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 flops, with quick fixes and workarounds.

User Account Control
People do some things in Windows-such as install destructive apps or edit the Registry that merit a stern “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” warning. Such situations may even warrant asking users to prove they’re administrators before letting them continue.

But Vista’s User Account Control (UAC) often fails to tell users why a given act is considered dangerous. Worse, Vista’s designers went overboard, forcing people to click through a UAC prompt to set the clock or start a manual backup. As a result, people get annoyed and start ignoring UAC, effectively removing any protection it might provide.

Here are three imperfect ways to stop UAC annoyances. One minor problem they share is that every so often, when you boot, Vista will announce that UAC is off. You can ignore the warnings, much as you’ve already learned to ignore UAC itself.

1. Just turn it off: This easy fix works well in an administrator account, but it renders standard accounts almost unusable. Select Start -> Control Panel -> User Accounts, and click Turn User Account Control on or off. Select Continue at the UAC prompt, and on the next screen, uncheck Use User Account Control (UAC) to help protecty our computer. Click OK and reboot.

2. UseTweakUAC: This free utility can turn UAC off for administrator accounts while leaving it on for everyone else. Simply run the program, select Switch UACto the quiet mode, and click OK.

3. Fine-tune the UAC settings: This tactic works in Vista Business or Ultimate. Select Start, type secpoLmsc, and press . In the left pane, navigate to the Security Settingsçy\cf0 Security Options folder. In the right pane, scroll to the bottom for nine ways to control UACs behavior.

The One-Way Firewall
Windows’ built-in firewall has always suffered from the same flaw: Though it blocks suspicious stuff that comes in, it does nothing about what your system sends out. Since an infected PC can mass-mail spam and forward your credit card numbers to someone without your better interest in mind, that’s an important shortcoming.

Vista supposedly fixed this problem with the addition of a firewall that is capable of watching and blocking outbound traffic. But that capability is turned off by default. And Vista’s designers neglected to put the controls that turn it on in a place where users are likely to look for them: the Windows Firewall Settings dialog box.

Here are two possible ways to deal with to the situation.

1. Turn on outgoing protection: Click Start, type firewall, and select Windows Firewall with Advanced Security. Click Windows Firewall Properties, in the dialog box, the first three tabs have an Outbound Connections drop-down menu. In all three, select Block.

2. Get another, better firewall: Even with its two-way protection enabled, Windows’ firewall is a feeble guardian. On the other hand, the free Comodo Firewall Pro came out tops in independent testing, ahead of products such as Norton Internet Security.

System Restore
Here’s an idea: Give Windows a built-in, automated backup application. Restoring a system backup should fix corrupted boot files, virus infections, Trojan horse installations, and Windows’ natural, slow deterioration without harming your data.

But you can’t permanently save a System Restore backup (called a restore point) to external media. Thus, while System Restore can usually return Windows to, say, last Wednesday’s state, it’s generally useless for bringing everything back to the perfect condition your PC was in last year. What’s more, restoring your system depends on having multiple restore points, such that one corrupt backup makes subsequent ones useless.

The best solution would be a system-backup program that leaves your data alone but backs up everything else to a removable (preferably bootable) disk. I have yet to encounter such a program.

Genie Backup Manager comes closer than anything else I’ve found. The utility offers many effective databackup options to make recovering your system easy.

Genie’s Disaster Recovery option insists on backing up everything on the drive, but you can restore the system while keeping the data unchanged by deselecting your data folders when you restore a Disaster Recovery backup. You can try this general-purpose backup program before you buy it.

In contrast, every other reliable system-backup program I know of is image based, meaning that the app restores the entire drive your data as well as the system. That’s fine if you’re recovering from a hard-drive crash, but if you want to restore last month’s Windows installation while keeping today’s documents, you’ll need to fully restore one backup and then selectively restore another.

On the other hand, some image-backup programs are free. If you have Vista Business or Ultimate, you already have one. To access it, select Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> Backup Status and Configuration -> Complete PC Backup. Another free option is DriveImage XML, which works best if you obtain it as part of the free Ultimate Boot CD for Windows. Just keep in mind that you’ll need to back up your data files separately.

Data Backup
You should back up your data every day. Lack of a system backup could cost you a couple of hours reinstalling Windows and your apps. But having no current data backup could mean losing irreplaceable family photos, your bank account information, or even your job.

For years Microsoft bundled lousy backup programs with Windows. Vista’s backup utility improves on that, but not by much; you can back up files by type, for instance, but not by location.

Here are some options.
1. Use bundled software: Since an external hard drive is the best medium to back your files up to, and since most such drives come with backup software, use the program that accompanied your drive. It’s almost certainly better than Vista’s.

2. Do it online: Uploading your data over the Internet is slow, but it’s easy and it adds protection by putting hundreds of miles between your hard drive and your backup. I recommend Mozy Home. It’s free for a 2GB backup, or $5 a month for unlimited storage from a single PC.

