RSA was great last week - security was clearly top of mind for the attendees, and I fielded a number of different questions last week about how Microsoft protects our customers. Some are pretty straightforward around how the various Windows 7 security technologies work, but many have focused on how we actually deliver protection to customers on an ongoing basis.

One question that comes up more than I would have ever expected is: Who gets security updates?

There seems to be a myth that Microsoft limits security updates to genuine Windows users.

Let me be clear: all security updates go to all users.

Not only do all security updates go to all users' systems, but non-genuine Windows systems are able to install service packs, update rollups, and important reliability and application compatibility updates. In addition, the users of non-genuine Windows systems can also upgrade a lot of the other software on their computer. For example Internet Explorer 8 has numerous security- oriented features and improvements, and it is available to all users.

This isn't to say that all updates are available to non-genuine PCs. Other value-adding updates and software may or may not be blocked, at Microsoft's discretion. On Windows Vista, available updates can be accessed through the Windows Update control panel. On Windows XP, a non-genuine Windows system can access updates through Automatic Updates, but they cannot get to any of the optional updates which are only available through the Windows Update and Microsoft Update websites.

Keeping a machine up to date is one of the first steps in helping ensure that they remain reliable, compatible, and safe from threats when they are online. Some of the most famous incidents of malicious software infection have come after security updates were publicly available from Microsoft - Blaster, Zotob, Conficker and Sasser, just to name a few.

I hope this clears up some confusion. Rest assured that we at Microsoft are committed to making sure that security updates are available to all of our users to help ensure a safe online experience for everyone.

Here’s the last of the security stories from the RSA show floor. To wrap things up we asked John (JG) Chirapurath (Director, Identity & Security Business Group) to give us a quick rundown on Microsoft Forefront for Business Ready Security and how it fits in with Windows 7.

Here is another story from a Microsoft Program Manger discussing their favorite things in Windows 7. This time it is Eric Lawrence (Senior Program Manager on the Internet Explorer Team) to talk about his favorite security features in Internet Explorer 8, the browser that ships in Windows 7.

While walking the show floor here at RSA, I ran into Steve Riley, who’s an incredibly passionate and knowledgeable Security Evangelist (or officially “Senior Technical Evangelist”) in Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing organization. He’s a well respected and sought out speaker on security topics. So I thought it would be great to get Steve’s take on his favorite two security features in Windows 7. Take a look at what Steve has to say about Windows 7 security!

The buzz at RSA around Windows 7 has been tremendous.

Yesterday, in his keynote, Scott Charney (Corporate VP Trustworthy Computing) talked about AppLocker and how it helps ensure that only known, trusted software is run within an organization’s desktop environment. Shortly after the keynote, I ran into Marcelo Birnbach - a Senior Program Manager in the Windows Security Technologies organization and works on AppLocker - on the expo floor. Since he’s an expert, we thought we would ask him for his perspective on AppLocker in Windows 7.

Marcelo Birnbach talks about Windows 7’s AppLocker Feature

And since Marcelo is originally from Argentina, we also asked him to share his thoughts in Spanish.