windows vista

Vista Goes Cheaper !

Good news for Geeks.Microsoft is cutting prices for various versions of Windows Vista. In US, CNet reports that customers purchasing a full boxed version of Vista Ultimate will pay the same high $399 price as always. But the price of an upgrade disc has dropped from $299 to $219. The base price of Home Premium stays the same at $240, but the upgrade price has dropped from $159 to $129. Well, one thing is certainly clear. Microsoft is trying to push more copies of Windows Vista. And while the company...
Good news for Geeks.Microsoft is cutting prices for various versions of Windows Vista. In US, CNet reports that customers purchasing a full boxed version of Vista Ultimate will pay the same high $399 price as always. But the price of an upgrade disc has dropped from $299 to $219. The base price of Home Premium stays the same at $240, but the upgrade price has dropped from $159 to $129.

Well, one thing is certainly clear. Microsoft is trying to push more copies of Windows Vista. And while the company claims that adoption rates have been high so far, the truth of the matter is that most new Vista users got their copies when they bought a new computer preloaded with the operating system.

The high price may be one discouraging feature, but wide reports of software incompatibilities and other bugs have also scared away a lot of consumers. And don't forget the fact that Windows XP still offers most of the features many computer users are looking for, so why upgrade?

Charging hundreds of dollars for software that may not run on existing computers and doesn't offer many advantages over your existing software doesn't make much sense , price cut or no price cut.

Some sources are reporting that the full versions of Vista are getting a price cut, not just the upgrade versions. The BBC reports that the price of Windows Vista Ultimate, for example drops from $399 to $319.

Broader release of IE 8 coming this summer

Although anyone can now download the Internet Explorer 8 browser, Microsoft is gearing this release for Web developers. However, a second beta, slated to arrive this summer, is aimed at a wider audience, Microsoft's top browser executive told CNET News.com. "It's public," general manager Dean Hachamovitch said of the Beta 1 released Wednesday. "It's out on Microsoft.com somewhere. Anyone can download...
Although anyone can now download the Internet Explorer 8 browser, Microsoft is gearing this release for Web developers. However, a second beta, slated to arrive this summer, is aimed at a wider audience, Microsoft's top browser executive told CNET News.com.
"It's public," general manager Dean Hachamovitch said of the Beta 1 released Wednesday. "It's out on Microsoft.com somewhere. Anyone can download it."
Although features like Web Slices may appeal to consumers, Hachamovitch said that "the (current) beta really is for developers."


Microsoft isn't saying when the final version of the browser will be released. Hachamovitch also declined to say whether it will be released at the same time as Windows 7, the next version of Microsoft's operating system. He did note that Microsoft released IE 7 for XP ahead of Windows Vista, so it is technically possible to do so.
As was the case with the IE 7 betas, those installing the test version of IE 8 will have to replace their current browser.
The IE 8 beta will run on both 64-bit and 32-bit versions of Windows Vista and Windows Vista SP1 as well as Windows XP Service Pack 2.

Add “Hide File Names” Option in “View” Menu in Windows Vista

Guys with this 4 simple steps you can add Hide File Names Option in View Menu in your widows Vista...... this trick works only with Windows Vista. 1. Open a folder, in which you want to add this option. If you want to add this option in all folders, then open the parent folder. e.g. if you want to add the option in every folder of E: drive, then open E: drive. 2. Right-click on a blank area in the folder and select “Customize This Folder". You can also get this option from “View -> Customize...
Guys with this 4 simple steps you can add Hide File Names Option in View Menu in your widows Vista...... this trick works only with Windows Vista.

1. Open a folder, in which you want to add this option. If you want to add this option in all folders, then open the parent folder. e.g. if you want to add the option in every folder of E: drive, then open E: drive.

2. Right-click on a blank area in the folder and select “Customize This Folder". You can also get this option from “View -> Customize This Folder.

3. It’ll open “Customize” tab. Now select “Pictures and Videos” option from “Template” drop-down box.
NOTE: If you want to add the option “Hide File Names” to a particular folder then make sure to un-check the option “Also apply this template to all subfolders“, otherwise enable this option.

4. Now Apply it and see the magic.
Now you’ll get an extra option “Hide File Names” in “View“. Which can hide file/folder names in that particular folder.Actually in Windows XP we can hide file/folder names by pressing key and selecting “View -> Thumbnails“. Since they hv removed “Thumbnails” option from “View” menu, I think thats why this option was added to folders having their templates as “Pictures and Videos”.

