From PC Magazine

Quote:

"Like driving a new car, adjusting to a new operating system takes time. Discovering new features and functions (so that's how you adjust the steering wheel!) helps to shorten the acclimatization period, letting you turn a mass-market product into one customized for you. Do you prefer bigger, better-looking icons? Is increased security worth a few extra clicks, in your eyes? Would you like to link all your gadgets to the new system the right way—the first time? Then we've got the guide for you. We'll walk you through Vista's many neat features and more than 50 tips on installing Vista optimally, configuring it for you and your family, improving system speed, and turning up its coolness. When we're through, you'll have made the new OS uniquely yours. "

Check them out here

Resources:

Teching It Easy: Windows Vista Quick Start Guide/FAQ

Long Zheng gives us a close up look at the just released Microsoft Expression Studio Commemorative Edition box featuring unique art work. The software was handed out to attendees at the MIX07 conference which took place in Las Vegas.

Quote:

"Each copy of the commemorative edition is unique and features different pencil sketches on the cover. But these are not just any sketches, they are carefully scribbled by professional designers and even the members of the Expression team. You can’t deny a lot of work went into each one of these, especially when thousands of attendees will each receive a visibly different design."

Check out the pictures here

Resources:

http://www.visitmix.com

Microsoft Expression Studio Overview

From Information Week

Quote

"When you want to put a document online, or distribute it via e-mail, and you need it to look exactly the way it looks on paper, then PDF is the way to go -- and the standard application used to view PDF files is, of course, Adobe Reader.

Unfortunately, according to Adobe, Vista doesn't support older versions of Reader, and the current version, Adobe Reader 8 (released in November, 2006), will be updated for Vista sometime "in the first half" of 2007. So what's the story in the meantime?

Well, if you're a Vista user and you decide to install Reader 8, the first hint of any problem may come when you get an error message like "The temp folder on a drive was full . . . " or "The Windows Installer Service could not be accessed. . . ."

Generally, says Adobe, the problem is that you've turned off Vista's massively annoying User Account Control (and who could blame you?). There are two possible solutions, according to a tech note on Adobe's Web site:

Click here to read the entire tip

I personally have not experienced any problems installing or running Adobe Reader 8 on Windows Vista. The application installs and operates just fine under both Vista x86 and x64 without any modification to the system. But there have been many reports of users having problems with Adobe Reader on Vista so this work around should come in handy.

From Canucky.net

Quote:

"If you are using a 64-bit (x64) version of Windows Vista, then this is something you should know. By default, the shortcut in the Start menu points to the 32-bit (x86) executable for Disk Cleanup. While Disk Cleanup will work fine from this shortcut for most things, there is one function that does not work correctly – the cleaning of System Restore points and Shadow Copies / Previous Versions."

Read the entire tip here

Thanks Kris!

Its no secret that Microsoft is working on the next version of the Company's web browser. The expected release date is not until 2008, but I'm sure the IE Team is taking feedback in some form, internally or through select feedback externally. So in accordance with this weeks MIX Conference, here is a list of improvements I wouldn't mind seeing in a future version of the web browser.

• Download Manager - trust me, it needs it, I find it very handy in FireFox and Safari - Pause/Resume, Manage.
• Improved UI, for example, make the Search dialog an integrated one that appears as a contextual bar when the CTRL + F command is used, just remove some Dialogs in general, whether its adding Favorites or Feeds.
• Non-adjacent Selection of text on web pages.
• Phishing Filter with better performance please and less service not available errors.
• Speaking of performance, I honestly have to say, FireFox 2.0 is faster than IE 7 and I got the Internet connection to prove it, Google.com loads 10x faster in FF than IE 7. This was tested on a Cell Phone modem connection at 0.6 KBs per second.
• Customizable toolbar, I personally wouldn't mind if buttons such as Home, Feeds, Print, Page, Tools and Help were on a another toolbar group such as the Address bar group, I need more real estate for Tab's that's much cleaner.
• Hide Tabs I don't need, but don't want to close.
• Ability to right click a link with the option on the context menu to make it the foreground tab (a feature of Windows Live Toolbar).
• Ability to select a URL from the Address Bar list and click delete, and have contextual menu options.
• Built in list of popular search engines, I don't want to go to a web page and do the selection, just have it ready out of the box.
• Zoom Slider on the Status Bar - I just want to reduce clicking.
• List View layout for Options, similar to Office 2007 Options dialog. Also make the Advance settings a part of the list view Options, this includes: Accessibility, Browsing, International, Multimedia.
• Better roaming capabilities that are dynamic and browser agnostic where possible.
• Thumbnail preview of Tab without clicking it, I'm still not sure about this one, but could be an optional feature or an extension. But, a thumbnail preview in Tab list would be nice.  
• Make Print Preview utilize a Tab instead of opening a separate window.
• Drag a tab window into separate IE 8 window.
• Number list view in History, I can't tell currently which page from which web page was opened first or last.

