Windows Vista

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Windows Vista Service Pack 1 is RTM

Almost exactly one year since the first release of Windows Vista to the market in 2007, Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) was released to manufacturing (RTM) today and will start being available to customers in March, starting with Microsoft Volume Licensing customers. The first available languages for download are English, French, Spanish, German and…

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Change the Registered User and Company Name in Windows XP / Vista

Network administrators have had countless times that they need to change the registered user and company name for a Windows installation. Unfortunately, this process is rather difficult and needs to be done through the registry. Fortunately, by following the steps below you will be able to edit the registered user and company name for either…

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Automatically back up your hard drive, delete temp files, and backup a Web site using batch scripting

Batch scripting is a powerful aspect of Windows. If you are unaware, batch scripts are files that are executed by the Command Prompt. In theory, every task that you can complete in Windows using a GUI can be completed using a batch script. This tutorial is an introduction to batch scripting in Windows Vista that…

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Artificially Raise Your Windows Experience Index

When you first install and run Windows Vista, it will calculate your Windows Experience Index score to evaluate your computer’s speed and graphics capabilities. Microsoft defines the Windows Experience Index as the following: “The Windows Experience Index is a new feature built into Windows Vista that is designed to help you better understand how well…

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Advanced Drag-and-Drop Techniques in Vista

Ever since Microsoft introduced mice into their operating systems (something done earlier by other vendors such as Apple and pioneered by the Xeros PARC – Palo Alto Research Center – mythical design team) we could drag-and-drop items from one spot of the graphical user interface (or GUI) to a different spot. I will not go…

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How can I add the Internet Explorer icon back to the Windows Vista desktop?

How can I add the Internet Explorer icon back to the Windows Vista desktop? Someone at the Microsoft Windows Vista design team thought it would be very neat to give us an operating system that had no icons on the desktop. "They’re smart enough to find what they need" they said. Well, I hate it,…

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Activate Vista Aero Interface on Windows Vista Basic Edition

Microsoft has made some awesome graphical additions to Windows Vista, namely, the Aero theme (read more about it on my “Enable Windows Vista Aero Graphics” and “Aero Theme is Bad, Disable It” articles).   The Aero theme is not available in all the Vista editions. You can read “Windows Vista Editions” for more info, but…

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Changes in Vista Service Pack 1

Scheduled to be released in the beginning of 2008, Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) delivers improvements and enhancements to existing Vista features that significantly impact customers, but it does not deliver substantial new operating system features. Microsoft has published a comprehensive document outlining exactly what difference SP1 makes to Vista. See a download link…

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Change the Amount of Disk Space Used by System Restore in Windows Vista

The System Restore program created restore points whenever you installed a new hotfix, service pack or even (some) applications, and you could also create restore points manually. You can read more about it in my “Using System Restore in Windows Vista” article. Note that System Restore is not intended for backing up personal files, so…

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Business Desktop Deployment 2007 Tools for Vista

This package includes tools and best guidance documents to effectively deploy Windows Vista and Office 2007 across the enterprise.  This deployment package has leveraged the lessons learned from previous versions of Windows install scenarios to give you the best practices for quick and easy deployment plans including sample templates and software. These tools and practices…

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