Windows Vista secrets

Windows Vista™

Secrets®

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Windows Vista™

Secrets®

Brian Livingston

Paul Thurrott

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Windows Vista™ Secrets®

Published by

Wiley Publishing, Inc.

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Indianapolis, IN 46256

Copyright © 2007 by Brian Livingston and Paul Thurrott

Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

ISBN-13: 978-0-7645-7704-8

ISBN-10: 0-7645-7704-2

Manufactured in the United States of America

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Livingston, Brian.

Windows Vista secrets / Brian Livingston, Paul Thurrott.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN-13: 978-0-7645-7704-8 (paper)

ISBN-10: 0-7645-7704-2 (paper)

1. Microsoft Windows (Computer file). 2. Operating systems (Computers). I. Thurrott, Paul B. II. Title.

QA76.76.O63L5955 2007

005.4'46—dc22

2006032941

Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley logo, Secrets, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley &

Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates, in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission.

Windows Vista is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are

the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this

book.

Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in

electronic books.

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To Margie Livingston and Stephanie, Mark, and Kelly Thurrott

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About the Authors

Brian Livingston is editorial director of the weekly Windows Secrets Newsletter

(http://WindowsSecrets.com) and author of the weekly “Executive Tech” column

(http://BrianLivingston.com) for Datamation. For 12 years, from 1991 to 2003, he was a con￾tributing editor of InfoWorld Magazine, writing the weekly “Window Manager” column

and (from 2001 to 2003) the E-Business Secrets newsletter. He has also been a contribut￾ing editor of CNET News.com, PC World, PC/Computing, Windows Sources, and

Windows Magazine. The business model of WindowsSecrets.com, which is supported by

voluntary reader contributions, earned him the Internet Entrepreneur of the Year award

at the 2006 Internet Content Summit in New York, sponsored by MarketingSherpa

(http://bri.li/060508).

Paul Thurrott is the news editor of Windows IT Pro Media and editor of the SuperSite for

Windows (http://www.winsupersite.com). He writes a weekly editorial for Windows IT Pro

UPDATE (http://www.windowsitpro.com/email); a daily Windows news and information

newsletter called WinInfo Daily UPDATE (http://www.wininformant.com); and a monthly

column called “Need To Know” in Windows IT Pro Magazine.

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Credits

Acquisitions Editor

Katie Mohr

Senior Development Editor

Kevin A. Kent

Copy Editor

Travis Henderson

Editorial Manager

Mary Beth Wakefield

Production Manager

Tim Tate

Vice President and Executive

Group Publisher

Richard Swadley

Vice President and Executive

Publisher

Joseph B. Wikert

Project Coordinators

Ryan Steffen

Erin Smith

Graphics and Production

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Ronald Terry

Quality Control Technicians

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Melanie Hoffman

Proofreading

Christine Sabooni

Indexing

Techbooks

Anniversary Logo Design

Richard Pacifico

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Contents at a Glance

Read This First .............................................................................................................................................1

Part I: Surviving Setup

Chapter 1: Selecting the Right Vista Version ..........................................................................................31

Chapter 2: Installing and Upgrading to Windows Vista.........................................................................45

Chapter 3: Vista Compatibility .................................................................................................................75

Part II: Understanding the Windows Vista User Experience

Chapter 4: What’s New in the Windows Vista User Interface................................................................95

Chapter 5: Where’s My Stuff? Finding and Organizing Files ..............................................................125

Chapter 6: Using Windows Sidebar .......................................................................................................145

Chapter 7: Fonts ......................................................................................................................................165

Part III: Security

Chapter 8: Windows Vista Security Features ........................................................................................215

Chapter 9: New User Account Features ................................................................................................233

Part IV: Digital Media and Entertainment

Chapter 10: Windows Media Player 11..................................................................................................251

Chapter 11: Enjoying Digital Photos......................................................................................................285

Chapter 12: Making Movies and DVD Movies .....................................................................................317

Chapter 13: Digital Media in the Living Room: Windows Media Center ...........................................359

Chapter 14: Having Fun: Games and Vista...........................................................................................395

Part V: Mobility

Chapter 15: Computing to Go: Windows Vista Mobility Features.......................................................411

Chapter 16: New Tablet PC Features.....................................................................................................433

Part VI: Internet and Networking

Chapter 17: Browsing the Web with Internet Explorer 7 .....................................................................457

Chapter 18: Windows Mail and Contacts ..............................................................................................491

Chapter 19: Using and Understanding Windows Live Services ..........................................................513

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Part VII: Home Office/Power User

Chapter 20: Managing Your Schedule with Windows Calendar.........................................................529

