Six reasons you'll hate networking in Windows Vista

Where's the antivirus software?

Microsoft spent a lot of time on security in Vista, and it shows. It has an improved firewall, built-in antispyware and lots of extra security under the hood. So where's the antivirus software? That's just about the most basic security tool you need, and it's missing from Vista.

You may think that Microsoft didn't include antivirus software because the company worried it would be accused of being a monopoly if it included that software. Sure, and the Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus sit down every night with the Easter Bunny to have a tea party. After all, Vista includes antispyware and a personal firewall. So why stop at antivirus software?

I can't say I have a real answer, other than that Microsoft has begun selling a subscription-based security service, Windows Live OneCare and at the center of it is … yes, you guessed it, antivirus software. Could they possibly have left out the antivirus software in Vista because they wanted people to subscribe to Windows Live OneCar? I'll let you answer that one.

Confused Sync Center

Here's the good news: Windows Vista makes it easier to synchronize files between PCs, and between PCs and other devices, using offline files and the new Sync Center.

Here's the bad news: Using it can be very confusing.

Let's start off with the most annoying thing about it. Let's say you have a USB flash device, and you want to synchronize files and folders between the device and your PC. Go to the Sync Center, and the device appears. That would lead you to believe that you could actually sync with it. But there's no apparent way to do that. Highlight the flash drive in the Sync Center and click Set Up, and absolutely nothing happens. Go to the folder on the USB flash drive that you want to sync, and try to enable synchronization there -- once again, no dice.

The Sync Center: Great idea, poor implementation (Click image to see larger view)

There's more here as well that will confuse you. Let's say, for example, you've set up a sync partnership in the Sync Center, and you no longer want those folders to synch. You figure that something in the Sync Center should let you delete that partnership.

You may figure that, but you'd be wrong. In fact, there's no way to do it from the Sync Center. Instead, you have to go through a thoroughly nonintuitive process to do it. I'm not going to bore you with every step of the process, but in a nutshell, you'll have to leave the Sync Center, and from the remote PC, connect to the remote folder with which you're synching, right-click it, then uncheck the box next to Always Available Offline.

That will stop the synchronization, but it won't necessarily make the sync partnership disappear from the Sync Center. I had to reboot my PC in order for the partnership to vanish.

The bottom line

Everything you've read in this article may make you think I'm a Vista hater, or think Vista does a dismal job handling networking. Far from it. I've been using Vista for months, and networking with it for all that time, and I'm busy writing my book Windows Vista in a Nutshell using the network. As I wrote about in my previous article in this series, there's a lot going for Windows Vista when it comes to networking, and it's far, far superior to previous versions of Windows. But it simply should be better ... and here's hoping that Microsoft will launch patches and fixes in the interim, while it rethinks networking for the next version of Windows.

Related News and Opinion:

• Sound Off: What do you not like about networking in Vista?
• Preston Gralla's blog
• Visual Tour: 20 Things You Won't Like About Windows Vista
• Visual Tour: 20 Reasons Why Windows Vista Will Be Your Next OS
• Seven things to love about networking in Windows Vista