxed version also present in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2...
(UAC) security technology.
Compatibility
Windows Vista faces backward compatibilityBackward compatibility
In the context of telecommunications and computing, a device or technology is said to be backward or downward compatible if it can work with input generated by an older device...
problems with many of the games and utility programs that work in Windows XP. As of July 2007, there were about 2,000 applications that specifically carried the 'Vista Compatibility Logo', although the majority of applications without the logo will run without any problems. This number is low compared to the number of programs that can currently work under XP, either natively or in simulation modality.
Performance
Initial performance tests have demonstrated that Windows XP outperforms Vista in several productivity areas. File copy operations are speculated to be one area where Vista performs better than XP. In a test run by CRN Test Center, a 1.25 GB file was copied from a network share to each desktop. For XP, it took 2 minutes and 54 seconds, for Vista with SP1 it took 2 minutes and 29 seconds. The Vista implementation of the file copy is arguably more complete and correct as the file does not register as being transferred until it has completely transferred; in Windows XP, the file completed dialogue box is displayed prior to the file actually finishing its copy or transfer, with the file completing after the dialogue is displayed. This can cause an issue if the storage device is ejected prior to the file being successfully transferred or copied in Windows XP due to the dialogue box's premature prompt.Another test was performed by Tom's Hardware in January 2007. Applications such as Unreal Tournament 2004
Unreal Tournament 2004
Unreal Tournament 2004, also known as UT2K4 and UT2004, is a futuristic first-person shooter computer game developed by Epic Games and Digital Extremes...
and the graphics benchmarking
Benchmarking
Benchmarking is the process of comparing one's business processes and performance metrics to industry bests and/or best practices from other industries. Dimensions typically measured are quality, time and cost...
suite SPECviewperf 9.03 suffered heavily from the lack of support for the OpenGL
OpenGL
OpenGL is a standard specification defining a cross-language, cross-platform API for writing applications that produce 2D and 3D computer graphics. The interface consists of over 250 different function calls which can be used to draw complex three-dimensional scenes from simple primitives. OpenGL...
graphics library under Vista. They reached the conclusion that Windows Vista clearly is not a great new performer when it comes to executing single applications at maximum speed. On the other hand, they did not find evidence that Windows Vista's Desktop Window Manager
Desktop Window Manager
Desktop Window Manager is the window manager in Windows Vista and Windows 7 that enables the Windows Aero graphical user interface and visual theme. The Desktop Window Manager requires video cards supporting DirectX 9.0 and Shader Model 2.0. DWM is not included with Windows Vista Starter edition...
consumes more energy than Windows XP's window manager. All of the tests were performed on a computer with an 2.93 GHz Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 processor, 2x 1024 MB DDR2-800 RAM
Ram
-Animals:*Ram, an uncastrated male sheep*Ram cichlid, a species of freshwater fish endemic to Colombia and Venezuela-Military:*Battering ram*Ramming, a military tactic in which one vehicle runs into another...
, HIS Radeon X1900XTX IceQ3 graphics card, 150 GB Western Digital
Western Digital
Western Digital Corporation is one of the largest computer hard disk drive manufacturers in the world. It has a long history in the electronics industry as an integrated circuit maker and a storage products company. Western Digital was founded on April 23, 1970 by Alvin B...
WD1500ADFD hard drive and a Gigabyte
Gigabyte Technology
Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. is a Taiwan-based manufacturer of computer hardware products best known for its motherboards. The company is publicly held and traded on the Taiwan Stock Exchange .-Company:...
GA-965P-DQ6 motherboard
Motherboard
In personal computers, a motherboard is the central printed circuit board in many modern computers and holds many of the crucial components of the system, providing connectors for other peripherals. The motherboard is sometimes alternatively known as the mainboard, system board, or, on Apple...
.
Security
Security was a top priority during Windows Vista developmentDevelopment of Windows Vista
Development of Windows Vista occurred over the span of five and a half years, starting in earnest in May 2001, prior to the release of Microsoft's Windows XP operating system, and continuing until November 2006....
. In Windows XP, every user is set up as an administrator by default (unless added through Computer Management). As a result, most home users ran all their software with Administrator access. However, this left most users unwittingly open to potential security threats, such as hacking and malware
Malware
Malware, short for malicious software, consists of programming that is designed to disrupt or deny operation, gather information that leads to loss of privacy or exploitation, or gain unauthorized access to system resources, or that otherwise exhibits abusive behavior...
downloads. A large amount of existing software doesn’t run well as a standard user, due to developers not implementing the principle of least privilege
Principle of least privilege
In information security, computer science, and other fields, the principle of least privilege, also known as the principle of minimal privilege or just least privilege, requires that in a particular abstraction layer of a computing environment, every module must be able to access only the...
in their design and testing. For example, many poorly written applications often assume incorrectly that they will have read and write access to the entire filesystem and system Registry
Windows registry
The Windows Registry is a hierarchical database that stores configuration settings and options on Microsoft Windows operating systems. It contains settings for low-level operating system components as well as the applications running on the platform: the kernel, device drivers, services, SAM, user...
