Contents at a GlanceRead This First ...1 Part I: Surviving Setup Chapter 1: Selecting the Right Vista Version ...31 Chapter 2: Installing and Upgrading to Windows Vista ...45 Chapter 3:
Trang 2Windows Vista ™
Trang 4Windows Vista ™
Brian Livingston Paul Thurrott
Trang 5Windows Vista ™ Secrets ®
Published by
Wiley Publishing, Inc.
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Copyright © 2007 by Brian Livingston and Paul Thurrott
Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
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Trang 6To Margie Livingston and Stephanie, Mark, and Kelly Thurrott
Trang 7About the Authors
Brian Livingston is editorial director of the weekly Windows Secrets Newsletter
(http://WindowsSecrets.com) and author of the weekly “Executive Tech” column(http://BrianLivingston.com) for Datamation For 12 years, from 1991 to 2003, he was a con-
tributing editor of InfoWorld Magazine, writing the weekly “Window Manager” column and (from 2001 to 2003) the E-Business Secrets newsletter He has also been a contribut- ing editor of CNET News.com, PC World, PC/Computing, Windows Sources, and Windows Magazine The business model of WindowsSecrets.com, which is supported by
voluntary reader contributions, earned him the Internet Entrepreneur of the Year award
at the 2006 Internet Content Summit in New York, sponsored by MarketingSherpa(http://bri.li/060508)
Paul Thurrottis the news editor of Windows IT Pro Media and editor of the SuperSite for
Windows (http://www.winsupersite.com) He writes a weekly editorial for Windows IT ProUPDATE (http://www.windowsitpro.com/email); a daily Windows news and information
newsletter called WinInfo Daily UPDATE (http://www.wininformant.com); and a monthly column called “Need To Know” in Windows IT Pro Magazine.
Trang 8Graphics and Production Specialists
Carrie A FosterBrooke GraczykJennifer MayberryBarbara MooreMelanee PrendergastRonald Terry
Quality Control Technicians
Laura AlbertJohn GreenoughMelanie Hoffman
Trang 10Contents at a Glance
Read This First 1
Part I: Surviving Setup Chapter 1: Selecting the Right Vista Version 31
Chapter 2: Installing and Upgrading to Windows Vista 45
Chapter 3: Vista Compatibility 75
Part II: Understanding the Windows Vista User Experience Chapter 4: What’s New in the Windows Vista User Interface 95
Chapter 5: Where’s My Stuff? Finding and Organizing Files 125
Chapter 6: Using Windows Sidebar 145
Chapter 7: Fonts 165
Part III: Security Chapter 8: Windows Vista Security Features 215
Chapter 9: New User Account Features 233
Part IV: Digital Media and Entertainment Chapter 10: Windows Media Player 11 251
Chapter 11: Enjoying Digital Photos 285
Chapter 12: Making Movies and DVD Movies 317
Chapter 13: Digital Media in the Living Room: Windows Media Center 359
Chapter 14: Having Fun: Games and Vista 395
Part V: Mobility Chapter 15: Computing to Go: Windows Vista Mobility Features 411
Chapter 16: New Tablet PC Features 433
Part VI: Internet and Networking Chapter 17: Browsing the Web with Internet Explorer 7 457
Chapter 18: Windows Mail and Contacts 491
Chapter 19: Using and Understanding Windows Live Services 513
Trang 11Part VII: Home Office/Power User
Chapter 20: Managing Your Schedule with Windows Calendar 529
Chapter 21: Keeping Your Data Safe 553
Chapter 22: Microsoft PowerShell 567
Appendix: Vista Symbols 587
Index 615
Trang 12Preface xxiii
Read This First 1
The Value of Vista 2
Learn Vista in 15 Minutes 2
The New Start Menu 3
Windows Aero 3
Flip 3D 5
Programs Explorer Replaces Add/Remove Programs 6
Put Some Gadgets in Your Windows Sidebar 7
Instant Search and the Search Pane 8
Internet Explorer 7.0 Catches Up 10
IE Protected Mode and Phishing Filter 12
Support for RSS News Feeds 13
Encrypt Entire Drives with BitLocker 15
Use Easy Transfer to a New PC 15
Parental Controls 16
New Games: Mahjong and Chess 17
Windows Media Player 11 20
URGE, Brought to You by MTV 21
Movie Maker and DVD Maker 23
Windows Photo Gallery 25
Windows Media Center 26
