An Overview of Windows Vista

This clip will take you through logging into Vista for the first time and taking note of some of the newer features like the Windows Sidebar and the Instant Search features that are located off of the new Start orb (which has been called a pearl and a jewel... but we like to call it an orb).

What is the Welcome Center

The first screen you come to when you login to Vista is the Welcome Center.  It is designed to help new users locate important settings for their system.  It can also provide information quickly such as the version of Vista you are running, some of the hardware features of your particular system and the name of your computer.

You can easily turn it off by clicking the checkbox at the bottom of the Welcome Center that says 'Run at startup'

Shortcut Keys - Improve Your Speed

We all love finding a quicker way to do something.  The key to shortcuts is the Windows Key (literally). 

The Windows Key combined with numbers and letters can save you time.  For example, the Windows Key and the letter D will show you the desktop

Using the Windows Key with numbers will help to open applications in your Quick Launch toolbar.

Start Menu Configuration

You can alter the look of the start menu to meet your personal needs.  You can have the new Vista double-pane windows or you can go with a more classic look (single pane with icons on the desktop).

To alter the Start menu you right-click the Start orb and select Properties.  From the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties you choose the Start Menu tab to locate the various options you need to configure.

Note:  There are Privacy options you can turn on or off here as well such as displaying a list of recently opened file or programs

Changing Taskbar Properties

The Taskbar includes everything to the right of your Start orb.  This includes the Quick Launch toolbar, your open applications section and the notification area (a.k.a. the System Tray).

• Taskbar
• Start Menu
• Notification Area
• Toolbars

Working with the New Windows Explorer

Windows Explorer has a new layout and several different document views you can configure to really work with your file system of documents in a manner that suits you.  This lesson will walk you through the changes and the configuration options you can set.

In addition we will show you how to use the new Address Bar (a.k.a. the Breadcrumb Bar).  This provides a nice way to find your way back through the complex maze we call a file structure.

Learn to Search More Efficiently

This lesson will walk you through the impressive and useful new search features in Windows Vista.  Features discussed include:

• Filtering
• Boolean Searches
• Natural Language Search
• Advanced Search Options
• Saving Searches

Tagging Your Files and Photos

You want to add metadata to your documents and photos so that they can be easily located later.  Metadata is defined as 'data that describes other data'.  For example, the author of a document, the artist of a music file, picture tags and so forth.

Directly within Explorer you can add Titles (for documents), Tags and/or set Ratings for pictures.

The Windows Sidebar

The Windows Sidebar provides a mini set of applications (like a clock, calculator, weather report) called gadgets.  You can customize the gadgets that exist by default... and you can add/remove gadgets and customize the Sidebar to your specifications.

You can also enter the properties of the Sidebar to configure the arrangement (such as displaying the Sidebar on the right or left side of the screen).

Shutting Your System Down

Working with Control Panel

You can open the Control Panel by selecting the Start orb and selecting Control Panel.  You can alter the view to use the Classic View (although the default view is the Control Panel Home).

Within the Control Panel you find 'applets', which are configuration programs that can help you work with items like your Power Options, Folder Options and other configuration settings.

Note:  From within the Start Menu properties you can configure the Control Panel to open as a menu so that you can locate your applet without opening the Control Panel.

Personalize Your System

This lesson will help you perform the following:

• Change your background and screensaver
• Fine tune Color and Appearance
• Alter Sounds, Mouse Pointers and Themes
• Configure Display Settings

You can find these options through the Personalization applet in Control Panel.

Creating User Accounts

If you want to create accounts for your Vista system (home system or a laptop perhaps) so that others can access the system under their own settings.

Change Folder Options

The Folder Options applet contains the following tabs:

• General:  Allows you to configure 'Tasks', 'Browse folders' and 'Click items as follows' settings.
• View:  Here you can configure Advanced Settings like 'Hidden files and folders' and 'Hide extensions for known file types'
• Search:  Here you can configure 'What to search', 'How to search' and 'When searching non-indexed locations' settings.

Date & Time Settings

Default Programs and AutoPlay

This lesson will discuss the following:

• Setting your default programs
• Association of file types with programs (so your files, like your MP3 files, open in the program you choose and play in the player you prefer).
• Changing your AutoPlay settings

Parental Controls

Certainly one of the more important features of Windows Vista.  Protecting members of your home or office from harmful content is an essential element to modern administration of an Operating System. 

