Windows VISTA Archives | Page 2 of 2

April 3, 2009

Windows VISTA’s most useful tool – Snipping Tool

This is one of the most useful tool which is present only in Windows VISTA (and also Windows XP tablet PC edition). It eliminates Print screen functionality of Windows. This is probably the best screen capturing freeware available. Everytime I go back to XP I miss this tool badly. Snipping tool is available for Windowx XP Tablet PC edition only (other than VISTA) and can be installed with experience pack for Windows XP tablet PC edition.

It allows you to capture only the portion you want in your screen as you can see in the below picture the screen will be made frosty and the only the clear area (which will be selected by snipping tool) will be snipped and it can be saved as a image file. But to do the same process using print screen you will need to do a print screen and then edit in Microsoft Paint or Photoshop.

snipping tool - Best screen capturing tool

April 2, 2009

How to disable UAC warnings in Windows VISTA?

This post talks about how to disable UAC prompt / disable UAC alert / disable UAC warnings in Windows VISTA. If you are looking for something elseor need help drop in a comment or send a mail to admin. Your queries will be answered within a day.

UAC – The user Account Control is one of the annoying security features of windows VISTA, It is common to all the Windows VISTA editions like Home Basic, Home Premium, Ultimate or Business versions.

This feature can be very helpful to users who dont know anything about computers or internet or even the careless internet user, But to most advanced or regular users this can be very annoying and they might even get used to this. But luckily there is a simple way to turn off this feature. Just follow the below instructions

The below screen by screen tutorial on How to disable UAC is meant for novice users. If you know how to go to control panel skip the first few steps.

Before you start ensure you are logged in as a administrator.

Click start menu (or press windows key) and click control panel as shown below

How to go to control panel in Windows VISTA

In control panel select –> Icon which says User Accounts

Once you open User Accounts you will see links like below in the middle of the new window

then click Turn User Account Control on or off

(if you dont see this option you are not logged in as administrator)

Disable UAC in Windows VISTA

A new popup will open as below, uncheck the check box , ie click on the box below so the tick mark disappears as shown in below picture.

uncheck uac checkbox - How to disable UAC

March 7, 2008March 12, 2008

Will Microsoft do a Millenium(Me) on Windows VISTA?

I happened to get a copy of Long Horn Beta when I was still in college in 2003; it was supposed to have evolved into Windows VISTA. I installed and ran for few days; it was very different feel from Windows XP. The main feature of the OS was its WinFS the index able and searchable File System which was said to be revolutionary. Whenever I met Microsoft guys they will pull out a presentation and explain the advantages. Later Even I started doing the same. Windows Longhorn Was developed based on Windows XP code base.

But in 2004 Microsoft made a Managerial decision to scrap the Original design and start using Windows 2003 code base. And who what they should have done is to extend the developmental cycle as well, which the top guns at Microsoft were not happy at. Hence the present Windows VISTA was shipped to public with all changes going even in the final stages. They even removed the WinFS for a fast shipment.

This is exactly what developers face in any software company, there is always this line between developers and Managers .Managers want a product at any cost within the budget within the timeframe. This is where Microsoft went wrong Windows VISTA out too quickly; Even now I wouldn’t say VISTA is totally bad product. But If Microsoft hadn’t bowed to media pressure and waited for few more months, VISTA wouldn’t have faced this much criticism.

I have been running VISTA in my machine for past 4 months and never faced any crashes except the odd IE crash. I haven’t seen any blue screen deaths(Are these still occur in VISTA).But what I have seen is my external Hard disk doesn’t work with VISTA, but works very well in XP.Driver issues??

When Everybody’s is complaining about VISTA, Microsoft has reduced VISTA prices and silently working on Windows 7. Windows 7 will have WinFS and all announced features of original VISTA. So it makes me wonder Is VISTA just a stop gap measure?. If you would remember Microsoft brought the famous(Not so ) Windows Me (Millenium edition) after Windows 2000. It had lots of features but the core was a crap. You can imagine putting all your costly features in a bullock cart. The OS was based on Windows 95/98 model but promised many features of XP. It soon went into hiding after a year of its launch and Microsoft brought out Windows XP based on Windows 2000 core. It had many features of Windows Me but in a much better core.
So Is Microsoft really doing Millenium on Windows VISTA? And the more the news comes out about Windows 7 it resembles promise Microsoft made about longhorn.. Win FS , Win Min(Minimal and efficient core)

So Are we all supposed to change our computers in near future again for Windows 7 ??
Windows 7 Windows Me