Windows 7 - Windows 7 security primer, part four.

Welcome to part four of my four-part series of articles discussing significant security improvements and changes found in Windows 7. In part one, I provided an overview of some noteworthy security deltas. In part two, I delved into XP Mode. Part three cracked open AppLocker. This week, I'll wrap up the series with a look out several additional major security improvements. Once again, I'll mention here that I'm a full-time employee at Microsoft.

Improved IE
You don't need Windows 7 to run IE 8, although if you're running an older version of IE, you should upgrade to the latest version as soon as possible. Certainly application and Web site compatibility issues will guide how quickly someone can move to IE 8, but I find many clients who are still clinging to IE 6 and haven't done compatibility testing in over a year. Often when I goad them into retesting the previously troublesome application with IE 8, it works -- and has been working for some time.