Microsoft introduced a number of tools in Windows Vista that help in diagnosing of system problems. If you are the one that typically has to fix or address problems, you are quite aware of such utilities as Task Manager, Event Viewer, and Performance Monitor. With Vista, there is one new tool you should keep in [...]
While Vista’s Aero look is pretty to gaze at, it’s not for everyone. It goes without saying that the effect is not free, at least as it pertains to your system resources. Aero uses more memory and more CPU cycles than Windows last generation interface. All this adds up to increased battery usage on laptops [...]
Microsoft introduced a new metric in Vista titled the Windows Experience Index (WEI), a numerical representation for performance of the hardware in your computer. The WEI encompasses five sub-scores for processor, memory, 2D graphics, 3D graphics, and disk subsystem. Confusingly enough, the WEI is not an average of the five scores but rather the floor, [...]
Just a quick tip today. Have you noticed that the default install of Vista results in the desktop icons being enormous? Perhaps not, but since I like everything just so, it was immediately noticeable to me. While I don’t understand the rationale behind the decision, it’s extremely simple to fix. Click your mouse on the [...]
Part of Microsoft’s secure computing initiative in Vista includes the disabling of the local administrator account. The rationale is that if would be hackers knew the account name they only needed to guess the respective password before further damage could be done. With a disabled administrator username, hackers or even malicious scripts need to determine [...]