3 Things You May Not Know About Windows Vista

Microsoft’s Windows Vista wasn’t a very popular OS at its launch time, but it has slowly been gaining more and more popularity as it’s much newer and many of the crippling bugs have been sorted out and fixed. Still, with all these new users switching from XP to Vista, you may not be aware that Vista has many features that may be hidden initially, but are popular with power users. This article will list a few of the unique features of Windows Vista and let you know how you can access them.

* Sidebar- The Sidebar is one of the most significant graphical differences between Windows XP and Windows Vista. The sidebar is a dock that sits on the right side of the desktop that can have ‘widgets’ added to it that have extremely varied functionality. By default, Vista comes with a clock, calendar, as well as other basic computer functions, but there are many custom functions that can be downloaded from the internet. If your sidebar is turned off, go to start, all programs, accessories, and then click Windows Sidebar. If you want the sidebar to be visible above other applications, you can change the default setting from the appearance and personalization tab from the control panel.

* Better Security- Security was a key part of Microsoft’s plan when upgrading from Windows XP to Vista, but why do you never hear much about it? You do hear about it, but it’s not positive feedback most of the time. While Microsoft did indeed make the OS much safer by adding in their UAC (User Account Control) Settings, they also made it much more annoying. If you’re annoyed by the UAC settings in Vista, they can be removed by: going to control panel then User Account and Family Settings, Add or Remove User Accounts, Go to Main User Account page, Change Security settings, and then uncheck UAC. The UAC can be turned back on in a similar fashion, but more than likely you’ll just want to get an anti-virus program instead.

* Improved Search Options- One of the best changes that Microsoft made in the transition from XP to Vista was their improvements in the searching system. Locating files and folders in XP was often a clunky and painful experience, but no more in Vista. All you need to do is open your start menu in the bottom left and search for the file name, and your file will be found quickly and easily. Search speed was also increased and the searches parameters can be changed dynamically, or while you’re searching.

These are three options or services that Microsoft has provided to you that many people don’t know about. All three are widely documented on the internet if you require further information, but this article should have given you a good gist on some of the most crucial changes when updating your OS.

Photo Credits: Stijn Vogels

Originally posted 2009-11-05 03:20:07.

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Posted by How To Computer on December 19, 2011 in Windows Vista. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.