Parental Controls in Windows Vista provide you the ability to:

• Enable and view reports as to where users are going on the Internet.
• Create and enforce web filter settings.
• Establish scheduling parameters so you can determine when a user can or cannot be on the computer.
• Determine which games and programs different users on the system can use.

Regional and Language Options

This lesson shows you how to work with your Regional and Language Options applet.  You will learn how to:

• Change the display 'Format'
• Choose a new 'Location'
• Alter 'Keyboards and Languages'
• Configure Administrative changes

Windows Update

The Windows Update tool connects into a Microsoft server or an in-house server to provide important security fixes, patches and/or new drivers.

You can configure your system to Automatically download and install updates (and alter the settings).  Or you can decide you want more 'hands-on' control over your updates by allowing the downloads but manually installing (or manually decide to download the updates).  You can also tell it 'Never check for updates' which is not recommended.

Speech Recognition Options

For obvious reasons there is a need for persons to be able to control their computers through speech, as opposed to touch.  When you open the Speech Recognition Options you have the following links:

• Start Speech Recognition
• Setup microphone
• Take Speech Tutorial
• Train your computer to better understand you
• Open the Speech Reference Card

The Ease of Access Center

This provides modification features for your system to allow the OS to assist users in areas they require, for example, if an individual has poor eyesight... you can use magnification tools.  If a person is blind, you can use the Narrator feature.  If a person cannot use a mouse or keyboard, there are alternative input devices like the On-Screen Keyboard and speech recognition options.

Microsoft continues to improve these tools in each release of the Windows OS and we very much appreciate their efforts.

Working with Your Files While Offline

It's not always possible to be work online.  You might travel quite a bit and you need to have a way to take your files with you.  You might just make a copy of your files.  But the Offline Files tools allows you to synchronize the differences between the documents you are working on and those on the network.

This lesson will walk you through the configuration and use of Offline Files

Power Settings

This lesson discusses Vista Power Options applet.  There are 'Power Plans' you can choose, including the following:

• Balanced
• Power saver
• High performance

Change Your Computer's Name

For many reasons you may wish to change the name of your computer.  While this may not be possible if you are working on a network... because the Administrator may have those settings under lock... but if you have full control over your system you can alter the name by going to the System applet and under the 'Computer name, domain, and workgroup settings' section you can choose 'Change settings' and click the Change button off the Computer Name tab of System Properties to provide the new name.  Keep in mind that you will need to restart your computer for the name change to take effect.

Join Your System to an Active Directory Domain

Log On to a Domain

Changing a Disk Drive Letter

Drive letters are simply an easy way for us to locate our information.  The c:\ drive is very familiar to most of us.  Maybe you remember a:\ drives for your floppies (although we don't use those too often anymore) or the d:\ drive for your CD/DVD drive.  However, now there is a greater chance you will see more drive letters in Computer.  Perhaps a second CD/DVD drive, or an external USB device (hard disk or keychain) and so forth.  Well... the letters are assigned automatically but you can change these drive letters if you like.

To do this you can use the Computer Management console and the Disk Management tool.

Adding a Printer

Adding a printer begins in Control Panel.  Look for the Printers applet and open it.  Then click the link 'Add a printer'.  You can then choose to 'Add a local printer' or 'Add a network, wireless or Bluetooth printer'.  Continue to follow the direction of the wizard and you'll have your printer up and running with Vista.

Note:  With a USB printer you do not have to use the wizard.  Windows automatically installs USB printers when you plug them in.

Advanced Printer Settings

Once the printer is installed you can go back to Control Panel, Printers and right-click the printer and select Properties.  This will take you to the following tabs:

• General
• Sharing
• Ports
• Advanced
• Color Management
• Security
• Device Settings

Some of the points discussed in this lesson include printer pooling (located on the Ports tab), availability and priority settings (located on the Advanced tab) and sharing settings (located on the Sharing tab).

Manage Print Jobs

Managing print jobs requires two things.  First, the permissions to access the logic printer.  Second, the permissions to make changes to print jobs that are in the queue.

Printing permissions usually come in three different flavors for a logical printer:  Print, Manage Printers and Manage Documents.

If you right-click print jobs in the queue you can see options like Pause (or Resume), Restart, Cancel and Properties

Change Location of Spool Folder

The spool folder is the holding bin for print jobs before they are printed.  The default location is C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS

If you have an excessive amount of printing occurring and the spool folder is on the same drive as the OS, you may have performance issues.  So, you may need to move the location of the spool folder.

