Vista Task Manager

Loading the task manager in Windows Vista is a little different to Windows XP(where pressing CTRL + ALT + DEL would load it). Pressing this key combination now brings you to a task screen where you can perform a few system commands, including loading the task manager.

Simply press CTRL + SHIFT + ESC to load it instantly, much easier than right clicking on the taskbar to load it.

Disable Aero inside Windows Vista

Disable Aero will in fact a positive effect and a negative. The good news is that memory consumption will be lower by about twenty megabytes. On the other hand, Aero is the tip of the iceberg in the composition of the display, i.e. support for the interface with the graphics card instead of the CPU.

Thus, memory consumption will be lower, but the smooth scrolling windows, transparency or the Flip3D should be abandoned.

Disable Aero in Windows Vista is really quite simple. Simply right-click on the desktop and select "Custom". We arrive on the properties panel of the display, and then click on "Color and appearance of windows."

By clicking on the blue line from the bottom (Open the properties of classical appearance), we could then choose from the dropdown the second option, "Windows Vista Basic." Suffice it then to implement the changes.

The interface will certainly be less pleasant, but it will also save precious minutes when you are using a laptop, especially if it is equipped with a graphics card type recent GeForce or Radeon.

Windows Vista Tricks about Collaboration

• co-worker Collaboration.

  When one want to do a file processing with other users as well, but don't want to be one of them, Windows Meeting Space, new feature in Vista enables to start an impromptu collaboration session with other Vista users. One has to open Windows Meeting Space and start a session; it will automatically detect other Windows Vista users that are on the same sub-net. Invite them and once they accept the invitation, you can share it by dragging a document to the Handouts area on the bottom right, replicates it across the other meeting participants PCs. One just has to drag the file in the presentation area on the left side and start your processing while others watch.

  If any other user want to edit, pass control of the application directly to that user to make that edit for yourself.

• XPS document

  This is an archiving format perfect for preserving content and for securely sharing information in any of the Vista application independently. To make any XPS document, open it in any application, and choose print option. Select Microsoft XPS Document writer in print option, and save the file. To open it double click on the saved file, it will open in the XPS Viewer, which is hosted by IE 7.

• Share file/folder directly from your PC

  In Windows Vista one can share the file or folder on his PC with other individuals in the similar corporate network. In any explorer, choose file or folder to share and choose the option to Share. Enter the information of the one with whom you want to share that particular in the same network and give appropriate rights of access to them. Vista generates e-mail to the user who is using shared content automatically and auto-generated e-mail is having hyperlink to shared content, to make quick access.

Windows Vista Tricks about Search and Organize

• About Windows Vista start menu

  when you look for any of the particular applications, Web sites, and e-mails, its easier and quicker in streamlined Windows Vista start menu. For finding any of the particular application or file, click Windows key on the keyboard or click start and type name of the file in Instant Search field you want. It will list the files contain that word at any position in their names.

• Enhanced UI (User Interface)

  If PC supports the Windows Aero and you opened many files and see how easy it is to locate the needed file just by using the breakthrough Windows Flip by using ALT+TAB or Flip 3D using Windows key+TAB.

• New Search explorer

  One can filter by type using the search pane and selecting Documents. One can choose to see your files in another way, via the new stack view. First you can explore each and every document by double clicking on its author name stack. Save this search s a new search older. For next search just select the Searches older link on the left side navigation pane, and double click on the search folder you need now.

Windows Vista Tricks about Internet Explorer 7

• Print web content as a picture

  As the IE 7 provides shrink to fit printing feature, web sites will no longer get cut off while printing.

• Browse multiple Web sites

  Tabbed browsing in IE enables IE window to run with the convenience of multiple WebPages. One can open a new webpage by clicking the empty tab on the toolbar. One an also do this by right-clicking any hyperlink and then select new tab. One can refresh the Tabs, to alter their functionality by right clicking individual pages or refresh it for a page or a group.

Customize / hide the Favorite Links list

The Navigation Pane is devided into two sections: Favorite Links & Folders.
The Favorite Links contains links to commonly used folders and saved searches.
You can add new links by dragging folders and/or saved searches into the list.
You can also drag folders from the Folders list to the Favorite Links section.
This is a convenient way to quickly access folders and searches you use often.
You can reposition a link by dragging it to the position where you want it to be.
To remove a link from the list, right-click on the link and select Remove Link.
Restore default links: right-click a blank area and select Restore Default Favorite Links.

Hide Favorite Links: drag the Folders list to the top of the Navigation Pane (see picture).

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Resize the Details Pane

Right-click on an empty part of the Details Pane and select one of the sizes:

Get The Power Prompt

The Command Prompt, though buried in the Start menu, is an enduringly versatile application. Too bad it's hampered by User Account Control, which will prevent certain apps from running properly because of a lack of permissions. To upgrade its capabilities, navigate to the Accessories folder in the Start menu, right-click on Command Prompt, and select Run as Administrator. If you find yourself doing this frequently, try this shortcut: The search box in Vista's Start menu can serve the same function. Simply enter a command, hold the Shift and Ctrl keys, and press Enter.

Add Photos Faster

Most digital cameras come with proprietary software for importing pictures into Windows and cleaning off the camera's memory card, generally a two-stage process. You can do it all in one step with Windows Photo Gallery, which has an auto-erase feature. It lets you dump photos and erase your camera's memory card with one click, preserving a bit of battery life and simplifying yours. Select Options from the File menu, and under the Import tab, select Always erase from camera after importing. Good? Maybe. Potentially dangerous? Definitely. Proceed with caution.

