Microsoft recently made available the second Service Pack for its flagship desktop operating system Windows Vista. I recently restored my Windows Vista SP1 Complete PC Backup image and decided to update it to SP2 and find out what’s new. With the release of Windows NT SP3, Microsoft had defined service packs as a collection of updates for a Windows operating system that were rolled into one file post RTM that made it easier for IT Professionals to update their systems without having to download all the updates individually on each system. With the release of Windows Vista, the definition of Service Pack was updated with a different meaning:

A software update that combines new security and performance enhancements with existing updates. Unlike update rollups, service packs can contain new features or design changes for a product.

Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit with Service Pack 2 installed.

Before updating to Windows Vista SP2, I had to install a pre-requisite file KB955430. The purpose of this file is to assist with the performance of the Service Pack 2 installation which can take some time. After installing the update you can proceed with the installation of the Service Pack itself. My install was done through the Standalone installer for Windows Vista SP1 64-bit. Because some persons might have band width issues, Microsoft provides a (Five language package) full copy of the Service Pack, which weighs in at about 577 MB's for 64 bit and 348 MB's for 32 bit. If you are on a fast connection and regularly receive Windows Updates, you probably have the KB955430 file already installed and Vista SP2 will be presented you as a 56 MB update.

Installing the pre-requisite update

Note: You must have Service Pack 1 for Vista already installed before updating to SP2. The reason for this change in servicing relates to size constraints that would make it impractical to combine both SP1 and SP2, making it a chore to download. Vista SP2 contains post SP1 updates (meaning all Windows Updates that have been released after SP1).

Installing Service Pack 2

Always remember to create a system restore point before installing critical software such as SP2 that will make significant changes to the operating system. According to the Service Pack wizard, installation will take an hour or more. Your computer will restart several times during the installation. I must say, it’s an uneventful experience that does not require much of your time and you can leave your PC while it updates. The installation took approximately 1 hour and 20 minutes for me.

Whats new in Vista SP2?

• Spysweeper and ZoneAlarm, now work with POP3 e-mail accounts

Hardware ecosystem support and enhancements

• SP2 adds support for the 64-bit central processing unit (CPU) from VIA Technologies, which adds the ID and vendor strings for the new VIA 64-bit CPU.
• SP2 integrates the Windows Vista Feature Pack for Wireless, which contains support for Bluetooth v2.1 and Windows Connect Now (WCN) Wi-Fi Configuration. Bluetooth v2.1 is the most recent specification for Bluetooth wireless technology.
• SP2 improves performance for Wi-Fi connections after resuming from sleep mode.
• SP2 includes updates to the RSS feeds sidebar for improved performance and responsiveness.
• SP2 includes ability to record data to Blu-Ray Disc media.

Operating system experience updates

• SP2 includes Windows Search 4.0, which builds on Microsoft’s search technology with improved indexing and search relevance. It also helps find and preview documents, e-mail (including signed e-mail messages), music files, photos, and other items on the computer. The search engine in Windows Search 4.0 is a Microsoft Windows service that is also used by programs such as Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 and Microsoft Office OneNote 2007. Autotuning Diagnostics in SP2 now interprets current network conditions when implementing Windows scaling. This feature includes full netsh support.
• SP2 improves Windows Media Center (WMC) in the area of content protection for TV.
• SP2 removes the limit of 10 half open outbound TCP connections. By default, SP2 has no limit on the number of half open outbound TCP connections.

SP2 also includes a Service Pack Clean-up tool (Compcln.exe) which helps recover the hard disk space by permanently deleting previous versions of files (RTM and SP1) that are being serviced by SP2. The Service Pack Clean up tool can also be run offline while creating slipstream images to reduce the size of the image.

Windows Vista SP2 is a significant update that further improves the end user experiences and technologies built into the OS, while also showing Microsoft’s commitment to always improve Windows.

Resources:

Download Windows Vista SP2 32 bit HERE
Download Windows Vista SP2 64 bit HERE
Update for Windows Vista for x64-based Systems (KB955430)
Update for Windows Vista (KB955430)

Related:

My Early Preview of Windows Vista SP1 BETA

Resources:

Previously released compatibility updates
Hotfixes and Security Updates in Windows Server 2008 SP2 and Windows Vista SP2
Up Next: Windows Vista SP2
Windows Vista Year in Review
Information about Windows Vista Service Pack 1

I have noticed this for a good while now, but sort of ignored it since I also get weather updates through my Windows Live Weather Gadget on my Windows Live Space and through Yahoo! Mail box Home page. But what is bothering me is the non-functioning weather Gadget included in both Vista and 7. At first I thought it had become corrupted, so I tried it in another account, same results. I have come to find out that my Vista system is not the only one affected, it happens on my family and friends systems running Vista. The error message I keep getting is ‘Service is not available in your region.

No support for local towns and cities anymore?

What's interesting is, when I enter locations that I am sure would be available such as ‘Redmond, WA’, I get the ‘cannot connect to service’ error too. The weather applet on Windows Live Home page works just fine and I am sure the data is coming from the same source: Foreca. I wish services like this could be more federated, I am signed into my Live Space with the same account as my Live Home Page. I hope Gadgets are more synergistic in Windows 7 where information delivered to user is relevant to their region.

The Weather Applet on my Windows Live Home Page and the Live Gadget on my Live Space.

Another issue I am experiencing is the Windows Live Weather Gadget. Prior to the recent Windows Live Spaces update, it worked just fine for my region ‘Mandeville, JAM’, now it only defaults to ‘Seattle, WA’. I have modified settings, at first it added my parish as a second weather gadget. Since I don’t live in Seattle or have any need to see the weather forecast for that region, I close it out and and click ‘Save’. When I am taken back to my home page it defaults back to ‘Seattle, WA’. What gives? I have tried adding my area as a second Gadget, but it ends up only displaying ‘’Seattle, WA’. 

I was trying to view a video on Channel9, when I clicked the video I wanted to review, it requested that I install Silversight. I thought, strange, I am sure I installed Silverlight a long time ago on this system. Anyway, I went ahead and clicked install, then a error page came up, take a look:

But, then I wondered, when did my browser become 64 bit by default. I did a little investigation and discovered that, when you launch IE 7 on Vista 64-bit through the 'Run' Command using 'about:blank' it defaults to Internet Explorer 64-bit. To confirm this, I tried again, with a URL, and checked the Help About dialog and surely enough, it was 32-bit IE.