Stop/Restart Print Spooler Service

There are times when print jobs get 'stuck' or so it seems.  Under these circumstances you may need to stop and restart the spooler service.  This task can be performed by selecting the Start orb, go to Control Panel and under Administrative Tools there is an option for Services.  Locate the Print Spooler service.  Click 'Restart the service' and that may fix your problem.

A Tour of Internet Explorer 7.0

The primary goal of this whole lesson is to take a tour of the interface.  Items that will be pointed out include changes to the Toolbar.  You will rediscover the location of the familiar browser options and glimpse some of the newer features including:

• The Home button
• Quick Tabs
• Favorites/RSS/History
• The Back/Forward buttons
• The Address Bar
• The Tools Options

Using Multiple Tabs

Internet Explorer 7 utilizes a new feature that didn't exist in previous versions of IE... the ability to open up multiple tabs in a single browser window.

You can open a new tab by selecting the little tab nub at the end of your existing set of tabs that are open.  You can also hit Ctrl+T as a shortcut to opening up additional tabs.

To the left of your tabs, when you have multiple tabs opened, is an option called Quick Tabs where you can quickly see all of your open sites.

Altering Tab Settings

To adjust your Tab Settings you select the Tools option and go to Internet Options.  On the General tab there is a section for Tabs and we select the Settings button.

From within the Tabbed Browsing Settings you can choose to Enable Tabbed Browsing (which is the default setting).  There are additional settings you can enable or disable including the following:

• Warn me when closing multiple tabs
• Always switch to new tabs when they are created
• Enable Quick Tabs
• Open only the first home page when Internet Explorer starts
• Open new tabs next to the current tab
• Open home page for new tabs instead of a blank page

Configuring Multiple Home Pages

The Home page is the first page that appears when you open your Internet Explorer.  It's also the page that appears when you hit the Home button.  With tabbed browsing however you have the option to create more than one Home page, forming more of a Home Group.

One way to do this is to open the pages you want to set as your Home page and then selecting the down-arrow next to the Home button and you have the option 'Add or Change Home Page'.  If you select this a dialog appears asking questions so as to determine if you want to create a new home page using the page you are currently on (that is, the page you were on when you selected the 'Add or Change Home Page' option) or if you want to use all of the tabs that are open at that time.

Note:  If you go to the Tools, Internet Options, General tab you can see the Home Page settings, as well as make changes.

Subscribing to Web Feeds (a.k.a. RSS Feeds)

RSS, Real Simple Syndication, is the basis for this lesson.  In this lesson you will learn what RSS feeds are and how to subscribe to them.  You will also see how you can configure a sound to be played when an RSS feed is found.

To view feeds that you have subscribed to, you click the Favorites star button and then you can select Feeds.

To modify Feeds settings you go to the Tools, Internet Options and then on the Content tab you have a section for Feeds.  Choose the Settings button for your options.

Setting RSS Feed Refresh Frequency

You may wish to customize the frequency for when IE checks for updates to a web feed.  There is a default frequency that you can update for all feeds... or you can alter an individual feed to check more (or less) often.

The default schedule can be found under Tools, Internet Options and then on the Content tab you have a section for Feeds where you select Settings.  The default frequency is Every: 1 day.  You can change this by selecting the down arrow and choosing a new time.

To alter the refresh frequency for an individual feed you can open your Feeds, right-click the feed you wish to change and choose Properties.  Using the 'Update schedule' options you can use the default schedule or opt for a customized schedule that you configure here.

Working with Search Engines in IE7

This lesson shows you how to add more providers to make your search more proficient.  There is a Search Bar in top right-hand corner of Internet Explorer.  The default is to use the Live Search site.

You can change the provider by selecting the little arrow to the right of the search bar and choose 'Find More Providers'.  You'll see that there are Web Search options and Topic Search options.  You can add any of these to your options.  Then you can select the arrow to the right of the search bar and choose one of the ones you've added.

To change the default search you can select the arrow to the right of the search bar and choose 'Change Search Defaults'

Working with Your History

This lesson will discuss the History of your browsing in terms of the following:

• Finding sites you've previously visited
• Extending your history retention
• Deleting your history or specific parts of it such as:
  • Temporary Internet Files
  • Cookies
  • History
  • Form data
  • Passwords

Pop-up Blocker Settings

This lesson will show you how to enable and disable the Pop-up Blocker, as well as configure Pop-up Blocker Settings.

