This chapter outlines a number of security features and defenses in Windows Vista that do not fit nicely into any of the previous chapters. The first subject is parental controls, a feature that allows parents and guardians to define how children can use the computer. On the subject of defending users, we also show how antimalware vendors to can enable and disable Windows Defender if needed. We then dive a little deeper and discuss important credential user interface changes, how to use the Windows security event log. Next, we dive very deep and show how to protect long-lived pointers with pointer encoding; some kernel mode debugging changes and wrap up with how to start thinking about the Trusted Platform Module support in Windows Vista. Finally, we wrap up with some security best-practices when building gadgets for the Windows SideBar.
Adding parental controls support to your application
Windows Defender APIs
New credential user interface API
Use the security event log
Pointer encoding
Kernel mode debugging issues
Programming the Trusted Platform Module (TPM)
Let’s get started.