Ninety days after its release to business customers, Windows Vista has cleared the first hurdle--no serious security flaws, so far. But it has stumbled badly on the second--user acceptance--as two big government agencies shun Microsoft's new operating system for other reasons.

According to a notice posted on Apple's Web site, the previous iTunes glitch that prevented Windows Vista users from playing music or video purchased from iTunes is no longer an issue. But in addition to the iPod-ejection problem, Apple warned that iTunes 7.1 might still exhibit difficulties synchronizing Windows Vista contacts with an iPod.

An update to Apple Inc.'s iTunes music software still hasn't resolved some of the compatibility problems with Microsoft Corp.'s new operating system.
The iTunes program is key to synching music on computers with iPod portable players, and the latest version, iTunes 7.1, comes a month after the iPod and Macintosh computer maker warned PC users against installing Windows Vista until Apple could fix the problems.

Apple removed that outright warning from its Web site on Monday and stated instead that the updated iTunes is recommended for use with most editions of Windows Vista. But Apple also conceded that some glitches, including possible corruption of a user's iPod player upon ejection from a PC, remain.

"Apple is actively working with Microsoft to resolve a few remaining known issues," the posting stated.

Apple representatives declined further comment and would not say how much longer users would have to wait for iTunes to be completely Vista-friendly.

According to the notice posted on Apple's Web site, the previous glitch that prevented Vista users from playing music or video purchased from the online iTunes Store is no longer an issue.

But in addition to the iPod-ejection problem, Apple warned that iTunes 7.1 may still exhibit difficulties synchronizing Windows contacts with an iPod. The text and graphics of iTunes running on a Vista machine also may not be correctly displayed, though resizing the iTunes screen should correct the issue.

Apple also reminded users that iTunes remains unsupported on 64-bit editions of either Windows XP or Windows Vista.

Microsoft has said it is working with a long list of partners, including Apple, to make sure their software is compatible with Vista. The new operating system launched Jan. 30.

Though Microsoft and Apple are partners in some cases -- iTunes works with Windows PCs and Microsoft Office has a version for Macs -- the two are also longtime rivals. They compete in computer systems, which Microsoft dominates, and in the digital music arena, which Apple dominates.

Microsoft's Live OneCare security software has failed tests which check how well it spots and stops malicious programs designed to attack Windows.

OneCare was the only failure among 17 anti-virus programs tested by the AV Comparatives organisation.

Microsoft's software only spotted 82.4% of the 500,000 viruses that the independent group subjected it to.

The test is the second in less than a month that Microsoft's anti-virus software has failed.

Minimum standard

Live OneCare is Microsoft's flagship security program that, like many other anti-virus products, is designed to help PC users keep their machine clear of malicious software.

Austria-based AV Comparatives carries out quarterly tests of top anti-virus programs to find out if they have kept up with the growing mass of viruses circulating online.

The tests see if anti-virus software can spot a variety of malicious programs including macro and script viruses, worms, backdoors and trojans.

The majority of programs tested, 14, got an advanced pass or better from AV Comparatives; two got a standard rating and OneCare failed.

OneCare fared particularly badly against so-called polymorphic viruses which regularly change their configuration in a bid to fool security software.

"Microsoft OneCare performed very low in the test, and did not reach the minimum requirements for participation," wrote Andreas Clementi, senior tester at AV Comparatives, in the report about the tests.

A Microsoft spokesman said: " We are looking closely at the methodology and results of the test to ensure that Windows Live OneCare performs better in future tests."

He added that Microsoft was trying to: "determine whether any learnings from these tests can be used to improve our services as part of our ongoing work to continually enhance Windows Live OneCare to ensure the highest level of protection and service that we can provide our customers."

The spokesman also pointed out that Windows OneCare had been certified by ICSA Labs and the West Point Checkpoint system.

In early February, security magazine Virus Bulletin revealed that OneCare failed to spot all the viruses it tested the software against.

Q: I am quite old and computer-ignorant. I need a new computer, as mine is about 6 years old and on its last legs. I took your suggestion and waited for Windows Vista, and I intend to get a

new Dell with all the power I can get.

What worries me is whether Vista will let me use programs that I used constantly over the years, such as Adobe Photoshop 2.0, which let me create and edit and print anything that came to mind.

Will my old programs work in a new Vista system computer? Will the new operating system have a graphics program?



A: I guess I'm quite old, too, because I, too, feel your trepidation over how my storehouse of older programs will work on machines running the new Vista Windows operating system.

So, I spent some time messing around with PCs fired by Vista and found that there seems little for most of us to worry about, because the new Windows version deals simply with backward compatibility.

I found that for the most part, my older programs worked the same with Vista as on their original machines. In some cases, loading these programs prompted a few dire-sounding warnings from Vista's beefed-up security system about proceeding. Ignore these pop-ups and keep on loading, and your programs should run fine.

Beyond that, Windows Vista includes two tools devoted to making old software work. First is an option called "Run as administrator," which will let users run programs that reach out to the Internet or do other things regulated by Windows when the computer is set up for multiple users. So, if you load something and it fails, give the program's icon a right click and select the "Run as administrator" option in the pop-up menu that appears.

Second, take a further look at that right-click menu for any program and you will find a tab for Compatibility.

Open the Compatibility tab, and you'll find a drop-down box that lets one set the program so Windows Vista will attempt to run it by emulating earlier operating systems, dating from Windows 95 to Windows.

Your second question about whether the Vista program will deliver features that you are getting out of Photoshop gets a qualified yes for an answer.

There are great new features in the photo side of things at Vista. When one opens a photo in Vista, it comes up in a display screen that includes a number of options in a toolbar at the top. A Fix option lets users make many of the same adjustments to images as Photoshop does. You get sliders to set brightness and contrast, other sliders to determine color temperature, and still others for tints and saturation. A crop tool lets one quickly snip at will and, of course, there's a red-eye reduction tool.