To turn the Pop-up Blocker on or off you select the Tools button and from the Pop-up Blocker settings you have the option to Turn Off Pop-up Blocker or conversely Turn On Pop-up Blocker.  In addition, you can see the Pop-up Blocker Settings where you can configure allowed sites, notifications to display and the filter level.

Using the Phishing Filter

Phishing is a form of Internet fraud.  A scam that is usually started with a bogus email from a known, reputable source that encourages a person to click a link that goes to a website that looks real... but isn't.  The idea is to fool a person into giving away important, private information.

The phishing filter can be used to detect if a site is real or fake.   To turn the Phishing Filter on or off you go to the Tools button and from the Phishing Filter settings you can select one of the following options:

• Check This Website
• Turn Off (or On) Automatic Website Checking
• Report This Website
• Phishing Filter Settings

Working with Add-ons

This lesson covers the following:

• What are Add-ons?
• Using the "No Add-ons" version of Internet Explorer
• Managing Add-ons

Using the Links Bar

In this lesson we will discuss the following:

• Displaying the Links Bar
• Creating buttons for the current page
• Creating buttons from a web link
• Maneuver and rename buttons.

Windows Mail: Getting Started

We all use email.  If we have a POP account and would like to use the mail application that is included with Windows Vista you can use Windows Mail.  If you are wondering why they didn't call it Windows Email... well... that is a good question.

Windows Mail will look familiar to you if you have used Outlook Express or any other email application.  This lesson will show you how to open the application, navigate through folders and send a basic email.

Windows Mail: Account Settings

Before you can send or receive email, you have to configure your email account.  To do this you open Windows Mail, click the Tools option and then Accounts.

Setup a new email account and walk through the wizard to complete the configuration.  The most difficult part may be the section 'Set up e-mail servers' where you are asked for the incoming and outgoing server names.  You will have to find that information from your mail provider.

You can manage multiple email accounts from within Windows Mail.

Windows Mail: Formatting Your Email

You may want to show a bit your personality within your email by making formatting changes.  You can change the text in your email by changing the size, color, font type and so forth.  You can add graphics to your email too.

This lesson will also show you how to apply stationary to your email as a background graphic.  If you click Format and then Apply Stationary you can add it to one email.  But you can make it a default setting as well.

Windows Mail: Adding a Signature

Windows Mail: Leave Messages On Server

If you want to use Windows Mail to send and receive email temporarily, you might want to keep a copy of the email on the server itself.  This will still allow you to view your mail, but not have it reside entirely on the system you are using.  To accomplish this task, watch this clip.

The Junk Email Folder

We all receive junk email, spam, and so forth.  Windows Mail has a junk email filter.  To establish the settings click Tools and then Junk E-mail Options.  There are five tabs for configuring your junk email settings:

• Options
• Safe Senders
• Blocked Senders
• International
• Phishing

Windows Mail: Using Rules

Would you like to create rules for your mail?  Rules that can direct your mail to specific folders or delete mail from certain senders?  Well, you can do that with Windows Mail.

From Windows Mail if you click Tools, Message Rules and then Mail, you are brought to the New Mail Rule wizard where you establish Conditions and Actions.

Windows Contacts: Create a Contact

You probably like to keep track of people you know (for personal or business related communication).  Windows Contacts gives you the ability to keep track of, and email the different persons who we put into the contact list.  This lesson will show you how to work with the creation of a contact and using that contact to send an email.

Windows Contacts: Email a Contact Group

Often times we develop groupings of persons (contacts) in our mind that we send emails to.  Maybe our team members, family members and so forth.

Within our Contacts we can create a Contact Group.  From within the Windows Contacts application there is the option 'New Contact Group'.  Provide a name and select contacts you have and include the ones you need to the group.

Windows Contacts: Create and Send Business Cards

With Windows Contacts you can create an electronic version of a business card (called a v-Card).  This lesson will show you how to create the card and how to attach it to your emails.

Windows Calendar: An Overview of Features

A calendar that is embedded within your OS is always helpful for keeping track of your schedule.  The Windows Calendar allows you to schedule appointments and tasks and to establish reminders for an appointment... invite others to a meeting... and color code the whole thing.  This lesson will show you how to get started with the Windows Calendar.

Windows Calendar: Multiple Calendars

You can have more than one calendar or schedule within your Windows Calendar.  You can break up your schedule into different categories (with color coding) so that you might have a work calendar and a family calendar and so forth.