There’s Much More 27
Part I: Surviving Setup Chapter 1: Selecting the Right Vista Version 31
A Quick Overview of All the Versions 32
If You’re Reading This, You Don’t Need Starter 33
The N Editions Aren’t For You, Either 33
If Your PC Is 64-Bit Ready, Run 64-Bit Vista 33
A Few Simple Questions to Determine the Best Vista Version for You 33
Taking Advantage of Your Ability to Upgrade Vista 35
Windows Anytime Upgrade 36
RAM Limitations of Vista Versions 36
Peer-to-Peer Networking Limitations 36
Choosing Between Home Basic and Home Premium 38
Choosing Between Vista Business and Enterprise 40
Trang 13Features Available in All Vista Versions 42
Choosing the Whole Enchilada — Vista Ultimate 44
Summary 44
Chapter 2: Installing and Upgrading to Windows Vista 45
Taking the Easy Way Out: Acquiring Windows Vista with a New PC 46
Interactive Setup 46
Clean Install 47
Upgrading 61
Dual-Booting with Windows XP 65
Deploying Windows Vista A Power User’s Toolkit 72
Summary 73
Chapter 3: Vista Compatibility 75
Upgrading to Vista 76
XP Users Can Try the Vista Upgrade Advisor 77
The Vista Upgrade Advisor 77
Getting Ready for the Upgrade Advisor 77
Can Your PC Run the Core Experiences? 78
Are Your Drivers Capable of Vista? 79
Microsoft’s Obscure Stash of Legacy Drivers 82
Summary 91
Part II: Understanding the Windows Vista User Experience Chapter 4: What’s New in the Windows Vista User Interface 95
Understanding the Windows Vista User Experience 96
Windows Classic 99
Windows Vista Basic 100
Windows Vista Standard 101
Windows Vista Aero 102
Exploring with the Windows Vista Explorer Shell 107
Start Menu 107
Desktop 114
Taskbar 116
Notification Area and System Clock 117
Windows Vista Explorers 119
More to Come 123
Summary 124
Chapter 5: Where’s My Stuff? Finding and Organizing Files 125
Understanding Special Shell Folders 126
Visualization and Organization: How the Windows Vista Shell Works 128
Sorting the Vista View Styles 131
Where Is It Now? 133
xii Contents
Trang 14Search Folders, Saved Searches, and Virtual Folders 135
Understanding Search Folders 136
Using Prebuilt Search Folders 136
Creating Your Own Search Folders 139
Configuring Search Options 142
Summary 143
Chapter 6: Using Windows Sidebar 145
What Is Windows Sidebar? 146
Launching Windows Sidebar 148
Configuring Sidebar 150
Configuring the Sidebar Display 150
Adding Gadgets to the Sidebar 152
Looking at the Built-In Gadgets 153
Configuring Gadgets 154
Moving Gadgets to the Windows Desktop 156
Removing Gadgets 158
Finding New Gadgets 160
Where Have I Seen This Before? 162
Summary 163
Chapter 7: Fonts 165
Windows Has a Lot of Strange Characters 166
You Can Never Have Enough Glyphs 166
How Windows Jumped from 224 Glyphs to 652 to 100,000 167
Making Progress in International Communications 167
How to Enter ANSI Characters from the Keyboard 169
Alt+Number Works in All Windows Apps 172
The “Dead Key” Method Is the Fastest 172
When All Else Fails, Head for the Symbol Menu 173
How to Spell Words Good 175
Unicode: One Font to Rule Them All 178
WGL4 Represents a Temporary Solution, at Best 178
The Top 1,000 Characters of All Time 178
Entering Unicode Characters from the Keyboard 179
Application Support for Special Characters 179
Who Has Which Fonts? 185
Love at First Sort, or Baby, You’re My Type 185
Displaying Font Samples the Fastest Way 186
The Fonts Everyone Has 187
The Fonts Virtually Everyone Has 188
The Fonts Most, But Not All, Users Have 189
The New Vista Font Collection 190
Who’s Running Which Versions of Windows? 196
Which Fonts Are Web-Safe Fonts? 199
The Most Web-Safe Font Is Courier (Yuck) 200
Web-Safe Sans-Serif Fonts 200
Contents xiii
Trang 15Web-Safe Serif Fonts 200
Web-Safe Monospaced Fonts 201
Don’t Use the Symbol Font in HTML 201
What Are the Fonts with the Funny Names For? 202
How to Get the Best Free Fonts 207
The 20 Best Free Fonts 207
Other Free Font Lists 208
The Best Free Scientific Fonts 209
The Best Programmer’s Fonts 209
How to Get the Best Commercial Fonts 210
