New to Vista- tips?

my new windows Vista Lappy should be here on monday... i've been using xp for years now, is there anything i should know about vista home premium? changes from xp? bugs? hacks? fixes? just would like some tips, that's all.

 

Here's the Windows Vista's bible

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=166532

p.s. I like your avatar

 

thanx old bean

 

er, I don't recommend doing all the tweaks right away. Get used to how your system normally functions before disabling all the new features and stuff.

The one thing I do recommend right away though is make sure SP1 is installed. (Right-click Computer, Properties, it should say "Service Pack 1" under the copyright.) If you're ordering it new, it should really come with it installed though, I would think.

My other tips would be:
- Remove bloatware (or reinstall)
- It may take a few hours to index your files for search, and it may be a little slow until it finishes... just let it do its thing.
- Search is cool. Search the start menu, the control panel, your whole disk, etc.
- Play with sidebar. You can add gadgets, and drag them off the "bar" too.
- Download Firefox 3.
- User Account Control (UAC): Gives you control over which programs run with admin privileges. Prompts you a lot the first few days, but after getting everything set up, you won't need admin privileges much, so you won't see it much anymore in day-to-day use.
- Useful keyboard shortcuts:
-- Win-tab: Flip3D
-- Alt-tab: Flip
-- Win-F: Search (advanced)
-- Win: Start menu search
-- Win-M: Show desktop and sidebar gadgets
-- Win-Shift-M: Restore windows
-- Win-spacebar: Show sidebar gadgets
-- Shift-Ctrl-Esc: Task manager
-- Alt: Show menu bar in Explorer, IE, and WMP11 windows

 

Listen to Swarmer. He has not steered me wrong yet. His advice here, as usual, is on point. I, too, would not recommend doing any tweaks until you get familiar with Vista. You might actually like a lot of the newer features and decide not to disable them after you've had a chance to play with them. More importantly, you might do some damage if you start trying to tweak things from the start.

I would advise you to read through the Vista clean install thread. Make sure you have SP1. Then go from there.

 

one of the win shortcuts i wouldn't leave out-
Win-#
the number corresponds to which item it is in the quicklaunch. had previously not used quicklaunch and kept only object dock, but i keep the quicklaunch there so i can still do those shortcuts.

 

Yep... good advice, guys.

The other thing I'll mention is that Vista's Control Panel seemed like kind of a maze for a while, until I tried using the Control Panel's search box. Now I find everything right away by typing in a word or two: "power", "indexing", "display", "mouse", "network", etc.

 

Please try this:

NBR Tips and Tricks by LES

NBR Hidden Vista Tips and tricks by me!

Best Free Software for Windows by Calvin

Windows Vista Unlocks by me!

Enjoy Learning Windows Vista!!!

You must not refer to only one website... Use Google! In order to learn them. Read them again and again. When you became famous or a master of windows.

Just Don't forget who help you or teach you from the start.