3. Use the best software: For my money, that’s the same Genie Backup Manager I recommended in the last tip. Versatile and simple to use, it easily handles scheduled and manual backups, and can even purge your backup media of old backups on a regular schedule. But the Home version costs $50, and the Professional one is $70.

4. Find a bargain: Argentum Backup doesn’t perform a full system backup, but it handles data backups well. It copies files or compresses them into .zip archives, so you don’t need Argentum Backup to restore them.

Programs and Features Uninstaller
Installing a Windows program usually means allowing its installation routine to dig its claws deep into the OS. Removing the program involves running an uninstaller that eliminates the application’s functionality but leaves the claws behind.

Vista took the old Control Panel applet called ‘Add and Remove Programs’ and renamed it ‘Programs and Features’, but the developers didn’t otherwise change it. This program just launches the unwanted app’s usually inadequate uninstaller.

For a better option, download the free Revo Uninstaller. Or download the portable version , which you don’t have to install (or uninstall). Like Vista’s Programs and Features, Revo has a convenient interface for launching your installed programs’ uninstallers. But after Revo does that job, it cleans up the mess the uninstaller left behind.

Windows Explorer’s Address Bar Menu
Microsoft did a number of things right in Vista’s version of Windows Explorer, but the address bar’s dropdown menu of recently visited folders isn’t one of them.

First problem: It lists only the folders you went to via the address bar. Worst problem: It also lists Web pages, which tend to be more numerous than folders. Personally, if I want to revisit a Web page, I’ll use my browser, not my file manager.

Luckily, you have a few alternatives.

1. Use the other recent folders list Click the down arrow to the left of the address bar for a list of recent folders. Close and reopen Explorer, and the list will be a blank slate.

2. Use favorite folders, instead: To place a shortcut to any folder in Explorer’s top-left pane in Vista, all you have to do is drag and drop.

3. Improve Windows Explorer I recommend installing FileBox eXtender, a free add-on by Hyperionics Technology that brings drop-down Recent and Favorites menus to Windows Explorer. A helpful hint: FileBox extender works best if you check its Keys & Menus tab’s Add folders from Windows… option.

Dragging Items to the Start Menu
Here’s a case where Vista’s developers took a feature that worked beautifully in Windows XP, and ruined it. In XP, if you wanted Start menu access to a program, file, or folder, all you needed to do was drag the item to the Start button and then to your desired location in the Start menu; Windows would then create a shortcut.

If you were to try that in Vista, it would actually move the file, program, or folder to the Start-menu folder. I’d be hard-pressed to imagine a situation where that would be a desirable result.

No real solutions are available, but here are a couple of kludgy workarounds.

1. Drop it on the Start button, not in the menu: This action creates a shortcut, but it appears on the left pane, rather than in the All Programs section. And if the item is a folder, the shortcut doesn’t act as a cascading submenu.

2. Use the context menu: Instead of left-dragging the object to the desired location in the Start menu, right-drag it. When you release the button, select Create Shortcuts Here from the resulting menu.

Folders in the Start Menu’s Right Pane
Vista’s redesigned Start menu introduced another great place where you can easily access a few important folders: the menu’s right pane. The icons are big and convenient, and you can set each icon to act as a link or a menu.

But the only folders you can put there are the few that Microsoft permits you to put there (Documents, Music, and so on).

Here are two fixes.

1. Make your special folder an official special folder You can get the folder you want access to on the pane by telling Windows that it is your photo or music folder. For details, see “Can I add XP-like expanding folder shortcuts to Vista’s Start menu?”

2. Use Vista Start Menu: Dennis Nazarenko’s free program replaces Windows’ own Start menu with a larger, more versatile, and to be honest ugly alternative. You can control what folders and other items appear on the main menu. Other cool features include keyboard shortcut labels that, by default, are visible only when you bring up the menu with the keyboard. Download Vista Start Menu.

Click for more information and details

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 stability, performance, and reliability when reactivating a machine from Hibernate or Suspend mode; enhances device-driver support; increases security; and adds support for new standards such as Extended File Allocation Table (intended to enhance flash storage on notebooks, not desktops).

According to Microsoft, typical load times for the final version should range from 30 to 60 minutes. The installation requires 7GB of free hard-drive space (some of which will be reclaimed after the installation is complete), though the finalized install file itself is expected to be a 50MB download via Windows Update.

In early tests with the beta, some small improvements in boot time on an HP Compaq 8710p Core 2 Duo notebook. Before SP1, the laptop took 1 minute, 51 seconds to boot. After the update, that figure dropped by almost 20 seconds.

Microsoft is also touting improvements in the speed of copying and extracting files, so that also tested a few of those scenarios. Noted that a slight increase in the time required to copy 562 JPEG images totalling 1.9GB from an SD Card to the hard drive of the a fore mentioned HP Compaq notebook.

In another test, Nero 7 Ultra on an Acer Aspire 5630 Core 2 Duo laptop were tested to add files to a disk image. After SP1 installed, the notebook built the disk image about 7 percent faster.

