Windows Operating System Vulnerabilities

Computers have brought about a revolution across all industries. Computers have become the most important part for the success of any enterprise. Computers are the best means for proper storage and management of data. They can assist as knowledge bases and can be utilized for financial transactions due to their processing power and storage capacities. PCs handle and keep a track of data which is very confidential and essential for an organization. So, managing the security of these computers is a very important task. This realization has led to the development of techniques that attempt to detect problems or loopholes in software systems. However, there exist some software failures which could be used for an intentional attempt to severely damage the systems. These software failures commonly denoted as computer vulnerabilities, have special properties that separate them from other software failures. The detailed analysis of each vulnerability classifies its characteristics, policies violated by its exploitation, and leads to the understanding of the measures that are needed to eradicate these vulnerabilities in future programs. This paper aims to demonstrate several vulnerabilities in the http://www.ijccr.com VOLUME 1 ISSUE 3 MANUSCRIPT 13 NOVEMBER 2011 Windows Operating system. It will demonstrate and analyze how registry, clipboard, autoplay and task manger are vulnerable to attacks in Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7.