Introduction

Overview

The era of Windows Vista is finally here. The result of thousands of programmers and five years of work, Windows Vista is the most important and comprehensive release of Windows since 1995. Microsoft has never before paid so much attention to detail and invested so heavily in security. It has finally realized how important user experience truly is and has delivered a product that makes enormous strides in the right direction. Although Windows Vista makes previous versions of Windows antiquated, there are still many improvements to make. This book picks up where Microsoft stopped and helps you personalize and improve your Windows Vista experience.

Few products in the world have to cater to as many types of customers and satisfy as many needs as Windows Vista. Microsoft spent a lot of time gathering feedback to try to please all users with Windows Vista. Its effort is shown in the big improvements throughout the OS, but you can never make all users happy. Everyone has different preferences and likes different things. I am going to show you how to customize almost every aspect of Windows Vista. By the time you are finished with this book, your Windows Vista will look and feel as if Microsoft designed it just for you.

Performance is another major component of your Windows Vista experience. Windows Vista demands more out of your hardware than ever before. After all, when you add many new features, various types of automation, and a slick 3D user interface, you are going to need something more powerful than a computer that barely runs Windows XP. However, you also do not need to go out and buy a completely new computer. In this book, I show you how to fine-tune the settings and features in Windows Vista to make it run faster on hardware that is not exactly the cutting edge anymore.

Windows XP has had a horrible security track record since it was introduced many years ago. It seems like almost every month a handful of new critical vulnerabilities need to be patched. Above all, Microsoft has stressed security during the development of Windows Vista. Hundreds of new security features protect your computer from all types of threats. This book shows you how to take advantage of the new security features as well as how to tame some of the more annoying features such as User Account Control while still benefiting from the feature's protection.

Are you ready to customize, speed up, and secure your Windows Vista computer? Let's get started!