Criticism of Windows Vista Criticism of Windows Vista Windows Vista, an operating system released by Microsoft for consumers on January 30, 2007, has been widely criticized by reviewers and users. Due to issues with new security features, performance, driver support and product activation, Windows Vista has been the subject of a number of negative assessments by various groups. For security reasons, 64-bit versions of Windows Vista (and of Windows 7 as well) allow only signed drivers to be installed in kernel mode. Because code executing in kernel mode enjoys wide privileges on the system, the signing requirement aims to ensure that only code with
Features new to Windows Vista users—was a significant source of power transition failures in previous versions of Windows and often resulted in decreased battery life, overheated systems, potential data loss, and an eventual user distrust of power-saving capabilities. During the development of Windows Vista, Microsoft indicated that it would allow the sleep process to be vetoed in the operating system, but subsequent investigations by the company revealed that this capability was frequently abused by application developers. However, administrators can still enable veto functionality through group policy. Windows Vista introduces a new Hybrid Sleep power-saving mode that combines hibernation and sleep mode functionality. When active, Hybrid