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Microsoft Windows Vista Preview: Features and Overview December 06, 2006 Brandon Sandman Bell |
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Summary: Wondering exactly which features separate Vista Home Premium from the Ultimate Edition of Vista? Or perhaps you want to know more about how media functionality has been integrated into the new OS? In this article, we go over all of Vista's key new features, as well as the new user interface. If you're looking for more info on Windows Vista, you'll definitely want to check this article out!
 Windows Vista Overview | Page:: ( 1 / 9 ) |
Now Microsoft’s set to introduce Windows Vista, their first 3D operating system. The new OS boasts several additional new features and enhancements, and in this article we’ll discuss some of these in more detail. We’ve got quite a bit of info here to go over (6,000+ words), so we’ll go ahead and get started.
The many versions of Vista
When Windows XP debuted in 2001, Microsoft offered just two versions of the OS: Windows XP Home Edition and Windows XP Professional Edition. It was a pretty simple task choosing which OS was right for you, most hardware enthusiasts opted for WinXP Pro due to its better security and multi-processor support (among other features), but over time Microsoft introduced additional versions of Windows XP – for tablet PC users Microsoft offered Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, while for home theater PC users, Windows Media Center Edition was highly popular.
Most recently, Microsoft introduced Windows XP x64 Edition for 64-bit users, but this OS has been slow to take off thanks to the dearth of 64-bit software and drivers in the consumer space.
For the launch of Windows Vista, Microsoft has developed 6 variants of the OS: Windows Vista Starter (which we won’t discuss here), Vista Home Basic, Vista Home Premium, Windows Vista Business, Windows Vista Enterprise, and Windows Vista Ultimate.
Each of these versions are available in both 32-bit and 64-bit flavors, and each supports a wide range of features. We’ve included the following chart to help summarize exactly which of these new features the various operating systems do and don’t support:
| Windows Vista Feature Support | |||||
| Home Basic | Home Premium | Business | Enterprise | Ultimate | |
| Vista Basic User Interface | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Aero User Interface | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Instant Search throughout the OS | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Automatic content organization | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Internet Explorer 7+ | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| IE 7+ with RSS Feed Support | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Support for applications built on WinFX | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows SuperFetch | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows ReadyBoost | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Low Priority I/O (runs lower priority processes in the background) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Automatic HDD defragmentation | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Mail (replaces Outlook Express) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Calendar | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Sidebar (Vista gadgets) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Photo Gallery | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Themed Slide shows | Yes | Yes | |||
| Windows Media Player 11 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Media Center | Yes | Yes | |||
| Media Center -- CableCard support | Yes | Yes | |||
| Support for Media Center Extenders (incl Xbox 360) | Yes | Yes | |||
| Windows Movie Maker | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| Windows DVD Maker | Yes | Yes | |||
| Games Explorer | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Updated Games | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| New premium games | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Universal Game Controller Support | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Speech Recognition | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Accessibility Settings/Ease of Access Center | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Welcome Center | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| XPS Document Support | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Small Business Resources | Yes | Yes | |||
| Windows Fax and Scan | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| Network Center | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Network Diagnostics and Troubleshooting | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Improved Wireless Networking | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Wireless Network Provisioning (centrally manages wireless network settings such as which wireless networks are allowed and which security protocols are on each computer) | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| User Account Control | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Security Center | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Defender | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Firewall | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| IE 7+ Protected Mode | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| IE 7+ Fix My Settings | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Anti-phising in IE 7+ | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Anti-phising in Windows Mail | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Update | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Parental Controls | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| Fewer hangs, crashes, and reboots | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Service Hardening | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Built-in performance self-tuning and hardware diagnostics | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Next-gen TCP/IP Stack | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Dual IPv6 and IPv4 support | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows ReadyDrive | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Display Driver Model | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Easy Transfer | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 64-bit CPU Support | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Fast Startup, Shutdown, Sleep | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Support for 2 Processors (2 CPU sockets) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Backup and recovery of user files and folders | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Scheduled backup of user files | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Backup of user files to a network device | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Windows ShadowCopy (creates point-in-time copies of files for easy retrieval) | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| System image-based backup and recovery | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| Encrypting file system | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| Desktop deployment tools for managed networks | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| Policy-based quality of service for networking | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| Windows Rights Management Services Client | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| Control over installation of device drivers (allows admin to set policies on installation of devices and drivers) | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| Network Access Protection Client Agent (restricts clients who lack current security updates or virus signatures from joining the network) | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| Pluggable logon authentication software (enables ISVs and organizations to implement their own authentication methods) | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| Integrated smart card management | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| Windows BitLocker Drive Encryption (provides full volume encryption and boot integrity) | Yes | Yes | |||
| Support for simultaneous installation of multiple user interface languages | Yes | Yes | |||
| All worldwide user interface languages (36 total) available | Yes | Yes | |||
| Subsystem for UNIX-based applications | Yes | Yes | |||
| Virtual PC Express (Makes it possible to run a previous OS and previous apps at the same time as Vista | Yes | Yes | |||
| Windows Anytime Upgrade (Upgrade a version or edition of Windows quickly and easily by going online) | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| Windows Ultimate Extras (valuable tips, services, and software for customers with Vista Ultimate) | Yes | ||||
| Improved peer networking | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Improved VPN support | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Improved power management | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Simultaneous Server Message Block peer network connections | 5 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| Windows HotStart (enables users to play music with the touch of a button w/o waiting for the PC to start) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Mobility Center (enables users to quickly access and set key mobile system settings from one location) | Partial | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Sync Center (keeps digital media devices, smartphones, and other devices synchronized in 1 common place) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Tablet PC w/integrated pen/digital ink input | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Windows Tablet PC touch screen support | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Windows Tablet PC handwriting recoginition improvements | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Windows Tablet PC usability and navigation improvements | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Windows SideShow | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Windows Meeting Space | View Only | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Improved file and folder sharing | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Network Projection | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Presentation Settings | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Remote desktop (enables access to documents and programs on a PC remotely from across a home network or across the Internet from another PC) | Client Only | Client Only | Client and Host | Client and Host | Client and Host |
| Domain join for Windows Small Business Server | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| Domain join for Windows Server | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| Group Policy Support | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| Offline files and folder support (enables users to work offline and then automatically synchronize network files with the server when reconnected) | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| Client-side caching | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| Roaming user profiles (allows users to access the same set of data using different PCs) | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| Folder redirection | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| Centralized power management through group policy | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| Internet Information Server | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| Max RAM (32-bit version) | 4GB | 4GB | 4GB | 4GB | 4GB |
| Max RAM (64-bit version) | 8GB | 16GB | 128+GB | 128+GB | 128+GB |
| |||||
| Windows Vista Pricing | ||
| Upgrade Price | Full Retail Price | |
| Windows Vista Home Basic | $99 | $199 |
| Windows Vista Home Premium | $159 | $239 |
| Windows Vista Business | $199 | $299 |
| Windows Vista Enterprise | N/A | N/A |
| Windows Vista Ultimate | $259 | $399 |
| ||
Note that the prices above reflect the MSRP of the Upgrade and Full Retail versions of the Vista OS. Microsoft has not announced OEM pricing for Vista yet. Typically you can pick up the OEM version of a Microsoft OS at retailers like Newegg and Zipzoomfly for a little cheaper than MSRP, with the rule that you must purchase a piece of hardware along with the OS.
Notes
For most enthusiasts, the debate around which flavor of Vista to upgrade to is going to revolve around Vista Home Premium or Vista Ultimate Edition. As you can see in the table above, Vista Home Premium is loaded with features, but Microsoft has added additional goodies into the Ultimate Edition, enough that some users may think twice on this decision. Vista Ultimate adds features such as system image-based backup and recovery, as well as encrypting file system and Windows BitLocker, the Ultimate Edition of Vista even supports up to 128GB+ of system memory. For some users, the $100 price premium Microsoft is charging for the upgrade version of Ultimate may be worth it considering these features.
If you end up opting for one of the lesser versions of Vista, such as Home Basic or Premium, and decide you’d rather have the Ultimate Edition of Vista, Microsoft will also be offering their Windows Anytime Upgrade program.
Anytime Upgrade allows users to electronically upgrade to higher-end versions of Vista. Microsoft says that Anytime Upgrade pricing will be slightly less expensive than the difference in pricing for the boxed versions listed above, so that $100 premium between Vista Home Premium Upgrade and Vista Ultimate Upgrade may be just $80 or $90. Microsoft hasn’t determined Anytime Upgrade pricing yet, as the service won’t be launched until January 2007, so we won’t know the exact amount until then.