Eliminate That Warning

Windows Vista hates it when you don't use an antivirus program, a firewall, or some other security feature. But if you don't need one part of the built-in security, you also don't need the Security Center shield icon to pop up constantly in the system tray. Right-click the icon and click Open Security Center. Then, in Security Center, click Change the Way Security Center Alerts Me. You want to select Don't Notify Me and Don't Display the Icon (even though Windows tells you it's "Not Recommended").

Restore Your Menus

Vista's own windows and many new applications lack the familiar File, Edit, and View menus. But we've gotten used to them after all these years! You can enable them through each application—if they're included at all. To turn them on in Vista proper, open any window (such as Computer, or Documents), click Organize, and click Folder and Search Options. Select the View tab and fill in the check box next to Always Show Menus. Click Apply and then OK. Alternatively, to show the menus temporarily, just hit the Alt key with any given window in the foreground.

Add 3D Sound

If you're having trouble getting full 3D sound in Windows XP games from your SoundBlaster sound card, use Creative's ALchemy tool. Windows Vista uses an audio API called OpenAL for its game audio, and some DirectSound games won't use anything beyond two stereo speakers, ignoring EAX and other APIs. Download the Creative ALchemy beta from preview.creativelabs.com/alchemy, install it, and run it. The ALchemy tool will cause Windows XP games that lack OpenAL support to pipe their DirectSound calls through OpenAL, giving you full 3D audio support.

Launch Apps Faster

When you place items in the Quick Launch bar (the little icon bar next to the Start button), Windows Vista automatically assigns shortcut key combinations to them—well, it assigns keys to the first ten, anyway. Just hit the Windows key plus a number key corresponding to the icon's position in the bar. For instance, to launch the third application in the Quick Launch bar, press Windows-3. Don't see the bar? Right-click an empty part of the Taskbar and select it under the Toolbars menu.

Uncover Send To

The Send To menu is a handy way to quickly move files into frequently accessed locations. The default locations are Microsoft's favorites, however, and they might not be yours. In Windows XP it was possible to add to the Send To menu by putting a shortcut in the SendTo folder. But try that trick with the SendTo folder in your Personal folder and you'll be hit with an "access denied" message. That's because it's just a pointer to the real one, which you will find at C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo. You can add shortcuts to that one.

Boost Your System Speed

Hybrid hard drives, which embed a cache of flash memory inside a hard drive's 3.5-inch shell to improve its performance, aren't on the market yet. But they're just one way Vista uses flash memory; ordinary thumb drives can, cheaply and easily, let your PC read small, random bits of frequently accessed data, a Vista feature called ReadyBoost. Here's the thing: To maximize its efficiency, a ReadyBoost thumb drive should have the same amount of memory as is built into your system. In other words, match your 2GB of RAM with a 2GB flash drive for best performance.

Get help

The Help and Support Center built into Windows XP was a good start but far from ideal. Though it appears similar to Win XP's, Vista's Support Center is much improved. Besides the usual documentation on core OS functionality, Vista's integrated system can get the latest help info from the Web, allow a friend to help by remote assistance, or search in "Windows communities." Type a word or phrase into the main search field and hit enter. At the bottom of your returned results is a useful link to these other sources of assistance.

Reduce Power Consumption

As laptops became more popular, consumers became aware of Win XP's power settings. Standby left your computer running at low power; hibernate saved all memory to disk and then shut down your system—but often balked at problem programs. With Vista, Microsoft redrew the rules, adding an "away mode" and defaulting to "sleep" rather than off. Sleep mode starts off like standby but saves memory like hibernate. Then after 15 minutes it just shuts off, with no back talk from programs. Nicely done, Microsoft! To shut down completely, skip the Start menu's orange power button in favor of the right arrow next to it.

Be a Better Parent

Kids need structure, otherwise they'll spend hours browsing the Web for dirty limericks. Turn to Vista's parental controls for a quick and easy way to monitor how long they're online—and who goes where. First, create an account for each child in the User Accounts control panel. Then click Set Up Parental Controls to create and set limits. Don't forget to enable activity monitoring as well. It's okay—you're Dad, not Big Brother. You can view them later by visiting the same section of the control panel. But be forewarned: Parental controls are available only to PCs on a workgroup, not those on a domain.

Pick Your Feeds

The Sidebar's RSS Feed Reader is handy, but by default it picks up feeds only directly from Microsoft. Making it work for you is a two-stage process. First, find a Web page with an RSS feed on it using Internet Explorer—the orange feed icon at the right of the status bar lights up to indicate the feed's presence. Click it, and select Subscribe to this feed. Then right-click on the module and select Options; you'll be able to choose which feeds and how many items are displayed. Want to find feeds using Firefox instead? Download the Common Feed List tool from www.netcrucible.com/blog.

Work With The SideShow

Vista supports a secondary display (ideally on your laptop's lid, as on the cool Asus W5FE) for you to get quick access to e-mail, photos, calendar info, and music files. And that's just scratching the surface. SideShow info can be stored and accessed in two ways: either from the hard drive, which takes longer and involves caching, or directly from a flash component in your system—quicker, but space is limited. The flash component shows up as a separate drive in Windows Vista that you can drag and drop MP3s and photos to. Some gadgets require use of the hard drive; you won't be able to access them if the system is off. Instead, put it to sleep, and set Vista to wake every 5 minutes, updating e-mail, calendar, and other gadgets that rely on an Internet connection.