Some files in Windows are hidden because if edited could cause harm or damage to the system. Some files however are "super hidden" to make sure that nobody touches them, as if you do touch them, they will harm the operating system.

However if you’re crazy enough or an extremely advanced user, you can change this in the Registry to see these files.

1. Go to Start then Run (or press the Windows key + R), type in regedit and hit Enter.
2. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced.
3. Change the value of the SuperHidden key to 1.
4. Close Registry Editor.

You may need to restart your computer to see the effects.

“There was a lot of controversy of the new Windows Start sound in Windows Vista. Originally, Microsoft was planning on making this a mandatory sound that users would not be able to disable.  This sounds like a great idea from a Marketing perspective since all Windows users world-wide would hear the same notes when their computer starts up.  However from a user perspective this could be a nightmare.  Thankfully Microsoft responded to the vocal Microsoft community and gave users the option to disable this sound.” - Source: TweakVista

To disable the startup sound:

1. Click on  Start and go to Control Panel.
2. Click on Sound.
3. In the Sound dialog box, click on the Sounds tab.
4. Untick the box where it says Play Windows Startup sound.
5. Apply and OK.

You’ll notice this next when you first start up your computer next.

In Computer, some network drives may have a red cross in the icon indicating that a network drive hasn’t connected properly. However when you access them, they work perfectly fine. This problem might happen if:

• you logoff and logon the computer.
• you don’t select the Remember my password option when entering credentials
• the network drive is mapped using alternate credentials that were used to logon with

This is because the main icon library file (shell32.dll) updates the network drive icon only in the details pane of Windows Explorer, and not applied to the Folders area of the window.

An update is only available from Microsoft directly if you ask for it (silly I know, but it’ll be made available as a hotfix soon enough). You can find this information here.

You can easily change the format of your clock in the taskbar with a simple tweak in the Regional and Language settings.

1. Click on the Start Button, type in intl.cpl and hit Enter.
2. Click the Customize this format button.
3. Click on the Time tab.
4. Change the time format to H : mm : ss and hit OK.
5. Hit OK once more to close Regional and Language Options.

Source: TweakVista

You can access your home folder (displayed in your Start menu by your logon name) from your Start menu but why not have it on your desktop?

1. Go to Start and right click your home folder (at the top right, and it’s displayed as your username).
2. Select Show on Desktop.

That’s it - your home folder is now on your desktop!

Ever dream of having the Address bar in your taskbar, so you can jump to any website or local/network folder location instantly? It can be done, and quite easily thank goodness.

With a bit of reshuffling and repositioning, you can get it to the perfect place in your taskbar. Just do the following:

1. Right click an empty space in the taskbar, and make sure that Lock the Taskbar is unchecked.
2. Right click an empty space in the taskbar again and hover over Toolbars, and then click on Address.
3. Reposition the Address bar to your customisation.

Some files shouldn’t really be messed around with, but if you’re an advanced user and you need to edit something within the Windows core file system, then here’s how to find the setting to get there.

1. Open Windows Explorer (the best place is your hard drive through Computer).
2. Click Organise, choose Folder and Search Options.
3. In the View tab, select Hidden files and folders, untick Hide extensions for known file types, and untick Hide protected operating system files. If a dialog comes up at any point, select Yes.
4. Click Apply then OK.

Your hidden files become very much visible.

On your desktop, if you notice a blurring behind some of the icons, this can easily be removed. Although it gives the icons a bit of extra depth in true-Vista-style, it can be quite off putting and some people can’t quite read the text properly, especially when a background is set.

Without the drop shadow……and with the drop shadow.

1. Go to Start then Control Panel.
2. Double click on the System icon in Classic view.
3. In the System Properties window, select the Advanced tab.
4. Under Performance, click the Settings button.
5. In the long list of checkboxes, untick the Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop.
6. Apply and OK all the windows you’ve got open - instant results!

Consider this scenario. You have customized your “Documents” folder the way you like it with icon sizes and grouping settings. However, after you have applied these customizations and you re-open the “Documents” folder, you may see that the customizations are improperly applied, have been lost, or the folder has defaulted to a different view (for instance, the Pictures view, where all files are now displayed as large icons and thumbnails). Also, if you open the root directory of a hard drive, you may notice that columns such as “Date Taken” and “Rating” are displayed for example, when they should not be displayed. You have tried navigating to the Control Panel and opening Folder Options and clicking “Reset Folders”, however this does not resolve the issue.

Another scenario to consider: You have selected the “Extra Large Icons” option for a folder full of pictures. However, when you browse to that folder at a later date, you may notice that the pictures are now displayed in “Detail” view, and you must manually change the folder view to your desired settings.

1. Click on Start, and in the Start Search field type regedit, and then press Enter.
2. If User Account Control prompts you, provide consent by clicking on Continue or entering a password.
3. In the left hand pane, navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell
4. Right click on the “Bags” sub-key and click on Delete. When asked to confirm the operation click on Yes.
5. Close the Registry Editor.
6. Logoff then log back in again to see the changes made.

Thanks to Kristan Kenney.

By default, Windows Explorer in Windows Vista will try to automatically detect the contents of a folder and display the correct detail settings, however in some situations you may wish to disable this behavior and customize the view settings manually as desired.

 This involves editing the registry. It is always recommended to create a back-up of the registry before making any modifications. Before performing any of the actions below, please save your work and close any Windows Explorer windows, as you will need to log off for these changes to properly take effect.

Automatic method
Download the command script that I have created and extract the files to your desktop. Once you have extracted the files, simply double click on “disable_automatic_foldertype_discovery.cmd” and read the precautions in the command prompt window that appears.

This file has been scanned for viruses and does not perform any malicious tasks, it simply automates the task required to reset the Windows Explorer view settings and then proceed to disable the automatic folder content discovery.

Manual method

Manual method

1. Click on Start, and in the Start Search field type “REGEDIT”, and then press Enter.
2. If User Account Control prompts you, provide consent by clicking on Continue or entering a password.
3. In the left hand pane, navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell
4. Right click on the “Bags” sub-key and click on Delete. When asked to confirm the operation click on Yes.
5. Right click on the “Shell” sub-key and from the menu that appears click on New, and then click on Key.
6. Give the new key a name of “Bags” (without the quotes).
7. Right click on the “Bags” sub-key and from the menu that appears click on New, and then click on Key.
8. Give the new key a name of “AllFolders” (without the quotes).
9. Right click on the “AllFolders” sub-key and from the menu that appears click on New, and then click on Key.
10. Give the new key a name of “Shell” (without the quotes).
11. Select the “Shell” key that you just creaited.
12. In the right hand pane of the Registry Editor, right click on an empty area and from the menu click on New, and then click on String Value.
13. Give the new REG_SZ (String Value) a name of “FolderType” (without the quotes).
14. Double click on the FolderType String Value and give it a value of “NotSpecified” (without the quotes).
15. Close the Registry Editor.
16. Click on Start, press the arrow next to the power buttons, and select Log Off from the menu that appears.
17. Log back in and customize your Windows Explorer folder view settings as desired.

If you would like to reset Windows Explorer back to the way it should act by default:

1. Click on the Start button, and in the Start Search field paste the following bold text command: REG DELETE “HKCU\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Bags\AllFolders” /f
2. Press the Enter key to execute the command.

Folder content auto discovery will be enabled on any folders that have not been previously opened. However, if you would like to reset the view settings on all folders so that auto-sensing is automatically enabled, simply download the “Reset Windows Explorer View Settings” command script, extract the .cmd file from the Compressed Folder (ZIP file) and execute the command script, paying attention to the on-screen information.

Thanks to Kristan Kenney.

The Quick Launch toolbar, sat to the right hand side of the Start menu in the taskbar, is a place for your most used applications and are really easy to get to. You can use keyboard shortcuts to get access to these quickly:

Windows key + 1  -  the first option of which you choose (in this case, the desktop)
Windows key + 2  -  the second option of which you choose (in this case, Flip3D)
Windows key + 3  -  the third option of which you choose (in this case, Internet Explorer)
Windows key + 4  -  the fourth option of which you choose (in this case, Windows Media Player)

This one is really easy - miss having the administrator on the Welcome screen? You can really easily put it back on there with a command from Run.

1. Go to Start, and in the Search box type in cmd.
2. Right click the Command Prompt at the top of the Start menu and select “Run as administrator”.
3. At the command prompt, type in net user administrator /active:yes then press Enter.
4. Log off and you should see the administrator sitting there on your Welcome login screen.

Text and icons on screen can be made to appear larger or smaller than usual. In doing this, you need to alter the dots-per-inch (DPI) scale; increasing the DPI scale makes the fonts and icons appear bigger and much easier to see on screen for those hard of sight.

1. Go to Start , Control Panel, then Personalisation.
2. In the left hand pane, select Adjust font size (DPI).
3. Adjust as appropriate to make the text smaller or larger.
4. Close all the windows down then restart Windows.

The changes will come into affect as soon as you reboot.

ClearType is a technology used in Windows XP and Vista which smooths screen fonts to make them appear better on flat-screen monitors. In Vista, it is enabled by default unlike XP which it wasn’t, and you can easily turn it on and off.

1. Push Start , then Control Panel, then Personalisation.
2. Click the Windows Color and Appearance link
3. Click the link for “Open classic appearance properties”.
4. Press the Effects button, then tick the box to enable ClearType, or untick the box to disable it. Make sure you select ClearType from the drop down menu option.
5. Click OK, OK then close the Personalisation window.

Natural language when searching is when you type in “how you would talk” into Windows Search. If you have taken pictures on a camera from last week and you want to find them, sure you can select the criteria from certain dates of the week, but with natural language enabled, you can search for “photos taken last week” and they’ll come up. See below:

This extra feature enables you to search normally as you would with search items and file/folder names, but can seriously improve your searches with standard English language. To enable this:

1. Go to Computer, and in the menu bar select Tools then Folder Options.
2. Select the Search tab at the top.
3. In the “How to search” part, make sure the “Use natural language search” box is ticked.
4. Apply then OK.

Other things you can search for include types like:

• Email to Jabez Gan about hosting
• Music rated *****
• Movies downloaded last week
• Card games

Source: Torres Talking

If you have a folder view open and you wish to change the size of the icons easily - simply hold down the Ctrl key and scroll up or scroll down on your mouse to respectively increase the icon size or reduce the icon size.

You can alternatively click the Views button in the toolbar and select a predefined setting of Tiles, Details, List and a number of different icon sizes including normal icons and extra large icons.

This article only applies to computers running Windows Vista (not Home Basic) and those with Tablet PC functionality.

Most people are right handed, and menu’s opening on the right hand side where they normally do can be difficult to work with. This artlicle shows how you can get the messages and menus to open and appear to the left of your hand (or vice versa if appropriate) to make viewing easier.

1.  Go to  Start then Control Panel.
2. Click Tablet PC Settings (in category view and classic view).
3. In the General tab, select either as appropriate:
   Right handed - for right handed people, and menu’s will appear to the left of your hand on-screen.
   Left handed - for left handed people, and menu’s will appear to the right of your hand on-screen.
4. Click Apply, OK and you’re all done.

Thanks to Long Zheng. 

In beta builds of the operating system, by default it would be printed in the lower right hand corner of the desktop “Windows Vista <version> - for evaluation purposes only” or something similar. You can now get the same thing, but written as :

Windows Vista
Build 6000

To get this, follow these steps:

1. Go to  Start then Run (or press the Windows key +R), type in regedit then press OK.
2. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop.
3. Double click the key PaintDesktopVersion and change its value to 1.
4. Restart your machine.

There is no “up one button” like in Windows XP () but with the know-how, you’ve still got it and can still get to where you want to go with the littlest of troubles.

As above, the Program Files directory is highlighted - if you wanted to go there, then just click on it. However if you were in the Windows Vista [Z:] directory and you wanted to go to the Computer, you just click on Computer - it’s really as simple as that.

The little arrows () allow you to browse the directories around that particular place. So if you were to pick up the Computer arrow, you’d be able to see your hard drives, your flash drives and network locations.

Don’t forget, once you’ve got the window in focus, you can easily press the Backspace key to go up a level, just like in Windows XP.

Windows Explorer lets you preview documents, images, videos and allsorts in a small preview pane to the right of the window. But how do you find it? How do you make it appear? All will become clear… (it rhymes!)

1. Open Windows Explorer (or just Start, Computer).
2. Click the Organise button at the top of the window - from the drop down list select “Layout”.
3. From the Layout menu, select “Preview Pane”.
4. Once it’s selected - single click on a document and see it previewed in the Preview pane.

Did you buy your computer with Vista installed from a company and they put in their name as the registered owner? Do you want to change your name to something else? Well for whatever reason you might want to change the registered owner, you can do it relatively easily.

1. Go to Start, Run (or press Windows key + R) and type in regedit then press OK.
2. Navigate to HKEY_Local_Machine\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\Current Version.
3. Locate in the right hand pane for “RegisteredOwner”, double click on it and change it to your name or whatever you want to call the registered owner.
4. If you wish to change the registered organisation, double click the “RegisteredOrganisation” key.

You may need to logoff/restart for the effects to take place.

Every Vista DVD includes the ability to install any edition of Vista without a product key. When you install without a product key, you get an automatic 30 day evaluation period. This probably isn’t news to anyone. What may be news to you however, is that you can easily extend the 30-day Windows Vista grace period to 120 days. No hacks required. This is an official, supported operation directly from Microsoft.

To extend the grace period another 30 days, simply go to Start , Run, type in cmd then press OK. Type in slmgr -rearm then press Enter.

Reboot for the change to take effect, and voila, you have 30 more days. You can only extend three times, so the total grace period for a Vista evaluation is 120 days.

Thanks Bink.

The guys over at FrameworkX have developed an application enabling you to remove the arrow on all shortcuts, make the arrow a bit more inconspicuous or add the arrow if you’ve previously removed it. It’s a small download and changes the registry automatically so you don’t have to fuss around with the registry yourself. Check the screenshots below to see what the differences are.

Download application

Activation isn’t perfect - it relies on a lot of stuff server side at Microsoft, but also requires some user support. If activation isn’t working for you, try some of the following:

 Set up an Internet connection
 Activation works best online - you don’t have to dial numbers, read numbers out, enter in new numbers, it’s all very simple. Make sure you can access the Internet (try accessing this site in Internet Explorer for a start).

 Check the computer’s date and time
 Windows Activation can get into a bit of a stir if your computer says “16th March 2004″ and the activation server says “2nd November 2006″. Try setting your computer clock and date as precisely as you can, then try re-activating again.

 Make sure the right network ports are open
 Your firewall has all these little holes in called ports - some are specific to activation but they might be closed off. Open them up again - hit Start then click Control Panel, go to Windows Firewall. In the left pane click “Allow a program through Windows Firewall”. In the Exceptions tab, click Add port. Name the port something of your choosing, and add port 80 for the TCP protocol. Do the same but with port 443. Apply, OK, then go back to activation and try again.

 Disconnect unnecessary devices from the computer
 Sometimes having USB devices plugged in such as flash memory and other devices can cause activation not to work. If you have a USB keyboard and mouse, keep these plugged in obviously, but disconnect everything else which isn’t necessary - anything USB, disconnect the printer if attached locally, but don’t pull out your network cable otherwise you won’t be able to activate over the Intenet!

 Using a Volume License Key (VLK)
A VLK is a product key for Windows which is generally used in office environments. You have a whole load of computers, say around 100 machines and instead of buying each individual copy of Windows (which will cost a lot), managers buy a VLK which is the same product key but used on many computers within that office. It costs a lot, but not as much as buying each individual copy of Windows.
 If your VLK doesn’t activate, contact your system administrator. If you are a system administrator, contact your retailer. If you’re a retailer, give the system administrator a quote for more volume license keys and be gentle - they’ve probably had a stressful day.

 Have you already activated but it’s asking you to activate again?
 Could be be because you’ve altered your system so much that it’s almost a new system and Windows thinks it needs activating again. Try activating again - if it works, great but it might cost you one of your precious activations. If it doesn’t activate again, you might need to buy a new copy of Windows. You shouldn’t have to install it again, just activate using the new key you bought.

 You got a key off the Internet off some website which had an awful lot of pornography on it
 Getting a genuine key off a crack website which activates has more chance of working than free ice creams being introduced nationwide in the United Kingdom as a “good will” gesture. Toddle off to a shop and buy a copy of Windows thus getting a genuine key.

Windows XP had the Add/Remove Components in Add/Remove Programs. Windows Vista now just as Programs and Features, which makes life a little easier.

 To add or remove features in Vista:

1. Click Start  then click Control Panel.
2. Go to Programs and Features.
3. In the left hand pane, and click Turn Windows features on or off.
4. Select in the list which features you wish to add into Vista.
          A box filled in means some features in that category have been ticked to be installed.
          A check box means all features within that category have been ticked to be installed.
          Nothing in a box means no features within that category have been ticked to be installed.
5. Click OK to make the changes. It might take a few minutes to configure Windows, depending on what you’ve selected and de-selected. It shouldn’t ask for your installation DVD, but be on hand with it just in case.
6. Save your work and restart - this is necessary for some features to work.

Vista “helps” you out by automatically defragging your hard drive (by replacing files on the physical hard disk and not in Windows to make them easily accessible - basically re-organising your filing cabinet) but this can be a problem if your computer isn’t turned on when it’s scheduled or you cancel it.

1. Click on Start then click Control Panel.
2. Turn on “category view” in the left hand pane, then click on “System and Maintenance”.
3. Under “Administrative Tools”, click on “Defragment your hard drive”. Click “Allow” 
4. In the Disk Defragmenter window, uncheck “Run on a schedule (recommended)” then OK.

As reported by Robert Sweeney (Microsoft) posted on the microsoft.public.windows.vista.networking_sharing newsgroup:
Unfortunately sharing to “Everyone” is broken in Beta 2. Regardless of the permissions you specify, guests and users without passwords will not be able to write to folders shared over the network. There are two bugs in Vista Beta 2 that prevent this from working correctly.

 Bug
There is a bug that limits users without passwords to read-only access over the network. This is the main source of most people’s problems. One side effect of this is printing to a printer from your Vista computer over the network.

 Workaround
In an elevated command window (Start , All Programs, Accessories, right click on Command Prompt and select Run as administrator) type in net local group users guest /add

 Bug
There is another bug that prevents users without passwords from accessing files shared under C:\Users.

 Workaround
Right-click on the users folder, select Properties, Sharing, Advanced Sharing, Permissions, Add, type in “everyone” in the available text box, press Enter, change all the permissions to Full Control.
Don’t do this if your computer is on an untrusted network.

Update for Windows Vista RC1
All fixed! If you’re using Beta 2, upgrade to RC1 or RC2 when it arrives.

Some settings about the Narrator function in Windows Vista and Windows Server “Longhorn” Beta 2 have changed, so if you use the Narrator a lot, you might want to get your head round some of these minor changes.

 To read the title bar of a window, you can use the “Read Windows Contents” command by pressing Ctrl+Shift+Spacebar on the selected window.
 To get a detailed description of an icon, a setting or other items, select it and press Ctrl+Shift+Enter on your keyboard.
 The ability to get Narrator to read the status bar of a window is no longer available.

As Chris says in his article, the Windows XP SP2 Security Center tray icon is one of the most annoying things there is, but in Vista I personally find this plain irritating, especially when you don’t want Defender running because it really munches RAM. So here’s how you remove the Security Center icon from your system tray. Sorry it’s long winded, but stick with it… it pays off.

This could well lower the security of your computer. The Security Center is a central and integral part of your computers security, and disabling it will stop all alerts and notifications.

1. Go to Start , select Run (or press the Windows key + R) and type in cmd then hit OK.
2. Type in at the prompt cd c:\windows\system32 then press the Enter key.
3. From there, type in:
           takeown /f wscapi.dll then press Enter.
           takeown /f wscsvc.dll then press Enter.
           takeown /f wscui.cpl then press Enter.
   exit then press Enter.
4. Now you need to make sure that every user has ownership of the files so that every user can “control” them. Navigate your way to C:\Windows\System32 and right click on each file, click on the Security tab and add an entry as “everyone” then tick all the boxes in the Allow column. Apply then OK.
5. Go into services.msc from the Run command and disable the Security Center if you haven’t done so already.
6. The files that you modified ownership from earlier, wscapi.dll, wscsvc.dll and wscui.cpl, change the file extension to .bak.
7. Back into the Command Prompt (Run command then cmd then hit OK) and type in:
   REG DELETE HKLM\SYSTEM\CURRENTCONTROLSET\SERVICES\WSCSVC /F then press Enter.
   shutdown /r then Press Enter.

Once the machine has restarted, you should notice that the Security Center icon and messages would have disappeared.

Big thanks to Chris123NT for this. He maintains a very popular blog on his website, as well as many tips and hints for Windows Vista users. Check his blog out here.

Update for Vista RC2
There’s now an even easier way, hurrah! Open up the Security Center, and in the left hand pane click “Change the way Security Center alerts me”. Click on an appropriate button which suits your needs - the best option to remove it entirely from the notification tray, is to click “Don’t notify me and don’t display the icon (not recommended)”.

Vista now has the ability to add multiple clocks to your computer. This is really useful for if you work abroad or have friends and family in a different time zone, because now you have no excuse of ringing them up at 3am in the morning thinking it’s normal daylight hours where they are.

1. Click once on the time in the system tray in your taskbar to display your calendar and clock(s) then click Date and Time Settings.
2. Click on the Additional Clocks tab in the Date and Time Properties dialog box.
3. Check the boxes above the two selections (depending on how many multiple clocks you wish to set up).
4. Select the time zone of the additional clock from the drop down menu. In the picture below, I’ve selected -8:00 Pacific Time because this is Microsoft (Redmond) time.
5. In the Display Name, you can optionally fill out the name for this new clock. In the picture below, I’ve called mine “Microsoft Time” but you can call this anything.
6. Fill out the other additional clock if you so wish to.
7. Once you have done, select Apply then OK.

To view your clocks, simply hover over the time in the system tray in the taskbar for a popup to appear with the calendar and your additional clocks.

Although this feature cannot be found in earlier editions of Vista, in Vista build 5342, you can customise your desktop icons and change what you see. By default, after a clean installation, you will get the Recycle Bin, Internet Explorer and Feedback icons. However, it’s really easy to change what you see on your desktop.

1. Right click on the desktop and select Personalise.
2. In the left pane, click Change desktop icons. (Note, this doesn’t require UAP authentication as it’s a per user setting).
3. In the Desktop Icon Settings, you can select from seeing:

• Computer - used to be My Computer but lets you see all your drives connected to your computer
• User’s Files - basically “Documents” of which lets you see your files
• Recycle Bin - all your deleted files placed into storage until you decide what you want to keep and not to.
• Internet Explorer - the Windows based web browser
• Network - gives access to the Network Center and lets you change network settings
• Control Panel - desktop access to your computer’s settings

   4. If you change a specific icon, select it from the display and click Change Icon or to reset an icon click on Restore Default.
   5. Simply select each text box of which you want to see on your desktop, then click Apply then OK.

The new Network Center in Vista enables users to get a comprehensive view on what’s going on with your network connections. You have many of the same options as you did in Windows XP, but what a lot of users have complained at the fact they struggle to find the old network configuration settings. So to access the XP style network settings area:

1. Right click on the area you wish to create the shortcut to (I used the desktop)
2. Select New and then Shortcut.
3. Type in the new shortcut to %windir%\system32\ncpa.cpl
4. Name this new shortcut to “Network Connections” if it doesn’t already do so.
5. Click Finish and then double click the shortcut to access the default Network Connections dialog box.

By default, the new Windows Vista folder view has folder tips at the bottom of the window as well as a folder list to the left, and my personal taste, I don’t like it and have always liked the original “Windows XP” look to it, so it’s a nice simple interface. However, getting the menu bar back up with the “File, Edit, Help” menu’s is really easy to get back.

 The more lengthy and permanent way to get it back is to go to Start , Control Panel and then Folder Options. Click on the View tab at the top, and make sure the Always show menu bar in Windows Explorer option is ticked. Click on the Apply to All Folders at the top, Yes at the dialog box that comes up, Apply then OK.

You may have noticed, that on any file with a file extension (that’s pretty much anything you can double click on except the default desktop icons and folders), when you try and rename it, it will by default let you rename the actual name of the file and not the extension. This is so that if you have the Hide extensions for known file types disabled, you can see the file extensions. What a lot of people have done, is tried renaming something and forgotten the file extension thus ruining the file until you get the right extension back on it.

If you noticed, if you do have the Hide extensions for known file types enabled, this is the same thing pretty much as you can only rename the file and not the attachment. It’s more of a “safety over your files” really. It also helps people disguising pictures with a .jpg extension as a virus which is actually an .exe extension. Windows Vista is really trying to prevent any damage to your system… unlike previous versions of Windows… *rolls eyes*.

It’s a new version of Windows, there’s more technologies and more settings to play with, and that means the Control Panel has become substantially more packed with settings, options, tweaks and performance modifiers. Here’s a list of the new Control Panel applets and what they do.

Audio Devices and Sound Themes
From here, you can configure all of your sound settings and configure a number of audio devices. Choose which sounds are heard when a certain action is performed, such as logging on and out of Windows.

AutoPlay
The simpler and more effective way of selecting how Windows reacts to a new media device, and what happens when you insert a specific type of device. If you insert a DVD, you can select it to play automatically in Media Center, meanwhile if you have files mainly, you can select Windows Explorer to view them instead.

Backup and Restore
Backup all your documents, images, and other files using the new wizard Windows Backup. You can also image your entire system so that in case your machine gets lost or stolen, you have a full image file which you can then restore from another location.

BitLocker Drive Encryption
A brand new security technology which has caused some controversy especially in the UK. It prevents unauthorised users from accessing or editing your files or other Windows system files. If your machine gets lost or stolen, this can be very difficult for thieves to restore what you have encrypted. BitLocker also comes as a chip on new motherboards which then adds to hardware security, so it’ll be almost impossible to break into.

Colour Management
This was initially seen as a downloadable add-in to Windows XP, where you can manage the colours on-screen and control how devices connected to the computer render colour.

Default Programs
This is now been bumped up to be the “advanced file management and Folder Options” bit. From here you can set the default programs (Windows Live Messenger instead of Windows Messenger) and also change a file type or protocol - meaning that you can change which program opens up ftp:// - as well as change AutoPlay settings for CD’s and portable media players.

Device Manager
Enabling you to change or add device drivers, and also check the status of all devices connected to your computer at any given time. You can also update the driver from Microsoft Update with a few clicks of a button.

Digital Identities
Using “InfoCard” technology, it enables you to create digital cards of which helps fill out data on web pages for you. You can set new cards and different cards to handle individual data such as Windows Live ID data which is separate to your credit/debit card details.

Ease of Access Center
Renamed from “Accessibility Options” - these are per user settings so that individual users can have different options depending on their needs. This Control Panel applet holds options for the Magnifier, the On-Screen Keyboard, the Narrator as well as other display and keyboard settings.

Indexing Options
Firstly in XP in the System Properties section and now here. You can modify how the Windows “spider” indexes your files and how search finds them to overall make things easier to find on large storage computers.

Network and Sharing Center
The new name for Network Connections as seen in XP. The central station for network settings and configuration. Within this applet you have access to other Control Panel applets also relating to networking.

Network File and Printer Sharing
Enable file sharing on your network, and also change settings on how your local printer is accessible to other people on your network.

Network List
Depending where you are with your machine, this displays and manager the list of networks you can or have connected to.

Network Map
A new addition to compliment My Network Places, to display a map of computers connected to the network you are connected to.

Offline Files
Moved from Folder Options to the Control Panel. You can configure from here network folders which can be synchronised with your machine or network when you are working offline or not connected to that network.

Parental Controls
Modify user settings for different age groups to control which games they play, which Internet sites they visit and the general content of what they see.

Pen and Input Devices
The “Tablet PC configuration” area where you can configure settings for your pen and calibrate your screen.

People Near Me
Designed to work with Windows Collaboration, to participate in presentations and online meeting spaces with colleagues on your network.

Performance Rating and Tools
Check on how your computers health is, including the current speed and overall performance. If there is a performance issue or resolveable problems, Windows will try and find solutions to these.

Personalisation
Modify how Windows looks to you. You can alter the theme, the screen saver, as well as the screen resolution and other visual settings.

Problem Reports and Solutions
This is the more advanced and buffed up Windows Error Reporting section, enabling users to check problems on their machine, get feedback from Microsoft on how to fix those problems and also find solutions to things such as device drivers breaking as well as start-up programs which cause the machine to be slow.

Programs and Features
The center of which you can add programs to Windows, changed installed programs and installed updates, as well as modify which programs automatically start on boot-up. In the Advanced Options, you can modify things like Windows Features and settings in the Security Center - some options taken straight from the Control Panel.

Scanners and Cameras
The new place of which you can configure, install and manage cameras and scanners attached to the computer.

Speech Recognition
You can set up speech recognition here and basically control your entire computer with it. You can also set up text-to-speech (which is great fun with making it say rude words and stuff) and train the computer to understand you better. With this, you can write full text documents with it and basically use the computer “hands-free!”

Sync Center
Part of the Windows Vista slogan was “connected” and now it really is. You can synchronise your mobile device, whether it be a portable media device, Pocket PC or a laptop with your computer or another machine on the network.

Tablet PC Settings
Where users of Tablet PC’s will be able to set controls for their device, such as hotkey options and calibrating your pen with the screen.

Text to Speech
The new “Speech” Control Panel applet which appeared in Windows XP - where you can configure your speech options, train your computer to recognise your voice, and set the Text to Speech and Speech to Text options for handsfree document writing.

Welcome Center
The most basic of settings which help you set up Vista from the word go, and see what’s going on. You can alter Windows accounts, see what’s in your computer in terms of hardware and the settings, transfer all your old files in and check which devices are installed (and which ones you may have to install yourself from setup!)

Windows Defender
Formerly known as Microsoft AntiSpyware, as it does exactly that. Now as a system service, you can customise how Windows Defender protects your computer and when and where to scan.

Windows Sidebar
Ahh the sidebar, first seen in the early alpha builds of Windows “Longhorn” and it’s finally resurfaced! Here you can modify where the Sidebar appears, which monitor it appears on (if you have more than one screen hooked up) and modify the running gadgets you have installed in there.

Windows SideShow
This is a new technology of which allows you to see certain “sidebar” content on a small external screen on your laptop. When I say “sidebar” content, I mean content which is XML based and similar to what you would see in the Sidebar. This includes calendar appointments, a clock, and other gadgets which are useful to show even when your computer isn’t turned on.

Have you ever seen those presentations that those people at Microsoft show when they are slowing down windows maximising and minimising? Well, the way they got it to do that is with a small registry edit.

1. Click on Start . Run and type regedit then hit OK.
2. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM
3. In the right hand pane, right click on an empty space and from the context menu that appears choose “New > DWORD (32-bit) Value”.
4. Give the new DWORD (32-bit) value a name of AnimationsShiftKey (be careful in spelling this!)
5. Double click on the new DWORD value and give it a value of 1. 
6. Close the Registry Editor and log off of Windows and log back in for this to take effect.

Updated for Vista RTM
This entry has been seriously modified and isn’t how it was. This now allows you to see real slowed down animations in Windows Vista. Brill!

 There is a demonstration relating to this article. Click here to view it.