Chapter 21: Keeping Your Data Safe .....................................................................................................553

Chapter 22: Microsoft PowerShell..........................................................................................................567

Appendix: Vista Symbols..................................................................................587

Index .......................................................................................................................615

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Contents

Preface.....................................................................................................................................................xxiii

Read This First ....................................................................................................................................1

The Value of Vista .......................................................................................................................................2

Learn Vista in 15 Minutes ...........................................................................................................................2

The New Start Menu..............................................................................................................................3

Windows Aero.........................................................................................................................................3

Flip 3D .....................................................................................................................................................5

Programs Explorer Replaces Add/Remove Programs..........................................................................6

Put Some Gadgets in Your Windows Sidebar ......................................................................................7

Instant Search and the Search Pane .....................................................................................................8

Internet Explorer 7.0 Catches Up........................................................................................................10

IE Protected Mode and Phishing Filter...............................................................................................12

Support for RSS News Feeds...............................................................................................................13

Encrypt Entire Drives with BitLocker .................................................................................................15

Use Easy Transfer to a New PC...........................................................................................................15

Parental Controls ..................................................................................................................................16

New Games: Mahjong and Chess.......................................................................................................17

Windows Media Player 11 ...................................................................................................................20

URGE, Brought to You by MTV ..........................................................................................................21

Movie Maker and DVD Maker............................................................................................................23

Windows Photo Gallery........................................................................................................................25

Windows Media Center .......................................................................................................................26

There’s Much More ...................................................................................................................................27

Part I: Surviving Setup

Chapter 1: Selecting the Right Vista Version ..........................................................................31

A Quick Overview of All the Versions.....................................................................................................32

If You’re Reading This, You Don’t Need Starter ................................................................................33

The N Editions Aren’t For You, Either ................................................................................................33

If Your PC Is 64-Bit Ready, Run 64-Bit Vista.......................................................................................33

A Few Simple Questions to Determine the Best Vista Version for You.................................................33

Taking Advantage of Your Ability to Upgrade Vista ..............................................................................35

Windows Anytime Upgrade.................................................................................................................36

RAM Limitations of Vista Versions......................................................................................................36

Peer-to-Peer Networking Limitations .................................................................................................36

Choosing Between Home Basic and Home Premium.............................................................................38

Choosing Between Vista Business and Enterprise..................................................................................40

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Features Available in All Vista Versions..................................................................................................42

Choosing the Whole Enchilada — Vista Ultimate...................................................................................44

Summary ....................................................................................................................................................44

Chapter 2: Installing and Upgrading to Windows Vista........................................................45

Taking the Easy Way Out: Acquiring Windows Vista with a New PC..................................................46

Interactive Setup........................................................................................................................................46

Clean Install..........................................................................................................................................47

Upgrading .............................................................................................................................................61

Dual-Booting with Windows XP..........................................................................................................65

Deploying Windows Vista A Power User’s Toolkit..................................................................................72

Summary ....................................................................................................................................................73

Chapter 3: Vista Compatibility ....................................................................................................75

Upgrading to Vista.....................................................................................................................................76

XP Users Can Try the Vista Upgrade Advisor....................................................................................77

The Vista Upgrade Advisor.......................................................................................................................77

Getting Ready for the Upgrade Advisor .............................................................................................77

Can Your PC Run the Core Experiences?...........................................................................................78

Are Your Drivers Capable of Vista? ....................................................................................................79

Microsoft’s Obscure Stash of Legacy Drivers ..........................................................................................82

Summary ....................................................................................................................................................91

Part II: Understanding the Windows Vista User Experience

Chapter 4: What’s New in the Windows Vista User Interface ............................................95

Understanding the Windows Vista User Experience..............................................................................96

Windows Classic...................................................................................................................................99

Windows Vista Basic ..........................................................................................................................100

Windows Vista Standard....................................................................................................................101

Windows Vista Aero ...........................................................................................................................102

Exploring with the Windows Vista Explorer Shell................................................................................107

Start Menu ..........................................................................................................................................107

Desktop ...............................................................................................................................................114

Taskbar................................................................................................................................................116

Notification Area and System Clock.................................................................................................117

Windows Vista Explorers ...................................................................................................................119

More to Come . . . ....................................................................................................................................123

Summary ..................................................................................................................................................124

Chapter 5: Where’s My Stuff? Finding and Organizing Files ............................................125

Understanding Special Shell Folders.....................................................................................................126

Visualization and Organization: How the Windows Vista Shell Works ..............................................128

Sorting the Vista View Styles.............................................................................................................131

Where Is It Now? ................................................................................................................................133

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Search Folders, Saved Searches, and Virtual Folders ..........................................................................135

