Comparison of Windows Vista and Windows XP: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|Differences and similarities between Windows Vista and Windows XP}}

{{more citations needed|date=July 2016}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2024}}

{{Windows XP}}

{{Windows Vista}}

This page is a '''comparison of [[Windows VistaXP]] and [[Windows XPVista]]'''. Windows XP and Windows Vista differ considerably in regards to their security architecture, networking technologies, management and administration, shell and 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. <ref>{{CitationCite web |last=Fisher |first=Ken needed|date=August2008-04-11 |title=Vista's UAC security prompt was designed to annoy you |url=https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2008/04/vistas-uac-security-prompt-was-designed-to-annoy-you/ |access-date=2022-09-11 |website=Ars Technica}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Pietroforte |first=Michael |date=2006-10-10 |title=Windows Vista Activation really is a mess |url=https://4sysops.com/archives/windows-vista-activation-really-is-a-mess/ |website=4sysops}}</ref>

==Compatibility==

Windows Vista faces [[backward compatibility]] problems with many of the [[video game|games]] and utility programs that work in Windows XP. As of JulyAugust 18212007, there were about 2,000 applications that specifically carried the 'Vista Compatibility Logo',<ref>[{{cite web|url=http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/windowsvista/pages/windows-vista-service-pack-1-beta-whitepaper.aspx|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070902075248/http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/windowsvista/pages/windows-vista-service-pack-1-beta-whitepaper.aspx|date=August 28, 2007|archive-date=September 2, 2007|title=Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Beta White Paper], |first=Brandon|last=LeBlanc|publisher=Windows Vista NewsBlog|access-date=February 3, 2023}}</ref> although the majority of applications without the logo will run without any problems. This number is low compared to the number of programs that canwere currentlycompatible {{when|date=Julywith 2016}}XP workin under XP2007, either natively or in simulationunder modalityemulation.{{Citation needed|date=July 2008}}

==Performance==

Initial performance tests have demonstrated that Windows XP outperforms Vista in several productivity areas.<ref>[http://news.cnet.co.uk/software/0,39029694,49294484,00.htm XP outperforms Vista in benchmark test] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080315191127/http://news.cnet.co.uk/software/0,39029694,49294484,00.htm |date=2008-03-15 }}, CNET</ref><ref>[http://www.crn.com/software/207001890 XP outperforms Vista in benchmark test], ChannelWeb</ref> File copy operations are speculated to be one area where Vista performs better than XP.{{Clarify|date=June 2011}}<!-- SMB 1.0 or 2.0? --> 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.{{Citation needed|date=June 2011}} The Vista implementation of the file copy is arguably{{Who|date=June 2011}} 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.{{Citation needed|date=June 2011}}

Another test was performed by ''[[Tom's Hardware]]'' in January 2007.<ref>[http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/xp-vs-vista,1531.html Windows XP vs. Vista: The Benchmark Rundown : Is Windows Vista Faster Than XP?], Tom's Hardware</ref> 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 [[Execution (computing)|executing]] single applications at maximum speed. On the other hand, they did not find evidence that Windows Vista's [[Desktop Window Manager]] (DWM) consumes more energy than Windows XP's window manager. All of the tests were performed on a computer with a 2.93&nbsp;GHz [[Intel Core 2 Extreme]] X6800 processor, 2× 1024 MB DDR2-800 [[random-access memory|RAM]], HIS Radeon X1900XTX IceQ3 [[graphics card]], 150 GB [[Western Digital]] WD1500ADFD [[hard disk drive|hard drive]] and a [[Gigabyte Technology|Gigabyte]] GA-965P-DQ6 [[motherboard]].

ScientificA paper aboutevaluating [http://www.jucs.org/jucs_18_2/performance_evaluation_of_recentthe performance evaluation of recent Windows operating systemsystems performance] concludesconcluded that Windows Vista doesn'tdid not provide a better overall performance on the high-end computer system compared to Windows XP. Some performance improvements cancould be seen in memory management and graphics display, but other parts of OS have equal or lower performance than Windows XP. On thea low-end computer system, Windows XP outperformsoutperformed Windows Vista in most tested areas. Windows OS network performance depends on the packet size and used protocol. However, in general, Windows Vista compared to Windows XP shows better network performance particularly for the medium-sized packets.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Martinovic, |first1=Goran; |last2=Balen, |first2=Josip; Čukić,|last3=Cukic |first3=Bojan, [http://www.jucs.org/jucs_18_2/performance_evaluation_of_recent/jucs_18_02_0218_0263_martinovic.pdf "|title=Performance Evaluation of Recent Windows Operating Systems"], |journal=Journal of universalUniversal computerComputer science.Science 18 (|date=2012), |volume=18 |issue=2; 218|pages=218–263|doi-access=free |doi=10.3217/jucs-018-02-2630218}}</ref>