What About a Condensed Font? 211
What About Font Utilities? 211
Summary 212
Part III: Security Chapter 8: Windows Vista Security Features 215
Security and Windows Vista 216
Windows Security Center 216
Windows Defender 219
Windows Firewall .220
Windows Update 223
User Account Security Features 224
Internet Explorer 7 Security Features 225
ActiveX Opt-In 225
Protected Mode 226
Fix My Settings 226
Phishing Filter 227
Delete Browsing History 228
Other Internet Explorer Security Features 228
BitLocker Drive Encryption 229
Low-Level Security Features 230
Summary 231
Chapter 9: New User Account Features 233
Understanding User Accounts 234
Creating the Initial User Account 234
Understanding Account Types .235
User Account Control 235
Parental Controls 241
Configuring Parental Controls 241
Running as Standard User with Parental Controls 245
Summary 247
xiv Contents
Trang 16Part IV: Digital Media and Entertainment
Chapter 10: Windows Media Player 11 251
Media Player Basics 252
Setting Up Windows Media Player 11 252
Understanding the Windows Media Player 11 User Interface 254
Playing Music and Other Media 261
Finding and Managing Your Music 262
Playing with Photos, Videos, and Recorded TV Shows 265
Ripping CDs to the PC 269
Ripping Music 270
Burning Your Own Music CDs 271
Synchronizing with Portable Devices 272
Using Windows Media–Compatible Devices 272
Sharing Your Music Library 276
Connecting to a Share Music Library with Windows Vista 278
Connecting to a Share Music Library with Xbox 360 279
Accessing Online Music Stores 280
URGE 280
Other Music Stores 283
Summary 284
Chapter 11: Enjoying Digital Photos 285
Using the Pictures Folders 286
Where Is It Now? 287
Where Are the Pictures? 288
Organizing Photos with the Windows Vista Shell 289
Viewing Photos in Windows Vista 294
Customizing a Picture Folder 295
Managing Pictures with Windows Photo Gallery 296
Examining the Photo Gallery User Interface 296
Changing How Your Digital Memories Are Displayed 298
Importing Pictures into Photo Gallery 305
Editing Pictures 306
Sharing Photos with Others 310
Using Photo Gallery to Manage Digital Videos 314
Summary 316
Chapter 12: Making Movies and DVD Movies 317
Managing Digital Movies with Windows Vista 318
Watching and Managing Movies with Windows Photo Gallery 320
Watching and Managing Movies with Windows Media Player 322
Watching and Managing Movies with Windows Media Center 324
Using Windows Movie Maker 326
Understanding the Movie Maker User Interface 326
Importing Digital Media into a Project 328
Contents xv
Trang 17Editing a Recorded TV Show or Movie 329
Sharing Your Movies with the World 339
Saving and Working with Projects 343
Using Windows DVD Maker 344
Adding Photos and Videos to Your DVD Project 346
Naming Your DVD Movie 349
Understanding DVD Movie Options 350
Working with DVD Menus 351
Changing Other DVD Options 353
Writing the Movie to Disc 357
Summary 358
Chapter 13: Digital Media in the Living Room: Windows Media Center 359
A Short History of Media Center 360
Media Center in Windows Vista 362
Configuring Media Center 364
Running the Setup Wizard 365
Configuring Media Center Features after Setup 369
A Somewhat New User Interface 372
Exploring the Media Center Experiences 375
TV and Movies 375
Pictures and Videos 381
Music 383
Accessing Media Center Away from the PC 385
Using an Xbox 360 or Media Center Extender 386
Synchronizing with Portable Devices 389
Burning a DVD Movie or Music CD 391
Summary 394
Chapter 14: Having Fun: Games and Vista 395
Games You Get with Windows Vista 396
Using the Games Folder 397
Game Updates and Options 399
Rating Your System’s Performance 400
Managing Your Game Controllers and Other Game-Related Hardware 401
Installing and Playing Third-Party Games 403
Using Legacy Games with Windows Vista 404
Downloading More Games for Windows Vista 407
Summary 408
Part V: Mobility Chapter 15: Computing to Go: Windows Vista Mobility Features 411
Windows Vista on the Road 412
Working with the Vista User Interface 412
xvi Contents
