Introduction

Windows Vista, the successor to Windows XP, is the latest Microsoft operating system for PC users at home, work, and school. Feature for feature, Vista is better than XP, but to make people want to upgrade to Vista, Microsoft put special effort into:

The user interface. The new UI, called Aero, is slick and lets you find and launch your stuff instantly no matter how your files and folders are organized (or disorganized). The Start menu, the taskbar, Windows Explorer, and other redesigned controls retain enough of their old personalities to let you jump in.

Security. Vista protects you against malicious websites, viruses, spyware, and other online threats. You also can control what your children or guests view and play. Vista's reduced-privilege mode (turned on by default) defends even administrators against attacks.

Connectivity. It's easy to connect quickly (and wirelessly) to people, data, and devices that you need to interact with.

Performance. Vista scales to your machine's hardware and, provided that you feed it enough memory, is faster than XP. Vista's broad driver support means that your existing hardware and software will work right (in most cases).

Windows-like every operating system, Microsoft or otherwise-is software that controls:

The user interface. Windows manages the appearance, behavior, and interaction of the windows, buttons, icons, folders, mouse pointers, cursors, menus, ribbons, and other visual elements on your computer screen, either directly or indirectly through another program.

Storage. Windows' file system allocates space for and gives access to files-programs and documents-stored on disk or in memory.

Other software. Windows is a launching platform for programs. When you run Microsoft Word, Adobe Photoshop, The Sims, or any other Windows program, it relies on the services and building blocks that Windows provides for basic operations such as drawing a user interface, saving files, and sharing hardware.

Peripheral devices. Windows controls or syncs with peripheral hardware such as your mouse, keyboard, monitor, printer, scanner, USB flash drives, digital camera, PDA, and iPod.

Networks and security. Windows controls the interaction of a group of computers and peripheral devices connected by a communications link such as Ethernet or wireless. Windows also protects your system and data from harm or loss.

System resources. Windows handles the allocation and use of your computer's low-level hardware resources such as memory (RAM) and central processing unit (CPU) time.

Task scheduling.Windows acts like a traffic cop, setting priorities and allocating time slices to the processes running on your PC.

Freeware and Shareware Many of the third-party (meaning non- Microsoft) programs that I recommend in this book are freeware or shareware. Freeware is software that you can use for an unlimited time at no cost, whereas shareware is software that you can use for a tryout period-usually 30 days- before you're expected to pay for it. I say "expected to" because much shareware keeps working beyond the trial period, so you can escape payment. Paying the fee, however, often gets you a keycode that unlocks features or turns off nag messages. If you pass along copies of shareware to others, they're expected to pay too. Freeware and shareware are copyrighted and have licenses that may impose restrictions ("free for personal, noncommercial use," for example). Unlike commercial software, freeware and shareware isn't shrink-wrapped or sold in stores but is downloaded from the internet (or provided on magazine cover disks). I give the publisher's website for each recommended program, but you also can browse download sites like www·download·com, www·tucows·com, and www·fileforum·com or an index like http://dmoz·org/Computers/ Software. http://sourceforge·net has lots of free high-quality software. Also, to keep up with the latest releases, try www·betanews·com, http://freshmeat·net, and www·microsoft-watch·com. If a popular free program isn't labeled "public domain," "public license," or "open source" (www·opensource·org), you should check it for spyware. See "Defending Against Viruses and Spyware" in Chapter13.