But, regardless, its strange Microsoft is not up on the 64-Bit bandwagon, in critical areas as this. With this being a fresh technology, I would have hoped that 64-bit development would have been there in mind at the start. Oh, well, I am not being hampered, but it just clues me in that 64-Bit development at Microsoft might be hassle.

November 17^th 2007will mark one year since I have been using Microsoft’s latest client desktop operating system – Windows Vista. Vista has been a momentous release for me, I will admit, there were bumps along the way and there is still a lot more to prove. But the conclusion for me is clear; Windows Vista is a significant release that delivers a first class user experience in comparison to its predecessor and market alternatives. ActiveWin’s year in review is meant to take a look at how the operating system has performed for me since its debut, I hope you will read it and also share your feedback.

Windows Vista has experienced strong adoption throughout the year beating many analyst expectations, it is estimated that up to 90 million users have upgraded to the new release through new PC purchases and retail upgrades licenses. So it’s apparent that this release of Windows has been healthy for Microsoft and will continue to do well with the coming holiday season. Numerous sites have also blown up across the web with thousands of enthusiast catering to the new operating system and its various features.

I have been using both x86 and x64 Vista platforms, one device driver continues to hold me back from going 100% 64-bit. BVRP Mobile Phone Tools – please work on getting your device driver working properly on Vista x64, it’s been ‘one year’ come on! In regards to compatibility Vista had a rough start no doubt, the device drivers were available, but most were plagued with stability problems, this issue also applied to some software applications. But I can honestly say the problems have pretty much been ironed out and has helped to deliver a better experience for me and other users. Part of this excellence is attributed to the much improved Windows Update service in Vista. Microsoft has gone far and beyond to make users have the latest software and hard drivers by pushing them through the service.

The new Problem Reports and Solutions component is also a great feature that continually gives Microsoft structured feedback about issues your system might encounter running Windows Vista. Its one of the great ways to really diagnose and find solutions to common problems users are likely to have such as software compatibility and device driver issues.

Interface

Its no secret, Windows Vista’s Aero Theme is a major draw for new and existing users of Windows, it’s the most critical part of the user experience we as users interact with on Vista. AERO is just visually appealing, cool and really adds a professional quality and dimension to the PC. Some say AERO is a resource hog, its confusing, distracting, but I “must” disagree. AERO Glass really is beautiful and productive by really putting emphasis on an applications window main content, persons who say its distracting have never used Vista, AERO is also about bringing aesthetics to a vitally important part of the computer. It’s distracting at first yes because you are left wondering if this is Windows, you immediately admire the quality and focus on the changes brought to the desktop. I am running AERO Glass on an nVidia Geforce FX 5200 128 MBs of RAM AGP card and I get all the effects without any drawbacks in performance, so persons talking about AERO being a cheap thrill really need to sit down and take a serious look at the OS and actually use it before coming to a conclusion. Microsoft did a great job here.

In my Windows XP Professional x64 Edition year in review I proclaimed that Vista x64 would be the transition to 64-bit ubiquity, but I must be honest that it has not been entirely so. I previously noted compatibility problems with my cellular phone. The industry is still not behind the platform it seems, but there has been definitely a lot of progress. In comparison to Windows 2000, Vista x64 is probably one of the smoothest Windows migrations I have ever had. This is a testament to detail and effort Microsoft has put into making the experience as identical in everyway to its 32-bit counter part. It’s up to the industry to provide the other half of the bargain and some have definitely done so, nVidia and AMD ATI for example have regularly released updated device drivers for their graphics cards which have improved the stability and performance on Vista systems.

Users have not been bombarded with issues such as RAID/SATA issues which were very pronounced for the XP x64 release. Please note, I am not saying the issue does not exist, but it is not as rampant, numerous devices have worked for users since day one and a plethora of software programs have supported Vista since day one, these include Graphics Cards, AIO Printers, Scanners, Wireless and USB Devices. Microsoft has estimated that over 2 million devices are now supported for Windows Vista and the list continues to grow. New avenues have opened up for Windows customers such as the Windows Market Place where users can find over 90,000 products that are designed for the platform.

For me personally though, Vista is truly a personalized experience, I have discovered that I am doing more with my computer than I ever did before. During the BETA’s I acquired a Digital Camera and started taking lots of photos, Vista helped me out of the box to really enjoy this leisure task, managing, sorting, editing and viewing photos/videos is such a great time on the computer. Vista’s Photo Gallery has really changed the way I interact with my images, the built in tagging capabilities, the direct integration with applications such as Windows DVD Maker, Windows Movie Maker are allowing me to go beyond just using my computer as a tool and more as an opportunity to create memories I want to enjoy and share. It sounds cliché and more like a commercial and many would come to the argument that I could have done this on a Mac years ago. But I didn’t have to do a major reinvestment in hardware and software/migration. It only took an upgrade from Windows XP to really start doing amazing things with my computer.

Vista’s built in search is such a critical part of the Windows Experience, its everywhere in the system and makes the triviality of accessing your files such a second nature thing to do. Users have talked about the new Explorer shell and some problems that I have found frustrating myself. The issue of customized Explorer shells not remembering their settings when applied regardless of the numerous methods and workarounds suggested. The new Command Bar is also an area I wish more focus was invested in terms of retaining some of the control users had in XP. Simply, it cannot be customized to add your own buttons such as Cut, Copy and Paste to speed up common task when working in folders. Still, its all good, features that I do find myself really mesmerized by include the Bread Crumb menus that let me easily back track and take quick short cuts through the folder hierarchy with great ease.

A lot users still fail to really see the benefits from a productivity point of view and receive Windows Vista with a mind set that is not necessarily open to change and more focused on stark differences between XP that lets face it are stark differences in how the user is in more control of what they can do with Windows Vista.