Trang 18Power Management 415
Updated Battery Meter 415
Power Plans 417
Power Options Control Panel 418
Windows Mobility Center 424
Presentations A-Go-Go 425
Presentation Settings 425
Using a Network Projector 426
Other Mobile Features 426
Offline Files and Folders 426
Windows Meeting Space 428
Windows SideShow 430
Improved Support for Tablet PC Hardware 431
Summary 431
Chapter 16: New Tablet PC Features 433
A Short History of the Tablet PC 434
Tablet PC Capabilities in Windows Vista 437
Using a Tablet PC 437
Configuring Tablet PC Features 437
Tablet PC Input Panel 441
Flicks and Gestures 445
Password Hiding on Logon with Pen 447
Shell Changes for Tablet PC Users 449
Revisiting Some Old Friends 450
Summary 453
Part VI: Internet and Networking Chapter 17: Browsing the Web with Internet Explorer 7 457
What Happened 458
Basic Internet Explorer Usage 459
Starting Internet Explorer 459
New Link, New Window 459
Managing Downloads from the Internet 459
Edit on the Internet Explorer Toolbar 460
The Complete AutoComplete 460
Finding Web Sites 460
Autosearch for a Web Address 461
Copy and Paste Links 461
Toggle Internet Explorer between Full-Screen Mode and Restore 461
Favorites and Offline Web Pages 461
URL Shortcuts 462
Saving Graphics off the Internet 462
Saving Complete Web Pages 462
Turning Your Favorites into a Web Page 463
Contents xvii
Trang 19Internet Explorer 7 Is Not Your Father’s Web Browser 464
The Command Bar 465
Where Is It Now? 467
New Internet Explorer 7 Features and Functionality 468
Manage Your Favorite Web Sites with Favorites Center 469
Navigate the Web with Tabbed Browsing 471
Integrated Web Search 475
Working with the Internet Explorer 7 Display 477
Printing 479
Covering Your Tracks 483
Understanding and Using RSS 484
Viewing an RSS Feed 485
Subscribing to an RSS Feed 486
Managing RSS Feeds 486
RSS Is a Platform 487
Internet Explorer 7 Keyboard Shortcuts 487
Summary 489
Chapter 18: Windows Mail and Contacts 491
Windows Mail Basics 492
Configuring Windows Mail 493
Changing Windows Mail Options Right Away 493
More Windows Mail Features 494
Working Online or Offline 495
Using a Nondefault Mail or News Account 495
What’s That Pushpin For? 496
Dragging and Dropping to a Windows Mail Message 496
Using Windows Mail with E-mail 496
Handling Multiple E-mail Accounts 497
Choosing Which Account to Send Your Messages Through 497
Waving When the Mail Arrives 497
Leaving Mail on the Server 497
Converting the Mail 498
Reading and Managing Messages 498
Did You Receive the Message? 498
Choosing Your Columns 498
Composing and Sending Messages 499
What’s the Drafts Folder For? 499
Quoting in Replies and Forwards 499
Messages Formatted in HTML 500
Stationery 500
Attachments 501
Saving Attachments 501
New Features in Windows Mail 501
Slightly Updated User Interface 501
No More Support for Web Mail 501
Instant Search 502
xviii Contents
Trang 20Contacts Integration 503
Automatic Spell Checking 503
No More Identities 504
New Mail Storage 504
Security Features 505
Advanced Windows Mail Options 507
Managing Contacts with Windows Vista 507
Adding a New Contact 509
Viewing and Editing Contacts 510
Organizing Contacts 510
Summary 512
Chapter 19: Using and Understanding Windows Live Services 513
Windows Live Services in Windows Vista 515
Going Online and Learning about Windows Live 516
Downloading Windows Live Toolbar 516
Signing up Online for Windows Live OneCare 516
Downloading Windows Live Mail Desktop 518
Downloading Windows Live Messenger 520
Other Offers from Microsoft 521
A Few Other Windows Live Services 522
Live.com 522
Windows Live OneCare Family Safety 523
Windows Live Spaces 524
Summary 525
Part VII: Home Office/Power User Chapter 20: Managing Your Schedule with Windows Calendar 529
Understanding PC Calendaring 530
Exploring Windows Calendar 531
Understanding the Windows Calendar Interface 531
Understanding Calendar Lingo 532
Working with Calendars and Groups 533
Understanding Calendar Views and Navigation 535
Hiding and Viewing Calendars 538