. Denying such an application access to any of these assumed rights can cause the application to fail. Sometimes, a person logged on as a standard user under Windows XP can't perform user-specific tasks such as changing the system clock and calendar, changing the computer's time zone
Time zone
A time zone is a region on Earth that has a uniform standard time for legal, commercial, and social purposes. In order for the same clock time to always correspond to the same portion of the day as the Earth rotates , different places on the Earth need to have different clock times...
, or changing the computer's power management
Power management
Power management is a feature of some electrical appliances, especially copiers, computers and computer peripherals such as monitors and printers, that turns off the power or switches the system to a low-power state when inactive. In computing this is known as PC power management and is built...
settings due to so-called "LUA bugs".
User Account Control
User Account Control
User Account Control is a technology and security infrastructure introduced with Microsoft's Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 operating systems, with a more relaxed version also present in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2...
in Windows Vista improves this by limiting application software
Application software
Application software, also known as an application or an "app", is computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks. Examples include enterprise software, accounting software, office suites, graphics software and media players. Many application programs deal principally with...
to standard user privileges until an administrator authorizes an increase in privilege level. In this way, UAC prevents users from making inadvertent changes to system settings and locks down the computer to prevent unauthorized applications from installing or performing malicious actions. Windows Vista is able to work around many LUA bugs in third party applications with its file and Registry virtualisation feature, as well as application compatibility shims. Internet Explorer 7
Internet Explorer 7
Windows Internet Explorer 7 is a web browser released by Microsoft in October 2006. Internet Explorer 7 is part of a long line of versions of Internet Explorer and was the first major update to the browser in more than 5 years...
's Protected Mode utilizes User Account Control to isolate IE from other applications and prevent it from writing content to any location, except the Temporary Internet Files folder. Internet Explorer 7 is available for XP, but does not support Protected Mode on XP. Windows Vista also includes Windows Defender
Windows Defender
Windows Defender, formerly known as Microsoft AntiSpyware, is a software product from Microsoft to prevent, remove, and quarantine spyware in Microsoft Windows...
, a spyware scanning and removal tool that is also available for Windows XP for free. Enterprise and Ultimate editions of Windows Vista
Windows Vista editions
Windows Vista is available in six different marketing editions. With the exception of Windows Vista Starter, all editions support both 32-bit and 64-bit processor architectures....
include BitLocker Drive Encryption
BitLocker Drive Encryption
BitLocker Drive Encryption is a full disk encryption feature included with the Ultimate and Enterprise editions of Microsoft's Windows Vista and Windows 7 desktop operating systems, as well as the Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2 server platforms. It is designed to protect data by...
, which aims to help protect data in the case of stolen devices.
Vista implements address space layout randomization
Address space layout randomization
Address space layout randomization is a computer security method which involves randomly arranging the positions of key data areas, usually including the base of the executable and position of libraries, heap, and stack, in a process's address space.- Benefits :Address space randomization hinders...
, that makes it considerably more difficult for malicious code to exploit Return-to-libc attack
Return-to-libc attack
A return-to-libc attack is a computer security attack usually starting with a buffer overflow in which the return address on the stack is replaced by the address of another instruction and an additional portion of the stack is overwritten to provide arguments to this function...
s than on previous versions of Windows, particularly on 64-bit systems. Furthermore, Vista implements heap management enhancements that make it much more difficult to carry out buffer overflow
Buffer overflow
In computer security and programming, a buffer overflow, or buffer overrun, is an anomaly where a program, while writing data to a buffer, overruns the buffer's boundary and overwrites adjacent memory. This is a special case of violation of memory safety....
attacks.
64-bit editions of Windows Vista require all kernel-mode drivers to be digitally signed, initially making it difficult for rootkit
Rootkit
A rootkit is software that enables continued privileged access to a computer while actively hiding its presence from administrators by subverting standard operating system functionality or other applications...
s to install until Alureon
Alureon
Alureon is a trojan and bootkit which is designed, amongst other things, to steal data by intercepting a system's network traffic and searching it for usernames, passwords and credit card data....
managed to overcome this obstacle in 2010 by subverting the master boot record
Master boot record
A master boot record is a type of boot sector popularized by the IBM Personal Computer. It consists of a sequence of 512 bytes located at the first sector of a data storage device such as a hard disk...
.