This is only some of the features I could come up with off the top of my head. If you have any ideas, just post them in the comments, I would like to hear them. :)

From Windows Experience Blog

Brandon informs us about the new Windows Dreamscene - SilverLight brought to you by the folks of the same name.

Check out a preview of it on the Windows Experience Blog here

From Microsoft

Do more with Windows Vista

From setting up your PC to playing games to getting serious work done, find out how to do your favorite things with Windows Vista. It's all in our growing Windows Help and How-to website.

New and notable

Get great deals on PCs and software

See today's special offers on Windows Vista and related products from our partners.

30% off select Microsoft Press books at Barnes & Noble

Visit any Barnes & Noble store or shop online at bn.com from April 5 to May 2 to save 30 percent on select Windows Vista and 2007 Microsoft Office system books from Microsoft Press.

Windows Vista Beta 2, RC1, and RC2 set to expire

On May 31, 2007, the pre-release versions of Windows Vista (Beta 2, RC1, and RC2) will expire. If you are running one of these versions, learn how to update your PC to prevent work disruption and loss of data.

Visit the Windows Vista Innovation Café

Drop in and experience cool, interactive applications developed just for Windows Vista. Check out applications from The North Face, the British Museum, Roxio, The New York Times, and many others.

Tips and tricks for Windows Vista

Featured tip for Windows Vista

Print picture-perfect web content
Most websites are simply not formatted to fit cleanly on a standard piece of paper. With the new shrink-to-fit printing feature in Windows Internet Explorer 7, the edges of website pages no longer get cut off when sent to the printer.

Visit our Help and How-to website to learn more about using Windows Vista.

More tips for Windows Vista

Get organized with Windows Vista folders

Searching for misplaced files is easier with Windows Vista. Discover how to use Search Folders and other new tools to find files faster.

Set up your PC so it's safe for kids

Use the new Parental Controls in Windows Vista to help keep your kids safe online and when playing games.

Technical troubleshooter

Problem: When you try to use Windows Media Player 11, the program doesn't start or some user interface elements are blank.

Solution: This article outlines why you may be experiencing this problem and suggests a simple way to resolve it.

From Windows Vista Team Blog

Brandon Leblanc tells us about his exciting new adventure as blogger extraordnaire for the just launched Windows Vista Experience Blog. The Sidebar Geek plans to bring us coverage from the many Microsoft conferences planned for this year, including the upcoming MIX '07, WinHEC and TechED.

Quote

"My name is Brandon LeBlanc. I’ve been hired on as a vendor to work on this awesome new project: blogging about the amazing experiences you can have with Windows Vista. Previously, I had been blogging at The Hive talking about my Windows Experiences there. The Windows Experience Blog will build off what we originally started at The Hive but take it to the next level – which makes this a very exciting project for me."

Read more here

From Information Week

Quote:

"Tech professionals at the businesses surveyed were asked the following question: "When, if ever, does your company plan to purchase and install Windows Vista?"

One quarter of the 612 survey respondents said they were already using the new OS; 13% said they would do so in the next 12 months, while 27% said their companies would adopt Windows Vista more than one year from now.

But in what will surely be viewed as disappointing news at Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, WA, a full 30% of those surveyed said they had no plans to upgrade their systems to Windows Vista -- not ever."

"While security enhancements remain the primary reason for companies to adopt Windows Vista, concerns about compatibility and cost are still out there," wrote survey author Lisa Smith, InformationWeek's managing editor for research.

Indeed, Windows Vista compatibility issues are causing numerous headaches for Microsoft and its tech industry partners.

Read the rest here

I made a rant back in February about this same issue of compatibility and Vista. My thoughts were targetted at ISVs for their lack of effort to ensure that their software would be compatible with Vista or deliver new versions of their applications that are compatible with Vista. Don't get me wrong, Vista is a great release that offers greater enhancements in the areas of security, ease of use and management, but compatibility is greatly holding back the OS.