Since all versions of Vista will ship on the same DVD, it should be a pretty seamless upgrade process for end users.
| Intro and Specs | Page:: ( 2 / 9 ) |
A breakthrough computing experience
Some of the new features in Vista we will discuss in this article include:
Over the next few pages we will discuss many of these new features that Microsoft has incorporated into Vista in more depth. Additionally, we will show screenshots of what we are referencing to give you a better picture of what is being discussed. Let us start out by listing the components that we are using while creating this preview.
Current System Specs:
Windows Vista Ultimate (Aero) RC2
AMD Athlon FX-60
Asus A8R32 MVP Deluxe Motherboard
1GBx 2 Corsair XMS3502 v1.3
150GB Western Digital Raptor Hard Drive
ATI Radeon X1900XTX 512MB
E-Power 650W PSU
Voodoo PC Customized Case Enclosure
Pioneer DVR-111DBK DL DVDRW Drive
As you can see from the specs above we are using higher-end hardware to take advantage of Microsoft Vista Ultimate’s Aero Desktop. Depending on the hardware that you have when installing Windows Vista, you may be subject to using a version of Vista that does not have all of the eye candy and visuals as the Aero Glass version we used for testing. This is completely dependent on an analysis that the operating system does on initial load.
Essentially, during the operating system install, your hardware will be scanned and Windows will automatically set visuals based on the theoretical performance of your computers components. After Vista is loaded, you can view the ratings of your hardware (CPU, memory, video card, etc.) by navigating to Control Panel ->Performance Information and Tools. This is where you will be given a Windows Experience rating for your components along with some more information about your rankings.
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On the next page we will add some screenshots and get right into the new features of Windows Vista! Read on young padawans!
| Redesigned Desktop, Start Menu, and Extras | Page:: ( 3 / 9 ) |
It’s no surprise that Microsoft’s design team spent a lot of time on visuals and ease of use. But beyond the cosmetic changes we need to take a look at some of the new features Microsoft incorporated in Vista. After all, this operating system has been almost “completely reworked from the ground up”.
Windows Desktop, Flip3D, Gadgets
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Another addition to the desktop is the new gadgets sidebar. This virtually transparent toolbar floats on the right side of your screen by default and features a clock, different wallpapers (constantly changing), and a headlines section which automatically gives you the real-time data and headlines from the news if you are connected to the internet. Other gadgets may be added and the defaults may be removed per user’s choice. Some of the other choices are: a calendar, contacts, a CPU meter, currency calculator, a note pad, a picture puzzle, stocks, and weather. From the link located in the “add gadgets menu” you can be redirected to a website to get more gadgets. Finally, the gadgets toolbar can be docked on the right or left side of the desktop.
Improved Start Menu
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When talking about ease of use and Vista, look no further than the new start menu. This sucker can be customized from the ground up, giving you one click access to the most important areas of your operating system.
Microsoft also put a slick search area right at the bottom of the menu, allowing users to type in what they are looking for. As users are typing Microsoft’s advanced indexing service is searching for matches that contain the letter you have typed up to that point.
Also, Vista has much improved startup/shutdown times and the “Sleep” mode located right on the Start menu is a great option for suspending activity of a computer while still being able to get back up and running within a matter of seconds. Think of this feature as a perfect mix of Hibernate and Standby in one. Of course you can always use the traditional way of accessing your programs by navigating through the start menu, but that’s no fun anymore. And that leads us right into the new Start Menu’s “All Programs” structure. It is a bit tough to get used to, especially the pause that is needed to open up more options, but with time users will probably get used to it.
| Media Center, Media Player 11 | Page:: ( 4 / 9 ) |
The Center of Media
The built in Media Center has more support for handling large music collections than in previous versions. Performance improvements have also dramatically improved Media Center’s ability to find and display your music and video collections on screen in an organized manner. Additionally, built in networking support allows you to listen to FM/Internet Radio, search and share music with another Windows PC on your network, or stream music directly to Windows Media Center Extender capable devices such as the Xbox 360. Windows Vista supports up to five media center extenders.
