Improved user interface and Start menu—. The new look to the user interface includes translucent window borders and a new Windows Sidebar on the right side of the desktop. While similar to the Windows XP Start menu, the Vista Start menu includes a new instant search assistant that directs you to any program or file on your computer (including multiple locations such as email, the Windows Calendar, HTML pages from the browser cache, and so on), network, or the Internet. You learn about the Start menu in more detail later in this chapter.

Aero Glass—. Available on all Vista editions except Home Basic, this is the new desktop appearance featuring translucent title bars that reveal objects hidden beneath them. You can also hover your mouse pointer over taskbar buttons to reveal live thumbnails of the document or program to which the button relates. Pressing the Windows+Tab key combination reveals live windows of each open document in sequence, facilitating your selection of the correct one. You can configure all these features from the Display applet in Control Panel.

Windows Mail—. This standard email application replaces Outlook Express and includes a new search capability. It also includes a junk mail filter patterned after the one in Outlook, as well as a phishing filter that alerts you when an email is attempting to send you to a bogus website that intends to extract personal information such as bank account or credit card numbers.

Improved startup capabilities—. Microsoft has improved the startup code so that initialization scripts and applications can complete their tasks in the background and the user is able to begin work much sooner.

Sleep mode—. Combining features of Windows XP’s Standby and Hibernation modes, Sleep mode enables you to preserve open documents and programs on shutdown, enabling you to resume work rapidly from where you left off.

Restart Manager—. Facilitates the installation of updates and patches by keeping track of running processes and shutting down only the essential processes during patching. This reduces the need for rebooting your computer after installing updates and patches.

Windows Experience Index—. This is a performance scoring metric that assesses the capability of several hardware and software components on your computer. It includes such components as the processor, memory, graphics card, and hard disk and displays a base score that relates to the weakest performing component on your computer. Thus it suggests which component you should upgrade to improve your computer’s overall performance.

Improved stability factors—. Vista adds features such as input/output (I/O) cancellation, which detects when a program is unable to receive input from an unavailable resource and cancels the invalid request. Service recovery policies enable Vista to restart failed essential services and reset dependent services, thereby reducing the need for reboots following service failures. A startup repair tool automatically diagnoses and repairs many startup problems.

Improved hardware diagnostics—. Vista includes improved diagnostic tools that monitor crashes caused by problems such as disk or memory failures. Network diagnostics monitor network connections and either fix problems or inform the user of ways she can remedy the problem. The Windows Diagnostic Console improves upon the Windows XP Performance Console to provide enhanced performance statistics.

Support for document metadata—. Vista can search for documents, pictures, and so on with the aid of metadata included with many file types—that is, data about data. The Search service indexes many types of metadata and enables you to filter search results to view data that contains specific property values. For example, you can filter images to display only those taken with a specific camera within a specified block of time.

Secure Startup—. This feature prevents unauthorized users from accessing sensitive data during startup by encrypting the system drive. It utilizes a hardware module called the Trusted Platform Module (TPM), which is found on many recently manufactured computers.

User Account Control—. All users, even administrators, operate in a limited mode that prevents actions that may be detrimental to system security. When users need to perform potentially risky tasks, Vista presents a dialog box requesting permission or credentials to perform the task. This feature helps to prevent actions attempted by malicious users or software.

Improvements to Windows Firewall—. Windows Firewall now blocks both incoming and outgoing traffic unless specifically configured to pass. This can block actions by malicious programs such as Trojan horses that attempt to send data to an unauthorized location.

Windows Defender—. Introduced in Windows XP as Windows AntiSpyware, Windows Defender monitors your computer for signs of spyware infection and blocks actions of malicious programs, such as their installation.

Spam and Phishing Filters—. Windows Mail includes an antispam filter that scans incoming messages for features prevalent in spam messages. A phishing filter alerts you when a message attempts to extract personal information.

Network Access Protection—. This is a service that checks the security status of a computer and compares the results to a set of network guidelines installed on a server that supports the feature. If the computer is not completely up-to-date with respect to security features such as patches or virus signatures, it is restricted to a protected area of the network from which it can download and install the required products.

Parental controls—. These controls enable parents to set limits on their children’s activities by blocking access to specific types of websites or folders, specific content categories such as pornography, and file downloads; setting time limits; restricting games; and so on.

Windows Service Hardening—. Vista limits the damage that can be caused by a compromised service. It runs services at a lower privilege level and provides only the permissions required by the service to perform its functions. Services are restricted so that they can only perform their intended activities.

Welcome Center—. This application starts automatically when you first start your computer and log on. It displays your Vista edition and activation status and provides links to basic tasks such as adding printers, personalizing your experience, adding users, and installing devices. You can also access the Control Panel and view your hardware and Windows settings. You learn more about the Welcome Center later in this chapter in the section, “A Quick Tour of Windows Vista.”

Windows Easy Transfer—. This is an update to the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard that was introduced in Windows XP. It supports additional media types such as flash drives.

Internet Explorer 7—. Microsoft has added tabbed browsing, in which you can have multiple open pages available in their own tabs within a single Internet Explorer window. Internet Explorer 7 also features a new Manage Add-ons dialog box, which enables you to enable or disable add-ons and delete unwanted ActiveX controls, as well as an improved browsing history deletion feature and support for Real Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds.

Windows Mail—. We have already mentioned this successor to Outlook Express. This application also includes a preconfigured account for Microsoft’s newsgroup server, msnews.microsoft.com, which includes help groups designed to provide the best computing experience for Vista users.

Windows Calendar—. This application enables you to track appointments, provide reminders, schedule tasks, and view appointments by the day, week, or month. You can also set up multiple calendars for different users or purposes.

Windows Media Player 11—. This major update includes several new features, such as a cleaner interface that can include downloaded album art. It allows several views based on media metadata, an advanced metadata editor, an improved Search box, a capability for synching with compatible media devices, easier ripping of audio CD tracks, additional options for burning to media discs, DVD playback, and several other features.

Media Center—. Included with Vista Home Premium and Vista Ultimate, the Media Center comes with an improved interface and menu structure.

Windows Photo Gallery—. This application facilitates the downloading of images and videos from cameras, scanners, and network or Internet sources. You can view images, edit their metadata, and apply simple fixes to photos.

DVD Burning—. Vista enables you to burn DVDs from several places such as Windows Media Player, Media Center, and Windows Photo Gallery. This eliminates the need for third-party applications, as was the case in Windows XP.

Windows Mobility Center—. On laptops and other mobile computers, you can view and configure features such as battery status, wireless network connections, offline file synchronization, screen brightness, and so on. On a Tablet PC you can also control screen orientation.

Network Center and Network Map—. Enables you to configure your network connection and displays network components to which your computer is connected.

Windows Collaboration—. This is an update to the NetMeeting program in Windows XP. It enables you to show data to multiple users and collaborate on documents. You can invite people from various sources and do presentations.

Control Panel improvements—. Microsoft has added new categories and modified existing ones compared to those provided with Windows XP. Each category provides links to specific features, and some applets are cross-referenced to more than one category. Links to recent tasks are also included.

View Computer Details—. Provides a summary of information related to your computer, including the hardware configuration, computer name, workgroup or domain information, and activation status (see Figure 1.2). You can also access this information by clicking Start, right-clicking Computer, and choosing Properties from the context menu.

Figure 1.2. You can view summary information about your computer by selecting View Computer Details from the Welcome Center.

Transfer Files and Settings—. Starts the Windows Easy Transfer Wizard, which is an upgrade to the Windows XP Files and Settings Transfer Wizard. This wizard enables you to easily transfer applications, documents, and settings from an old computer running Windows 2000 or later to a new Windows Vista computer.

Add New Users—. Opens the Control Panel User Accounts applet, which enables you to create new user accounts or change the properties of existing user accounts. You can also configure the new Parental Controls feature from this location.

Connect to the Internet—. Starts the Connect to the Internet Wizard, which assists you in setting up new Internet connections.

Windows Ultimate Extras—. Connects to Windows Update to locate optional updates for your computer as well as extras available only to users of the Ultimate Edition of Windows Vista.

What’s New in Windows Vista—. Provides details on new features included with Vista.

Personalize Windows—. Starts the Control Panel Personalization applet, which enables you to customize features such as your desktop wallpaper, screen saver, sounds, and fonts.

Register Windows online—. Access a Microsoft Registration website that enables you to perform an optional registration. This process enables you to receive tips, ideas, hints, and other information that improve your experience in working with Vista. Do not confuse this optional registration with the required Windows activation.

Windows Media Center—. Enables you to set up Media Center for enjoyment of various media types including music, television, photos, and digital videos.

Back Up and Restore Center—. Enables you to perform automatic backup copies of files and folders on your computer, thereby protecting them against system or disk failure. You can also create a Windows Complete PC Backup and Restore image of your computer. This assists you in recovering from a hardware failure. The same application enables you to restore files, folders, or your entire computer from previous backups.

Windows Basics and Windows Vista Demos—. Provide instructions and video demos of Vista features suitable for users with little or no computing background.

Offers from Microsoft—. Enables you to receive additional Microsoft services, including the following:

Recently Used Programs—. The left side of the Start menu contains links to recently used programs, similar to that of Windows XP. However, some of the defaults have been moved to the right side of the menu.

Start Search—. At the bottom of the Start menu, this feature enables you to perform instant searches for programs, files, email, and other items on your computer, as well as search the Internet for anything you can imagine. Simply type the name of the item you want to locate, and Vista will display matches for your search in the left pane of the Start menu within a few seconds. If you type the name of a program on your computer and press Enter, Search will locate and open that program. You can also perform instant searches from any folder window.

All Programs—. When you select this feature, the list on the left side of the Start menu changes to display a menu of all available programs, many of which are categorized into folders. You can simply click through this menu to locate any program on your computer.

Links—. The right side of the Start menu has been updated, with some of the Windows XP features renamed. Notably, Vista does not use the “My” terminology and instead provides links with names such as Documents, Pictures, Computer, Network, and so on.