Configuring Windows Calendar 538
Working with Appointments 539
Examining Appointment Details 540
Configuring Appointments 543
Taking Calendar to Task with Tasks 543
Creating Tasks 543
Configuring Tasks 545
Sharing Calendars 545
Importing and Exporting Calendars 545
Publishing and Subscribing to Calendars 546
Contents xix
Trang 21Searching Calendars 549
Printing Calendars 550
Summary 551
Chapter 21: Keeping Your Data Safe 553
Different Backups, Different Goals 554
Data Backup 554
Complete PC Backup 554
File Recovery 555
Using the Backup and Restore Center 555
Backing up Data 556
Managing Backups 558
Restoring Files 559
Backing up the Entire PC 560
Restoring the Entire PC 562
Recovering Old Versions of Data Files 562
Using System Restore to Repair Windows 563
Summary 565
Chapter 22: Microsoft PowerShell 567
Getting Used to PS1 Scripts 568
Constructing a PowerShell Command 569
Seeing All the Commands 570
Getting Help on Commands 571
Why a New Language? 572
Getting PowerShell 573
PowerShell Quick Reference 573
Add 573
Clear 574
Compare 574
Convert 574
Copy 575
Export 575
ForEach 576
Format 576
Get 576
Import 578
Invoke 578
Join 578
Measure 578
Move 579
New 579
Out 580
Pop 580
Push 580
Read 580
xx Contents
Trang 22Remove 581Rename 581Resolve 582Restart 582Resume 582Select 582Set 583Sort 583Split 583Start 584Stop 584Suspend 584Tee 585Test 585Trace 585Update 585Where 586Write 586Summary 586
Appendix: Vista Symbols 587 Index 615
Contents xxi
Trang 24Welcome to Windows Vista Secrets, the latest in the bestselling Windows Secrets series!
We’ve rewritten this book from the ground up in response to this major release ofMicrosoft Windows We hope you enjoy combing through this book as much as weenjoyed digging through Windows Vista to find these nuggets of valuable information
—Brian Livingston and Paul Thurrott
Web Sites Supporting the Book
For updates and new information, please visit these sites:
http://WindowsSecrets.com/vista http://www.winsupersite.com/vista
Icons Used in This Book
The following icons are used in this book to help flag to your attention some of the mostimportant or most useful information in the book
The Secret icon marks little-known facts that are not obvious to most Windows
users This information may be written down somewhere by Microsoft, but not in a
way that it’s easy for users to find
Secret
The Tip icon indicates a helpful trick
The Cross-Reference icon points to chapters where more information can be found
The Caution icon warns you about possible negative side-effects or precautions youshould take before making a change
caution
cross ref tip
Trang 26Read This First
In This Chapter
The new Start menu Windows Aero Flip 3D Programs Explorer replaces Add/Remove Programs Put some gadgets in your Windows Sidebar
Instant Search and the Search pane Internet Explorer 7.0 catches up with the competition
IE protected mode and phishing filter Support for RSS news feeds
Encrypt entire drives with BitLocker Use Easy Transfer to a new PC Parental Controls
New games
Trang 27
2 Read This First
In this preliminary chapter we give you a crash course in some of the major new features of Vista Give us 15 minutes and we’ll show you the biggest changes in theoperating system — before you may have to grapple with them yourself
The Value of Vista
We waited more than five years for Vista As you may recall, Windows XP was releasedwith much fanfare in October 2001 But instead of the next Windows version shipping injust a couple of years, as originally expected, Microsoft lost its way in the developmentprocess Vista didn’t make it to consumers until early 2007
Was it worth the wait?
The short answer is, “Yes.” We believe Vista is a major advance on Microsoft’s previousoperating systems If you’re buying a new PC today, we don’t hesitate to recommend thatyou get Vista rather than requesting XP or another, older operating system (If you’reupgrading an older PC to Vista, by contrast, be sure to first read our tips in Chapter 3.)
