Windows Vista's installer can detect serial-ATA
Windows Vista's installer can detect serial-ATA (SATA) drives without
the need to provide a driver diskette. Don't bother creating a diskette
for your SATA drives before you install Vista.
Create XML documents
You can create XML documents, which are more secure than regular text
files or even word processor docs. Just create a document in a word
processor, print it via the options menu, and select the XPS printer.
If you upgrade your graphics card in preparation for Windows Vista
If you upgrade your graphics card in preparation for Windows Vista, be
sure to get a new card with as much local memory as possible. Since
Windows Vista renders everything—even the desktop and windows
them-selves—as 3D surfaces, local 3D memory greatly improves
performance...sometimes even more than a more powerful GPU.
Help system
When using the
Help system, it's usually advantageous to include Microsoft's online
database in your search. The online/offline status of your search is
located on the bottom right of the Help window. You can click it to
toggle.
Games folder is a powerful repository of all things gaming
The Games folder is a powerful repository of all things gaming. From
within, you launch games, update games with the latest patches, enable
parental controls to protect younger users from harmful content, and
more. Invoke it by clicking Start/Games.
A quick double-click closes the window
Do you use the icon in the upper left corner of system and application
windows? A quick double-click closes the window (instead of a single
click on the X at the upper right). Though Microsoft left the icon out
in Vista, the function remains.
Microsoft Windows Explorer
In
Microsoft Windows Explorer, you can use column headers (Name, Size, and
so on) to sort files. Savvy users may right-click on a column head to
remove items or add some—say, Dimensions for images. There are around
45 such columns available in Windows XP. Windows Vista has well over
250, covering a multitude of metadata.
If you've become used to surfing your Program Menu to get to applications.
If you've become used to surfing your Program Menu to get to
applications, you'll be in for a shock when you first use Microsoft
Windows Vista. The new Program Menu shows you only recently used
applications and requires extra clicks to navigate to submenus. This
can be very frustrating but, thankfully, the Search box Microsoft has
added to the Start menu is a great replacement—as long as you're an
accurate typist. As quickly as you can type, it returns intelligent
results in apps, files, even e-mail messages.
Customize the size of desktop and file icons.
For some time, it has been possible to adjust font size in office
documents and Web browsers simply by holding down the CTRL key while
rolling your mouse wheel up and down. In Vista, the same action lets
you tweak the size of your desktop icons. Just click on an empty area
of the desktop, hold down CTRL, and spin your mouse wheel until the
icons are the size you want. You can also adjust the size of your file
or folder icons in Windows Explorer by doing the same thing. This is
extremely handy for viewing thumbnails of images..
Note: For more
Windows Vista Tips, Tricks &
Tweaks.
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