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Microsoft Windows Vista is a major upgrade to the Windows
operating system and is both an evolutionary and revolutionary step forward
in the progression of the Windows platform. Vista achieves greater levels of
security, reliability, and performance than any previous Windows Operating
system.
The most visible change in Vista is its new graphical
user interface (GUI). Windows Vista's new GUI allows for seamless
integration of 2D and 3D vector graphics, images, animations, and video
while maintaining the snappy performance Windows users expect. On systems
that have older or integrated graphics, Windows Vista will scale back to
graphical levels comparable to that experienced on Windows XP or Windows
2000 while maintaining glitch-free performance.
Windows Vista offers many other enhancements and conveniences. New visualization, organization, and search technologies let users view documents without first opening an associated application, organize information in a way that makes the most sense to them, and quickly find the information they need. Spellchecking and enhanced speech recognition are integral parts of the user interface. Real-time communications services like conferencing, application sharing, peer-to-peer, and remote desktop have been enhanced to make it easier to connect to your computer or to friends' computers remotely and have a richer experience doing so.
Vista Versions
Home Basic
The Home Basic version is intended for those who only want to use their PC to browse the net, use e-mail and create and edit basic documents. It also includes desktop search, parental controls and enhanced security tools. Home Basic does not include the much discussed Aero graphics interface. I recommend skipping Home Basic and considering another version of Vista.
Home Premium
Vista Home Premium helps consumers utilize mobile or desktop PC functionality while providing the best digital entertainment experience. Includes everything in Vista Home Basic, plus Vista Aero, Media Center and Tablet PC capabilities. This is the version I recommend for most home users.
Business
Vista Business for small to medium size businesses, adds improved networking features, complete backup and restore functions, file encryption and remote desktop. Does not have the media center or parental control features of Vista Home Premium. Obviously recommended for business users.
Ultimate
Vista Ultimate combines all the features of Home Premium and Vista Business. Recommended for those who want it all. Now!!!
New Vista Start Menu
The Start Menu in Vista looks different from the XP Start Menu, and provides
a lot more functionality - once you get used to it. The Search box at the
bottom can be used to find just about anything: email messages, document
files, even programs. You'll soon find yourself using it instead of drilling
down through the All Programs menu. You can also use it instead of Run as a
command line box to run executables; just type the command in the box.
If you don't like the new Start Menu, though, you can easily change it back
to the Classic menu, like the one in Windows 2000. Just right click the
Start button, click Properties and choose Classic Start Menu. But note that
this option doesn't include the Search box.
How to get to the Vista Sidebar quickly
If you open up lots of programs at a time, sometimes
your gadget sidebar and any gadgets that you've detached from the bar get
covered up under layers of windows. You could configure the gadget bar to
always stay on top by right clicking it, selecting Properties and choosing
Sidebar Is Always On Top of Other Windows but that eats up a lot of screen
real estate and besides, I've found it doesn't always work.
Luckily, there's a way to quickly bring the sidebar and detached gadgets to
the foreground: just press the Windows logo key plus the space bar.
Use
gadgets without the sidebar
Do you like some of the sidebar gadgets but don't care
for the sidebar itself running down the side of your monitor? You can drag
your favorite gadgets off the sidebar and put them on the desktop, then
right click an empty space on the sidebar and click Close Sidebar. The
gadgets on the desktop still work and you regain some of your screen real
estate.
Editing photos in Vista
Vista includes many photo editing tools in the OS. The
Windows Photo Gallery is a replacement for the old Windows Picture and Fax
Viewer in XP, and it allows you to directly import digital photos from your
camera , CD, flash card, etc. When you import the pictures, you can have
them automatically rotated to the correct orientation. You can even select
to delete the photos from the camera after they've been transferred so you
don't have to do it manually. There are also basic editing functions such as
adjustment of exposure and color, cropping, and automatic red eye fix.
Tag your Photos
One new feature in Windows Vista is the ability to tag your photo files. Tags are metadata (file properties) that can be searched, so adding tags makes it easier to organize and find your pictures. You can open the new info pane to add tags or view tag information about an existing file.
You can also add titles, subjects, ratings, comments, author name, and more to a photo's properties. Just right click the photo file, select Properties and click the Details tab. When you hover over the Value column, a text box will appear where you can type in the information.
Quickly disable Aero to run video games
If you sometimes need to disable the Aero interface so
you'll get better performance, as when running a video game that sucks up a lot
of resources, but you don't want to have to go through the whole disablement
process in the Personalization applet every time, here's what to do:
-
Make a shortcut, on the desktop or elsewhere, to the game or other
application that you want Aero turned off for.
-
Right click the shortcut and select Properties.
-
Click the Compatibility tab.
-
Under Settings, click "Disable desktop composition."
Get the Run command back
You probably know by now that you can run a program in
Vista just by typing the executable in the Search bar however, some people
prefer the old command that opened up a Run dialog box. You might also know that
you can bring up that Run dialog box with a keyboard shortcut: Win + R. But if
you're a clicker rather than a typer, you can easily reinstate the Run option on
the Start menu:
-
Right click Start and select Properties
-
Click Customize
-
On the Customize Start Menu dialog box,
put a checkmark in the box labeled "Run command."
Enable
Parental Controls
If you have kids who use computers, you probably worry
about what they do online. With Vista's parental controls, you can collect
information about the web sites they visit, the games they play, the files they
download, their email and instant messaging. You can also block certain web
sites or types of content, including specific games. You can even limit the
hours that they can access the computer. Here's how you enable parental
controls:
-
First, you need to create a separate account for the child to use. You do
this with the User Accounts applet in Control Panel.
-
Now, with Control Panel in the Vista default view, select User Accounts and
Family Safety, and click Parental Controls.
-
Select the child's account name.
-
Click "On, enforce current settings."
-
Choose whether to collect information about the child's activities.
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