| Mr. Fixit's PC Upgrade and Repair |
| Windows Vista's Features & Improvements |
New Features:
Faster Startup
Microsoft improved the startup code by changing the way Vista starts. Older versions of Windows had to wait for ALL startup processes to
finish before handing control to the user, bringing up the desktop. Vista does this in reverse. It starts to bring up the desktop first while
running other tasks in the background. The only drawback is a program that you require for work hasn't finished it's task when the desktop
appears, then you're still waiting.
Sleep Mode
This feature is a combination of both Standby and Hibernation modes. Standby mode shuts down everything except critical components
such as the memory and the CPU. Move the mouse or touch the keyboard and the screen comes back up. If there is a power failure, your
work is lost. Hibernation mode saves all of your work then powers down the system. Turn the power back on and the desktop reappears
as you left it. Sleep mode does BOTH. It shuts down everything except critical components (Standby) and saves all of your work
(Hibernation). If there is a power failure, the computer can still restart from the hibernation part of the Sleep mode.
SuperFetch and ReadyBoost
SuperFetch is an improved version of Prefetch that was introduced in Windows XP. Prefetch monitored your files and anticipates which
data would be needed and load it into memory. Memory access is much faster than accessing the hard drive. SuperFetch creates a profile
of your programs and data you use over time giving it a better prediction on what to load into memory, increasing performance.
SuperFetch also goes a step further. Both Prefetch (XP) and SuperFetch (Vista) uses system memory to improve performance. This is
why ReadyBoost technology was added to SuperFetch. It freed up system memory to run programs. If you plug in a USB 2.0 Flash drive,
SuperFetch will use the memory of the flash drive, using ReadyBoost, instead of your system memory. Flash drives are slower than
system memory but are still faster than accessing the hard drive. Any Flash card will work with proper card reader. ReadyBoost cannot
use the entire drive/card memory capacity because it can only use the fast flash memory since most also contain slow flash memory.
Plug in a USB 2.0 flash drive into an available USB 2.0 port or a flash card into the reader. When Autoplay comes up, choose "Speed up
my system", then choose what Windows recommends for capacity. Cannot use ReadyBoost on multiple flash drives/cards.
Windows Defender
Windows Vista's Anti-Spyware program to prevent installations of spyware and to look for suspicious spyware activity.
Parental Controls
As part of the User Controls in the Control Panel, this feature allows parents with children to permit and restrict them from certain sites.
Parents can block/allow specific sites, setup Kids Websites Only, Block sites by category (porn, bomb making, mature contents,etc.),
restrict games based on rating, block file downloads, restrict time of computer use, block programs, etc.
Transactional NTFS (TxF)
This new feature is a lot like System Restore except instead of having to restore the entire System, you can restore a single file, a folder,
or volume.
Diagnostic Tools
Faster Startup
Microsoft improved the startup code by changing the way Vista starts. Older versions of Windows had to wait for ALL startup processes to
finish before handing control to the user, bringing up the desktop. Vista does this in reverse. It starts to bring up the desktop first while
running other tasks in the background. The only drawback is a program that you require for work hasn't finished it's task when the desktop
appears, then you're still waiting.
Sleep Mode
This feature is a combination of both Standby and Hibernation modes. Standby mode shuts down everything except critical components
such as the memory and the CPU. Move the mouse or touch the keyboard and the screen comes back up. If there is a power failure, your
work is lost. Hibernation mode saves all of your work then powers down the system. Turn the power back on and the desktop reappears
as you left it. Sleep mode does BOTH. It shuts down everything except critical components (Standby) and saves all of your work
(Hibernation). If there is a power failure, the computer can still restart from the hibernation part of the Sleep mode.
SuperFetch and ReadyBoost
SuperFetch is an improved version of Prefetch that was introduced in Windows XP. Prefetch monitored your files and anticipates which
data would be needed and load it into memory. Memory access is much faster than accessing the hard drive. SuperFetch creates a profile
of your programs and data you use over time giving it a better prediction on what to load into memory, increasing performance.
