does anyone have any vista tips?

hi, i just got a vista laptop. i've never used vista before and only used a friends laptop for a month or so. does anyone have any tips for setting it up? are there any programs like safexp for vista?

 

I came across this thread at neowin started by herby virtual plastic while looking for something like the TakeOwnership in that first post.

 

Uninstall it

Interesting read:
http://boards.live.com/Techboards/thread.aspx?ThreadID=236988

 

You might use WindowBlinds instead of Aero, especially since it's on a laptop. You'll get a noticiable improvement in battery life that way.

 

I think there is XP-Antipsy for Vista,

 

I do wish you all the luck with Vista on a laptop. It must be a super-charged model to have capacity to make use of Vista's demand for energy.

I'm sorry i would have nothing to offer about Vista but i wouldn't say ditch it. I been building up my XP Pro with a lot of Vista looks and enhancements but with far less the overhead & demands that O/S requires. On the surface, it is really different and improved appearances, thats a certainty.

 

thanks for the help. i only got this laptop so i can learn abit more about wireless and vista. i'm going to use linux once i've used vista for a couple of weeks and know abit about it. all i can say is WOW.

 

does anyone have any vista tips ?

Yes be patient and wait until it is finished and seriously ready for use.

 

Wow what?
wow its rubbish?
wow its colourful?
wow its good?
lodore

 

wow as in - take a look at the avatar

 

Here is a few sites I found some good Vista tips:

TweakVista

VistaRewired

VistaKnowledgeBase

I see you have been using Linux. I suggest setting up yourself as a standard user with a seperate admin (root) account. This works the same way as Linux as you are required to type in the admin password for any system change when UAC prompts you to do so.

On a new system you would start off in Admin and install all your programs, drivers, etc. to keep down on having to type the password over and over again (instead you hit OK at the prompts). Then you create your standard account and then set it up (desktop, mail, etc). Now some programs, such as CCleaner, will not show up in a standard user menu but will in the admin menu (because of the nature of these programs). In CCleaner's case, you can either run it in the admin account OR in standard user type CCleaner into the now powerful search bar where it will launch after a UAC prompt.

It is not perfect though and has at least one glitch. I do not like a bunch of icons on my desktop so whenever a program installs one I put it in a folder named Programs on the desktop. For some reason moving icons into the Program folder sets off UAC.

You will find many Vista forums seaching on Google (or your fav seach engine) where you will find more tips as well.

Oh, I do not know a program such as XP Antispy for Vista.

 

thanks for the help, i've saved all the links. so do you mean setup and install everything, then make a limited account and most of my installed programs will be in the limited account automatically like with XP?, or will it be a new default account without all the stuff i've changed?

 

All programs except those like CCleaner should show up in the standard account. If you have games to install I think would wait and install them in the standard account because some can be finicky (not written with UAC in mind). I have seen some Vista users posting that some games required admin to run but I haven't ran across this yet.

Besides you can take ownership by right clicking on the executable and select Properties--Security and take ownership of it. If you are not comfortable about this then just install all the drivers and hardware in admin first, create your standard account, then start installing software.

Back to games, most modern games will show up in the Games folder. Vista also downloads the box art and uses it for the icon (it may take a few minutes after the install for this to happen). If your game doesn't show up in the folder you can drag the game icon from the desktop into the Games folder. I had to do this with COD:United Offensive (maybe because it was an expansion pack for COD). It did not get a box art icon but at least it is with the rest of the other games. This is what mine looks like:

http://img329.imageshack.us/img329/1232/gamesxa0.th.jpg

BTW, I am enjoying Vista which runs great on my 3 1/2 year old Dell. I cannot see me going back to XP. It would be like going from XP back to Win98, lol.