Performance

There have been small issues around performance Microsoft has plugged since its release, during the summer, the Company released performance updates and most recently updated them to improve the reliability and stability in areas such as Copy and Paste which many persons including myself noted as being horribly slow especially when copying large files. Persons still say Vista’s performance in general could be better, but I assume there are some illusions to this and there are some factors to be accounted for. My brother purchased a laptop notebook from Dell Inc. in June of 2006 with Windows XP Home hoping he would have a smooth upgrade to Windows Vista when it hit the market. The notebook was designated Windows Vista Capable, it came with an Intel Core Duo 1.6 GHz processor, 512 MBs of system memory. In February of this year, he upgraded to Vista Business but was immediately burnt by the slow performance he got from the system, upgrading was slow, using the OS was slow. Microsoft has long informed us that Vista works best with 1 GB of RAM. So, a lot of consumers have been misled I personally believe by the OEMs system specs and the Vista Ready logos. Its not entirely Microsoft’s fault here, since Microsoft can’t dictate what OEMs put in their machines and ship to customers. My brother upgraded his memory from 512 to a total of 1.2 GBs and the difference in performance was like night and day.

The matter of what is best in terms of system specs for Vista especially when it comes to RAM is still falling on deaf ears. My Sister-in-law purchased a Dell 1501 notebook with Vista Basic in March which I was surprised to know came with 512 MBs of RAM and a 2.0 GHz AMD Sempron processor. I am not surprised by the processor since it is of course a budget notebook. But why is Dell still pushing systems out the door with 512 MBs of RAM? It’s like Dell doesn’t even run some test on these systems to see how they perform before putting them in the hands of consumers. This past summer a friend purchased a Gateway ML3109 notebook which also came with 512 MBs of RAM and Vista Home Basic.

OEMs don’t realize the perception this creates for them and the OS, the brand is affected and consumers come to a conclusion the OS is not ready, it’s buggy and slow. I am running Vista Ultimate 32-bit on a Dell 8300 Dimension, 3.2 GHz P4, I purchased in March of 2004, and the machine has been updated since the betas with 2 GBs of RAM. Vista performs exceptionally well on it, it shows when a system is configured the right way how the experience can be a positive one for the end user. The same applies to my brother who is running Vista with 1.2 GBs of RAM and clearly satisfied with the OS for being what most would say is an early adopter.

Security

I can’t really come to a conclusion on Security in Windows Vista yet, but it’s been good, so far. The top name brand Security vendors have updated their popular Antivirus utilities with full support for both Vista x86 and x64 which is really good in my opinion. Microsoft themselves have also pushed out their Antivirus solution Windows Live OneCare, but I have avoided it based on some lack lustre reasons. I am using Symantec Norton Corporate Edition 10.2 on my desktop and Computer Associates for Vista x64.

The controversial UAC is still ‘annoying’ and I am not going to nice it up. Its necessary, but I wish it could be less needy in certain areas or a feature added to the UAC dialog to remember for certain locations of the system I access. I don’t want to sacrifice the integrity of the feature itself, but UAC is just a bit too much, its like this nagging little @#$! I just hate it sometimes <sigh>. So I hope Microsoft focuses on some intelligent way of making UAC understands what can infiltrate the system from what cannot – just be more user aware. Applications still remain another area where UAC is still a big of problem; I have seen only a few applications that have escaped the wrath of the UAC dialog – Microsoft Office is one of them, the worst application is Apple’s iTunes. It’s still early and I am sure developers are still adjusting to the new Least User Privilege architecture in the OS.

Backup in Vista is awesome, the Complete PC Backup type feature in particular is something I had to turn to from third party vendors in prior versions of Windows. I personally believe Microsoft should have made the feature available to all SKUs, since I believe everybody’s data is important no matter the platform they are using. What I like about Complete PC Backup in Vista is how simple and straightforward it is, just attach an external drive and I’m good to go. Some persons have reported errors with the feature itself such as (0x800000587) type errors when backing up or restoring the system. I personally have not experienced this, and I have not read any proper resolutions for the problem itself. I do know you can receive such an error on laptops if it’s not plugged into its AC adapter.

Compatibility

A lot of applications were not working right for Vista back in January, some of my daily apps like Office 2007, Encarta 2007 worked out of the box, other critical applications like Corel Draw X3, Photoshop CS3, new versions QuickBooks 2007 and Peach Tree Accounting 2008 and Ahead Nero 8 were upgraded to work with Vista so I am very satisfied so far and have not experienced a strong case of compatibility issues although this resulted in either purchasing new versions of certain apps such as QuickBooks and Peach Tree or waiting on necessary patches to enable compatibility. A lot of application compatibility issues again go back to the new changes in the user privileges in the OS, prior to Vista applications were designed to run with full Administrator rights, but because Vista made changes to the user account settings most applications do not readily operate properly since they do not get to access the system in an open way as they did in XP and 2000. It’s a tricky situation for many users and the reality is many applications will either have to be updated, run in Compatibility or installed on a supported OS in Virtual PC 2007.

The Ultimate Cost

I mentioned some of the rich multimedia capabilities in Vista such as Photo Gallery which was recently upgraded to Windows Live Photo Gallery featuring strong integration with Microsoft’s Windows Live platform. This clearly proves that Microsoft is not standing still with Vista and is continually focusing on adding value through integration and new experiences allowing users to enjoy and share their memories in new ways. In November of 2006 Microsoft announced Windows Ultimate Extras, an exclusive set of services designed exclusively for Vista Ultimate customers. So far the initiative has been lack lustre, but I do appreciate some of cool features like Windows Dreamscene which brings your wallpapers life. A few other features have been added to the service such as the support for all World Wide Language Interfaces, Bitlocker Drive Preparation Tool and the Hold ‘Em poker game. But it’s most obvious there could be more, since the incentive the Ultimate SKU was continued value beyond the box. I do hope there is more in store, but so far I am a little disappointed and would have like to see a clear understanding of what Ultimate Extras are all about and what it means for me in the long term.

Going Forward

I can’t cover everything because it would never be finished; I hope to do a future follow up in the near future. Looking into Vista’s future one can only say it will only get better. Microsoft is currently working on the first Service Pack for the OS which is expected sometime in early 2008. I won’t say it has been all great since day one, but Vista found its footing from early on and the industry started to invest early on in the platforms unique features, I will honestly say that Vista will be a year of building on the momentum and more users will get to experience the OS on machines I believe are more Vista prepared. Vista offers a cohesive experience users will greatly appreciate from multimedia/consumer oriented task to focus on an engaging productive experience for businesses whether it’s seamlessly connecting to wireless networks, managing files, collaboration, searching and really doing more with your PC. I say if you have been on the fence about upgrading to Vista, there is just no more need to wait.