This lesson will show you how to create this different types of calendars and how to make configuration changes to them (for example, changing the color coding for more personalization of the calendar to your taste).

Windows Calendar: Publish and Subscribe

You can publish your calendar (that is, make it available for others to see) to the Internet, a network location, or to your own computer.  You can invite friends and family who use compatible calendars to view it.  To do this you select the Share menu option and then Publish.  From that point you follow the prompts.

To view someone else's calendar you have to subscribe to their calendar.  To subscribe you click the Subscribe option from the toolbar in Windows Calendar and follow the prompts.

The Snipping Tool

In the old days (pre-Vista that is) when we needed a screen shot of our system or an application, we used the Print Screen button and MS Paint.  Or we had a third-party tool that helped us get a screenshot.  However, with Windows Vista we have a tool called the Snipping Tool.  You can use it to capture the screen, a window, specific sections... and best of all... a free form capture.

So, you can take the pen and draw what it is you are looking to grab.  This lesson will show you all of the different options to this new tool in Windows Vista.

The Windows Photo Gallery (WPG)

We all have digital calendars and pictures by the thousands.  There are commercial tools for helping you organize those photos, but the Windows Photo Gallery is included in Vista and may be what you need.

This lesson help you to see ways of organizing your photos and videos by providing tags and ratings.  You will also see how you can make edits to pictures (to eliminate things like red eye).  You can print, email, burn it to a CD, make a movie with it... really the WPG is filled with options.

WPG: Importing Pictures from a Camera or Scanner

This lesson will help you work with your digital camera and/or scanner by showing you how to make bulk tag placement on your imported photos.

You can make changes to how photos are imported by opening the WPG, going to File, Options.  On the Import tab there are a variety of different settings you can configure for naming and tags.

Notepad and Wordpad

Notepad (which is nothing more than a tool for entering in text) and Wordpad (which is slightly better with some formatting capabilities) are no where near the applications for preparing documents that Microsoft Word is.  However, there are times when you don't have Word (or Open Office, or some other document processing tool) installed and you need to take a look at .txt or .rtf files or simply type some text in.  This lesson will show you how Notepad and Wordpad can help you to do that.

Windows Media Player (WMP11): An Overview of Features

In this lesson we will take a brief tour of the features provided in Windows Media Player 11.  When you open the player it will, by default, scan the system looking for media on your system.

The controls are relatively simple.  A Play/Pause button directly in the center.  A shuffle button, repeat button, stop button, mute and volume controls and so forth.  This lesson will walk you through these features and the various tabs up at the top of the player.

WMP 11: Creating Playlists

Sometimes you want to do more than listen to some of your music off the cuff or based upon your mood... sometimes you actually have a 'playlist' of music that you put together in your mind.  Well... you can actually make these playlists in the media player.

To do this open the Windows Media Player and under the Library tab select 'Create Playlist' or 'Create Auto Playlist'.

The difference between a Playlist and Auto Playlist is that a standard Playlist is made up of songs you choose for that list and it only changes if you manually add or remove songs.  With the Auto Playlist you specify criteria for the list and as songs are added to your library, if they meet the criteria, they are automatically added to the playlist.

WMP 11: Copying from Audio CD

If you have a ton of music CDs you may want to copy or 'Rip' them to your computer.  Windows Media Player allows you to do this through the Rip tab.  In addition, you have formatting options for your CDs so that you can choose to rip the content as MP3 or WAV and so forth.

WMP 11: Adjusting the View

Your music has metadata... that is data that describes your music including the genre, artist and so forth.  This lesson shows you how to manage the various options that are shown to you visually regarding your data and how that data is displayed.

WMP 11: Sharing Your Media

If you have other computers nearby that can access your computer over the network, you may want to share your music with others.  To share your media you open the WMP and select the Library tab and then Media Sharing.  The Media Sharing dialog allows you to either locate other people's shared media or for you to share out your media.  You have a variety of different settings you can configure for sharing your media and this lesson will walk you through the interface for doing so.

Windows Media Center

The Windows Media Center provides more than the WMP has to offer.  It can provide a more robust home entertainment center for digital media to your computer or to other devices around your home... including your television.

With media extenders (like your Xbox 360 or other media extenders) you can watch the digital media throughout your home.  So, you can leave the digital content (movies, music, photos) on your computer... but have it follow you to other locations.

