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    New to Vista- tips?

    Discussion in 'Windows OS and Software' started by Elfin-EJ, Jun 21, 2008.

  1. Elfin-EJ

    Elfin-EJ Notebook Guru

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    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. :D
     
    Elfin-EJ, Jun 21, 2008
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  2. Rodster

    Rodster Merica

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    Rodster, Jun 21, 2008
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  3. Elfin-EJ

    Elfin-EJ Notebook Guru

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    thanx old bean :D
     
    Elfin-EJ, Jun 21, 2008
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  4. swarmer

    swarmer beep beep

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    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
     
    swarmer, Jun 22, 2008
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  5. THAANSA3

    THAANSA3 Exit Stage Left

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    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.
     
    THAANSA3, Jun 22, 2008
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  6. supra97RX7

    supra97RX7 Notebook Consultant

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    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.
     
    supra97RX7, Jun 22, 2008
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  7. swarmer

    swarmer beep beep

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    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.
     
    swarmer, Jun 22, 2008
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  8. Lawrence

    Lawrence Notebook Evangelist

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    Lawrence, Jun 22, 2008
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