Resources:

ActiveWin.com: Windows Vista

ActiveWin.com: Windows Vista 32 & 64 Bit Review

Windows Vista Team Blog

Windows Vista Experience Blog

Kristan Kenney: Confessions of a Windows Enthusiast

NeoSmart Technologies

Windows Vista Communities

Previously:

ActiveWin.com: Windows XP Professional x64 Edition: Year in Review

Microsoft has released a 'test release' of Windows Vista Service Pack 1 to a group of its Technical Testers last week. Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista is a collection of updates and fixes that have been released for Windows Vista since it was Released to Manufacturering (RTM) in late 2006. Microsoft is also focusing on improving the general performance of the operating system in addition to supporting new technologies and standards. The final release is expected sometime in early 2008, but this is subject to change. Microsoft's Pete McKiernan, a Senior Product Manager for Windows gives us an overview of the update here:

Windows Vista Service Pack 1, V.275 build 6001

One is an improvement to the BitLocker drive encryption system, available only in the Enterprise and Ultimate editions of Windows Vista. Under SP1, BitLocker will be able to encrypt multiple drive volumes; all drive volumes, that is, except for USB drives.

Second feature touted by Microsoft is support for emerging hardware and standards. Windows Vista SP1 will support Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI), Intel standard for the interface between software, the operating system and firmware, and Extended File Allocation Table (exFAT), a new Microsoft file system that may eliminate the need for defragmentation in the future.

McKiernan categorized other expected changes within Windows Vista SP1 as:

• Security enhancements: There is nothing here that the desktop consumer will notice. Under the hood, Microsoft will provide more opportunities for third-party security vendors to communicate their product status with the Windows Security Center. In x64-bit editions, third-party security vendors can work with the kernel patch protection, a source of controversy last summer. Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) files will be signed. The Windows Pseudo-Random Number Generator will have Elliptical Curve Cryptography (ECC) added. And BitLocker will add multifactor authentication combining Trusted Platform Module (TPM) with a Startup key stored on a USB device, meaning that the startup key must match the hardware you are trying to use.
  
• Reliability enhancements: Microsoft has been analyzing crashes of Windows Vista reported by users and will be making improvements. In particular, more compatibility with newer graphics cards and printers; greater reliability with extended displays on a laptop, various networking scenarios, in systems that were upgraded from Windows XP, and when Windows Vista enters sleep or resumes from sleep.
  
• Performance enhancements: Microsoft says SP1 will offer performance boosts including the speed to copy and extract files, time to become active from Hibernate and Resume, CPU utilization within Internet Explorer 7 and CPU utilization in laptops, thereby reducing battery drain, and shortening the time when browsing network shares.

Learn more HERE

Sounds like a worthy update overall. Now on to my experiences with SP1. I installed it yesterday on a machine running Windows Vista Home Premium x86 RTM (no updates applied), no software installed. The time estimated by the software that it would take to install is around 30 minutes, but turned out to be 37 mins for me. Check out my hardware specs:

Intel Pentium 4 3.2 GHz

2.6 GBs of RAM

nVidia Geforce FX 5200 128 MB AGP

Initial phase of Windows Vista SP1 installation - its a pretty SP. :)

The installation was very streamlined and smooth until the rebooting started which happened around three times. During this portion of installation, SP1 lingered on, indicating that "a Service Pack for Windows is being installed", in addition other notifications that informed me that I should not unplug or restart my computer and the update will be applied automatically. Eventually, installation was completed and a dialog appeared on screen that informed that Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista was installed sucessfully.

Some scenes from the Windows Vista SP1 installation.

Is it?

Changes

Well, the first big change I noticed was, my theme was set to Windows AERO Basic, the default theme was originally Windows AERO Glass. I tried accessing Explorers such as Personalize and Control Panel, but was unable to. Personalize would not open and the Control Panel applets would not appear. Other parts of the system seemed to work fine. I don't know what has happened here, but I sure will send off a bug report to find out. I did check the Problem Reports and Solutions history to see if there were any issue logged, there was one particular log for Windows Installer Module CPLs. Notable changes to the system include the removal of the Search link on the Start Menu panel and the new Defragment Tool which allows you specify which drives you would like to defrag - very handy and functional compared to whats in the RTM release.

So far, those are issues I am experiencing on Windows Vista SP1. Its early days yet and I am sure things will smooth over time such as the numerous reboots required to accomplish the installation. I will be testing out some software to see how well application compatibility performs. The SP1 file is a stand alone installer which weighs around 687 MBs, the x64 file is over 1 GB. The installation seem to have consumed around 2 GBs of disk space, but I am sure there is some debug code in there resulting in smaller release. Also, users will be able to acquire SP1 over Windows Update resulting a small file if they have continually updated their systems since RTM.

Users can also look forward to a merged kernel that will be shared with Microsofts next release of their Network Operating System - Windows Server 2008. This should streamline updates and maintainance of both client and server releases in addition to supporting new technologies and standards such as 802.11n based hardware for example and the new EFI standard which was previously mentioned. I am going to do another reinstall though, I suspect something could possibly have gone wrong with my install and I love AERO Glass. ;) Stay tuned for more updates on SP1!

Andre

Resources:

The Windows Experience Blog: Experiencing Windows Vista Service Pack 1 beta

Windows Vista Blog: Windows Vista Service Pack 1 beta whitepaper

I just downloaded the Windows DreamScene Content Pack which includes an additional three DreamScene looped background desktop videos. I love the new Waterfall DreamScene which is my default, Brandon Leblanc over at the Windows Experience Blog shows how to install it. Yesterday I announced the final release of DreamScene which is an exclusive feature for Vista Ultimate customers through the Ultimate Extras Service.

Rocky Mountain Fall (looks like somewhere in Nebraska, lol!)

Windows Vista Orb branded DreamScene - The orb glows and shines ;)

This one is a bit difficult, its an abstract DreamScene with some weird marble kind of thingy's

Related:

How to enable Windows DreamScene

A look at the Windows DreamScene Content Pack Favorites

Oh my Goodness - the new DreamScenes are HOT!

Resources:

Has Ultimate Extras failed?

The Windows Ultimate Extras Drought

DreamScene - The Issues So Far
Forza 2 DreamScene for Windows Vista

Adapted from this months Microsoft Mindshare Newsletter

The User Account Control feature in Windows Vista has gotten some prime-time exposure-and more than a little ribbing, thanks to the commercials of a leading competitor. Although the ads portray UAC as an overprotective agent that won't let you get anything done, UAC is actually an important (and easy to use) part of Windows Vista security. Click here to read "Understanding User Account Control in Windows Vista," by Charlene Shepard to find out how to use UAC to your best advantage.

From Windows Connected

Josh ask what has happened to the highly anticipated Ultimate Extras which was touted as one of the top reasons to shell cash for the Vista Ultimate SKU:

"It has been over three months since we last saw anything from the Ultimate Extra team.  Intially this was offered by Microsoft as one of the big value adds to the Ultimate version of Windows Vista, but to date I can't say they have delivered that much value. DreamScene was sweet but lasted only a few hours, Holdem was fun again only a half usable thing since it wasn't network capable, the Bitlocker tool was useful for some...."

Read the rest here

I'm going to be honest here, I am starting to reach the conclusion, that Ultimate is probably the worst SKU in the Vista line up, it can't live up to its name! I have said it many times, whatever was in Ultimate should not have been an SKU but an optional Plus! addon you can purchase or don't bother with it at all. Looks like Home Premium is a winner.

Related:

The Windows Ultimate Extras Drought

Resources:

How to enable Windows DreamScene
DreamScene - The Issues So Far
Forza 2 DreamScene for Windows Vista

From Windows Vista Team Blog

Quote:

"Dwight Silverman, the tech reviewer at the Houston Chronicle, has written about the impact that the Aero theme has on battery life and performance (under the provocative title "Vista, Aero, battery life . . . and Doom" -- he's referring to the game Doom3, BTW).  It's a good post and I'd like to take a minute to expand on what Dwight has written.

First off, yes, as Dwight correctly points out, the Aero theme drives the GPU harder and therefore uses more power.  But in the big picture, it's really not that much more.  For example, the display on most laptops will consume somewhere between 15-25% of your "power budget" when you are running on battery.  Nevertheless, in our testing we've seen that turning on Aero consumes only about 1-4% more of battery life.  In terms of making your battery last longer, turning off Aero will not go very far while at the same time costing you some of the cool features that make Windows Vista fun to use, such as Flip 3D, taskbar previews, window transparency and so on."

Read the entire article here

My thoughts? I have been running Vista on a Ferrari 5000 I received last December to review. (Hopefully that review will be up on ActiveWin this week). Here is an excerpt:

Quote:

"Not pleasing, this thing eats battery power like its going out of style. I recently downloaded a Vista Battery Gadget and its hard not to notice how quickly the percentage goes down. There are a combination of things that are causing battery life to be so horrible, this includes Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, I try to turn them off when they are not needed. But it doesn’t make any significant improvement, so the likely other suspect’s has to be the graphics and processor in the system. The AMD Turion X2 64-Bit 2.0 GHz processor runs very hot and some of that energy also eats battery power, so I have to be honest and say, it’s definitely not an energy efficient system and takes away from most of its mobility capabilities. I have seen better battery life on my brother’s Dell 640m with Intel Core Duo processors. Somehow this has brought me to the conclusion that the AMD Turion itself is not a definite mobile processor, but more likely one based on AMD’s desktop product forced into a laptop system."

So, there are a lot of factors that contribute to whether a laptop has good battery life or not. The complexities and numerous components left to the system to manage will ultimately take a toll on how long you are able to use the system. The best recommendation is to simply turn off features not needed, especially Bluetooth. Also, alternating is very important, plugging when you are near a socket to recharge your system if possible.

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

So I just got a chance to install the new Windows Vista Ultimate Extras Dream Scene Backgrounds and I must say I am impressed. My favorite so far is the waterfall which reminds me of the beautiful scenic views from around my home island of Jamaica to my desktop.

The rushing water of a forest stream

A field of thistle, with a bee gathering pollen | A streetlamp reflected in a puddle, with softly falling rain

Orange wisps flowing in a computer-generated scene

The Windows Ultimate Team has done an amazing job and I'm looking forward to future releases!

Over the weekend I was browsing the WinCustomize DreamScene gallery deciding on what I should choose, I have to say most of the available ones (for free) did not excite or interest me. Then I saw Blissful Sunset, which I have been expecting to receive through Windows Ultimate Extras for the past couple of months now. In mid February Microsoft released a preview of DreamScene through their Ultimate Extra's service which is exclusive to licensed customers of Windows Vista Ultimate Edition. The idea is to add life to static desktop wallpapers with motion scenary which can range from nature based to abstract backgrounds.

Blissful Sunset Dreamscene by WinCustomize

I first saw Bliss Sunset at the Windows Vista launch event in New York after a demo presentation. Wowed I was by the quick glimpse which left me anticipating DreamScene, which has so far only delivered one preview. Blissful sunset comes at a cost though ($4.95) and requires that you install the free Dreamscapes software for it to work since it does not use the Microsoft based .Dream format and requires that you add the Blissful Sunset DS through Object desktops own technology. Its kinda confusing and I would have preferred if WinCustomize used the existing tools in Vista to do this.

Is it worth purchasing? To be honest with you, no, it should be free, it loses its nostalgia after a while too. There are also some small problems such as audio playing in Media Player 11 I hear skips and distant echo feedback in songs. If its paused though I don't get the glitches. Another issue is the grass blades, I am seeing a fair amount of dirt down to the taskbar area that does not escape the fact its computer generated imagery. I can't decide if this is a field of tall grass or sugar cane (which is a specie of grass by the way).  I love playing the BeeGee's How Deep Is Your Love while watching this dream scene, its such a soothing experience.

