I agree with the motto, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." However, I like to experiment, so here I am. I am going to begin a series on Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit. The specifications of my PC are: A 4200 dual core 64 bit Athlon with 4 gig memory, 80 gig hard drive for C, and 400 gigs partitioned for my other drives. The video card is a 256MB GeForce 6800GS. I know that, according to the literature, I am well prepared for Vista.

According to Microsoft, the minimum requirements for the various versions of Vista are:

Windows Vista Home Basic:

• 800-megahertz (MHz) 32-bit (x86) processor or 800-MHz 64-bit (x64) processor
• 512 megabytes (MB) of system memory
• DirectX 9-class graphics card
• 32 MB of graphics memory
• 20-gigabyte (GB) hard disk that has 15 GB of free hard disk space
• Internal or external DVD drive
• Internet access capability
• Audio output capability

Windows Vista Home Premium, Windows Vista Business, Windows Vista Enterprise, and Windows Vista Ultimate:

• 1-gigahertz (GHz) 32-bit (x86) processor or 1-GHz 64-bit (x64) processor
• 1 GB of system memory
• Windows Aero-capable graphics card

Note: This includes a DirectX 9-class graphics card that supports the following:

1. A WDDM driver
2. Pixel Shader 2.0 in hardware
3. 32 bits per pixel

• 128 MB of graphics memory (minimum)
• 40-GB hard disk that has 15 GB of free hard disk space (the 15GB of free space provides room for temporary file storage during the install or upgrade.)
• Internal or external DVD drive
• Internet access capability
• Audio output capability

Note: A Windows Aero-capable graphics card is a graphics card that meets the following requirements:

1. Supports a Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) driver
2. Has a DirectX 9-class graphics processor unit (GPU) that supports Pixel Shader 2.0
3. Supports 32 bits per pixel
4. Passes the Windows Aero acceptance test in the Windows Driver Kit (WDK)

My major sources of written information will be: Using Microsoft Windows Vista by Robert Cowart and Brian Knittel, a Que book, and the Microsoft web site. I also did purchase, Windows Vista - All-in-one Desk Reference for DUMMIES by Woody Leonhard. I will indicate when I am using specific sources. Otherwise, I will be reporting from my own experience.

What I would like to do in this series is have you, the reader, ask questions, which I will try to answer in forthcoming articles. Since we have not done this before, I do not know if this will work. This should be a learning experience for all of us. This is my first experience with Vista.

I don't know how many of you have seen the ad on television for a MAC computer where one man is asking for constant permission before he does anything on a Vista OS.

The following is an example of what happened after I installed an older program:

When I was initially installing programs, I was doing it under Standard User.When I went to install older programs, some only three years or a little more, it did not recognize them and asked me if I wanted to actually install them. Normally, that was the last time it would ask. But, occasionally, it wanted to know every time it would open the program. This happened specifically with Dreamweaver 2004. This, of course, got old very quickly.

Another type of case that happened occurred with Extensis Portfolio 6.03. Now this is an old program, but one I rely on. While it did install, and it did not ask me if I actually wanted to open it each time, it would not run properly. I was all set to try to run it under a feature called "Compatibility Mode" whereby one can set up a virtual OS for older windows systems. I have not tried this out. Anyway, I solved all these problems and more by switching from Standard User to Administrator.

While, I have read that one can incur problems always working in the Administrator mode because there are not that many controls, it still seems to have enough controls for me. For single computer users, with what I know now, I believe it is the solution.

If one gets a machine with Vista installed, here is how to change users:

1 - Right Click Computer. Or if you do not see the Computer icon, click on Start and then right click on the word Computer on the menu. The difference will depend on the type of Start Menu you are using which I will describe later in the article to, hopefully, lessen the confusion.

2 - Click on Manage.

3 - Select Local Users and Groups.

4 - Double Click on Users.

5 - Right Click on Administratorand select properties.

6 - Uncheck "Account is disabled" and click OK.

7 - Log off and then log on as Administrator.

Some other problems that I have experienced so far that logging on as Administrator have fixed is deleting folders. Sometimes under Standard User I could not delete program folders or program files. Right now I am using both accounts to see the differences.

While one could change how the Start menu looked in Windows XP, in seems to play more of a role in Vista. How to do it has sort of been buried in both programs.

1 - Right Click on the Start menu Icon. Then Click on Properties.

The menu with the choices opens.

The "Vista" Start menu will look like the one below.

It is with this menu that you would right click on the word computer to get to its properties in order to find out how to manage the different types of accounts in the previous discussion.

The next menu is the "Classic" menu.

The last few things I'll discuss in this first article are a few things that should also help the new user. The "Control Panel" comes in two forms. I find that I switch between the two.

The panel above is grouped into categories. If I want to uninstall a program, for example, I go to the category, Programs, and click on it. There I can uninstall, reinstall, etc. There isn't an "add and remove" section any longer. There are a number of tasks that can be performed under each heading.

Or I can use the Control Panel in the "Classic" way. Below is a portion of it.

Lastly, I will touch on how the desktop, background, displays, etc. are changed. The word now is "Personalize." It is used a lot. When you right click on the desk top, the last item on the menu is the one to change the above mentioned items.

Below are the new categories for controlling how the computer looks and sounds.

So far, my experience has been very positive. I did not load Vista, but had the computer store that I use do it as well as tune up my computer. While I could do it, they are more experienced in this than I am. I have mainly been loading programs and lightly playing with various programs. I still have more programs to load. So far, I have not had any programs crash. I received a message that one program might not have installed properly, but it seems to run well. However, with the speed of my computer, I can't say that the system opens particularly quickly.

One area I plan to investigate in the future is memory because I have read conflicting reports of how much memory Vista will recognize. On various parts of the Microsoft web site, I have read from 2 gig, the standard for a 32-bit system, to 4 gig. There are meters one can put on the desktop that show CPU and RAM usage. I question these, but do not have enough information or facts to form a conclusion as to their accuracy or as to the amount of memory Vista actually uses.

As I stated in the beginning, I hope to write the next article, not only on areas that I think will help newcomers to Vista, but in answer to questions and in areas of interest to readers.

As always, I invite you to visit my web site, Perpetual Visions

 

 

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