Pin Your Most Frequently Used Office Documents for Quick Access

When you open documents inside any of the Microsoft Office programs (like Word, Excel, PowerPoint), links to all these recently accessed files are added to the File menu. It’s like a FIFO (first-in, first-out) queue - as you access new files, the older links get pushed down and eventually disappear as more documents get added to the list. Now say you have an Excel Timesheet or a Word Status Report or some other document that you work on regularly. Rather than hunting for such frequently used files...
When you open documents inside any of the Microsoft Office programs (like Word, Excel, PowerPoint), links to all these recently accessed files are added to the File menu.
It’s like a FIFO (first-in, first-out) queue - as you access new files, the older links get pushed down and eventually disappear as more documents get added to the list.
Now say you have an Excel Timesheet or a Word Status Report or some other document that you work on regularly.
Rather than hunting for such frequently used files on the computer, you can just pin them up permanently to the Recent Documents list and access the documents very quickly.
 To pin documents, just click the grey pin icon next to the document. The color of the pin will change to green indicating that the document will always stay in your Recent Documents list until you un-pin it. The trick work only with Microsoft Office 2007.

shutdown and boot vista faster

Before we really get started, it is entirely possible to mess up your Vista install very royally if you don't know what you are doing. We recommend that only power users or those on the level of Sys Admins attempt these steps. Proceed at your own risk and always create a restore point before you modify any part of the system. All the programs used for purposes of this post are freeware applications. Vista is not XP (thankfully) but like XP it has a lot of startup processes that are, well, pretty...
Before we really get started, it is entirely possible to mess up your Vista install very royally if you don't know what you are doing. We recommend that only power users or those on the level of Sys Admins attempt these steps. Proceed at your own risk and always create a restore point before you modify any part of the system. All the programs used for purposes of this post are freeware applications.

Vista is not XP (thankfully) but like XP it has a lot of startup processes that are, well, pretty much useless. Though beware, you might actually need some of these if you are on a network or require remote assistance features. If not, then go ahead and turn them off.

Right click on Computer, go to manage and go to Services and Applications then Services (the Standard View makes it easier to manage but that is not a necessary step). You'll see a list of applications and services in this list, thing is, you don't need quite a few of them. Some may have already been disabled or are set to manual, that's fine, leave them like that, Vista has decided on its own they are not needed or will be activated when required.

We want to look at the ones that are set on Automatic. You can organize the list either by name or startup setting, for me, I have them organized by name since it makes it easy to compare to other lists. I have used this process list for disabling items, each one is described for you so you can decide if you need it or not. Note that disabling the IKE and AuthIP Service will disable just about every single networking and network connection process on the computer. It serves you better NOT to disable it, you will still be able to connect to networks if you do but you want be able to monitor them or switch networks, best to leave that one on.

Here is list of services that are completely safe to disable (for most users):
Telephony (keep enabled if you use a modem)
SSDP Discovery
Shell Hardware Detection (disables autoplay events)
Server
Remote Access Connection Manager
Program Compatibility Assistant (face it, this service is useless, if you've ever tried it, you know what I'm talking about)
Portable Device Enumerator Service (if you use Windows Media Player with your MP3 device, keep this service on)
Perclilint
IPSec Policy Agent
IP Helper
Internet Connection Sharing (leave on if you have shared resources on a network)
Distributed Link Tracking Client
Diagnostic Policy Service (who pays attention to Windows Diagnostics anyway?)
Then there is msconfig, Vista users have the luxury of simply typing msconfig in the Start menu search box and launching it that way. Go to the Startup tab and select items you don't need, Java Update, Adobe Reader, any toolbars, iTunes helper and such are prime examples of things you can get rid of, they will start when/if they are needed. If you aren't sure about an entry, use a search engine to find out what the entry is.
If you don't want to use the built-in tools of Vista to do that then I recommend CodeStuff Starter, which has the msconfig features as well as the Management features so you can access everything from one program. CodeStuff also makes it easier to restore your system if you messed up.
It has been a dream of many to control exactly how their computer boots, granted msconfig, computer management and CodeStuff certainly make that process more manageable but it can get better and it does. Last on our list (but certainly not least) to tell Vista that you are the boss is Vista Boot Pro 3.1. The primary function of Vista Boot Pro 3.1 is to control the boot cycle if you have a second operating system installed, sure you could rely on the Vista Boot Loader but whats the fun in that?

Vista Boot Pro edits the Boot Configuration Files in the registry for you, without fail or flaw. The other way to edit the BCD file is well, to go into the registry and even I am leery about that.
Vista Boot Pro allows you to manage the Vista Boot Loader itself, edit which operating system boots first, configure the way Vista starts up and features its own Backup and Restore Center, just in case, you never know.

Vista Boot Pro is also available for Windows XP (Home, Pro, MCE 2005 and x64), Windows 2003 or Longhorn Server. Options may vary depending on operating system installed.
By disabling some processes and startup items, you are also on your way to a more secure installation of Vista but that's not everything you can do to maximize your Vista experience. This will be a continuing series of posts for optimizing Vista so stay tuned for the next one.

Disabling Windows Vista UAC

There is an easy way to disable Windows Vista UAC (User Account Control), it will only take seconds. Click on the Start menu and click on the Control Panel From the Control Panel search box, type and search for "disable uac" (without quotes) Click on the "Turn on User Account Control (UAC) to make your computer more secure", then uncheck "Use User Account Control (UAC) to help protect your computer" If...
There is an easy way to disable Windows Vista UAC (User Account Control), it will only take seconds.
Click on the Start menu and click on the Control Panel
From the Control Panel search box, type and search for "disable uac" (without quotes)
Click on the "Turn on User Account Control (UAC) to make your computer more secure", then uncheck "Use User Account Control (UAC) to help protect your computer"

If you're done just click on the OK button, reboot you're computer when prompted