protected mode

"Protected Mode provides the safety of a robust Internet browsing experience while helping prevent hackers from taking over the system and installing programs or deleting your information." At least, that's what the Windows Vista web site and all ... the commercials tell you. The problem is, you're not as protected as you thought you were. According to Microsoft, users with Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) in Windows Vista are better protected from malicious web exploits than users with IE7 in Windows XP -- all thanks to the introduction of Vista's Protected Mode. With Protected Mode enabled on a ... (view more)

Protected mode (sometimes abbreviated pmode) is an operational mode of x86-compatible CPUs of the 80286 series or later. Protected mode has a number of new features designed to enhance multitasking and system stability, such as memory protection, a ... paging system, and hardware support for virtual memory. Most modern x86 operating systems run in protected mode, including Linux, FreeBSD, and versions of Microsoft Windows 2.0 and later. The other operational mode of 386 and later CPUs is real mode, a backwards compatibility mode that disables these features, designed to allow old software to run ... (view more)