Windows has been updated for the Vista release to include several highly valuable data protection measures.

You can now block USB devices down to the individual type (or class) of device, and you can block devices broadly across a range of classes to allow or disallow access, and to allow or disallow installation.

Rights Management Services has been included in the OS, meaning that all users are ready to operate against your RMS server as soon as you enable it.

The Encrypting File System has been augmented with dialogs that are easier to use, and policy settings that allow you to encrypt the page file against subsequent attack, to offline files against other system users, and to use encryption keys maintained on a smart card, making it unlikely that you will lose the key or accidentally expose it to a third party.

BitLocker is a must-have feature for laptop users, and it even serves a purpose for desktop users who may want to keep a partition of their drive or an external, portable hard drive inaccessible to others.

PatchGuard is a paradigm-shifting attempt by Microsoft to reestablish control over what programs get to run in kernel space. Some antimalware vendors who are used to editing the kernel for themselves are upset that they will have to change their method of operation; others say its a brilliant move that will improve system stability.