My nephew asked me why isn't the sun setting? I told him because its a specific moment in time you want to always have, but, subtle sun animation would have been nice though to add to that realism. As for performance, no changes at all, the system runs just fine, except for the current audio problems I'm experiencing with it, with 2 GBs of RAM, 256 MB Video card and a 64-bit processor I wouldn't expect it to though. Dreamscene files are big too weighing in around 27 MBs, the Bliss abstract preview weighed in at 21 MBs. Overall, its not perfect, but it is beautiful and credit must be given to the artist who came up with it. But it does prove that these things have to be tested.

Check out WinCustomize Dreamscene gallery HERE thanks to Jeff for the link

Resources:

How to enable Windows DreamScene
DreamScene - The Issues So Far
The Windows Ultimate Extras Drought
Forza 2 DreamScene for Windows Vista

I wanted to keep my mouth shut on this one, but its getting a bit disturbing for me to continue doing so. Windows Ultimate Extras has been in the works for a long time now from early on in the Vista Beta. Vista Ultimate RTMed late January, but so far the UE folks have only released some stuff that honestly do not make this particular SKU a must have. I still have some confidence left in me that more value will show up over time, but the wait for more stuff has been rather long since downloading Hold 'em Poker, Bitlocker with Online Backup in February. The recent preview of DreamScene has been well, ok, but has not brought any wow factor to my user experience. Also, where are those other DreamScene backgrounds I saw at the launch event? Why are they taking so long, what needs to be fixed?

I need progress updates, I need more value, right now, Vista Business and Home Premium are looking like the most sensible choice for most users planning on moving to Vista. Yep, its obvious, I'm a bit frustrated, but I believe I have good reason to be. Vista Ultimate has a 5 year life support expectancy, but, the major gaps between UE releases are too wide, the value its adding just does not seem worthy enough. While Ultimate Extras does have the edge by melding together features of the Consumer/Business branches, looking deeper, what are you missing out on really?

• Domain Join (Business and Enterprise Edition)
• Media Center (Home Premium)
• Windows DVD Maker (Business Edition)
• Windows AERO (Home Premium, Business)
• Tablet PC (Home Premium, Business)
• Meeting Space (Home Premium, Business)
• XBOX integration (Home Premium)
• Complete PC Backup (Business)
• Remote Desktop (Business)

Right now, Vista Home Premium win's out carrying a majority of the features most users are looking for. If you are connecting more than five PC's in a work environment, Business Edition continues to be the best value. At the office, we only have 10 PCs connected to a Server running Server 2003 Standard in workgroup mode and we are able to do what we want just fine. So, for most small businesses, looking to Ultimate as getting everything cheaper without the need to invest in an Enterprise Agreement to get features like Bit Locker, is not a sensible decision.

To be honest, I don't use Media Center/XBOX 360, Tablet PC and Meeting Space. But, features like Windows Movie Maker and DVD Maker (Home Premium) are tools I'm finding the time to use more and more. Microsoft's marketing has mismatched the features in so many way's, you can't get away without thinking about Ultimate as the best choice. But at the same time, you have to ask yourself, do I really need all these features? In most cases, you probably have a third party application that can offer whats only available in Ultimate and missing in a cheaper SKU.

When I look at the big picture, having all features isn't a justified reason for purchasing Ultimate. Especially if you don't have the hardware to fully take advantage of it. So, my final recommendation is, when you go out to purchase Vista (if you do), focus primarily on Home Premium or Business, these two seem to have the needs of most users. Also, its not a distasteful idea to scrap the Ultimate SKU you and sell off some of the services of Ultimate extras as optional add-ons (ala-Plus!) for users of the lower SKU's. But that would be taking it a bit too far I would assume. I just wish the releases were more rapid. <sigh>

Since Windows Vista launched I have been assisting a local print shop in my parish deploy Microsoft's new operating system and productivity suite. But I'm left with a headache and a disappointed Small Business owner who is now packing his bags and moving back to Windows XP. A lot of the local OEM's are very hesitant about deploying Vista on newly purchased system's and they have good reason to be, its just not ready for prime-time. Windows I believe has become a joint effort with each release between Microsoft and the software industry. A new release won't be considered ready until everybody is ready, and I mean everybody. However if you work in a small business where you use Microsoft technology from top to bottom you will have a better chance of having a smooth migration from Windows XP.

In my case its a different story and that's just the case of many Small Businesses out there, for instance, our software tools which are used to "run" the business are just not ready. Sage Software, makers of Peach Tree Accounting 2006 Premium said on their website, it works, but for it to "fully" work you need a patch, but this sounds contradictory when I read further on that Peach Tree version 2007 was last tested with Vista in June 2006 and is not guaranteed to work. So how am I suppose to put faith in a patch for 2006 which I need to call the Company to receive? The problem revolves around printing invoices and e-mailing them, it seems the E-mail Print Driver used by the software is trying to run in Kernel Mode in Vista which is interacting at the hardware level and is only designed to work with XP and earlier versions. Because of the deep changes in security Microsoft has added to Vista, certain applications from third party developers need to be re-written so they can operate better under the new user privileges required by the operating system. But for such a popular software package I expected better, and for a Company such as Microsoft, I expected them to have better communication with the folks who write such critical programs used by thousands of businesses.

No word from Sage if they will provide a future patch or Service Release that will fix compatibility with Vista in their existing releases, the Company has also said on their website that their 2007 version was last tested in June of 2006 with Vista and is not guaranteed to work. After browsing the web for help, I stumbled on a forum post which said that Sage won't be supporting Vista until their 2008 version, Grr!

As for Office 2007, its taking more than 15 minutes to get accustomed to the new user interface. You spend more time searching for features than actually getting the work done, I agree with Long Zheng (istartedsomething.com) 100% that the Office Team was too over confident with the UI and could have taken a graceful approach by implementing a Search box Scout for finding features and commands or include the Classic 1500 toolbar commands as an option for users who are just not ready for Office Fluent. Its getting annoying hearing somebody call your name every 10 seconds about how to find a feature, whether its change case, page borders or spell check. In the print shop, there is a machine dedicated for only printing content, installed are applications for a number of programs so when employee's receive files from clients or want to print their work, they just do that at that PC. But its not a print machine when 90% of the applications won't work. So, we can forget about Vista there, Adobe Writer 5, QuickBooks 2006, Quark 5, PageMaker 7, Corel Draw, Print Shop, Hall Mark Card Studio, WinPC Sign - some of which don't work!