Got movies? Good. Windows Media Center has the ability to play high definition movies right off your hard disk. If you have a tuner card, you can watch live television or even record shows for later viewing. With two tuner cards you can watch TV on one channel while recording a TV program on another. And when you start to fill up your hard drives with gigs and gigs worth of movies, you can start burning movies onto DVDs or archiving them for later use.
Another new feature Microsoft has built-in to Windows Vista is CableCard support. This will allow the Media Center in Vista to be compatible with digital cable providers like Comcast or Time Warner without the need for a dedicated set-top unit. (Microsoft is still hashing out the final details on this with cable providers, but it looks like this may ultimately end up being an OEM-only option, meaning that DIY’ers who build their own Vista PCs from scratch may not be able to build a CableCard-compliant system.)
Along those same lines, earlier this year Microsoft signed an agreement with DirecTV that “will enable the flow of high-quality digital content between Windows-based PCs, DIRECTV set-top boxes, PlaysForSure devices and the Xbox 360 system”. In theory, this could potentially allow DirecTV subscribers to use their PC as their satellite receiver. End users could then stream recorded or live content from their PC to other compatible devices in the home, such as an Xbox 360 game console.
These features could come particularly handy for recording HD content. Up to this point, HD support was limited to just over-the-air broadcasts. This limits support to the major networks, such as CBS, ABC, NBC, and FOX. With these new features, premium channels that broadcast in HD such as HBO, Showtime, ESPN, and TNT will become available.
Media Player 11
For those of you who prefer good old Media Player, don’t worry, you have not been left out. Windows Media Player 11 was released as an upgrade in Windows XP replacing Media Player 10. Windows Vista comes with Media Player 11 standard.
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The first thing that you will notice is the new interface of Media Player 11. It has a big “play” button centered at the bottom of the window surrounded by the rest of the common controls. The common tasks are at the very top centered also, making it easy to navigate to and from different tabs depending on what you need to do. The feature that stands out the most is the new library view. This view organizes albums from top to bottom listing album information under a picture of the album’s cover, and then listing all of the available tracks to the right of the cover. All in all, the new Media Player has been restructured to make navigation easier for the consumer.
Let’s move on to Internet Explorer 7 and Parental Controls!
| IE7, Parental Controls | Page:: ( 5 / 9 ) |
Internet Explorer 7
Now it’s time to delve into the world of Internet Explorer 7. Internet Explorer was first introduced for Windows XP a short time ago and is a big improvement over previous versions. It features tabbed browsing (cough, Firefox, cough), improved security and parental controls, and a redesigned user interface that is much simpler and user friendly.
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Let’s start off with a bit of history of tabbed browsing. Tabbed browsing, for those of you who have not experienced Firefox yet, is a way to have several internet explorer windows active at once separated on a page by tabs. You can switch back and forth between the windows by clicking on the appropriate tab. As you can see from the pictures below it is a completely new design that is customizable per user. One of the changes is the default locations of the “back” and “forward” buttons, which are now located left of the address bar. They have been separated from the “Home” button and the rest of the standard buttons. Additionally, Microsoft has put a handy “Live Search” area to the right of the address bar to allow for easy searches on the internet no matter where you are on the net. This can be utilized best by opening up a new tab and then doing a quick search within that tab. Favorites are still available to the left of the tab toolbar and Links can even be moved right on top of the tab area for easy one-click navigation.
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Another cool idea was the use of a Maintenance area (accessed by clicking on Tools => Delete Browsing History) that can be used as a one stop place to clear all internet tracks on a single window.
A new “phishing” filter has also been added to IE7 that can be set to automatically check web sites you visit for any abnormal activity and to warn or block the site based on how it is configured. The filter is updated hourly by Microsoft, giving you the latest protection against known phishing websites. Windows Defender, a spyware remover, is also active while you are exploring the net, working hand-in-hand with Internet Explorer 7 to keep your computer spyware free.
Kids beware, mom and dad are watching!
Parental Controls on your personal computer? You better believe it kids! Microsoft has created a simple and easy way for parents to monitor and control what their kids are doing on the internet. But it doesn’t stop there… Parental Controls can be used with games and can be used to limit user activity during specified times during the day. And after you set up Parental Controls, you can create detailed user activity reports that give you websites visited, downloads, games played, and more. Parents can also set an ESRB games rating limit to block the ability to play games that may have excessive violence or sexual material.
