Windows Vista SP1 Walk-Thru -1

Much of the production Vista SP1 is similar to the walk-thrus done already for the betas. So below are some brief comments for each of the major areas of interest in Vista SP1. Overall, SP1 improves performance, minimizes annoyances, and adds hardware drivers to the already extensive list. I understand Vista has 10 times the number of drivers shipped with XP. So you have to give Microsoft credit for the effort. Much of the blame for Vista's performance was due to slow release of updated drivers from PC vendors. In any event, let's all enjoy Vista SP1.







The Vista Welcome Center is a nice introduction into Vista.







The Welcome Center has videos available to help you thru Vista's features.





File Manager has added some Linux-features like Favorites at the top left corner of the screen.







I prefer a simpler file manager like the freeware X2 File Manager.






Below are some of the standard XP Accessories carried over to Vista like Notepad, Paint, DOS-prompt, Task Scheduler, and Calculator.

Vista SP1 Walk-Thru - 2 Systems

Below is the traditional "Classic View" of the Control Panel.




AVG Antivirus (shown) along with Avast Antivirus are two excellent free programs that work with Vista.




Networking options panel.



Personalization options for the Desktop.



Back-up and restore have been improved. Vista Ultimate offers true disk imaging back-up to DVDs.



Vista offers a performance index panel.



Disk properties looks similar to XP.




If you have older programs, Vista just like XP, offers compatibility mode.



Windows Media Player is an excellent media player that even bests iTunes by some.
Plugins are available for most media formats.

Vista SP1 Walk-Thru - 3 - IE, Mail, & Calendar

Internet Explorer 7 is safer in Vista because it runs in "protected mode". This does not allow a website to take over your PC without permission. IE7 for XP does not offer this level of protection. Vista "protected mode" Security for this reason is much improved over XP. Vista will not allow any changes to the core components and files. This protection is only one of several protection systems in Vista.




IE7 RSS reader.



Vista Mail offers better spam filtering.



Email creation below.



Vista Mail offers an integrated Calendar.

Vista SP1 Walk-Thru - 4 - DVD, uTorrent, & Pidgin IM

Vista offers a built-in DVD Maker utility.





Photo Gallery is a nice photo file manager. You can add meta data to your photos.




Pidgin is an excellent freeware Instant Messenger program add-on for Vista. It offers support for AOL, MSN, Yahoo, Google, IRC, and others. Why have multiple instant messenger programs when you can have just one. During multiple conversations, each person gets their own tab.



uTorrent is an excellent P2P client. Not part of Vista, but under Vista, performance is improved over XP. During Vista's development, improvements were made to the TCP stack, resulting in faster Internet performance.