Windows Vista Tips and Tricks

Vista - Why it Flopped

France — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:33:57 +0000

The Microsoft line of Operating Systems has been around since the beginning of the personal computer and is considered to be one of the earliest forms of user-friendly operating systems around. It allowed non-technical people and even kids to learn how to use them without being a programmer as opposed to the command line interface most older generations of pc’s had. The first inn ovations of GUI or Graphics User Interface or the use of graphics icons to signify the many parts of the computer began with the early days of Apple when Jobbs was handling all the marketing of the first prototypes as well as the first generation of the Mac.
Windows has captivated the market, though Apple still has the Mac line of desktop computers that was generally better than any PC you could buy, however high-end people stuck with cheaper PC’s that can be mixed and matched. Those were the days when floppy’s and Cd’s were king and just about anybody could install a copy of the now proprietary Windows operating system from bootleg copies all over the place. Then Microsoft began to notice that they were losing profits from these bootlegs and tried to initiate copy control programs that utterly failed to curb the problem much like the piracy seen in DVD’s and Music CD’s today.
Not so long ago, we had the infamous WGA which first tried to make it’s entry unannounced, quickly noticed and criticized by the growing mob of angry computer users who hated Microsoft for their Capitalist ways. It was deemed illegal and an invasion of privacy so the company made it known, asking permission before it made entry to subsequent installations of the Windows operating system. Then came the browser wars, and again Microsoft faced challenge from the many budding browsers that were making their way into the computing industry saying that Microsoft was engaging in anti-competitive activities, bundling their Internet Explorer that stopped other browsers from working from within the Windows platform.
Microsoft has had a long and illustrious history with the rise and fall of many of it’s products that used to grace almost all computer screens the world over. Today, you get the nagging reminder known as WGA telling you you have a bootleg copy of the OS, and that you need to purchase a legitimate copy to continue using the system without impediment. Some say it causes crashes after sometime, Microsoft says it does no such thing and merely reminds people to get legitimate copies of the operating system (who do you beleive?). Whatever people decide to do when the new and seemingly improved Windows 7 makes it’s entry is anybody’s guess. Just hope it meets all expectations and does take the throne from windows XP, still the king of the OS’s the world over.

Windows Vista may Get Free Win 7 Upgrades

France — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 00:25:19 +0000

Despite lukewarm news regarding the coming of Windows 7, Microsoft has announced that they will be offering free upgrades for those people who have just recently purchased copies of Vista. The other pricing guides for upgrades and pre-ordering is out but still people are wary of the added strain of having to buy a new Operating System while the old one still works. The details between the types of Windows 7 have also emerged, a bit less than the previous release of Vista which had six, Home/home premium, Professional/premium and of course the Ultimate/ultimate premium versions that spawned confusion to the real versions people had. They were actually the same product, packaged with different add-ons to answer to the different needs people had.
People at home can get the home and home premium version which had more add-ons that offered better performance. The professional version, had extensions for business productivity and had 32 as well as 64-bit flavors. The ultimate packs had the best add-ons and was usually set for gamers and other people who needed the best and fastest performance out of their operating system, they also had support for most high end graphics cards and used the right extensions for 32 and 64 bit operation.

UAC - The Nagging Issue that Keeps Popping Up

France — Sun, 03 May 2009 00:23:24 +0000

Universal Accounts Control is the pop-up or rather the program that monitors if you are about to do something that may influence the system’s overall stability. It is the ever present pop-up that tells or asks you that you should have administrator access or privileges in order to do what you are about to do. One thing that has surfaced during the time Vista has been in the wild is that this very program that has been designed to protect you indeed does, in certain cases. One thing that happens behind the scenes is the fact that any program that has valid security certificates can and does go through without UAC ever noticing. This fast-tracking of hidden applications is what people are fearing the most for it can possibly be hijacked by malware for it to do it’s thing with you left in the dust, not knowing a thing was happening.
From identity theft to other potentially dangerous programs that can run behind the scenes without the user’s knowledge, they do raise alarms all over the industry and the very same system or a version of this UAC is set to be included with the upcoming Windows 7 which is set to go on sale beginning October this year. One who doesn;t have admin access can indeed circumvent the security feature by stating you are the administrator of the said computer, all other tasks that follow are not checked by UAC due to the fact you already have admin access. This is an issue that hasn’t really been addressed well by Microsoft, who has rebuked all who have criticized the said program saying it was put there for a purpose and it seems to be doing fine by their standards.

Why People Seek XP Compatibility

France — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 00:21:33 +0000

Everybody seems to have a need for their upcoming operating system to look and feel like XP which Microsoft has partly allowed, sort of. There is a so-called XP compatibility mode that would allow the operating system, in this case Windows 7, to have the look and feel of XP in a sense but that goes only on the surface. Familiarity is the main reason for this odd request form the many users who face an uncertain future with the upcoming Windows 7. Fear of having to again learn the work-around of the system is the main factor why the developer, Microsoft has released news that it will indeed in the front have the ability to look like XP.
The new and improved Windows is their latest bet to get people to change from their old XP installs to again buy and upgrade their Operating systems but not many seem to be listening. One reason maybe the insensitive nature of the timing with most people suffering form the recession, and with them having acquired quite a lot of investment in terms of gadgets and software that works fine with XP may not work at all with Win 7. This along with the added cost of having to purchase a new OS, and a need to upgrade if not totally replace your computer may be the last nail that may leave Win 7 high and dry like Vista.

