Win 8

Are you still waffling about whether or not you should upgrade your Windows 7 PC to Windows 8? Well, don’t rush.

Want to dip your toes in Microsoft's modern UI before plunging head-first into Windows 8? You can do it for free, without uninstalling your current OS.

   Fortunately, there's an easy, hassle-free way to test-drive Windows 8. Using a program called VirtualBox and the evaluation version of Windows 8 Enterprise, you can try out the new OS for free, without disturbing your current operating system. Read on—we’ll show you how.

Important considerations

   For this project, you'll need to use the evaluation version of Windows 8 Enterprise, which you can download directly from Microsoft at the MSDN Evaluation Center website. There are a few things you should know about the evaluation edition, but you might want to start the download now—at 3.4GB, it will take a while.

  Wording on the download page identifies it as “Windows 8 evaluation for developers,” but anyone who has a Microsoft account (such as a free Hotmail or Live account) can download the software and try it out. The download link is at the very bottom of the page. Simply select the 32- or 64-bit version of the operating system, log in, and fill out a brief questionnaire. Just like that, you’re downloading Windows 8!

   Of course, Microsoft doesn’t give away Windows for free, and this evaluation version has a couple of major limitations.

   First, the trial period expires in 90 days—at which point the OS will automatically shut down after every 60 minutes of use.

   Second, you can't upgrade from the evaluation version of Windows 8 Enterprise to a full version of Windows 8. Instead, you have to uninstall it completely and start over with a non-evaluation version of the OS. Every app you've installed, and every file you've tinkered with, will be obliterated when the trial ends and you install another operating system. So back up your data! The bottom line is that you shouldn't use the evaluation version of Windows 8 Enterprise as your main operating system, which is why we recommend installing it in a virtual machine.

On the plus side, Windows 8 Enterprise packs some nifty features that you won't find in the vanilla version of Windows 8, including BitLocker encryption, Hyper-V virtualization, and the intriguing Windows to Go, which allows the OS to boot from removable storage. You also get IT-friendly tools such as BranchCache and AppLocker support. Though some of those tools are come with with Windows 8 Pro, Windows 8 Enterprise users can't download the Pro version's $10 Windows Media Center pack (sorry, CableCard lovers). Wikipedia has a handy chart comparing the features available for the different editions of Windows 8, including Windows RT.

   While the Windows 8 ISO downloads, you should also download the latest version of VirtualBox for Windows. Run the installer, and choose the default settings for all of the install options. If you already have VirtualBox installed on your system, you can make sure that it’s current by clicking the Help menu at the top of the screen and selecting Check for Updates. Older versions don't offer native support for Windows 8, and VirtualBox's latest releases have greatly improved system usability while running Windows 8 on a virtual machine.

Microsoft has released a confusing selection of security programs over the years. Deborah Armstrong asked me to make sense of them.

When it comes to security, the folks in Redmond can go overboard with new products--or worse, new names for old products. What follows is a complete list of Microsoft programs, past and present, intended to help keep malware off your computer.

At least, I think it's complete. If I missed anything, that's what the comment section is for.

Microsoft AntiSpyware: No longer available. You can think of this as an antivirus program that looked for spyware rather than viruses. Since modern antivirus programs also look for spyware, it was kind of redundant. It eventually became Windows Defender (see below).

Microsoft OneCare Live: No longer available. This utility and security suite included antivirus, backup, and other tools.

Windows Live OneCare Scanner: No longer available. This on-demand malware scanner was intended to supplement your regular anti-virus program by offering a second opinion when you felt you needed one.

Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool: Another on-demand malware scanner, still available, but of limited usefulness. It's designed to remove a few specific, particularly stubborn threats. It's only updated once a month.

Microsoft Safety Scanner: Yet another on-demand scanner, although this time with a more comprehensive malware database. Safety Scanner is updated every ten days, which is better than monthly but still not frequently enough.

Microsoft Standalone System Sweeper: No longer available. Would you believe…another on-demand scanner? But this time, it's bootable, from either a CD or a flash drive. Bootable scanners are, arguably, the most effective kind.

Malware Prevention Diagnostic Tool: An entirely different kind of scanner. Instead of looking for malware, it checks how you've configured Windows and offers to fix settings that can be exploited by the bad guys.

Windows Defender: The renamed Microsoft AntiSpyware. It comes with Vista and Windows 7, but is usually turned off.

Windows Defender Offline: Another bootable scanner. Microsoft Standalone System Sweeper's replacement.

Microsoft Security Essentials: Microsoft's free antivirus program. As these programs go, Essentials is one of the easiest to use. But it's not the best at catching malware.

Windows Defender--the Windows 8 version: Like the two Windows before it, version 8 comes with Windows Defender. But this time, it uses the same antimalware engine as Security Essentials. In other words, it's a real antivirus program, but probably not one of the most effective.

Now that Windows 8 is on sale and has already been purchased by millions, expect very close scrutiny of Microsoft's latest and greatest security features. 0-day vulnerabilities are ...

As a means of protecting a computer from viruses, data theft and other type of malware, Windows Defender is better than nothing. But it’s not a whole lot better. Most of the popular antivirus can do better. The conclusion is clear: Using your PC without a security solution is extremely risky.

This isn’t surprising, given that BitDefender launched its 2013 line of security products, certified for Windows 8, earlier this week. So, is the company skewing the results?

It’s hard to say. Why pick the number 385? Did the top 100 threats or the top 500 threats result in a lower percentage for Windows 8? How many of those threats worked on Windows 7? How many on Vista or XP? How many of these malware samples require direct user interaction?

While we do know BitDefender is in the business of selling security software, it’s difficult to say more on the results without more data. Either way, 15 percent is an impressive achievement. Microsoft will surely continue updating its definitions, and this number will only drop further.

Although it’s difficult to put BitDefender’s numbers in perspective, the company did offer some more figures. Out of the 385 total, two more malware samples got by Windows Defender: the first crashed on execution and the second ran but was blocked by User Account Control (UAC), so no payload was delivered. Neither of these count as an infection, but even if we were to count them, that’s still only 16.36 percent getting past Windows Defender.

With Windows Defender disabled, 234 of the samples ran successfully (60.78 percent), 138 samples could not be started on the machine for various reasons (35.84 percent), six threats executed but then crashed (1.56 percent), and seven others launched but had their payload blocked by UAC (1.82 percent).