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Let’s move on to some more features.
| Windows Photo Gallery, Movie Maker, DVD/CD Creator | Page:: ( 6 / 9 ) |
| Gaming-Oriented OS | Page:: ( 7 / 9 ) |
DirectX 10
This version of DirectX is brand new from the ground up and is available only for Windows Vista. It features a brand new Geometry Shader, utilizes virtualized memory for the GPU, and uses Shader Model 4.0 for games. DirectX 10’s driver is split into two: user mode and the kernel mode. The two drivers work independently of each other. First, this increases stability between the two. Secondly, this means that one driver never degrades the performance of the other. The kernel mode driver is kept distinct from the user mode driver to enhance stability. The user mode drivers handle Direct3D, OpenGL, and DirectX video playback and the kernel mode driver is used by the operating system.
The old fixed function pipeline is no more. Now everything is completely programmable which means that developers/programmers can make use of all DirectX 10’s API. These APIs have less overhead and constraints which allow hardware to stretch its legs and realize its full potential, not to be bogged down by processor and small batch limitations. And this is great for gamers because when you go out and buy DX10 hardware you know that the developers are making full use of the hardware based on this information. We wrote up an in-depth article on DirectX 10 that we highly suggest you check out for more info on DX10. Also included in the article are comments on DX10 from Epic’s Tim Sweeney, the director of technology development for the Unreal Engine 3 game engine used in upcoming games like Unreal Tournament 2007 and the Xbox 360 hit, Gears of War.
Games for Windows Game Advisor
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Because of some of the confusion that people may experience through their transition to Windows Vista, Microsoft developed a tool online that helps gamers in making choices about games they may want to play with this new operating system. This tool is very informative and helps in making the right choices for gaming in Vista. Some of the features are:
Games Explorer
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It’s no surprise by now that Windows Vista is a gamer-oriented operating system. In knowing this, Microsoft made it easy for gamers of all experience levels to have a common place, conveniently located right on the start menu, for all games to be installed to. This area is called “The Games Explorer” and is a one-stop place from the Start Menu to access all of the games on your system. This area also gives the game scores based on hardware and software requirements ratings, and matches that up to what you have currently installed on your system. This, in conjunction with the Game Advisor, makes sure that you are playing games that your computer’s hardware can handle and also helps making gaming choices easier going forward.
Games for Windows
Coinciding with this is the launch of Microsoft’s Games for Windows campaign. Under Games for Windows, Microsoft has set up guidelines for publishers producing games for the PC platform. The guidelines to meet Microsoft’s Games for Windows criteria are the following:
Microsoft doesn’t charge a royalty fee for Games for Windows branding, but game packaging is standardized. In addition, Games for Windows retail space is rolling out in 9,000 major retailers this winter. This includes shelving similar to what you’d see in your local EB/Gamestop with Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, etc. Microsoft will also be distributing more than 1,000 interactive Games for Windows interactive kiosks so consumers can test out games before buying them. According to Microsoft, “The goal of this branding bar is to help consumers easily identify games for the Windows platform while increasing their confidence in the games that carry the bar.”
As you can see, Microsoft has put a lot of hard work into making Windows Vista an overall gaming operating system. From the all new DirectX 10 to the Games Advisor to the Games Explorer, Vista leaves no rock unturned.
Continue onto the next page for some additional notable features in Windows Vista!
| More Notable Features | Page:: ( 8 / 9 ) |
Vista comes with more than meets the eye. There are a slew of additional features that are brand new that make this operating system very unique. From networking to performance, let’s discuss some of the additional features that Vista brings to the table.
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Explorers: Windows Vista’s user interface is based on Explorers. Explorers are used to find, view, and manage information and resources. They are used for documents, photos, devices, and internet content to provide a “consistent visual and functional” experience through Vista. Add/Remove Programs has been replaced with the new Programs Explorer that, working with “Explorer” functionality, provides a real time account of all programs installed on your computer with detailed information about the programs.
Windows Superfetch: New memory management technology built into Windows Vista. This technology tracks programs and applications that users use the most and preloads them into memory, dramatically speeding up startup times.
Ready Boost: New feature in Vista that allows the computer to use devices such as USB drives, SD cards, and compact flash drives as memory cache. Since access times for memory cache are theoretically greater than accessing data on hard drive, this can potentially significantly increase theoretical performance of your computer.
