User Account Protection features enable administrators to deploy PCs set up to give end users only the privileges they need to perform their tasks. This bridges the gap between user and administrative privileges by running applications with limited permissions.

Windows Service Hardening monitors critical Windows services for abnormal activity in the file system, registry and network that could be used to allow malware to persist on a machine or propagate to other machines.

Anti-malware features detect and remove worms, viruses and other types of malicious software from the computer during an upgrade.

Advanced data protection technologies reduce the risk that data on laptops or on other computers will be viewed by unauthorized users, even if the computer is lost or stolen. Windows Vista supports full-volume encryption to help prevent disk access to files by other operating systems. It also stores encryption keys in a Trusted Platform Model (TPM) v1.2 chip. The entire system partition is encrypted in both the hibernation file and the user data.

Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 in Windows Vista Beta 1 includes many features to help protect against malicious Web sites and malware. To help protect against phishing and spoofing attacks, Internet Explorer also does the following:

Network Access Protection. Viruses and worms can attack a protected internal network through mobile computers that do not have the latest updates, security configuration settings or virus signatures downloaded. Mobile users may connect to unprotected networks at hotels, airports or coffee shops, where their computers can become infected by malware or a virus. Windows Vista has Network Access Protection to help prevent security-compromised computers from connecting to a user’s internal network until security criteria are met.

Firewall. Windows Vista provides outgoing as well as incoming filtering, which can be centrally managed via Group Policy. This lets administrators control which applications are allowed to communicate or are blocked from communicating on the network. Controlling network access is one of the most important ways to mitigate security risks.

The Windows Imaging (WIM) format provides a single file that contains one or more complete Windows Vista installation images. To conserve space, Windows Vista compresses the file and stores only a single copy of files that more than one image share. As a result, Windows Vista images help eliminate redundancy, decrease file size, and reduce installation or migration time. Image-based setup also is less error-prone than a scripted installation process.

Windows Pre-installation Environment (PE) enables administrators to configure Windows offline as well as diagnose and troubleshoot hardware problems before launching the setup process.

The Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT) helps administrators quickly identify, analyze and resolve any issues with non-standard applications being migrated to Windows Vista.

Better diagnostics implementation, including auto-diagnosis and auto-correction of common error conditions, fixes for known crashes and “hangs,” and new technology to minimize reboots when installing software, are included.

An improved Task Scheduler schedules tasks to launch when a specific event occurs, such as when disk space becomes insufficient.

Web Services for Management (WS-Management) makes it easier to run scripts remotely and to perform other management tasks. Communication can be both encrypted and authenticated, helping limit security risks.

Microsoft Management Console 3.0 (MMC 3.0) provides a common framework for management tools, making them easier to find and use. MMC 3.0 supports richer, more functional graphical user interfaces for management and allows administrators to run multiple tasks in parallel, keeping administrative tools responsive even after launching a complex or slow management task.

Quick startup. Login scripts and startup applications and services process in the background while users perform their desired tasks.

Sleep state. The new Sleep state in Windows Vista combines the speed of Standby mode with data protection features and low-power consumption of Hibernate. The Sleep state also allows users to change or remove a battery with little risk to open applications and data, since memory is safely written to the hard disk. Startup from the Sleep state requires just seconds, meaning fewer shutdowns and restarts are necessary, which helps improve power management.

Superior memory management and improved input/output (I/O) management makes Windows Vista more responsive than previous versions of Windows, especially in the most noticeable tasks, such as opening the Start menu or right-clicking a file in Windows Explorer to display a shortcut menu.