In 2001, Microsoft executives widely claimed that XP was “the most secure operating tem we have ever delivered.” In fact, XP and its new Web browser, Internet Explorer 6.0,were full of maddening security holes that previous operating systems didn’t suffer from.ActiveX exploits, drive-by downloads, and many other kinds of weaknesses were quicklyexploited by black-hat hackers Microsoft has been issuing patches for XP and IE 6.0 eversince
sys-The Vista OS and the new IE 7.0 browser are welcome steps toward changing that Willthey never need patching? We’d hardly say that But Microsoft has added “hardening”features to Vista that should make remote exploits more difficult for hackers to carry out.Besides improved security, XP users who switch to Vista will also find enhancements in
desktop searching, Windows Sidebar access to applets called gadgets, PC-to-PC content
transfers, and even new games — mahjong and (finally!) chess
Unlike the first chapters of most books — which are filled with boilerplate thank-yous andpersonal musings — we really do want you to read this chapter Instead of filling our firstfew pages with acknowledgements of names you’ve never heard of, we’ve moved thecredits for our valued sources into the chapters they helped us with
In these pages, we aim to give you a crash course on Windows Vista In other words, read
on and you can learn the most important new features of Vista in the time it takes to sip anice, hot cuppa Joe
Learn Vista in 15 Minutes
It’s impossible to cover all the new features of Vista in a single chapter Many featureswarrant their own chapters because there’s a lot to say about them or we found secretinformation that isn’t in the Help text you get with Vista
Other new Vista features, although important, may be so straightforward that they don’t have any particular secrets If not, we haven’t devoted any further space to them inthis book
But even features that don’t have hidden features may be important for you to knowabout when you turn Vista on for the first time Exposing those features to you is the pur-pose of the following overview
Trang 28Read This First 3
The New Start Menu
In Vista, the Start button is no longer called Start, and the Start menu looks completelydifferent from the menu you may be used to in Windows XP However, it’s still there at thebottom of the screen, and you may find it a bit better organized
The old Start button has been replaced by a lighted sphere that displays the Windows flaglogo Instead of submenus that fly out to the right of the main menu, Vista displays yourmost recently used programs in a primary window (see Figure 1)
If you don’t like the new look, you can get the old Start menu back by reverting to thefamiliar XP submenu system Right-click the Start Button, click Properties, select Classic
Start Menu, and then click OK.
If you click All Programs, the Start menu switches to a display of collapsing folders You
can expand each folder to show you all available programs, but the Start menu keeps thelist within the primary window
tip
What Happened to the Run Menu?
One thing you won’t find on the default Start menu is the Run option, which erations of Windows users have employed to start programs that may not appear
gen-on any menu The omissigen-on isn’t a problem — if you know the secret Simply type
the name of the program you want to run (such as notepad) into the Start Search
bar just above the Start button and then press Enter
Secret
Windows Aero
You’ll see a slick new look to objects and applications in Vista — if you have a version of
the operating system that supports it and hardware that’s modern enough to render it.The new Aero interface gives translucency to the chrome that surrounds most applicationwindows This enables you to see what lies beneath a window, whether the foregroundapp is stationary or you’re dragging it to a new location
If the translucency of window chrome irritates you, you can switch it off Click
Start➪Control Panel➪Customize the Color Scheme and then turn off Enable
Transparency.
Perhaps more important than translucency is the new live thumbnail effect that Aero adds
to the taskbar at the bottom of the screen Hover your mouse over a button that represents
a minimized application, and you’ll see a miniature picture of what’s in the app at thatmoment (see Figure 2) This can be helpful in deciding which of several minimized appli-cations to switch to
tip
Trang 29Figure 1:The new Start menu A primary window contains your most recently used
programs and a column of buttons that open windows on common tasks
You can see the Aero interface (formerly code-named Aero Glass) if you have Vista HomePremium, Business, Enterprise, or Ultimate Edition, and your video board supports theadvanced features of Microsoft’s new Windows Driver Display Model
4 Read This First
Can Translucency Help Productivity?