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Fast Start and Resume: Microsoft reworked both Hibernate and Standby modes to produce the new “Sleep” state. This is now the default state for turning off the computer in Vista. It combines the resume speed of Standby and the data protection/low power mode of Hibernate. It does this by recording the contents in memory to the hard drive when entering “Sleep”, and maintains the memory for a period of time. This allows Windows to enter and resume from the “Sleep” state in seconds, and while it is in “Sleep” state, it uses very little power.
Autorecovery: This feature has been added to automatically fix startup issues, if present, where as normally users would be required to boot into Safe Mode to fix these issues. With autorecovery, Windows Vista will automatically replace any corrupt files, allowing users to enter Windows to correct the problem.
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Auto Disk Defragmenter: Although you can still manually use Disk Defragmenter, there are benefits to the new version in Vista. This new version will run in the background automatically when needed and when files become fragmented. It also works in sessions to complete the task, piece by piece only when your computer is idle.
Windows Ready Drive/Hybrid Disk Support: This new technology supports Hybrid Drives that include a flash memory buffer for improved performance in startup and resuming from hibernation. Ready Drive also minimizes spin up time for hard drives helping battery life in notebooks.
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The Network Center: This area in Vista, located in the Control Panel, is the main hub for all your networking needs. You can find out anything and everything there is to know about your network, from details about the network in which you are currently on all the way to your actual network status. It can even draw out your network map, giving you the ability to see how everything is connected, which can help when diagnosing internet/connectivity issues.
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Network Explorer: Located from the start menu, this area in Windows is where to go to access files on computers that are networked to yours. You can access all of the computers on your network here, and move, edit, and create files on any of the other PCs.
Enhanced Wireless Networking: Vista has increased support for the most current security protocols, including WPA2, deterring people from connecting to fake wireless networks or to phish for your credit card information. The new wireless networking features also allow for easy setup of wireless networks to enable sharing with other devices.
| Conclusion | Page:: ( 9 / 9 ) |
plethora of new technologies that should hopefully make our computing lives easier. And we expected nothing less, as Microsoft has continued to move towards integration of new features within all of its previous operating systems to meet the demands of an ever changing world.
The Start Menu has been completely redesigned for maximum usability, using a search box that instantly finds what you are looking for as you type it in. And it is completely customizable, just as it was in Windows XP. It features many important one-click areas, such as the all new Games Explorer and the Network Explorer. And sticking on the same subject, Windows Vista is based fully on Explorers, allowing end users to manage all of their common tasks within the windows they are working in. Other examples of very useful Explorers are the Documents, Pictures, and Music Explorers.
Windows Vista comes with Internet Explorer 7, which offers a multitude of new features and security enhancements for the modern web surfer. It features tabbed browsing, allowing user to have multiple internet web pages open at the same time while being able to switch back and forth in an instant. It also introduces a new phishing filter, which blocks potential harmful and known websites from being accessed, helping the novice user steer clear from fraudulent activity. And Windows Defender tops it off, protecting against the most common forms of spy ware automatically.
Media Center (as well as Tablet PC) is rolled into this version of Windows. It is installed and ready to handle even the biggest of music and movies collections. And with High Definition playback available through the use of your video card and connectivity to external devices such as the Xbox 360 through Media Center Extenders, this version is better than ever. And Windows Movie Maker and Photo Gallery make the most of your pictures and movies, allowing anyone to easily view, copy, and modify with a few simple mouse clicks.
DirectX 10 is all new for Windows Vista, reworked from the ground up to improve performance in games and to make Windows work more efficiently. It features Shader Model 4.0, a new Geometry Shader, and removes the fixed function pipeline seen in previous versions of DirectX. And in speaking of games and Windows, Microsoft incorporates the Windows Game Advisor which works hand-in-hand with the Games Explorer by rating your computer and letting you know if your computer’s performance is good enough to play games that you are interested in.
But do not be fooled. The features above are not the only ones found in the new version of Windows. There are many more that did not get a chance to make it into this article that are also important. These will be found in time through more use of this brand new operating system.
Windows Vista is poised to be released by Microsoft in late January (30th to be exact). In the weeks ahead, we’ll be taking a closer look at how Vista runs with various games and hardware you guys will likely be using with this new OS. Feel free to drop any feedback on this topic in particular in the news comments for this article!