Application Install Guide

Eight Fixes for Vista’s Worst Features

Windows Vista has Loads of features, but not all work as they should. Here's how to tweak, modify, or work around the operating system's biggest blunders. The developers of Windows Vista had some great design ideas, but poor implementation turned many fine concepts into lousy, annoying features. To be fair, Vista inherited most of these well-intentioned flaws from earlier Windows versions but it either failed to correct them or didn't even try. Here are eight of Vista's most irritating flo...

Hands-On With Windows Vista Service Pack 1

The first service pack for Microsoft Windows Vista operating system won't arrive until early next year, but judging from many experience with a beta of SP1, the update will be more about stability and security fixes than noticeable performance gains. What is Improved Many alterations in this service pack, the tested version of 0.275 won't be obvious to a casual user. You probably won't notice any interface changes, for example. Instead, Microsoft says, the service pack beta improves stabi...

Top 5 Windows Vista Features

When Beta 2 of Vista was released in May 2006, many blog listed these favorite Vista features: Windows Flip, Meeting Space, SideShow, and performance enhancers SuperFetch, ReadyBoost, and ReadyDrive. After a few months of reviewing with Beta 2, though, here the list of Tops 5 compiled by Computer Shopper. 1. EXPLORER BREADCRUMBS Vista offers lots of features with a high geewhiz factor that catch your eye at first, such as the live file previews in the new Explorer or if you can run Aero, th...

What You Need To Run Windows Vista

Microsoft will have six versions of Vista available at launch and two categories of hardware requirements (Windows Vista Capable and Vista Premium Ready) for running different levels of the OS. All versions of Vista will operate and provide basic functionality on a Windows Vista Capable machine, but for all versions except Vista Home Basic and Vista Starter, you’ll want to go with a Vista Premium Ready configuration, at a minimum, to get access to all features. For the best experience, though,...