Archive for the 'Reference' Category
Windows Vista Performance Guide
Sunday, February 4th, 2007While we saw a great deal of changes between our initial review of Windows Vista Beta 2 and Release Candidate 1, it should come as no surprise that there have been far fewer changes between RC1 and the final version we are looking at today. For better or worse, RC1 was the last chance for [...]
A quick guide to Windows Vista Business Edition
Thursday, December 7th, 2006Like previous versions of Windows, Windows Vista will be sold in various editions: Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, Enterprise and Ultimate, along with a special Starter Edition. Only Windows Vista Ultimate Edition will include every feature possible within Vista; all other editions will include only those features that Microsoft has determined different user profiles will [...]
Windows Vista FAQ
Thursday, November 23rd, 2006The long road to Windows Vista is nearing its end. Microsoft has finally released its latest OS to manufacturers, which are busily tuning drivers, updating software, and readying their first hardware and PCs to ship with Vista preinstalled.
Whether you plan to upgrade right away or prefer to hold off while the early adopters work out [...]
Vista guidelines for enterprise security unveiled
Tuesday, November 14th, 2006Microsoft has released detailed guidelines for locking down Windows Vista in the enterprise, giving IT managers both advice and tools to help them secure desktops and laptops.
The "Windows Vista Security Guide," available online as well as in a download package, walks administrators through two different baseline security configurations. The first, dubbed "Enterprise Client," is the [...]
Windows Vista Review: Installing Windows Vista
Sunday, November 12th, 2006While you will install Windows Vista in ways that are similar to previous Windows versions, under the covers, everything has changed. The DOS mode portion of Windows Setup, present even in the NT-based Windows variants such as Windows XP, is finally gone, exorcised from our lives for good. But the changes go much deeper than [...]
Windows Vista Review: Understanding the Vista Product Editions
Friday, November 10th, 2006Back in 2001, life was easy: Microsoft released Windows XP in just two product editions, Windows XP Home Edition and Windows XP Professional Edition. The difference between the products was fairly obvious, and with its enhanced feature set, XP Pro was the more expensive version, as one might expect. Over time, however, Microsoft muddied the [...]
Windows Vista logos - what do they all mean?
Friday, November 10th, 2006Now that Windows Vista has gone RTM, it might be a good time to take a brief tour of the different Windows Vista logos that you’ll be seeing on PCs and hardware. After all, if you’re in the market for new hardware or software and want it to be Vista ready, you’ll want to [...]
10 things you should do before installing Windows Vista on a computer
Tuesday, October 17th, 2006Windows Vista’s enhanced functionality and snazzy Aero Glass visual effects will demand steeper hardware requirements for the machines you support. Check this list to make sure you cover all the bases before deciding what Vista versions those machines will be able to run.
Early indications are that Windows Vista will be the most comprehensive operating system [...]
How SuperFetch and ReadyBoost work together
Saturday, October 14th, 2006In order to make Windows Vista, with all of it new GUI enhancements, a success, Microsoft knew that it was going to have to figure out some ingenious ways to squeeze more performance out of the operating system and the currently available hardware technology. Along the way, they’ve even helped to spur a new hardware [...]
Applying the Principle of Least Privilege to Windows Vista
Wednesday, October 11th, 2006“Every program and every user of the system should operate using the least set of privileges necessary to complete the job.” This is the principle of least privilege as stated by Saltzer and Schroeder in their seminal paper The Protection of Information in Computer Systems published in 1974. The advice still holds true today. By [...]