As for performance, lets face it, Vista requires a good system to run acceptibly. I have enough headache running Vista x64 on a Sempron 1.6 GHz with 512 MBs of RAM. So industry analyst ranting about 1 GHz and 256 MBs of RAM should know better.

Dell provided few details about the move, but many PC buyers have reported serious compatibility issues between Windows Vista and their favorite applications and hardware products.

Dell is probably the worst OEM on planet earth, I hate their products with a vengeance. My brothers wife recently purchased a Dell Inspiron 1501 system from them, 1.8 GHz Sempron Processor and 512 MBs of RAM pre-loaded with Vista Home Basic. The performance was just horrible, which does not make for a good out of box experience. Vista was slow to start up, the Start menu took a long time to launch, not to mention the applications which were on the molassy side. My brother upgraded the system to 700 MBs of RAM with an extra 256 stick he had left over from his memory upgrade, although performance improved it was nothing to be excited about.

Yes, its a cheap system ($499), but come on Dell, don't you give a damn about customer satisfication and user experience? Stop shipping crap out of your factories running Vista, it looks bad on you and Microsoft. Of course, my sister in law purchased an OEM copy of XP Pro and I loaded it and its way better. Microsoft needs to realize, the Industry is what will make Vista a success. And just like the nVidia 8800 issue, crappy systems can make Vista look just as bad.

Related reading:

Windows Vista - Holding Out A Little Longer

From Windows Vista Team Blog

Quote:

"On May 18, pre-release versions of Windows Vista (Beta 2, RC1 or RC2) will begin prompting users with warning notifications about the upcoming expiration on May 31. It is therefore recommended to backup all data and move to a final version of Windows before the expiration date. Between June 1 and August 28, customers who continue to use pre-release versions of Windows Vista will be able to log in for 2-hour sessions to retrieve data. After 2 hours of use, the PC will automatically reboot without providing the opportunity to save data.

If the user would like to switch editions of Vista, the appropriate upgrade version must be purchased and a clean installation needs to be performed. Customer Preview Program participants will not be receiving discounts, other than the option to purchase upgrade versions of Windows Vista, as opposed to the full versions. As already noted previously, performing a roll back to Windows XP is not possible."

Learn more here

If you are still running Vista pre-release versions this far, it possibly means you are contemplating moving to the final RTM release of the software. I recently read a great post on Microsoft-Watch about final close down sale discounts being offered by CompUSA. You can get an upgrade copy Vista Basic as low as $59.99, not a bad deal.

Quote

"Impressive deals:

• Vista Home Basic Upgrade just $59.99 instead of $99.99
• Vista Home Premium Upgrade just $99.99 instead of $159.99
• Vista Business Upgrade just $119.98 instead of $199.98
• Vista Home Premium (full version) just $143.99 instead of $239.99"

Learn more here

I know that I have been lacking some form of direct help and support for Windows Vista users for some time. But that is about to change, Teching It Easy with the help of NeoSmart Forums is partnering to bring users an avenue for receiving help and support for the new Windows Vista operating system. So, if you have a problem or want help with a feature in the OS, this is a great place to come.

Check it out here

Sorry about not blogging for a while, but I was busy with work and started preparing for courses to get my CCNA. But I am now back in the fold, with new content ready for blogging. So Live Spaces has been updated with features that are more visitor friendly. I think the best feature so far is the Category based RSS feeds which allows you to basically subscribe to a category on my space. I post a lot of content to my Vista Tips & Tricks and Windows Vista categories, users will probably find this feature a nice improvement.

Added are also improvements to Photo Tools with Vista style slide navigation and the ability to add comments. Another long awaited improvement is a GuestBook feature which I had created ages ago, but will be replacing with the new built in one, I wish there was a way to migrate existing guest comments to the Live Spaces Guest Book link. Live Spaces now includes the ability to e-mail to the owner of a Live Space delivering directly to the persons inbox, really cool. :)

Overall, great improvements, I hope future updates provides the ability to customize more and go beyond the built themes so users can add their unique style to their space.

From Steve Lamb via ActiveWin

For those individuals who want to customize Windows Vista beyond the built in tools, Steve Lamb points us to some helpful third-party links and downloads.

Quote:

"Thanks to David Overton and James Senior for sharing the following...

If you want to see what people are doing out there to make our OS look even better, look at these:

(without modifying the OS)

3d cube based virtual desktop

Rotation based Flip 3D

Alternative to flip-3d (switcher)

Changing the screen saver settings"

Check out the rest here