Windows Vista is here at last. One of the largest software projects ever undertaken, Vista is indisputably a milestone—despite Microsoft's having abandoned many of its most ambitious goals for the OS—and not just for Microsoft but for the entire PC industry.
Of course, Vista is not without its skeptics. PC makers say it will require more processing power, graphics capabilities, and memory than is typical of today's mainstream machines. Software vendors complain that Vista's vaunted security features are, in fact, locking them out. Users may wonder if it offers enough that's truly new to be worth the bother—particularly given that a number of Vista features and bundled applications are also available for Windows XP.
We've performed extensive, hands-on analysis of Vista and sorted out the claims to help you decide whether, or more realistically when, to make the move—and to show you what you can expect when you do.—next: The Vista Promise >
The Vista Promise
Microsoft calls Vista "a breakthrough computing experience." That's marketing hyperbole, for sure, but it's not entirely unfounded. The new OS is far more than Windows XP with a pretty
Welcome to Vista
Windows Vista is here at last. The Welcome Center appears when you first boot; here’s what it looks like on top of Vista’s "aurora" wallpaper. Let’s see what we find when we look beyond the pretty face of the new OS...
Apply Properties Catastrophic Failure
Although Vista seems stable for the most part, it’s certainly not bug-free. This "catastrophic" error was just one problem I ran into during testing (though it turned out not to be catastrophic at all).
IE Stopped Working
On a few occasions, benign activity caused Internet Explorer to crash inexplicably.
Strange Behavior
Some parts of the user interface still expose unexpected seams. This is what happened to the address bar when I clicked on the breadcrumbs in a search results list.
Annoying Limitation
Some of Vista’s minor nuisances arise not from bugs as such, but from limitations in what the OS is designed to do. For example, when I played an MP3 from Windows Explorer and then tried to rate it, I was rebuffed with this dialog.
Windows Explorer
Windows Explorer has undergone a substantial overhaul in Vista. Clicking on your user name in the Start Menu takes you to a directory like this one—rather like an expanded version of XP’s My Documents folder.
Explorer Breadcrumbs
The quickest way to navigate among directories in Explorer is by using the dropdown breadcrumbs in the address bar. (You can also click and then type in the address bar to enter a path name manually.) The Folders menu at left lets you navigate using a more traditional, albeit somewhat space-starved, tree view control.
Search
Explorer also lets you navigate by searching. You can simply begin typing in the search box at upper right to constrain the current view—or use its advanced search, which lets you find files meeting parameters that you specify. The ability to craft Boolean (AND/OR) queries, present in some beta releases, didn’t make it into the final version.
File Dialogs
Programs’ file dialogs also inherit the new IE look and behavior, including its incremental-search capability. By typing a few characters in the box at top right, I was quickly able to narrow down the files displayed.
Live Icons
Vista’s live icons provide a preview of what’s actually inside folders.
Document Metadata
Explorer’s bottom pane provides a high-quality document preview. Here you can even see signs of the revision marks and comments in the source Word document—as well as editable metadata that you can use to make the document more easily searchable or sortable.
Improved File Copy Dialog
Many of Vista’s progress and file-operations dialogs are more informative than those in XP
Start Menu
By now it’s probably not news that Vista’s Start menu has received a substantial overhaul. The new Start menu is one of my favorite interface features in the new OS—something I really miss every time I go back to a pre-Vista system.
Start Menu Search
Type in the Start menu’s search box and Vista shows you matching applications, files, favorites, and e-mails, updating the list with each character you type.
Start Menu Path
Power users’ tip: Type a path name directly in the Start menu search box. Hit Enter and Vista opens an Explorer window on that directory.
Alt-Tab Interface
Vista’s Alt-Tab interface, which provides live thumbnails of open documents, makes it much easier to land in the right spot when you have multiple documents open within a single application.
Flip 3D
You can also switch applications using Vista’s "Flip 3D" view. Press Windows-Tab or click the "switch between windows" Quick Start icon, and open windows morph into this perspective view. Rotating the mouse wheel spins the stack of windows, Rolodex-style. And you can watch Mick sing throughout the experience.
Vista Help
Vista has a new and expanded help system.
Vista Help Demo
Many Vista help dialogs come with demo videos that actually show you how to perform a particular task.
Computer View
Vista’s Computer view, like XP’s My Computer, shows an overview of your system.
Control Panel
Vista’s control panel is clearly organized by topic.
Control Panel Classic View
You can switch to the Control Panel’s classic view if its default, topical orientation doesn’t suit you.
Desktop Background
The final version of Vista contains a variety of striking desktop backgrounds.
DPI
You can change the number of dots per inch that Vista uses to compute sizes of display elements, either to accommodate high-dpi screens or to enlarge text and graphics for better visibility.
Ease of Access Center
Vista organizes all of its many accessibility options in an "Ease of Access" center. As soon as you open it, the OS’s built-in text-to-speech engine begins reading text aloud.
Sidebar
Vista’s Sidebar, which docks at the edge of the screen, has received a lot of buzz—but I find I don’t actually rely on it that much in practice. Although I don’t doubt many people will appreciate it, I prefer to use the pixels for my applications rather than background information.
Gadgets
Vista ships with only a limited number of gadgets for the Sidebar, though you can go online to find more.
Gadgets Server Busy
My attempt to locate more Sidebar gadgets online was temporarily stymied.
Maximized Black Title Bar
In Vista, the title bars on most windows (assuming you have the hardware for the full Aero experience) are transparent. But toward the end of the Vista test cycle, Microsoft decided that the title bar should be black when you maximize a window. I can’t get used to this look, which I find particularly disconcerting when I have a window maximized only on one monitor of my dual-head system.
