The NSA published security guidance for home users entitled in which it recommends that users transition from Windows XP to the . Noyes is incredulous. "Yes, that's right, it actually recommends Vista. Why not throw in IE6 while we're at it?"

I'll tell you why. Windows Vista is , while Internet Explorer 6 is an unmitigated security disaster and malware magnet. I think that pretty well sums that up.

A Microsoft spokesperson explained to me that as a part of the process of developing the , Microsoft examined all vulnerabilities from July 2010 through April 2011 and found that 37 percent of them either had less impact, or no affect whatsoever on newer platforms.

Joseph Chen, senior manager for , agrees that Windows 7 and Windows Vista are both more secure than previous Windows operating systems. "Windows 7 and Vista provide User Account Control, which enables users to set up user accounts with fewer privileges by default. In XP, user accounts are given administrator privileges by default. That is a security liability because many vulnerabilities and exploits only give attackers control over a computer in the context of the currently logged-in user."

Aryeh Goretsky, a researcher with , points out that Microsoft had years of lessons learned from XP to apply to Vista, and that Vista was developed using Microsoft's industry-respected Security Development Lifecycle (SDLC).