Understanding Search Folders ..........................................................................................................136

Using Prebuilt Search Folders ...........................................................................................................136

Creating Your Own Search Folders ..................................................................................................139

Configuring Search Options ...................................................................................................................142

Summary ..................................................................................................................................................143

Chapter 6: Using Windows Sidebar ..........................................................................................145

What Is Windows Sidebar? .....................................................................................................................146

Launching Windows Sidebar..................................................................................................................148

Configuring Sidebar................................................................................................................................150

Configuring the Sidebar Display.......................................................................................................150

Adding Gadgets to the Sidebar.........................................................................................................152

Looking at the Built-In Gadgets........................................................................................................153

Configuring Gadgets..........................................................................................................................154

Moving Gadgets to the Windows Desktop.......................................................................................156

Removing Gadgets .............................................................................................................................158

Finding New Gadgets .............................................................................................................................160

Where Have I Seen This Before?............................................................................................................162

Summary ..................................................................................................................................................163

Chapter 7: Fonts ............................................................................................................................165

Windows Has a Lot of Strange Characters ............................................................................................166

You Can Never Have Enough Glyphs ...................................................................................................166

How Windows Jumped from 224 Glyphs to 652 to 100,000............................................................167

Making Progress in International Communications ........................................................................167

How to Enter ANSI Characters from the Keyboard..............................................................................169

Alt+Number Works in All Windows Apps........................................................................................172

The “Dead Key” Method Is the Fastest............................................................................................172

When All Else Fails, Head for the Symbol Menu.............................................................................173

How to Spell Words Good.......................................................................................................................175

Unicode: One Font to Rule Them All.....................................................................................................178

WGL4 Represents a Temporary Solution, at Best ............................................................................178

The Top 1,000 Characters of All Time ..............................................................................................178

Entering Unicode Characters from the Keyboard.................................................................................179

Application Support for Special Characters .....................................................................................179

Who Has Which Fonts? ...........................................................................................................................185

Love at First Sort, or Baby, You’re My Type .....................................................................................185

Displaying Font Samples the Fastest Way........................................................................................186

The Fonts Everyone Has....................................................................................................................187

The Fonts Virtually Everyone Has ....................................................................................................188

The Fonts Most, But Not All, Users Have.........................................................................................189

The New Vista Font Collection .........................................................................................................190

Who’s Running Which Versions of Windows? ..................................................................................196

Which Fonts Are Web-Safe Fonts?.........................................................................................................199

The Most Web-Safe Font Is Courier (Yuck)......................................................................................200

Web-Safe Sans-Serif Fonts ................................................................................................................200

Contents
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Web-Safe Serif Fonts..........................................................................................................................200

Web-Safe Monospaced Fonts ............................................................................................................201

Don’t Use the Symbol Font in HTML................................................................................................201

What Are the Fonts with the Funny Names For?.............................................................................202

How to Get the Best Free Fonts..............................................................................................................207

The 20 Best Free Fonts.......................................................................................................................207

Other Free Font Lists..........................................................................................................................208

The Best Free Scientific Fonts ...........................................................................................................209

The Best Programmer’s Fonts ............................................................................................................209

How to Get the Best Commercial Fonts............................................................................................210

What About a Condensed Font?........................................................................................................211

What About Font Utilities?.................................................................................................................211

Summary ..................................................................................................................................................212

Part III: Security

Chapter 8: Windows Vista Security Features ........................................................................215

Security and Windows Vista ...................................................................................................................216

Windows Security Center .......................................................................................................................216

Windows Defender ..................................................................................................................................219

Windows Firewall ...................................................................................................................................220

Windows Update .....................................................................................................................................223

User Account Security Features .............................................................................................................224

Internet Explorer 7 Security Features ....................................................................................................225

ActiveX Opt-In....................................................................................................................................225

Protected Mode...................................................................................................................................226

Fix My Settings...................................................................................................................................226

Phishing Filter.....................................................................................................................................227

Delete Browsing History ....................................................................................................................228

Other Internet Explorer Security Features .......................................................................................228

BitLocker Drive Encryption ....................................................................................................................229

Low-Level Security Features ..................................................................................................................230

Summary ..................................................................................................................................................231

Chapter 9: New User Account Features..................................................................................233

Understanding User Accounts................................................................................................................234

Creating the Initial User Account......................................................................................................234

Understanding Account Types .........................................................................................................235

User Account Control..............................................................................................................................235

Parental Controls .....................................................................................................................................241

Configuring Parental Controls...........................................................................................................241

Running as Standard User with Parental Controls ..........................................................................245

Summary ..................................................................................................................................................247

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