Windows DVD Maker

This lesson shows you how to use the DVD Maker, a tool that is designed to take a variety of different media (photos, music, video) and combine it into a visually appealing DVD that can be played and navigated by most modern day DVD players.  The end result is a very professional looking DVD that is great for making montages of weddings, births, graduations and other happy memories.

The Windows Security Center

This is a service that monitors four security essentials:

• Firewall
• Automatic updating
• Malware Protection (which includes both anti-virus and spyware)
• Other security settings

Having a single location for users to check and make changes, makes it much easier to be proactive about security.

User Account Control

User Account Control (UAC) tries to ensure that nothing happens on the system without the explicit approval of an administrator.  UAC has users in two categories... Standard Users and Administrators.

Any time you select a link with a mini security shield or attempt to perform an operation that only an administrator can perform, you will be greeted with additional steps.  If you are an administrator you will be presented with a continuation prompt. If you are a standard user you will be asked for an administrators username and password.

Windows Defender: A Quick Scan

Windows Defender is your line of defense against malware, spyware and so forth.  It is included with Windows Vista and scans your system periodically to ensure you are protected.

To perform a quick manual scan you can click the Start orb, type Defender in the Instant Search bar and open the application.  On the Home page you click the down arrow next to the Scan option and choose Quick Scan.

Windows Defender: Changing Schedule Settings

If you want to make changes to the schedule that Windows Defender uses to run you would open Windows Defender (to do this click the Start orb, type Defender in the Instant Search bar and open the application) and click Tools and then Options.

Automatic scanning is set to scan the computer, by default, at 2 AM.  You can change the day, time and type of scan.  You can also adjust the actions that are taken depending on what is found.

Under the Real-time protection options you can change the security agents that you want to run.

What is Data Execution Prevention?

Data Execution Prevention (DEP) is designed to protect your system from buffer overruns.  This lesson explains how your system uses memory and how hackers attempt to use buffer overruns to crash your system or execute malicious code.

From Control Panel, under the System applet there is an Advanced tab.  Under the Performance section you click Settings and then Data Execution Prevention.  You can ensure it is turned on or make adjustments to how it functions.

Windows Firewall: Basic Settings

The Windows Firewall has two different sides... a basic firewall and an advanced firewall (called Firewall with Advanced Security).  From the basic side it's important that we learn how to work with it to prevent the harmful content from coming in but allow you to access the things you need on the Internet.

You can open the Firewall from the Control Panel (or through an instant search) and then you can see a quick overview of if the firewall is on and what some of the settings are for it.  If you select 'Change Settings' you are provided with a dialog that contains three tabs:  General (to turn it on or off), Exceptions and Advanced.

Using the Reliability Monitor

The purpose of the Reliability Monitor is to keep track of events over time that may indicate some form of instability.  So, some of the aspects that it will monitor include software updates, system failures and so forth.

The Reliability and Performance Monitor are tools that have been combined in Windows Vista.  There is a System Stability Chart that shows you, on a scale of 1 to 10, how stable your system has been.  You can find informational reports and warnings and see both successes and failures in relation to your system.

Performance Monitor: The Basics

For those of you who are familiar with Performance Monitor from legacy Windows systems, now it is combined with the Reliability Monitor.  When you first open the Reliability and Performance Monitor you are shown a Resource Overview for CPU, Disk, Network and Memory usage.

If you select Performance Monitor you can see real-time information that, by default, only shows the % of processor time.  You can add other objects and counters to monitor by clicking the plus sign.  The more powerful aspect to Performance Monitor is the use of Data Collector Sets.

Performance Monitor: Objects and Counters

There are so many different objects (roughly 85) with a vast array of different counters to choose from.  Depending on what it is you are looking for, and what your level of expertise is, this will determine what objects and counters you choose.  This lesson will help you become more familiar with some of the standard ones like:

• Processor: % Total Processor Time, Interrupts/sec, % Idle Time
• Memory: Page Faults/sec
• Physical Disk: Disk Queue Length

Performance Monitor: Data Collector Sets

Monitoring really requires time.  A quick glance will only give you a narrow view of what is happening at that time.  So, real-time performance monitoring has limitations.  A better way is to perform a 'baseline' first and then take a look at the performance of a system at different times over a period of time.  This is where Data Collector Sets can be helpful.

There are four different System Data Collector Sets included with Vista (although you can create your own).  These include:

• LAN Diagnostics
• System Diagnostics
• System Performance
• Wireless Diagnostics

If you right-click any of these you can choose Start to begin the monitoring process.  Or you can configure a schedule for starting the data collection process so that you can view reports of what is found.

