Windows Vista Blog

You may notice that whenever you opt to open up a new tab in Firefox — whether it be by using the CTRL + T shortcut on your keyboard or by manually going to File > New Tab — you will always be presented with a very dull, very unappealing plain white screen which does nothing to impress your friends; even Internet Explorer 7 at least managed to put some effort in by providing you with some useful information on the default new tab screen! Read more »

Windows Security Center is a fantastic little computer program which, when configured properly, can help make ensure that your Windows Vista remains safe and unspoiled by viscous forms of viruses, spyware, trojan horses, malware and hacking attempts. Windows Security Center allows you to check your computer’s security status and enable some very help PC safety measures such as Windows Vista’s neat little built-in firewall, malware protection, and Windows Defender - Windows answer to spyware and unpleasant programs that may linger on your system. Read more »

Windows Vista allows you to easily change your monitor’s screen resolution (or “screen size” as some refer to it as). Apparently, according to recent statistics, the most popular screen resolution is 1280 by 1024 pixels - which is actually the resolution I used to use on my previous PC which had a 17″ monitor. However, I’m currently using a wide-screen resolution of 1680 by 1050 on this notebook.

A general rule of thumb is that the bigger your monitor is, the higher the resolution it will be capable of achieving. However, this isn’t always the case - just a guideline. Read more »

I’m sure that most of you will agree that the new start menu interface that has been introduced into Windows Vista can seem radically different at first glance and can perhaps be considered a step backwards in terms of ease of use.

While I personally think the new Windows Vista Start menu is a great update to the series, I know for a fact that a lot of you prefer the old Windows Start menu that first debuted in Windows 95 and has pretty much stayed faithful to the original all the way up until Windows XP. Read more »

Personally, I find that the folder I access the most on my Windows Vista PC is the Documents folder. I store everything in there; I can’t live without it. However, unlike my Windows XP machine which came with a shortcut to the My Documents by default, my Vista rig did not. Fortunately, implementing a shortcut to the folder is a piece of cake.

All we need to do is simply click your Windows Vista Start button and navigate to the Documents link like so: Read more »

Sometimes, just sometimes, when Windows Vista decides to run it’s magical little Windows Update service in an attempt to communicate with Microsoft.com in order to download updates and security patches - it doesn’t always go according to plan and can in some cases, cause system instability with your personal computer and rendering it completely unusable. Doesn’t sound very pleasant, does it?

This is, however, a worst case scenario and I personally would not recommend disabling Window Vista’s built-in update system at all. This Windows Vista tutorial is for those of you who are totally adamant that you must uninstall and remove any updates that were installed as a result of Windows Update. Read more »

Do you grow tired of that pesky little screen saver animation starting up every time you leave your Windows Vista computer idle for more than ten minutes? Me too! With every new computer I get my hands on, whether it be a Windows XP or Windows Vista machine, I always disable the default screen saver and enable the energy-saving feature instead.

Fortunately for those of you who wondered onto this page, it’s just as easy, if not more so, to adjust or even completely replace your current Windows Vista screen saver as it to disable it altogether. Read more »

The primary reason for finding out just what kind of video card / graphics card our computer uses is usually because we need to find out if they’re powerful enough to run the latest graphics-intensive video games or video editing programs which usually come with rather demanding requirements where video cards are concerned. As video games continue to evolve and continue to pump more and more polygons and require more power, you’ll find that upgrading your graphics card is a must.

Fortunately newer computers, and even notebooks, from reputable computer dealers such as Dell and Alienware, come equipped with great ATi Radeon or nVidia GeForce video cards that can usually handle anything you throw at them; they also come with a somewhat hefty price tag but at least it’s your decision as to just how much power you’re willing to pay for. Read more »

I find one of the biggest problems with any Windows operating system, whether it be Windows Vista, Windows XP or any other Windows OS that preceded those has one major, ultimately tedious flaw. You cannot actually totally remove files from your system - regardless of how the amount of times you have sent the file to the Recycle Bin and emptied the Recycle Bin - they’re still there! Mocking you!

Read more »

Low disk space is a common problem that all computers will eventually come across. As we store more and more software, programs, and files on our computers, our disk space decreases more and more. Nowadays, computers are sold with hard drives with the potential to store an enormous amount of data; in fact, my latest Dell Inspiron 1520 notebook came with a 160GB (5400 RPM) hard drive that will probably last me an eternity!

However, for those of us who don’t have the luxury of ridiculously large hard drives or endless bags of money to pay for an upgrade - there is a solution! With Windows Vista (and Windows XP for that matter) comes a great little program called Disk Cleanup that will kindly remove some of the unnecessary clutter that accumulates on your hard drive that could otherwise be used to store valuable business files and data. Read more »