Microsoft went a step further in at least three areas. First, accounts with computer-administrator privileges are no longer equal to the Administrator log-in. When you open something that Vista deems needs protection, you will be prompted with a Continue/Cancel or Allow/Cancel prompt. The only point of this is to prevent malware or hackers from accessing things unchecked. In other words, you become the last line of defense in an endless dress rehearsal for the worst-case scenario. Ugh.

If you're using the Standard log-in, which has fewer privileges, you'll be prompted with a box that requires both your assent and your Administrator password. The Standard log-in is ideal for children or when multiple inexperienced people are sharing a PC. This Standard log-in behavior is just fine, by the way. (Even if I don't adopt Vista myself, my kids will definitely be using it.)

Microsoft's second additional authentication protection in Vista was to go through every process to gauge whether to assign it User Account Controls. This protected list is extremely long in Vista Beta 2, including Control Panels for Windows Firewall, Scanners and Cameras, Parental Controls, iSCSI Initiator, Device Manager, BitLocker drive encryption and Add Hardware. Numerous functions accessed in the System Control Panel (and many others) also cause the User Account Control confirmation dialogs. So many things are, in fact, protected by requiring your OK that it'll drive you batty. And there's no way to say "never ask me this again about this item." If you disliked Windows XP Service Pack 2's version of Internet Explorer 6 because of its many security nag screens, you would absolutely hate Windows Vista Beta 2.

The third added step is more protection for the System Registry and Program Files folders to prevent applications from writing without permission to the Registry or writing settings data into Program Files folders. This is also a good thing, but it creates problems for many applications, which may not successfully install or operate because they expect to be able to write where they are not "supposed" to. And to be fair, Microsoft has asked software makers for years not to write settings data to the Program Files area and to cut way back on writing to the System Registry, which should probably only ever occur during installation. Many ISVs have chosen to ignore those strong guidelines. And it's their applications that might get hung up by Vista's new protections.