Performance Monitor: Perform a Quick Scan

To perform a quick scan of your system from your command prompt.  To do this, you need to open an Administrative Command Prompt by clicking the Start orb, All Programs, Accessories and then right-click the Command Prompt and choose 'Run as Administrator'.

Type:  perfmon /report

This will run the performance diagnostics (although you can alter the data collector set used).

Use Task Manager to View System Performance

Task Manager is not a new tool.  It has been used for many years as a way of quickly seeing which applications are open, which processes are running and so forth.

You can open the Task Manager by selecting Ctrl+Shift+Esc (which will open the Task Manager) or Ctrl+Shift+Delete and then you can select Task Manager from the list.

This lesson will how you how to work with and customize the Task Manager.

Task Manager: Close Hung Applications or Processes

There are times when an application or process is jamming your system by taking up too much processor or memory.  It may be stuck in that you cannot close it naturally.  You can use the Task Manager to end the application or process.

Open Task Manager and then on the Applications or Processes tab you can select the application or process you want to end and choose 'End Task' or 'End Process'.

Using Elevated Privileges

This lesson will explain why certain applications may need to run with Elevated Privileges and how to open an application with administrative privileges (like the Command Prompt) when an application doesn't ask you for your credentials.

One way to do this is to right-click the application and choose 'Run as administrator'.  Another way is to launch the application from the Instant Search box (located off of the Starb menu) and hitting Ctrl+Shift+Enter.

Speed Up Your File Searches

This lesson will review how searching works and how you can configure Vista to search specific locations.  Finally, the lesson will how you how to rebuild your Index.

To work with Indexing Options you want to go to Control Panel and selecting the Indexing Options applet.  From here you can establish the locations to index.  From the Advanced options, on the Index Settings tab you can select the Rebuild button to re-index.

Adjust Visual Effects to Improve Performance

Your performance is effected by the number of visual effects you have chosen.  We may love the look of Vista with all of them turned on... but it puts a strain on your system.  So, at times, depending on the strength of your system, you may want to adjust these settings.

To do this you want to click the Start orb, then Control Panel and then System applet.  (Or you can click the Start orb, right-click Computer and choose Properties).  From here select the 'Advanced system settings' link.  Under Performance, select the Settings button.  Now, under Performance Options on the Visual Effects tab you see that you can quickly select radio buttons to adjust for best performance or appearance.  Or you can manually turn features on or off.

Using a USB Drive to Improve Performance

This lesson will explain two Microsoft technologies (SuperFetch and ReadyBoost) and then you will see how using an approved USB drive can help to improve the performance of your system.

What is a Network?

A network is a lot like a city.  Roads, buildings, homes... or in the network world cables, protocols, servers, workstations.

There are some important parts to any network (although the quality, vendor and features of any one piece is subject to a great amount of diversity).  Those pieces may include:

• Cables
• Network Cards (Wired or Wireless)
• Routers, Switches, Hubs
• TCP/IP

Using the Network Diagnostics Tool

Sometimes our network connection may be having a problem.  If you right-click your network connection icon, located in your system tray, you can choose the option 'Diagnose and repair'.

The Networks Diagnostics tools will analyze the many different types of problems that you might be having and see where your system is having connectivity problems and then present back to you some proposed solutions.

Checking the Status of Your Network Connection

To discover more information about your network connectivity you can right-click the network icon and choose 'Network and Sharing Center'.  From here you can see a small map (or view the full map) and you can see your connections and view the status of any of those connections.

Finding Your IP Address

Every computer on the network is given a specific address called a TCP/IP address.  There are two ways you might locate your IP address.  One way is by going to the Network and Sharing Center and then view the status of one of your connections and choose Details.  You will be shown connection details like the IP Address, MAC Address, DHCP Server address, Default Gateway and much more.

From a cmd prompt you can type: ipconfig /alll

Personalizing Your Network Connections

If you have multiple network connections, it may be difficult to know immediately which one we need when we go to the Network and Sharing Center.  However, we can customize the connections.  This lesson will show you how to change the name, as well as, change the location type (from a Public to Private connection or vice versa).  You can also change the icon for the network connection.

Connecting to a Shared Folder (a.k.a. Mapping a Drive)

There are shared resources on a network that you will want to access at times. Usually the resource is a folder that is shared out.  In order to do this you can go to the Start orb, select Computer and then from the menu options choose Map Network Drive.  What you are going to do is map an available letter to the shared folder.  To do this we use the UNC path.