==Security==

Security was a top priority during [[Development of Windows Vista|Windows Vista development]]. In Windows XP, every user is set up as an [[Superuser#Windows NT|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’tdoesn'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 [[Windows Registry|Registry]].<ref>[http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=288259 UAC - What. How. Why.], Channel9</ref> 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 (Least-Privilege User Account) bugs".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/cc160944.aspx|publisher=[[Microsoft]]|title=Problems of Privilege: Find and Fix LUA Bugs|date=August 2006|author=Aaron Margosis}}</ref> <!-- Image with inadequate rationale removed: [[Image:User Account Control.png|thumb|UAC credentials dialog]] --> [[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 [[Shim (computing)|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 [[Windows Vista editions|editions of Windows Vista]] include [[BitLocker Drive Encryption]], which aims to help protect data in the case of stolen devices.

<!-- Image with inadequate rationale removed: [[Image:User Account Control.png|thumb|UAC credentials dialog]] -->

[[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 [[Shim (computing)|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 [[Windows Vista editions|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.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.blackhat.com/presentations/bh-usa-06/BH-US-06-Marinescu.pdf|title=Windows Vista Heap Management Enhancements|author=Adrian Marinescu|publisher=[[Microsoft]]|date=2006-08-03|accessdate=2008-10-10}}</ref>

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The firewall in Vista has been rewritten, allowing both outbound as well as inbound traffic to be blocked.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://technet.microsoft.com/nl-nl/library/cc755158(WS.10).aspx | title=What's New in Windows Firewall with Advanced Security | date=July 2, 2012 }}</ref>

{| borderclass="1"wikitable cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0sortable" style="font-size: 85%; border: gray solid 1px; border-collapse: collapse; text-align: center; width: 100%;" class="wikitable sortable"

|-

! Feature

! Windows XP

! Windows Vista

! Windows 7

! Windows 8.x

! Windows 10

!Windows 11

|-

| [[Windows Defender]]

| {{Maybe|Available as a free download<ref>[http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx Windows Defender], Microsoft</ref>}}

| colspan="2" {{Yes}}

| colspan="3" {{Yes|Yes (added antivirus capabilities, available in older versions as the [[Microsoft Security Essentials]] download)}}

| {{Yes}}

| {{Yes|Yes (added antivirus capabilities, available in older versions as the Microsoft Security Essentials download)}}

| {{Yes|Yes (added antivirus capabilities, available in older versions as the Microsoft Security Essentials download)}}

|-

| [[Windows Firewall]]

| colspan="6" {{Yes}}

| {{Yes}}

| {{Yes}}

| {{Yes}}

| {{Yes}}

|-

| [[Windows Security Center]]

| {{Maybe|Yes (starting w/with SP2)}}

| {{Yes}}

| colspan="2" {{Yes|Yes (replaced by [[Action Center]])}}

| colspan="2" {{Yes|Yes (replaced by Action[[Security and CenterMaintenance]])}}

| {{Yes|Yes (replaced by Security and Maintenance)}}

|-

| [[BitLocker Drive Encryption]]

| {{Maybe|Only viewing contents}}

| colspan="2" {{Maybe|Yes (EnterpriseUltimate and UltimateEnterprise editions only)}}

| {{Maybe|Yes (EnterprisePro and UltimateEnterprise editions only)}}

| colspan="2" {{Maybe|Yes (Pro, Education and Enterprise editions only)}}

| {{Maybe|Yes (Pro, Enterprise, and Education editions only)}}

|-

| [[Parental controls]]

| {{Maybe|Some ([[Internet Explorer]] allows parental control of web browsing)}}

| colspan="2" {{Yes}}

| colspan="3" {{Yes|Yes (replaced by Security and[[Family MaintenanceSafety]])}}

| {{Yes}}

| {{Yes|Yes (replaced by Family Safety)}}

| {{Yes|Yes (replaced by Family Safety)}}

|-

| [[User Account Control]]

| {{No}}

| colspan="5" {{Yes}}

| {{Yes}}

| {{Yes}}

| {{Yes}}

|-

| [[Data Execution Prevention]]

| {{Maybe|Yes (starting w/with SP2)}}

| colspan="5" {{Yes}}

| {{Yes}}

| {{Yes}}

| {{Yes}}

|}

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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 the "Windows Vista Basic" visual style.

== References ==

{{Reflist|30em}}

==See also==

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*[[Features new to Windows Vista]]

*[[Features removed from Windows Vista]]

== References ==

{{Reflist|30em}}

{{Microsoft Windows}}

[[Category:Windows Vista]]