Vista Tutorials

If you need to customize your Vista a little further, it is definitely not enough to just have  your theme, boot and logon screen, wallpapers and icons changed. Here are some dll messages with which you can make a Vista of your own. Make sure you have a Resource Hacker or Restorator 2007.

Great news for all the Windows XP users. Rafael has released the patched uxtheme.dll file for the final version of Windows XP SP3.Uxtheme.dll by default prevents users from installing themes that are not digitally signed by Microsoft. By patching this DLL, you can install all third party visual styles (.msstyles) that are not digitally signed.

The following is an article from another of my colleagues on the Windows Vista Sound team, Kristin Carr. Kristin is a Program Manager and works with Steve Ball, who previously has shared his insights into how Windows Vista handles sound. If you have questions for Kristin, please leave a comment below.

Many people have a general idea of what S/PDIF is -- perhaps by seeing it as a label on an audio output, or on a feature list for a product. But what is it exactly, and how do you use it? This post will cover some of those details.

The Enigmatic Cookies Folder In Vista

Type Cookies in Start Menu. and it may take you to C:\Users\Username\cookies folder. When you try to click on it, in all probability, you will be greeted with an Access Denied box. This path, however, is just a kind of a pointer.

In the past year, you've heard about Microsoft Windows Vista's security benefits. You've seen Vista's spiffy design. Improved security is a welcome change, of course. But Vista's pretty face hides more than beefed-up security.

Vista is more complete than previous versions of Windows. Microsoft has bundled many features into Vista. But you might not even be aware of them.

Vista's SP1 semisecrets (Computerworld)
Microsoft promised changes in Windows Vista; did it follow through?

Microsoft Corp. has been lowering expectations about Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) since before it even confirmed there would be one. Numerous times, company executives and managers have told users and the press that Vista SP1 would not be like Windows XP SP2, the last desktop operating system service pack the company released.

The difference between photos and photos you like often depends on the tools you are using. Windows Photo Gallery is a complete photo management tool that is included in all versions of Windows Vista. It allows users to organize their pictures collection, tag them, rate them and even edit them. The editing features are pretty basic (resizing, cropping, red-eye reduction, etc) but also very useful.

How to Move the Public Folder in Windows Vista

The Public folder in Windows Vista is used for sharing folders and files with people on the same computer or the same network. The normal location for the public folder is C:\Users\Public, but this isn't necessarily the best location for it, especially if you don't have enough space on your C: drive. With some registry editing, we can move the location of the folder.

Show Hidden Files and Folders in Windows Vista

[This tip is for beginners only] Windows Vista hides important files and folders from view to keep users from deleting or otherwise modifying files they shouldn't, but a simple checkbox can change that behavior.

To show hidden files, just click on the Organize button in any folder, and then select "Folder and Search Options" from the menu.