The UNC path is \\Server\Share  (note, you can use the IP address of the server as well as the DNS name of the server)  There are a few aspects to these operations that you need to be aware of and this lesson will fill in the details.

Sharing a Folder

The entire concept behind setting up a network is Sharing.  So, if you have a folder on your system that you want to share with others you can right-click the folder and choose Share or go to the Properties and go to the Sharing tab.

There is a simple Share button with some basic file sharing options.  This is a good way to get started if you aren't familiar with sharing documents (and this lesson will walk you through the use of the basic sharing options.  However, there is an Advanced Sharing button (which we will discuss in the next lesson).

Advanced Sharing Options

To locate the Advanced Sharing options you locate the folder you want to share, right-click and go to Properties.  On the Sharing tab you can click Advanced Sharing and provide your administrative credentials to access the settings.

This lesson will show you how to select the 'Share this folder' option and then alter the Share Permissions (with Allow and Deny permissions).  You can configure other settings as well.

Using Remote Desktop

Remote Desktop allows you to look at the desktop of another system.  This lesson will help show you the many impressive options that can be found on the following tabs:

• General
• Display
• Local Resources
• Programs
• Experience
• Advanced

The Computer Management Console

The Computer Management Console is filled with a bevy of tools all located within one console.  To find it you click the Start orb, go to Control Panel and choose Administrative Tools, where you will find the Computer Management console.

From the Computer Management console you have the following tools:

• Task Scheduler
• Event Viewer
• Shared Folders
• Local Users and Groups
• Reliability and Performance
• Device Manager
• Storage: Disk Management
• Services and Applications: Services and WMI Control

Create a Super MMC Console

If you want to create your own MMC console you type MMC in the Instant Search.  This will give you a blank console.  From here you click File, Add/Remove Snap-in and then you can see the available snap-ins.  From here you can determine the settings that should be included.  This lesson will show you how to create and save an MMC console.

Using the Task Scheduler

The Task Scheduler can be used to perform tasks on a timed basis or respond to situations as they may come up.  This lesson will how you how to work with the Task Scheduler tool, including the Task Scheduler Library with predefined tasks that you may want to work with.

Working with the Event Viewer

The Event Viewer is a great monitoring and troubleshooting tool for Windows Vista.  You can see through the events if something is informational (with a simple blue i in a white circle) or a warning (with an exclamation mark in a yellow triangle) or an error (with an exclamation mark in a red circle).

This lesson will tour you through the Event Viewer and show you how to attach a task to events like sending an email, running a program or displaying a message.  You can also create custom views or filter the logs to see what you need amidst all those events.

Managing Services

When it all comes down to it... without the services running underneath it all.. nothing will function in your OS.  So it is important to make sure services start when they should and you can use the Services tool to check the status of services and Stop, Start or Restart a service.  This lesson will show you how it is done.

The System Applet

As an administrator, the System applet is invaluable.  To open this you can click the Start orb and then right-click Computer and choose Properties.  Or you can go to the Control Panel and click the System applet.

From within the System applet you will see information about your computer (like the hardware you are using) and configuration settings (like your computer name, if you are part of a workgroup or domain and so forth). You will also see the Windows Experience Index report (which we will discuss in the next lesson).

There are Tasks to choose on the left side of the screen and if you click the 'Advanced system settings' link you will be taken to the System Properties dialog.  Here you can configure many of your systems properties from the following tabs:

• Computer Name
• Hardware
• Advanced
• System Protection
• Remote

What is the Windows Experience Index?

It's a rating that is a number based upon five different components in your system that are tested and rated.  Each is given a Subscore and then your Base Score is actually the lowest number of your Subscore (not an average of the 5 scores together).

The five components are the following:

• Processor
• Memory (RAM)
• Graphics
• Gaming graphics
• Primary hard disk

Technically, the highest score you can get is a 5.9.  However, some have been able to tweak the results in order to give the appearance of a higher score.

Installing Windows Vista

Of course we leave the best for last.  This lesson will show you how to perform a basic installation of the Windows Vista Operating System.  We will take you through the opening screens where you agree to the licensing agreement, select the disk you want to install to and ultimately provide a user account and choose a nifty background image.

This is a fast paced walk through... but if you have never installed Vista before, it will eliminate some of the surprise factor of installing the new OS.