Windows Vista's built in compatibility tools are not doing a good job of communicating to the user when new updates are available for the latest incompatible software installed on your computer. After receiving this error and blogging the issue, I was notified by Kris Kenney of Canucky.net that there was an update from Sonic available for this issue. You can download it here

We realize we need to upgrade to new versions, but when you look at the big picture, all of these programs worked just fine on XP, so it would then become a case of upgrading for upgrade sake. Heck no! Vista's AERO UI is a great sell, but the trade off's are too many to justify right now, and even if new systems were purchased with it, it would be recommended that we format that system and install XP for that machine to be a good citizen in the work group.

This product is pathetically incompatible with Windows Vista, for an industry standard, I'm in awe, for a Company like Microsoft to pass this one buy, tsk, tsk.

Intuits QuickBooks Enterprise 6.0 is the same issue, but I suspect the Company is just forcing users to upgrade to the latest. But it's starting to seem like a conspiracy here, money does not grow on tree's the last time I checked.

Bright Spots

The plan going forward is to take it step by step, which means, deploying Office 2007 on XP first. Regardless its a radical change in workflow requiring adjustment to the Office Fluent UI, users are excited about it and are willing to learn. Office 2007's core app's are a major leap in features, enhancing content is much easier and more attractive because of the new tools. From the professional looking charts to the elegant cover pages. For a veteran who is knee deep in the productivity suite, benefits are obvious, accomplishing task are much quicker, for example inserting and editing a picture is much faster. Compared to Word 2003's Insert > Picture > From File > browse Pictures folder, select picture > Open, Office Word 2007 does it quicker, "Insert" tab > click Picture > browse select picture open. It's small improvements like that which show the value of the new suite and the Office fluent including the incentive to put effort into learning it.

But going back to the main issue, application compatibility is a problem that needs to be ironed out first. We tried Virtual PC as a possible interim solution, but with only a GB of RAM running XP plus the accounting software and Office 2003 is decreasing the performance of the system since a substantial amount has been allocated to the Virtual Machine for it to run acceptably. What's happening with Vista is a case of too much concentration on getting things to work than getting work done and making employee's do what they want to do on the PC. I'm confident this will work out over time, but right now is just not the time for Vista.  Regardless of the published compatibility list, its the misses on that list that are the major concern, the tools are currently in the trenches working everyday on Windows XP and 2000 systems that just cannot seem to find a place in Vista land.

Earlier today I detailed steps to acquiring and enabling one of Windows Vista Ultimate's latest Ultimate Extras, DreamScene. But since using it, I have discovered some issues, minor, but still noticeable:

• SideBar temporarily distorted when loading the Windows desktop
• Does not automatically play after logging in, you have to right click and click Play DreamScene
• Automatically pauses at times, requiring that you re-enable, I don't know if this is possibly a feature to better utilize system resources when DS is not in use.
• Audio skips in Windows Media Player while playing DreamScene, pausing DS fixes it.

Overall, its a nice addition to Windows Vista experience, although, gazing at the Windows Desktop is not something I do all day, but those few stolen moments are really a pleasure, whether its after closing programs or a lunch break. I can't wait to get the other's I saw at the Vista launch even such as Techy looking backgrounds, the Racoon staring at you all day, and best "I think" of them all, the grass swaying in the evening sunset.

I have not seen any changes in system performance which proves the team working on this has done a lot of work to ensure that your system runs smooth so far.

System Specs:

3.2 Ghz P4 HT (32-Bit)
nVidia Geforce FX 5200 128 MB AGP card
2.6 GBs of RAM

Windows Vista Ultimate Edition x86

My summary of the Windows Vista launch activities is now on Activewin, here is a snippet:

Quote:

"I arrived in New York City January 28^th, as part of the ActiveWin.com Team for two days of activities concerning the launch of Microsoft’s latest desktop operating system, Windows Vista which has been in testing and development for the past couple of years. The first day’s activity was the launch event which took place at the KODAK Theatre. I along with a few other attendee’s such as Terri Stratton, Michael Reyes, Ryan Hoffman and Brandon Leblanc had to wait outside for a while before receiving badges to enter the conference. My home island of Jamaica has received a renewed level of respect for its tropical climate, the cold was brutal at times, but I managed to muster the strength and fight through it. Eventually, I got into the event with people from other press houses and around the world buzzing with excitement to see Microsoft finally launch the anticipated new generation of software.

Microsoft employee’s were on hand to provide demos of Windows Vista including hardware designed to work with the new OS from both Microsoft and third-party vendors. It was really cool to interact with some of the new devices and software up close. I saw a huge wide screen plasma display showcasing some of Media Center and Vista’s rich visuals. Also displayed were various Windows Media based MP3 players including the recently released Zune which features an awesome interface for playing videos and viewing photos. The navigation controls are very straightforward and works well with Windows Vista and XP. Other noticeable hardware on display include Microsoft’s Wireless Desktop 8000 which cost $250 and includes a cool media center based keyboard with built in navigation controls including quick access buttons. The wireless mouse is also rechargeable, since the keyboard includes a docking station just for it."

Read the rest here

I upgraded my brothers Dell Inspiron 640m last month to Windows Vista Business x86 and while the upgrade itself was successful and smooth, the experience on a daily basis was not something to desire. The reason for this was as a result of the amount of system RAM (512 MBs) which prevented the system from performing well. So I installed a 1 GB stick of DDR 2 RAM I purchased at Best Buy and it was like night and day. But..., I have noticed one major problem and its the actual upgrade itself. The annoying incompatibility messages he is receiving after reaching the desktop, products that Windows Vista's Upgrade Advisor did not indicate would be incompatible. The most annoying is Sonic's DLA software which will not quit regardless we got the point its not compatible and there aren't any available updates from Sonic right now to fix the problem. I installed Sonic Easy Media Creator 9 on my desktop running Vista Ultimate x86 and I also receive the "DLA" error, come on, get this thing fixed people, you have no right to say your software is fully certified for Windows Vista if its popping up messages that its incompatible with no updates to fix it. NERO is doing a better job, since I don't get any crap like that and I would prefer to recommend it because of its clean, strong feature set and inviting UI.