The firewall in Vista has been rewritten, allowing both outbound as well as inbound traffic to be blocked.
| Feature | Windows XP | Windows Vista | Windows 7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Windows Defender Windows Defender Windows Defender, formerly known as Microsoft AntiSpyware, is a software product from Microsoft to prevent, remove, and quarantine spyware in Microsoft Windows... |
Available as a free download | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Firewall Windows Firewall Windows Firewall is a software component of Microsoft Windows that provides firewalling and packet filtering functions. It was first included in Windows XP and Windows Server 2003... |
Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Security Center Windows Security Center The Windows Action Center is a component included with Microsoft's Windows XP , Windows Vista and Windows 7 operating systems that provides users with the ability to view the status of computer security settings and services... |
Yes (starting w/ SP2) | Yes | Yes |
| BitLocker Drive Encryption BitLocker Drive Encryption BitLocker Drive Encryption is a full disk encryption feature included with the Ultimate and Enterprise editions of Microsoft's Windows Vista and Windows 7 desktop operating systems, as well as the Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2 server platforms. It is designed to protect data by... |
No | Yes (Enterprise and Ultimate only) | Yes (Enterprise and Ultimate only) |
| Parental controls Parental controls Parental controls are features which may be included in digital television services, computer and video games, mobile phones and computer software... |
Some (Internet Explorer Internet Explorer Windows Internet Explorer is a series of graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft and included as part of the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems, starting in 1995. It was first released as part of the add-on package Plus! for Windows 95 that year... allows parental control of web browsing) |
Yes | Yes |
| User Account Control User Account Control User Account Control is a technology and security infrastructure introduced with Microsoft's Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 operating systems, with a more relaxed version also present in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2... |
No | Yes | Yes |
| Data Execution Prevention Data Execution Prevention Data Execution Prevention is a security feature included in modern operating systems.It is known to be available in Linux, Mac OS X, and Microsoft Windows operating systems and is intended to prevent an application or service from executing code from a non-executable memory region. This helps... |
Yes (starting w/ SP2) | Yes | Yes |
Visual styles
LunaLuna (theme)
Themes customize the appearance of the Windows operating system without changing its functionality ....
is the default visual style in Windows XP
Windows XP
Windows XP is an operating system produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops and media centers. First released to computer manufacturers on August 24, 2001, it is the second most popular version of Windows, based on installed user base...
. It is available in three color schemes: Blue (default), Olive Green, and Silver. Windows XP Media Center Edition comes with Royale as the default theme.
In most editions of Windows Vista, the default theme is Windows Aero
Windows Aero
Windows Aero is the graphical user interface and the default theme in most editions of Windows Vista and Windows 7, operating systems released by Microsoft. It is also available in Windows Server 2008, but is not enabled by default. Its name is a backronym for Authentic, Energetic, Reflective and...
. Aero offers translucent window effects, as well as live thumbnails, animated transitions and Flip 3D. However, it requires a compatible graphics card, with a WDDM driver, DirectX
DirectX
Microsoft DirectX is a collection of application programming interfaces for handling tasks related to multimedia, especially game programming and video, on Microsoft platforms. Originally, the names of these APIs all began with Direct, such as Direct3D, DirectDraw, DirectMusic, DirectPlay,...
9 support and 32-bit
32-bit
The range of integer values that can be stored in 32 bits is 0 through 4,294,967,295. Hence, a processor with 32-bit memory addresses can directly access 4 GB of byte-addressable memory....
color; otherwise, Windows Vista is displayed using "Windows Vista Basic" visual style.
External Links
- http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/products/windows-xp
- http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/products/home
See also
- Comparison of operating systemsComparison of operating systemsThese tables compare general and technical information for a number of widely used and currently available operating systems.Because of the large number and variety of available Linux distributions, they are all grouped under a single entry; see comparison of Linux distributions for a detailed...
- Comparison of Microsoft Windows versionsComparison of Microsoft Windows versionsMicrosoft Windows is the name of several families of computer software operating systems by Microsoft. Microsoft first introduced an operating environment named Windows in November 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces .-DOS-based :-NT...
- Features new to Windows VistaFeatures new to Windows VistaWindows Vista has many new features compared with previous Microsoft Windows versions, covering most aspects of the operating system.This article discusses the changes most likely to be of interest to non-technical users...
- Features removed from Windows VistaFeatures removed from Windows VistaWhile Windows Vista contains many new features, a number of capabilities and certain programs that were a part of previous Windows versions up to Windows XP were removed or changed - some of which were later re-introduced in Windows 7....
- Category:Windows Vista
- Category:Windows XP
- Windows Vista and Windows XP
- Windows XPWindows XPWindows XP is an operating system produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops and media centers. First released to computer manufacturers on August 24, 2001, it is the second most popular version of Windows, based on installed user base...
- Windows VistaWindows VistaWindows Vista is an operating system released in several variations developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, and media center PCs...