Some people complain that Windows Vista is so loaded with features it hogs their PC's resources. Even worse not all such features work as they should. Here's how to banish the Windows Vista's biggest blunders, because good ideas seldom survive bad execution.
Make your OS better the easy way
The developers at Microsoft had some great ideas while designing Vista, but poor implementation turned many of those great concepts into lousy, annoying features. To be fair, Vista inherited most of these well-intentioned flaws from earlier versions of Windows - but it either failed to fix them or didn't even try.
Here are 10 of Vista's most irritating flops, along with quick fixes and workarounds. Let's start with one that's absolutely unique to Vista, and almost universally hated by those who use it.
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Visit PC Advisor's Windows Vista News Spotlight
Visit PC Advisor's dedicated Microsoft News Spotlight for the latest news on the software giant
User Account Control
People do some things in Windows - such as install destructive applications or edit the Registry - that deserve a stern "Are you sure you know what you're doing?" warning. Such situations may even warrant your having to prove you're an administrator before you're allowed to continue.
But Vista's User Account Control (UAC) fails to offer enough feedback to users; often it gives you no way to know why a given act is considered dangerous. Even worse, Vista's designers went overboard, forcing people to click through a UAC prompt to set the clock or manually start a backup. The result: people get annoyed and learn to ignore UAC, in effect removing any protection it might provide.
Here are three imperfect ways to stop UAC annoyances. One minor problem they all share is that every so often, when you boot, Vista will warn you that the UAC is off. You can just ignore the warnings, in much the same way you've already learned to ignore UAC itself.
1. Just turn it off: This easy fix works well in an administrator account, but it renders standard accounts almost unusable. Select Start, Control Panel, User Accounts, and click Turn User Account Control on or off. Select Continue at the UAC prompt, and on the next screen, uncheck Use User Account Control (UAC) to help protect your computer. Click OK and reboot.
2. Use TweakUAC: This free program can turn UAC off for administrator accounts while leaving it on for everyone else, which is a relatively safe and convenient compromise. Just run the program, select Switch UAC to the quiet mode, and click ok.
3. Fine-tune your system's UAC settings: This works only in Vista Business or Ultimate. Select Start, type secpol.msc, and press Enter. Navigate the left pane to the Security Settings\Local Policy\Security Options folder. In the right pane, scroll down to the bottom for nine options controlling how UAC behaves. If you're not sure what these settings change, see the helpful guide at Walker News.
NEXT PAGE: the one-way firewall
See also:
Visit PC Advisor's Windows Vista News Spotlight
Visit PC Advisor's dedicated Microsoft News Spotlight for the latest news on the software giant
Comments
Chris said: I tired the Firewall suggestion and as a result was unable to view your original page any further or for that matter access Firefox at all Buy undoing ie return to the firewall default setting this was resolved
dalda said: get another vista feature to turn monitor off instantly amp do not wait for power management settings to do the job on vista monitoroffcom
geggy said: Thanks for this it is quite helpful except I cant see a cure for MY problem Im running Vista pre-loaded on a laptop and cant stand the way that the cursor thinks Im double clicking just because I let it hover on a link for a couple of seconds Is there a way around THIS please Oh and to be honest this is about the only quibble I have with Vista at least so far
Eggbert said: Ok Poit the no one here is moaning about Vista well except Kalis as far as I can see Some are moaning about PC Advisors Advice more than anything
Kalis said: Best way i found to cure Vistas flaws was to foramt and install Xp Pro No more tears hence