The Battle of the Cores

France — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 00:19:31 +0000

Multi-core computers that is and it seems Vista still lacks luster compared to XP and surprisingly even against the RC of the upcoming Windows 7. The world as it seems still belongs to Xp even with it being repetitively announced for ending it’s support cycle. The system is stable and has withstood the test of time which compared to Vista that has all but flopped it may still outlive the rest of the operating systems out on the market.
Windows has been and is still one of the most used operating systems all over the globe but with two versions already in the wild, it seems people still love their XP installs over the more secure Vista (so they say). Multi-core processors were in fact developed in the age of XP and the 32-bit operating system. Though also available in 64-bit it soon became apparent that not too many applications and gadgets supported 64-bit computing even with the multiple cores that have been loaded onto one single package. Mostly used for high-end business applications they have little use for home users and the rest of us normal folk.

Disk cleanup

editor — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 02:17:22 +0000

One of the most neglected tasks in Windows Vista (or any other Windows version for that matter) is running Disk Cleanup. As the name implies, Disk Cleanup cleans out your Temporary Files folder and all other trash (not to be confused with the Recycle Bin) that’s scattered throughout your system.

To run Disk Cleanup, you can go to your Start Menu > Program Files > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Cleanup. You then select the drive you want to clean up - which is usually your boot drive, or C: - and then check the sections you want cleared of digital debris. Another way is to type ‘cleanmgr’ into your Run box in the Start Menu to take you directly to Disk Cleanup.

After this you can enjoy a faster boot and general speed as well.

Windows 7.0 ??? Why so soon?

France — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 04:57:21 +0000

The leakage of screen shots of the much rumored upcoming replacement for Windows 6.0 or Vista is raising speculation on Microsoft’s drive to re-gain ground due to their many commercial mistakes from the ill-performance of Vista which failed to get more than enough support from the many skeptical XP users. Called too nosy, too complicated and more, Vista has angered a lot of users that most had to revert back to XP which has reached ideal stability that was the status of Win98 when they pulled the plug when XP was introduced. They have been criticized a lot for the move but the resistance was short lived when they worked hard enough to get it downright stable enough to satisfy their customers. They did it again with XP when they announced they were pulling the plug on support for XP that just happened to coincide with their release of Vista which had a radical look but was soon plagued by so many problems even Microsoft gave up on trying to salvage the project and simply moved on in secret of course to come up with a successor to Vista and fast to make up for lost ground before they took XP support off-line this year.

Make menu loads faster

editor — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 11:13:20 +0000

If you’re using Windows Vista on your PC, you’re bound to get frustrated from time to time about how slow the menus seem to be. It’s a good thing then,that we were able to find an article on how to speed this thing up!

A simple registry tweak will allow you to speed up the menu. First load the registry editor by launching regedit from the Run menu (Press WINDOWS KEY + R to access the run menu).

Then, navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop in the side panel, then right click on MenuShowDelay and select Modify.

Now, enter the menu delay time in milliseconds (1 is near instant, do not enter 0!) and press OK

Once you have restarted your menus will slide at near instant speeds. The default setting is 400 should you wish to restore the default menu setting.

Source

Vista’s Easy Transfer

France — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 05:27:06 +0000

Image Source: images.pcworld.com

There is a cool feature in Microsoft’s latest operating system that i truly like . It provides a safe and easy way to transfer files and other important documents to another computer. It works very well. Just also be reminded not to expect to much from this service. Because first of all, it was created to at least alleviate our situation when we need transfer data from one device to another. Its a simple but effective tool for this kind of task. It works good most especially when the two PCs are connected and that the other PC also is running on Windows Vista. Usb cable will do, actually. But if you know how to connect it through a network, that’s much better. Easy transfer can only pick up data files and some Windows registry entries, nothing so complicated. So don’t expect to work miracles for you.

Backup Windows Vista

France — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 04:50:47 +0000

Image Source: media.bestofmicro.com

The Backup and Restore Center which is packaged with Windows Vista is an excellent tool, which allows you to backup and restore critical files or image of your OS.

How to launch the utility “Back up and Restore Center”.

Press the Start buttom
Type Backup
Select Backup and Restore Center

How to Back Up files
Click Backup Files and follow the prompt or directions that pops up on the screen. Select the directories and the specific files you want to backup. Then look for a prefered place to store the backed up files. Ideally it is best to put it on an external hard drive or a DVD.

How to Restore Files
Simply launch the Backup and Restore Center application and select Restore Files. Insert the DVD or external hard drive and look for the back up file and simply follow the prompt which will appear on the screen.

Back Up the Registry
Sometimes when you tweak your PC, you unknowingly change registry values. This sometimes causes failure of functionalities within your operating system. So we need to back up the registry as well.