Speaking of NERO, before the laptop was upgraded to Vista, it was running NERO 6.6 which the Upgrade Advisor indicated was not compatible, so I installed the latest version 7.7.5.1 on XP, but after I upgraded and clicked the Smart Center icon, a message window asked to download an update to ensure full compatibility with Vista. Strange, it was just so much effort right now, so I decided to do a repair installation, since the same software installed on another desktop running Vista without needing an update. At first, I tried to uninstall NERO, but that didn't work, I got a weird com.application fail to unregister error, got the same message when I tried to repair. Eventually, I tried the Add/Remove option on NERO's setup wizard which reinstalled the app properly. What a major hassle huh? Which brings me to the conclusion that upgrades are probably best recommended as a last resort for Vista, since there is just too much risk for application conflict's after the upgrade. Chores I would have expected to be resolved after I upgraded the system, are still bothering my brother, which is not a great experience and takes away from the some of the positive promises of the OS.

Still, its not holding my brother back, and he's appreciative of the improvements in system performance the 1 GB stick of RAM has added. He is so addicted to Gadgets, which kinda rubs off on you when you are around him. He is more of a Utilities/Meter based Gadget fan, some of his favorites include, Battery Vista and Wireless based gadgets. The Windows Vista desktop is a great sell when new and existing Windows users see it for the first time. I guess its a combination of the mature look and feel and human/earthy aspects of the user interface that grabs users when they first see it. Still, to maintain a positive experience the application and device driver developers need to meet their end of the bargain. I am finding it very frustating that the OS has been on the market for the past couple of months now and you can't get updates ready for it on time without any ETA.

Related Articles:
My Brother is now running Windows Vista

WOW, three days go really fast and what an experience this has been for me. Coming to my first launch event will leave a lasting impression on me, and I just would like to thank all the people who help to make it possible. Terri Stratton (tabletpc.net), Nick White (Windows Vista Team Blog) and Robert Stein (ActiveWin) for making this trip a reality and smooth one. I appreciate all your hardwork and time to get me to witness a product I have been testing since July 29th 2005 go out to the masses. The social experience has been amazing, like I said earlier, getting to meet the people behind the blogs and websites I read everyday was very surreal and humbling. It was really nice to finally meet Stephen Bink and fiance, Sandro, Michael, Brandon, Ryan and Mary Jo, thank you for your great friendships and warm hospitality, all of you ROCK!

New York is such a high intensity, fast place, the people here are warm and friendly and its just so big in everyway. From the many sky scrappers to the delicious food, this place knows how to treat a traveler really great. This is a place everyone should experience at least once in their lifetime, and I hope I get the opportunity to come back here again. If I left anybody, thank you. :)

With much respect,
Andre

This morning the ActiveWin Team (Bob and I) stopped at the local Best Buy in New York City to witness Steve Ballmer (Microsoft CEO) along with a young lady from Arizona relay her experiences with Windows Vista. The press were there to cover the event, after demoing Vista to the crowd, the CEO discussed his excitement over this major release of Windows. It was refreshing to see Steve Ballmer in person, he is full of pepp, excitement and gets the crowd going with his strong tone of voice and passion for the Company. He also rallied the employees at Best Buy which was a sight to see, it was such a great time. Unfortunately though, I did not get to meet Ballmer, (because I walked away to pick up a few items), Bob was lucky enough to meet Steve, congratulate him and take a picture together (I envy Bob)!

Steve Ballmer getting personal demo of Vista, Best Buy army of employee's and Best Buy CEO.

After Steve left the crowd of consumers started chowing down on the available copies of both Office 2007 and Windows Vista. There were two iMac desktops that looked really, really out of place. The Best Buy folks should have used Boot Camp and install Vista on them. Nick White (Windows Vista Team Blog) sold the first copy of the product (I think), a signature upgrade edition from Bill Gates to a Best Buy employee. I saw the desktop Ballmer and that little girl used to demo Vista and its just awesome, its a Gateway HD display with integrated speakers.

Copies of Windows Vista and Office 2007 on shelves.

So, I just installed the latest Windows Update and Ultimate Extras. One of the Extras that a lot of game fans will have fun with is Texas Hold 'Em Poker game. According to the games Help system:

Quote:
"Hold 'Em is a blend of psychology, skill, and chance that puts you in a contest against other players, each trying to get the best hand and take home all the chips.

Each player is dealt a set of cards called a hand, and then each player wagers chips on who has the best hand. All those wagered chips are called the pot. By getting a better combination of cards in your hand than anyone else at the table, you win the pot. When one player has all the chips at the table, that player wins the tournament."

Its an interesting game, I need to study before I start playing it. Its only available to customers of the Ultimate edition Vista, if you want to extend your Windows Experience beyond the box, application and device driver updates, Ultimate should be on your list. Another Extra included is the Bitlocker Encryption feature, Bitlocker encrypts the entire system drive, including the Windows system files necessary for startup and logon. You can log on and work with your files normally, but BitLocker can help block hackers from accessing the system files they rely on to discover your password, or access your hard disk by removing it from your computer and installing it in a different computer. BitLocker can only help protect files that are stored on the drive that Windows is installed on. 

Hold Em' Poker for Windows Vista Ultimate

Quote
"The Windows BitLocker™ Drive Preparation Tool, which configures your hard drive so that you can use the BitLocker Drive Encryption feature of Windows Vista, and Secure Online Key Backup, a utility that stores a backup copy of your BitLocker recovery password and Encrypting File System (EFS) recovery certificates in your digital locker, a secure Microsoft website"

There is no sign of Windows DreamScene yet, it was previewed yesterday at the Windows Vista Launch Event. DreamScene which basically uses a looped video to turn your desktop into a live action animated background. Other add-on's include Hold ‘Em Poker game and Bitlocker/EFS Enhancements. I saw it really, really close up yesterday, and you can't even tell its been looped. My favorite so far are the waterfalls and grass blowing in the wind while the sun sets. You can even pause the effect and turn it into a static wallpaper. Its very innovative and adds a lot of life to the Windows Desktop. This is something I see a lot of consumers going nuts over. There is one DreamScene I find a little eerie, a racoon looking at you all day.

There were some language Windows Language packs available in Windows Update today Packs. For multi-lingual homes or small businesses this should be very handy.

Windows Vista Ultimate Extras Website