Traditionally, Microsoft has increasingly added new features to enhance the desktop user's experience, and Windows Server 2003 is no exception. A number of new display settings and effects are available for customizing the look and feel of the desktop in Windows Server 2003. Historically, settings that enhance the user experience have had the potential to degrade performance and as such are not appropriate on a server platform. In Windows Server 2003, although these settings exist, a lot of them are either disabled by default or can be disabled relatively easily. For example, the default desktop is blankthere is no flashy background wallpaper, just the standard blue Windows desktop. The DesktopOne of the first things you will probably notice when you log on to Windows Server 2003 is that there is nothing on the desktop (except the Recycle Bin). Where did everything go? All the icons formerly on the desktop have been moved to the Start menu, although you can adjust the display settings to put some of them back on the desktop. In addition, several settings are available for enhancing the behavior of menus and windows that can unnecessarily impact performance, such as animating windows when maximizing and minimizing, fading menus into view, and so on. Fortunately for the server platform where minimizing such performance degradations is of concern, a single location is provided to modify these settings based on their impact to server performance. On the Advanced tab of the System control panel applet is a Performance section. Clicking the Settings button brings up the Performance Options window shown in Figure 3.8. Figure 3.8. Customize the desktop appearance to optimize performance.
As you can see, you have the option to manually enable or disable each of the various display settings, or you can choose a single radio button to optimize for performance. The Start MenuAt first glance, it looks like the entire Start menu has been rearranged. In actuality, as you can see in Figure 3.9, the Start menu has been broken down into the following sections:
Figure 3.9. The new Start menu.
These sections can be modified by customizing the Start menu and Taskbar properties. Follow these steps:
As you have seen in this chapter, several user interface and functionality improvements have been made in the Windows Server 2003 shell. Most of these improvements were first introduced in the corresponding client platform, Windows XP. As such, many of them, such as Remote Assistance, are more appropriate for the client platform. However, they do provide a potentially richer user experience, even for the bleary-eyed administrator still logged on to the server at 3 a.m. Some of them, such as compressed folders, provide utilitarian functionality previously available only through third-party add-ons. One nice thing about all these new features is that they are not being forced down your throat. You can enable or disable most of these settings and customize your environment the way you like. If you don't like the minimal functionality provided by compressed folders and CD burning, you can still purchase the third-party solutions. |