Professional Windows 7 Development Guide

Chapter 13. Interacting with the Built-In Security Features

WHAT'S IN THIS CHAPTER?

• Building firewall interactivity

• Checking Windows Update

• Interacting with AppLocker

To this point, this part of the book has focused on security within the application. Internal security is extremely important. The better you can protect the application's internal workings, the less likely it is that you'll encounter problems normally associated with security issues, such as data loss. However, most applications today aren't islands unto themselves — they interact with the outside world. External interaction means working with Windows features that protect the system as a whole, such as the Windows Firewall. Because of the threats by external entities, if your application needs to communicate with the outside world using anything other than the standard ports, you need to know how to create entries for your application using the Windows Firewall.

Your application will also need to perform other checks in some situations. For example, you might want to ensure that the user has automatic updates enabled, and that the system has certain updates installed. Some applications fail to work when the application needs certain updates in place, and the user has failed to install them. Likewise, applications are more reliant on virus protection today. Your application may need to check the user's use of virus protection before it installs or performs other tasks. This chapter demonstrates how to interact with all ...