I think Microsoft’s counter attack should be working with other background and otherwise silent defenses within Windows. If the internal defense, stronger firewalls, whitelist/blacklist defense, and other methods should be part of the solution, the hardware layers of security also have to be strengthened too. Microsoft has to keep attacking security in ways that are invisible but still very relevant to protecting users from themselves. Howerver, a lot of the reason why Windows has so many problems is that the vast majority of the userbase is very ignorant in how PC’s work and how to browse safely. Many of Windows issues wouldn’t be as much of an issue if PC fundamentals, PC ethics, intermediate PC education, and advanced PC skills were taught to our children in Elementary, Middle School, and High School as part of the mandatory curriculum.

However, there are some people saying that the x64 version of Windows 7, that this RCE doesn’t even work. That this might be limited to just 32 bit versions of Windows 7. While I do appreciate the war being waged, this is a very fine line we have to walk here.

And I find it interesting that Russinovich won’t even call it a security feature. Elevation is first and foremost about security, and users who were actually concerned about the concept of LUA, not having to go with XP’s Run As when on a Limited Account was a godsend. Thankfully you can still turn on UAC if you want the security; the issue now is that the default is branded as safe when perhaps it should not be.