So, for those who’ve been demanding that Microsoft offer a fully functional two-way firewall, your request has been granted. In articles about the December CTP Build 5270, I’ve seen vague references to this new feature, but to my knowledge no one has yet published any details. So consider this a scoop.

After installing Windows Vista Build 5270 and examining all security options in Control Panel, you might conclude that the Windows Firewall hasn’t changed at all. To get to the more powerful functionality, the bare-bones Control Panel applet won’t do; you need to create a custom Microsoft Management Console (mmc.exe); load the Windows Firewall with Advanced Security snap-in; and point it at your local computer. When you do, you see a well-organized interface for controlling all firewall settings. Here’s a snippet:

Two things jump right out at you: First, you get separate firewall profiles, depending on whether or not your computer is connected to a domain. Second, outbound connections are allowed by default in both profiles. To change these settings, click the Windows Firewall Properties link. That opens this dialog box:

With one mouse click, as I’ve shown here, you can instantly block all outgoing connections except those you define as exceptions. That list of exceptions appears in the Windows Firewall with Advanced Security console. In a default installation, several dozen exceptions are defined but not enabled. After turning on the Block option for outbound connections, you can go through and enable the exceptions you want and define custom connections as well, with an excruciating level of detail. (In managed environments, you’ll be able to automate all these settings through Group Policy or using the netsh advfirewall from a command prompt.)

The documentation for these new firewall features is sparse at this point. The MMC console contains a half-dozen links that point to non-existent help topics and white papers. I’m betting that a few interface tweaks are yet to come, including a notification feature that allows you to see when an application tries to make an unsolicited outbound connection so you can approve it on the fly. For now, I can confirm that the outbound blocking works very well indeed. After enabling this feature, not a single program I tested, including Internet Explorer, was able to connect to any computer on the local network or on the Internet until an exception was defined.

Of course, we’ll be digging deep into this feature in Windows Vista Inside Out, and I’ll add more details after I receive the next CTP build, due around the end of this month.

It’s way, way, way too early to be making decisions about an OS upgrade that’s nearly a year away, but Dwight Silverman has some preliminary thoughts in a well-written review entitled Vista’s nifty, but it’s not irresistible:

I’ve been playing with the latest test version of Vista for several weeks and spent some time at CES getting questions answered by Microsoft. I’ve not yet seen a feature that made me sit up and say, “Wow, I must have that.”

I think it will be the whole of Windows Vista that may be its selling point, rather than one or two killer features. If its value is greater than the sum of its parts, Microsoft will have a compelling product. If not, consumers may just yawn and keep using Windows XP.

Some quick reactions:

I think for a hard core of power users, there will be some compelling features. The most noteworthy is the core set of Media Center capabilities, which will be built into the base operating system. For anyone who owns an Xbox 360, the combination will allow you to stream music, pictures, videos, and TV from the den to the living room with ease.

Also, features aren’t as important as how capabilities of the OS are leveraged in applications. If there are any new programs that leverage Vista features (especially the improved file management and search tools), those could provide a compelling reason to upgrade.

Finally, don’t overestimate the importance of upgrades. Historically, upgrades represent well under 10% of the total market for any Windows version. Within a few months after its release, Vista will be on every new consumer PC. The job of a new OS is to take advantage of new hardware capabilities and to deliver an experience that makes the buyer happy they got that new PC.

I’ve never heard of this site before, but BentUser has an interesting visual comparison of Windows XP and Windows Vista beta 5270. If you just want a quick overview of some of the obvious features, this is a good place to start.