Translucency may seem like an unimportant feature, but a source within Microsoft’sUsability Labs tells us that the bold colors of the window frames in Windows XPwere found to distract the eye from whatever material was in the main applicationwindow Lightening up the window colors — by making them partially translucent —was found to improve how quickly a person could work with the content withinapplications
Secret
For more on the Aero interface, see Chapter 4
cross ref
Trang 30Figure 2:Aero and live thumbnails Besides the slick new look of translucent glass windows,
Aero almost instantaneously displays small images of your open applications when you hoveryour mouse over the taskbar buttons
One of the windows that’s shown in the Flip 3D view is always your Windows Desktop.That makes it easy to minimize all of your applications Simply hold down the Windowskey (either the left one or the right one), and then press Tab until the miniature windowthat looks like your Desktop is uppermost
You can reverse the order that Flip 3D cycles through your open windows by holdingdown the Shift key in addition to Windows+Tab In our tests, the Desktop window hasalways been displayed as the bottom-most application when we pressed Windows+Tab
To minimize all applications and display your Desktop, therefore, hold down theWindows key, then press Tab, Shift+Tab, and let go of the Windows key
tip
Read This First 5
Trang 31Figure 3:Flip 3D Holding down the Windows key while repeatedly pressing Tab cycles through
miniature windows that show you what’s in each of your open applications and your Desktop
Flip 3D is also discussed in Chapter 4
Programs Explorer Replaces Add/Remove Programs
Legions of Windows users have become accustomed to using the Add or RemovePrograms dialog box in the Control Panel to uninstall applications that they no longerwant taking up space on their hard disks So, in its frustrating way, Microsoft has renamedthis feature to make it even harder to find than it was before
To reconfigure or completely remove an application, you now use the Programs Explorer(see Figure 4) This applet also enables you to turn on or off many of the built-in featuresthat come with Windows Vista, such as the Indexing Service
Fortunately, the Programs Explorer is still available through the Control Panel You justneed to know to look for it in the Ps instead of the As
cross ref
6 Read This First
Trang 32Figure 4:Programs Explorer You need this applet to uninstall unwanted programs and
enable or disable various Vista features
Put Some Gadgets in Your Windows Sidebar
Apple users have long been able to take advantage of the Mac OS X Dashboard, andWindows users have been able to download Yahoo Widgets (formerly KonfabulatorWidgets) Those things are still available, but now Vista has its own little tools, known asgadgets
Vista gadgets live in the new Windows Sidebar (see Figure 5) — which you can move tothe left or right side of the screen by right-clicking it and selecting Properties Or you canput Gadgets on your Desktop by dragging the little context menu that appears when youhover your mouse over a Gadget
Using the Properties dialog box, you can configure the Windows Sidebar to start everytime Windows starts or only when you want it to appear If you configure it to requiremanual intervention, get it back by clicking Start➪All Programs➪Accessories➪WindowsSidebar
Read This First 7
Trang 33Figure 5:Windows Sidebar with gadgets In this view, the Windows Sidebar holds five
gadgets: Calculator, CPU Meter, Currency Converter, Notes, and the Recycle Bin The mainwindow shows the data providers you can choose for near-real-time updates in various gadgets
The Windows Sidebar is discussed in detail in Chapter 6
Instant Search and the Search Pane
An interactive Instant Search bar is now a feature of every Explorer window in Vista aswell as Vista’s Start menu This may not slow the progress of third-party desktop searchapplications that are increasingly being promoted as Windows downloads from the majorsearch engines But Microsoft is, in fact, trying to build into Vista advanced search func-tions to render such downloads unnecessary
Figure 6 shows the results of jpg entered in the search bar of the Start menu Pressing
Enter opens the more-capable Search pane In this pane, you can refine your search ororganize the results by file size and other attributes
The Instant Search bar can be a handy way to search within a particular applicationwindow Vista’s search function becomes context-specific in many such applications
Figure 7 shows the Vista Control Panel in its classic view, which is somewhat cluttered
with applets Figure 8, by contrast, shows the result after you enter options into the
Control Panel’s search bar, which selects just those applets with that word in their titles
tip
cross ref
8 Read This First
Trang 34Figure 6:The search bar and Search pane Entering a string into the search bar in the Start
menu and pressing Enter opens the Search pane, where you can refine your search
Figure 7:The Control Panel’s classic view In this configuration, every Control Panel applet is
shown, which looks quite busy
Read This First 9