SuperFetch also goes a step further. Both Prefetch (XP) and SuperFetch (Vista) uses system memory to improve performance. This is
why ReadyBoost technology was added to SuperFetch. It freed up system memory to run programs. If you plug in a USB 2.0 Flash drive,
SuperFetch will use the memory of the flash drive, using ReadyBoost, instead of your system memory. Flash drives are slower than
system memory but are still faster than accessing the hard drive. Any Flash card will work with proper card reader. ReadyBoost cannot
use the entire drive/card memory capacity because it can only use the fast flash memory since most also contain slow flash memory.
Plug in a USB 2.0 flash drive into an available USB 2.0 port or a flash card into the reader. When Autoplay comes up, choose "Speed up
my system", then choose what Windows recommends for capacity. Cannot use ReadyBoost on multiple flash drives/cards.
Windows Defender
Windows Vista's Anti-Spyware program to prevent installations of spyware and to look for suspicious spyware activity.
Parental Controls
As part of the User Controls in the Control Panel, this feature allows parents with children to permit and restrict them from certain sites.
Parents can block/allow specific sites, setup Kids Websites Only, Block sites by category (porn, bomb making, mature contents,etc.),
restrict games based on rating, block file downloads, restrict time of computer use, block programs, etc.
Transactional NTFS (TxF)
This new feature is a lot like System Restore except instead of having to restore the entire System, you can restore a single file, a folder,
or volume.
Diagnostic Tools
 | Disk Diagnostics monitors the Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology, or SMART, embedded in todays hard drives to | |
| warn of possible failures. | ||
| Memory Diagnostics works with Microsoft's Online Crash Analysis to see if defective memory modules are causing program | |
| crashes. | ||
| Memory Leak Diagnostics looks for and fixes programs using increasing amounts of memory. | |
| Resource Exhaustion Detection and Resolution warns of any program or process that have been identified as resource hogs. | |
| Network Diagnostics inspects network problems. It can either fix the problem automatically or instruct the user on how to fix the | |
| problem. |
Improvements:
Windows Firewall
Windows Firewall can now block both unauthorized incoming AND outgoing traffic.
I/O Cancellation
This prevents a program from getting stuck due to an invalid request to a service, program, resource, etc. Vista looks for programs which
are stuck on a request and cancels that Input/Output request to allow the program to recover. Thwarting the need for a reboot.
Service Recovery
This improvement allows a failed service to be restarted and reset any other service or process that depends on the failed service.
Startup Repair Tool (SRT)
If Vista fails to boot up, SRT will start and automaticlly fix common start up issues by analysing startup logs and perform diagnostics to
determine the cause.
User Account Control (UAC)
UAC gives Non-administrator users the least privileges for the day-to-day tasks. Only Administrators can make any system changes
including program installations. If a malicious user or program gain access to your system, would only have minimum privileges, thus
causing less damage (Expect lots of dialogs popping up to prove your authority, even to delete a file).
Internet Explorer
Windows Firewall
Windows Firewall can now block both unauthorized incoming AND outgoing traffic.
I/O Cancellation
This prevents a program from getting stuck due to an invalid request to a service, program, resource, etc. Vista looks for programs which
are stuck on a request and cancels that Input/Output request to allow the program to recover. Thwarting the need for a reboot.
Service Recovery
This improvement allows a failed service to be restarted and reset any other service or process that depends on the failed service.
Startup Repair Tool (SRT)
If Vista fails to boot up, SRT will start and automaticlly fix common start up issues by analysing startup logs and perform diagnostics to
determine the cause.
User Account Control (UAC)
UAC gives Non-administrator users the least privileges for the day-to-day tasks. Only Administrators can make any system changes
including program installations. If a malicious user or program gain access to your system, would only have minimum privileges, thus
causing less damage (Expect lots of dialogs popping up to prove your authority, even to delete a file).
Internet Explorer
| Protection Mode will only allow surfing the web to prevent spyware and hackers from gaining access to your computer through IE. It | |
| cannot install or change settings with out approval. | ||
| Phishing Filter warns of any web pages that are fraudulent or suspicious. | |
| Manage Add-ons can be used to delete/enable/disable any Add-on installations or ActiveX controls. | |
| Tabbed Browsing which allows multiple web pages to be open under 1 instance of IE. | |
| Browsing History Deletion allows the user to delete private data viewed from a web page. | |
| Supports Real Simple Syndication (RSS feeds) for users to keep up with web page changing contents. | |
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |