99 Vista tips and tricks

[WalkinTarget]

Found this and thought it was a very good resource for tweaking Vista. I myself found a great tip at #17, as I was using Vista Business and stuck with no DVD codec for playback. You can't beat a freebie !!

http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=2238

I didn't see TweakUAC on the list, but add that to your tweaks. I turned UAC off after two weeks of using Vista, but TweakUAC eliminates the login elevation prompt for most of the required UAC actions, such as changing your desktop or screen resolution.

[juneau]

I know what tip #100 is but i'm not going to say it.

[CHOPS123]

LOL tip 100.....insert WIN XP cd

[BlackArrow]

LOL tip 100.....insert WIN XP cd

ROFL

[-IRC-MIKE]

As a computer techie, I HAD to learn Vista inside out eventually, so thats why I'm running it now.

The biggest pet-peeve I have is when you are downloading something and you select where you wanna save the file, you can't click on the shortcut Icons such as "My Documents" . Even when you open the C: drive there is an icon, like in XP, for "Documents and Settings", but when you click it you get an error

"C:\Documents and Settings" is not accessible

Access is denied!

and that is a bunch of crap. There are many icons that are shortcuts such as that one that are a pain in the butt. Other than that, Vista with enough memory installed is quite a horse and runs really quick.

Also, THANKS for the post with the 99 tips and tricks. That is an awesome find.


~~mike~~

[Grisu]

#1: Don't use it...

[BenKenobi]

Nice find, I'll use this

[WalkinTarget]

Mike, I let Firefox download manager handle the download location, and it defaults to your desktop, so that is a workaround for your Vista annoyance.

[Dead...Again]

Thanks, WT, I'll check that out.
I used to have UAC disabled, but I am using TweakUAC now.
There are a few things that irk me about UAC, but I guess they actually make the system more secure. One is that I have a free backup utility that won't work unless it is elevated to admin; Windows blocks it from writing to my backup harddrive. The other is that Windows will block applications from running on startup if it doesn't recognize them. This prevents Rivatuner from working (also blocks the backup program if it is elevated!). What irks me about this is that there is no way for you to tell Windows "I want you to allow this app to run everytime," only "I want you to allow this app to run this time."
I found a workaround to the startup issue: use the task scheduler to start the app when you log in. It isn't as clean, but it works.

[Zantheus]

The 1st thing I did when I got Vista was take UAC off the OS is way less of a hassle w/o UAC on.... Vista FTW

[-IRC-MIKE]

Mike, I let Firefox download manager handle the download location, and it defaults to your desktop, so that is a workaround for your Vista annoyance.

Yeah man, I know what you mean. I don't have any problems downloading things or anything like that, but the point I'm trying to make is that when you are navigating the folders... the icons that USED to work in XP are not working icons in Vista. For instance I usually clean up my temp files by manually navigating to

C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\ ( and then manually add the folder "Content.IE5" on the end like this:

C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5

In windows XP this is where a lot of "unseen" temporary crap is located that most cleanup programs won't remove.... it also shows what kind of content that my customers have been viewing, and where possibly a trojan came from when I am cleaning up their pc.

You cannot simply navigate to this folder in VISTA, but the icons are there ... you just can't click on them or you get the error.

[WalkinTarget]

The file structure in Vista is different than XP, so its under Users/<username>, but why do the Temp Files deletion manually ? Just go to Tools -> Options -> Adanced -> Network -> Cache and click on Clear Now.

I use a program called Cleanup452 to remove all of the Temp Internet Cache crap, and it also will clean out the Prefetch items which is where some malware can lurk, so check that out if you need it done automagically.

I agree that navigation in Vista is different enough to be confusing, similar to my move from Win98 to XP. I had a helluva time finding out where the various items and folders were tucked away, but now its second nature.

[Hammy]

I know what tip #100 is but i'm not going to say it.

Tip Number 100 is to uninstall it.