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, the live thumbnails of currently running apps on the Taskbar. But we have found Vista’s breadcrumb navigation to be much more useful, it lets me click quickly through subdirectory hierarchies to find what I need.

2. SEARCH ON THE START MENU
In retrospect, this should have been on my original list. I love being able to click on the Start menu and easily find files and launch applications. I can go to the search field and type something like C:/Users/Janice/Pictures or www.application-install-guide.com and go right there without launching Explorer or Internet Explorer. The feature works wonders for finding functions that otherwise take lots of clicking to uncover. Typing in Device Manager drops you right where you want to be rather than having to navigate to the Control Panel and look for the Device Manager icon.

3. SLEEP MODE
While SuperFetch and ReadyBoost are still pretty cool, my favorite performance improvement is much less glamorous. I’ve long envied Macs and their time-saving instant on/off ability, and with Vista, Windows has finally caught up. By combining XP’s Standby and Hibernate modes into a single, instant-off state, you can power up or down in just seconds.

4. MEETING SPACE
It was on my original list, and I still love this collaboration tool, which lets you create an ad hoc wireless connection with nearby Vista users even without a Wi-Fi network. You can share programs and jointly edit documents with up to 10 other users although Vista Home Basic users only get to view documents. In Beta 2, it is still called Windows Collaboration, but Microsoft plans to rename the tool Meeting Space for launch.

5. GUIDED HELP
Call me lazy, but I love Vista interactive Guided Help tool. Just over 30 help topics in Vista include the tool, which provides a step-by-step description of how to accomplish a task or lets you opt to have the task completed for you automatically. Click Show me step-by-step or Do it automatically, with the latter letting you observe all the steps by following a green arrow that floats across the screen, pointing and clicking the appropriate options. Each topic even recommends whether to use the automated process, or the step-by-step option.

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, standard recommend doubling the minimum requirements listed.

Windows Vista Ultimate
For advanced consumers or business users; the highest-end edition, combining the best features of all editions.

Minimum Requirements:
Windows Vista Premium Ready Logo
1GHz 32-bit or 64-bit processor
1GB RAM
DirectX 9-capable graphics with 128MB of graphics memory & support for Windows Display Driver Model
Pixel Shader 2.0 in hardware and 32-bit-per-pixel color
40GB hard drive (with 15GB free)
DVD-ROM drive

Windows Vista Home Basic
Analogous to Windows XP Home Edition, for basic consumer needs; includes Vista’s new security and search capabilities, but does not include higher-end Aero graphics, Media Center, or Tablet PC features; no support for dual-core processors.

Minimum Requirements:
Windows Vista Capable Logo
800MHz 32-bit or 64-bit processor
512MB RAM
DirectX 9-capable SVGA (800×600) graphics with 32MB of graphics memory
20GB hard drive (with 15GB free)
CD-ROM drive

Windows Vista Home Premium
For consumers who want advanced music, video, photography, and mobility features; includes support for Vista’s higher-end graphics features, as well as Media Center and Tablet PC features; no support for dual-core processors.

Minimum Requirements:
Windows Vista Premium Ready Logo
1GHz 32-bit or 64-bit processor
1GB RAM
DirectX 9-capable graphics with 128MB of graphics memory and support for Windows Display Driver Model, Pixel Shader 2.0 in hardware and 32-bit-per-pixel color
40GB hard drive (with 15GB free)
DVD-ROM drive

Windows Vista Business
Analogous to Windows XP Professional, for small and medium-size businesses; includes improved security and reliability, as well as extra tools for small businesses; Tablet PC features.

Minimum Requirements:
Windows Vista Premium Ready Logo
1GHz 32-bit or 64-bit processor
1GB RAM
DirectX 9-capable graphics with 128MB of graphics memory and support for Windows Display Driver Model, Pixel Shader 2.0 in hardware and 32-bit-per-pixel color
40GB hard
drive (with 15GB free)
DVD-ROM drive

Windows Vista Enterprise
For large enterprises with global IT infrastructures (available only to customers with volume licenses); includes all features of Vista Business, plus additional encryption and data-security features, Unix services, and virtual-machine capabilities; also includes Tablet PC features.

Minimum Requirements:
Windows Vista Premium Ready Logo
1GHz 32-bit or 64-bit processor
1GB RAM
DirectX 9-capable graphics with 128MB of graphics memory and support for Windows Display Driver Model, Pixel Shader 2.0 in hardware and 32-bit-per-pixel color
40GB hard drive (with 15GB free)
DVD-ROM drive

Windows Vista Starter
For consumers in emerging markets who have very basic computing needs (sold only on new PCs in markets such as India and Thailand); runs only on 32-bit machines; can run only three programs at a time.

Minimum Requirements:
Windows Vista Capable Logo
800MHz 32-bit processor
512MB RAM
DirectX 9-capable SVGA (800×600) graphics with 32MB of graphics memory
20GB hard drive (with 15GB free)
CD-ROM drive

[tags]Windows Vista[/tags]