Mobility Center
One of the recurring themes in Vista is the organization of related items into "centers", like this Mobility Center for notebooks. I like having all these related capabilities right at my fingertips.
Network and Sharing Center
The Network and Sharing Center provides an overview of your connectivity and makes it easier to share files with users on other machines.
New Sharing Dialog
This new file-sharing dialog is particularly clear and straightforward.
Sharing Step 2
After deciding to share a folder, you can easily e-mail a notification.
Classic Theme
If you find Vista’s Aero interface disorienting or gaudy, you can switch to this "classic" interface. Because of features like Explorer breadcrumbs, though, its layout can still be rather different than that of Windows 2000 or XP.
IE7 Quick Tabs
Vista ships with Internet Explorer 7, which is also available for download on Windows XP. IE7 finally supports tabbed browsing, and its Quick Tabs view—shown here—shows thumbnails of all your open Web pages.
RSS Feeds
IE7 auto-discovers RSS feeds on Web pages and lets you add them to Vista’s central RSS store.
Sidebar Feeds Gadget
The feeds gadget that ships in Vista displays headlines from Vista’s central RSS store.
Parental Controls
Vista includes parental controls, so you don’t need to use a third-party program to keep your kids away from salacious content—or simply restrict the hours they can log on the PC, or the specific games they can play.
Parental Controls Reminder
Parental controls include the ability to track a user’s activity in detail, as this reminder balloon attests.
Security Center
Many of Vista’s most important enhancements are security-related. The Security Center provides a dashboard that shows your system’s security status at a glance.
Windows Firewall Exceptions
Among Vista’s security-related improvements is an enhanced Windows Firewall.
Windows Firewall Detailed Config
Corporate customers can use the MMC (Microsoft Management Console) interface to configure Windows Firewall settings in detail.
BitLocker
If your system includes a TPM (Trusted Platform Module) cryptography chip—neither of my test machines does—you can apply Vista’s BitLocker capability to encrypt the entire drive and prevent snooping.
Backup and Restore Center
Vista’s Backup and Restore Center makes it much easier to cope with the tedious but essential task of backing up your data. Vista includes Complete PC Backup and Restore, which records complete disk images, much like Symantec’s Ghost or Acronis TrueImage.
Install Display Languages
Vista is designed to be a truly multi-lingual OS—the OS itself is essentially language-agnostic, and even English is a language pack like any other. You can even install different interface languages for different users on the same machine.
System Info
The system page shows basic information about your system, including the "Windows Experience Index"—a numeric rating that’s supposed to help make it easier to choose software that’s suitable for the capabilities of your machine.
Upgrade Advisor
Thinking about upgrading your existing PC to Vista? You can run Microsoft’s Vista Upgrade Advisor to see how it will fare
Windows Easy Transfer
Vista includes a Windows Easy Transfer wizard that’s supposed to make it simple to migrate your files and settings (but not installed applications) from an old PC to a new one.
Windows Easy Transfer Client Advanced
The Windows Easy Transfer client selects reasonable defaults, but also lets you fine-tune its behavior.
Task Manager Descriptions
Vista’s Task Manager provides descriptions of system tasks so you don’t have to decipher cryptic process names.
Resource Monitor
The Resource Monitor shows you how hard your system is working.
Reliability Monitor
The Reliability Monitor shows how stable your PC has been.
Memory Diagnostics
Vista includes memory diagnostics that you can use to stress-test your RAM if you suspect a problem.
Advanced Performance Tools
All of Vista’s performance tools are easily accessible from one spot.
Event Viewer
Vista’s Event Viewer is substantially more sophisticated than XP’s, and lets you create complex filters.
Scheduled Defrag
Vista schedules disk defragmentation automatically.
Task Scheduler Options
Vista gives you tools to schedule tasks to run under tightly constrained circumstances—for example, only when a laptop is connected to AC power, so you can avoid draining the battery.
Uninstall Program
Vista’s "Programs and Features" improves on the Add/Remove Programs dialog from XP.
View Update History
All your Windows updates are visible in this history list.
Windows Features
This dialog lets you select specific Windows features to install or uninstall.
Windows Calendar
Vista includes a basic but adequate scheduling application called Windows Calendar.
Windows Contacts
Vista lets you store and search contacts in a special directory.
Windows Defender
Vista includes Windows Defender antispyware, though our testing so far hasn’t shown it to be as effective as the better third-party products.
Windows DVD Maker
Windows DVD Maker is a nice addition to the OS, making it almost trivial to burn a DVD-R with navigation menus like this one.
Windows Mail
Windows Mail is essentially Outlook Express in new clothing.
Windows Media Player 11
Windows Media Player 11, also available for Windows XP, is a substantial improvement over its predecessor.
Windows Meeting Space
The Windows Meeting Space feature in Vista lets you establish ad-hoc conferences over a wired or wireless network.
Windows Photo Gallery
Windows Photo Gallery lets you organize your digital images with tags and other convenient metadata for easy retrieval.
Windows SideShow
Windows SideShow is an intriguing idea awaiting its realization in hardware. The concept: use secondary displays on devices like cell phones or laptops to show small amounts of information—much like the external display on a cell phone shows the caller ID when a call is received.
Wi-Fi
Vista includes a new Wi-Fi network discovery and management interface.
Vista Games
As has long been true of Windows operating systems, Vista includes a variety of games.
Chess Titans
Chess Titans takes advantage of 3-D hardware, letting you spin the board around for a better view.
Vista Remote Desktop
You can access Vista machines via Remote Desktop, though you won’t get fancy visual effects like transparent windows.
System Information
The end of our walkthrough: a look at how Vista characterizes itself—as Windows 6.0—in the System Information dialog.