Microsoft Windows Vista Unleashed

by McFedries, Paul

• ISBN13: 9780672330131
• ISBN10: 067233013X
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-04-04
• Publisher: Sams Publishing

Summary

Microsoftreg; Windows Vistatrade; Unleashed, Second Edition Paul McFedries Second Edition Includes coverage of Windows Vista Service Pack 1! Microsoft Windows Vista Unleashed, Second Edition, is a book for people, like you, who donrs"t consider themselves to be "average users." Itrs"s a book for anyone who finds that doing things the official way is slower, less efficient, and less powerful because Windows Vista was designed from the ground up to avoid confusing novice users. The result is default settings that restrict flexibility, interminable wizards that turn 2-step tasks into 12-step sagas, and the hiding of powerful and useful programs behind layers of menus and dialog boxes. To unleash the potential of Windows Vista, you need a different approach that blows away Vistars"s novice features and scorns the standard way of doing things. This book goes beyond the standard-issue techniques sanctioned by Microsoft and parroted in other Windows Vista books. Instead, this book offers shortcuts for boosting your productivity, customizations for making Windows Vista work the way you do, workarounds for known Windows Vista problems, and warnings for avoiding Windows Vista pitfalls. Along the way, yours"ll learn about all kinds of insider details, undocumented features, powerful tools, and background facts that help put everything into perspective. Paul McFedries is the president of Logophilia Limited, a technical writing company. He has been working with computers for more than 30 years and has been using Microsoft Windows since version 1. Paul has written more than 50 books that have sold more than 3 million copies worldwide. Learn whatrs"s new in Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Customize Windows Vista startup Troubleshoot software and hardware problems Tune Windows Vistars"s performance Automate Windows Vista with powerful and flexible scripts Implement Internet security and privacy features Configure and administer a small network Get the most out of Control Panel, group policies, the Registry, Device Manager, and other powerful tools Set up a complete maintenance program to keep Windows Vista running smoothly Discover a complete list of Windows Vista shortcut keys, a detailed look at the Command Prompt, and a batch file primer Master the new desktop search engine and learn how to group, stack, and filter files Understand and work with Windows Vistars"s User Account Control security feature Get the most out of your Tablet PC Take advantage of new Internet features such as RSS feeds, multiple home pages, and tabbed browsing Category: Microsoft Operating Systems Covers: Microsoft Windows Vista User Level: Intermediate-Advanced

Author Biography

Paul McFedries is the president of Logophilia Limited, a technical writing company. He has worked with computers in one form or another since 1975 and has used Windows since version 1 was foisted upon an unsuspecting (and underwhelmed) world in the mid-1980s. He is the author of more than 50 computer books that have sold more than three million copies worldwide. His recent titles include the Sams Publishing book Microsoft Windows Home Server Unleashed and the Que Publishing books Networking with Microsoft Windows Vista, Formulas and Functions with Microsoft Excel 2007, Tricks of the Microsoft Office 2007 Gurus, and Microsoft Access 2007 Forms, Reports, and Queries. Paul is also the proprietor of Word Spy (www.wordspy.com), a website devoted to tracking new words and phrases as they enter the English language.

Table of Contents

1 An Overview of Windows Vista	p. 1
The Development of Windows Vista	p. 2
Vista Unveiled	p. 3
Whats Not in Windows Vista	p. 4
Windows Vista System Requirements	p. 5
Processor Requirements	p. 5
Memory Requirements	p. 6
Storage Requirements	p. 7
Graphics Requirements	p. 8
Hardware Requirements for Various Vista Features	p. 9
Windows Vista Editions	p. 10
Windows Anytime Upgrade	p. 12
New Interface Features	p. 14
Whats New Under the Hood	p. 18
Support for Document Metadata	p. 19
Stability Improvements	p. 20
Security Enhancements	p. 21
Windows Presentation Foundation	p. 23
Desktop Window Manager	p. 23
Improved Graphics	p. 23
Transactional NTFS	p. 23
XML Paper Specification	p. 24
New and Improved Programs and Tools	p. 24
Welcome Center	p. 24
Control Panel	p. 24
Internet Explorer	p. 7
Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

Introduction Introduction We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time. --T. S. Eliot My goal in writingMicrosoft Windows Vista Unleashedis to cover the good, the bad, and, yes, even the ugly of Windows Vista. In particular, I give you complete coverage of the intermediate-to-advanced features of Windows Vista. This means that I bypass basic topics, such as wielding the mouse, in favor of more complex operations, such as working with the Registry, maintaining and troubleshooting your system, networking, and getting around the Internet. I've tried to keep the chapters focused on the topic at hand and unburdened with long-winded theoretical discussions. However, there are plenty of situations in which you won't be able to unleash the full power of Windows Vista and truly understand whatgoing on unless you have a solid base on which to stand. In these cases, I'll give you whatever theory and background you need to get up to speed. From there, I'll get right down to brass tacks without any further fuss and bother. Who Should Read This Book All writers write with an audience in mind. Actually, I'm not sure whether that's true for novelists and poets and the like, but itshouldbe true for any technical writer who wants to create a useful and comprehensible book. Here are the members of my own imagined audience: IT professionals--These brave souls must decide whether to move to Vista, work out deployment issues, and support the new Vista desktops. The whole book has information related to your job and Vista. Power users--These elite users get their power via knowledge. With that in mind, this book extends the Windows power user's know-how by presenting an exhaustive account of everything that's new and improved in Windows Vista. Business users--If your company is thinking of or has already committed to moving to Vista, you need to know what you, your colleagues, and your staff are getting into. You also want to know what Vista will do to improve your productivity and make your life at the office easier. You learn all of this and more in this book. Road warriors--If you travel for a living, you probably want to know what Vista brings to the remote computing table. Will you be able to synchronize data, connect to the network, and manage power better than before? What other new notebook features can be found in Vista? You'll find out in this book. Small business owners--If you run a small or home business, you probably want to know whether Vista will give you a good return on investment. Will it make it easier to set up and maintain a network? Will Vista computers be more stable? Will your employees be able to collaborate easier? The answer turns out to be "Yes" for all of these questions, and I'll show you why. Multimedia users--If you use your computer to listen to music or radio stations, watch TV, work with digital photographs, edit digital movies, or burn CDs and DVDs, you'll be interested to know that Vista has a handful of new features that affect all of these activities. Also, to keep the chapters uncluttered, I've made a few assumptions about what you know and what you don't know: I assume that you have knowledge of rudimentary computer concepts such as files and folders. I assume that you're familiar with the basic Windows skills: mouse maneuvering, dialog box negotiation, pull-down menu jockeying, and so on. I assume that you can operate peripherals attached to your comput