AdventuresInVista
Hints, Tips & Tricks for Microsoft Windows Vista

Vista Battery Tracker
14 July 2008 in General | Comments (2)

Thanks to Milo over at Windows Vista Weblog for mentioning this great little battery checker utility for Windows Vista…

If you need detailed battery information (such as manufacturer, model, and even your battery quality) then this handy peice of software should be top of your list.

Download the Vista Battery Tracker here or Save up to 70% of your battery life

Download FF3 and help set a Guiness World Record!
17 June 2008 in Browser Wars & General | Comments (0)

If you prefer the Firefox browser to IE (I don’t, but there you go), you might be interested to know that the Mozilla Foundation has today released the final build of Firefox 3 for Windows, MacOS X and Linux.

Apparently, they are trying to break the Guiness World Record for the number of downloads in a 24hr period, so you may want to go download it and contribute to the record attempt.

There’s also an official FF3 launch party in New York, which you may wish to attend. More details courtesy of A VC.

What are you waiting for? Download Firefox 3 now! Better still, why not Download Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1?

How Cool is Messenger 8.5?
22 March 2008 in General | Comments (0)

I’ve just downloaded Live Messenger 8.5 onto one of my Vista installations, and I gotta say… I love it!

It’s not a whole lot different, but everything just feels a bit sleeker and more refined. For example, here’s the main contacts screen…

100 million Vista licenses and more EU investigations
14 January 2008 in General | Comments (0)

Two bits of Vista-related information news today.

Firstly, Bill Gates (at his last ever CES keynote speech) announced that Vista had hit 100million licenses. That’s not bad going for an operating system that’s been out just about a year, and that apparently everybody hates!

On a more somber note for Microsoft, the European Commission has launched 2 more probes into anti-competitive business practises at Microsoft. The allegations relate to the long-running debate over the building-in of Internet Explorer into recent versions of Windows, and the apparent lack of cooperation with competitors over interoperability with Office, some server software and the dotNET Framework.

It’ll be interesting to see how this goes, given that Microsoft eventually accepted defeat (after many appeals) in it’s last case against the European Commission.

Meanwhile, it’s been quiet here at AdventuresInVista over the past few months, but look out for some design tweaks, and the new Shop coming soon! Also, I’ve just updated the About page :o)

60 million Vista licenses can’t be wrong!
27 July 2007 in General | Comments (0)

Microsoft yesterday announced that it had sold 60 million Windows Vista licenses since it’s launch in January. Pretty good going for an operating system people seem to hate with a vengeance!

Many of those will have been licenses shipped with new hardware, but a good chunk will be consumers realising the benefits of switching to Vista. A fundamentally more stable, secure, operating system.

I’m gradually installing Vista on all my machines, and as yet haven’t come across any major problems. But maybe that’s just me?

Either way, congratulations MS!

Vista SP1 set for a November release
10 July 2007 in General | Comments (0)

Mary Jo Foley wrote an interesting article today on ZDnet regarding the imminent release of Windows Vista Service Pack 1 beta 1.

It’s interesting for 2 reasons. Obviously the fact that we now have a reasonable idea of when SP1 will be released, ie November (incidently around the same time as Windows Server 2008), but also that Microsoft are planning to release a beta of the service pack. I may be getting a tad long in tooth in terms of computing, but I’m not sure I like the idea of installing a beta (ie, test) version of a service pack!

If you’re wondering what will be included, Mary has posted a handy guide to what general consensus is expecting will be included…

• Alterations to Desktop Search to enable 3rd party search systems
• Performance tweaks to file copy, shut down, etc
• Inproved transfer performance for SD Advanced Direct Memory Access (DMA)
• Improvements to Bitlocker Drive Encryption system
• Improved success rate for Remote Desktop and MeetingSpace when running behind a firewall

Microsoft are saying that SP1 will focus on fixes rather than new features, so I’m sure more will be included.

I guess we’ll have to wait till November to find out (unless you care to risk installing the beta…)

Read the full article on ZDNet

Compressed (Zipped) Folders So Sloooooooow
4 June 2007 in General | Comments (0)

I’ve just downloaded Wordpress 2.2 and am sat here waiting for Vista to uncompress the Zip download onto my server. I feel compelled to shout at the PC, which doesn’t happen very often!

It’s taken the best part of 20 minutes so far, and it’s still saying there’s 5 minutes remaining. I mean, c’mon… it’s only extracting 2.75 megabytes! Seriously, what’s taking so long………?!!?

I’m determined to get to the bottom of this, so watch this space!

Vista Versions - The AiV Windows Vista Buyers Guide
22 May 2007 in General | Comments (2)

There are so many questions and things to consider when it comes to moving to Windows Vista that it can all get a little overwhelming! Should you upgrade, buy the full product, or even a new machine with Vista preinstalled? Should you go for a 32-bit or 64-bit version? And most pressing of all… which version includes the features you want?

I’ve put together this mini Buyers Guide to try help you answer some of these burning questions and make the whole decision process a little easier.

The Vista Versions

There are basically 4 versions of Windows Vista available to the general public: Home Basic, Home Premium, Business and Ultimate. Each version has a different set of features, and is aimed at a different type of user. Let’s take a more in-depth look at each…

Dell Forced to Resurrect Windows XP
20 April 2007 in General | Comments (0)

BBC News Online is today reporting that Dell has been forced to give new PC purchasers the option of Windows XP or Windows Vista as their installed operating system.

This change of position (Dell started selling only Vista on most PCs back in January) was prompted by almost 11,000 pleas from users through its IdeaStorm website, to delay the elimination of Windows XP as an operating system choice on new PCs.

It is not clear however how long Dell will be able to continue to offer Windows XP, with Microsoft due to cease selling licenses for XP in 2008.

For the full story, see BBC News Online.

Welcome Center
22 February 2007 in General & Screens + Vids | Comments (0)

Whenever you logon to Vista, you’re presented with the Welcome Center…

This is much like any other Welcome screen, allowing you quick access to certain tasks Microsoft think you’ll need. It’s quite useful the first time you run Vista, allowing you to quickly connect to the internet, add new users, transfer files and settings, etc. There’s also links to Windows MarketPlace, Windows Live, and various other Microsoft resources.

Luckily, you can stop it running each time you logon!