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according to David Emm, senior technology consultant at Kaspersky Labs.

An interesting thought about balancing what the user has control over and the security of the system.

Here is the quote from the BBC article.

"David Emm, senior technology consultant at Kaspersky Labs, said that with Vista Microsoft was treading a fine line between making the software safe and easy to use.

"The more useable and convenient you make it, especially for non-technical people, the more risk there is that there is a chink in the armour," he said.

"In a sense people are the weakest link here," said Mr Emm.

For instance, he said, the User Account Control system in Vista which aims to stop malicious programs installing themselves invisibly may not prove as effective as Microsoft believes.

This system ask users to give permission for programs, browser extensions and many other things to be installed. The sheer number of times that people are asked may make them click past the warning without realising what they were doing, said Mr Emm.

His fears were echoed by Greg Day, security analyst at McAfee, who said the lack of context in the warnings could lead people to make dangerous choices. "It passes the emphasis on to the user to decide." "

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6316253.stm

Microsoft is trying to prevent malicious software from installing on Vista but at the same time is asking people who may not understand what the system is asking to make a decision on whether to install the software or not.

What would a non-technical user do if they are presented with a window they don't understand. Many would probably say yes to all or no to all. The danger in saying yes to all is the user might install malicious software. The danger in saying no to all is the user may not get updates and other important software that they need.

I am guessing this is similar to warnings from firewall software like Zone Alarm. Often you get pop up warning for something like foo.exe. You don't know if foo is part of a program you use or if it is malicious. Zone Alarm does provide a link to learn more about the program but often that information is not very helpful.

I haven't bought Vista since the bookstore isn't carrying it for the academic price yet. I can't say what the user prompts look like since I haven't seen them yet. I'll probably upgrade since usually we can pick up the windows OS for $10.

Many news sites use some sort of list of article related to the story you are reading. This information gives the reader more background on the current story and keeps them on the site longer.

CNET has a new graphical way of doing this that I saw today on this story http://msn-cnet.com.com/Sun+servers+heading+back+to+Intel+chips/2100-1010_3-6151872.html?part=msn-cnet&subj=ns_2510&tag=mymsn.

This is the map off of that story.

When you mouse over one of the items it gives you the options of putting it in the center or reading the story. Interwoven in red and green they have placed overarching topics and companies that are involved or related to the story. Clicking on an item re centers it and takes you to the story.

This is a really interesting way to graphically represent how all of the stories link together using something more visually pleasing than a list.

I just finished the upgrade. I am hoping the spam controls are a little better in this version. I had to keep trackbacks off because I can't even begin to keep up with the trackback spam that I get. If you see any problems let me know.

Thanks!

I am upgrading to the new version of b2evolution so there maybe a few bumps along the way. I should have the straightened out soon.

What else is there to say. GO GATORS!!!! NATIONAL CHAMPS!!!

Well other than never underestimate the Gators to all of those people who said we couldn't match up with Ohio State.