The Vista DVD considered to be a security threat

The Windows Vista DVD is to be considered a security threat! By starting a computer from the Vista installation DVD and choose to Repair the computer instead of installing Vista, the user gets to a number of choices amongst them a command line (cmd.exe). By starting the command line tool you will have full access to all files on the computer and might easily copy them to a removable device of your choice. This is a big difference from Windows XP where you at least had to login to the Recovery Console with an administrator account, in Vista you just get full access to all the user and system files on the computer, no questions asked.

I however live by the principle that if anyone has physical access to a computer it might be compromised anyway, but still it is good to know about this potential security hole. Laptop computers might contain sensitive data and can easily be accessed by anyone who gain access to it if it should be stolen for example. The only way to my knowledge to protect from this “attack” is to use BitLocker (or possibly other encryption software). By using BitLocker the system partition is encrypted and you cannot access it using the method I describe above. If you install Service Pack 1 for Vista you will also be able to encrypt all partitions and disks on your computer, protecting your files and data further, not just the system partition. The BitLocker encryption function is only available with Windows Vista Enterprise and Ultimate Edition