Eight Fixes for Vista’s Worst Features

by JOYFUL Sat Feb 21, 2009 7:41 am

Ask anyone who has seen Spider-Man 3: Good ideas seldom survive bad execution. The developers of Windows Vista had some great design ideas, but poor implementation turned many fine concepts into lousy, annoying features. To be fair, Vista inherited most of these well-intentioned flaws from earlier Windows versions— but it either failed to correct them or didn’t even try. Here are eight of Vista’s most irritating flops, with quick fixes and workarounds.

User Account Control

People do some things in Windows—such as install destructive apps or edit the Registry—that merit a stern “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” warning. Such situations may even warrant asking users to prove they’re administrators before letting them continue.

But Vista’s User Account Control (UAC) often fails to tell users why a given act is considered dangerous. Worse, Vista’s designers went overboard, forcing people to click through a UAC prompt to set the clock or start a manual backup. As a result, people get annoyed and start ignoring UAC, effectively removing any protection it might provide.

Here are three imperfect ways to stop UAC annoyances. One minor problem they share is that every so often, when you boot, Vista will announce that UAC is off. You can ignore the warnings, much as 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 utility can turn UAC off for administrator accounts while leaving it on for everyone else. Simply run the program, select Switch UAC to the quiet mode, and click OK.

3. Fine-tune the UAC settings: This tactic works in Vista Business or Ultimate. Select Start, type secpol.msc, and press <Enter>. In the left pane, navigate to the Security Settings\Local Policy\ Security Options folder. In the right pane, scroll to the bottom for nine ways to control UAC’s behavior

by JOYFUL Sat Feb 21, 2009 7:43 am

The One-Way Firewall

Windows built-in firewall has always suffered from the same flaw: Though it blocks suspicious stuff that comes in, it does nothing about what your system sends out. Since an infected PC can mass-mail spam and forward your credit card numbers to someone without your better interest in mind, that’s an important shortcoming Vista supposedly fixed this problem with the addition of a firewall that is capable of watching and blocking outbound traffic. But that capability is turned off by default. And Vista’s designers neglected to put the controls that turn it on in a place where users are likely to look for them: the Windows Firewall Settings dialog box.

Here are two possible ways to deal with the situation

1. Turn on outgoing protection: Click Start, type firewall, and select Windows Firewall with Advanced Security. Click Windows Firewall Properties. In the dialog box, the first three tabs have an Outbound Connections drop-down menu. In all three, select Block.

2. Get another, better firewall: Even with its two-way protection enabled, Windows’ firewall is a feeble guardian. On the other hand, the free Comodo Firewall Pro came out tops in independent testing, ahead of products such as Norton Internet Security.

by JOYFUL Sat Feb 21, 2009 7:45 am

System Restore

Here’s an idea: Give Windows a built-in, automated backup application. Restoring a system backup should fix corrupted boot files, virus infections, Trojan horse installations, and Windows’ natural, slow deterioration— without harming your data.

But you can’t permanently save a System Restore backup (called a restore point) to external media. Thus, while System Restore can usually return Windows to, say, last Wednesday’s state, it’s generally useless for bringing everything back to the perfect condition your PC was in last year. What’s more, restoring your system depends on having multiple restore points, such that one corrupt backup makes subsequent ones useless.

The best solution would be a system-backup program that leaves your data alone but backs up everything else to a removable (preferably bootable) disk. I have yet to encounter such a program.

Genie Backup Manager Home comes closer than anything else I’ve found. The utility offers many effective data backup options to make recovering your system easy. Genie’s Disaster Recovery option insists on backing up everything on the drive, but you can restore the system while keeping the data unchanged by deselecting your data folders when you restore a Disaster Recovery backup. You can try this $50 (Rs 2,500 approx) general purpose backup program before you buy it.

In contrast, every other reliable system-backup program I know of is image based, meaning that the app restores the entire drive— your data as well as the system. That’s fine if you’re recovering from a hard-drive crash, but if you want to restore last month’s Windows installation while keeping today’s documents, you’ll need to fully restore one backup and then selectively restore another.

On the other hand, some image-backup programs are free. If you have Vista Business or Ultimate, you already have one. To access it, select Start•All Programs•Accessories• Backup Status and Configuration• Complete PC Backup. Another free option is DriveImage XML, which works best if you obtain it as part of the free Ultimate Boot CD for Windows . Just keep in mind that you’ll need to back up your data files separately

by JOYFUL Sat Feb 21, 2009 7:46 am

Data Backup

You should back up your data every day. Lack of a system backup could cost you a couple of hours reinstalling Windows and your apps. But having no current data backup could mean losing irreplaceable family photos, your bank account information, or even your job.

For years Microsoft bundled lousy backup programs with Windows. Vista’s backup utility improves on that, but not by much; you can back up files by type, for instance, but not by location. Here are some options.

1. Use bundled software: Since an external hard drive is the best medium to back your files up to, and since most such drives come with backup software, use the program that accompanied your drive. It’s almost certainly better than Vista’s.

2. Do it online: Uploading your data over the Internet is slow, but it’s easy and it adds protection by putting hundreds of miles between your hard drive and your backup. I recommend Mozy Home . It’s free for a 2GB backup, or $5 (Rs 250 approx) a month for unlimited storage from a single PC.

3. Use the best software: For my money, that’s the same Genie Backup Manager I recommended in the last tip. Versatile and simple to use, it easily handles scheduled and manual backups, and can even purge your backup media of old backups on a regular schedule. But the Home version costs $50 (Rs 2,500 approx), and the Professional one is $70 (Rs 3,500 approx).

4. Find a bargain: Argentum Backup ($25 (Rs 1,250 approx), doesn’t perform a full system backup, but it handles data backups well. It copies files or compresses them into .zip archives, so you don’t need Argentum Backup to restore them.

by JOYFUL Sat Feb 21, 2009 7:47 am

Programs and Features Uninstaller

Installing a Windows program usually means allowing its installation routine to dig its claws deep into the OS . Removing the program involves running an uninstaller that eliminates the application’s functionality but leaves the claws behind. Vista took the old Control Panel applet called ‘Add and Remove Programs’ and renamed it ‘Programs and Features’, but the developers didn’t otherwise change it. This program just launches the unwanted app’s usually inadequate uninstaller.

For a better option, download the free Revo Uninstaller . Or download the portable version , which you don’t have to install (or uninstall). Like Vista’s Programs and Features, Revo has a convenient interface for launching your installed programs’ uninstallers.

Windows Explorer’s Address Bar Menu

Microsoft did a number of things right in Vista’s version of Windows Explorer, but the address bar’s dropdown menu of recently visited folders isn’t one of them.

First problem: It lists only the folders you went to via the address bar. Worst problem: It also lists Web pages, which tend to be more numerous than folders. Personally, if I want to revisit a Web page, I’ll use my browser, not my file manager. Luckily, you have a few alternatives.

1. Use the other recent folders list: Click the down arrow to the left of the address bar for a list of recent folders. Close and reopen Explorer, and the list will be a blank slate.

2. Use favorite folders, instead: To place a shortcut to any folder in Explorer’s top-left pane in Vista, all you have to do is drag and drop.

3. Improve Windows Explorer: Installing FileBox eXtender , a free add-on by Hyperionics Technology will brings drop-down Recent and Favorites menus to Windows Explorer. A helpful hint: FileBox eXtender works best if you check its Keys & Menus tab’s Add folders from Windows…option.

by JOYFUL Sat Feb 21, 2009 7:47 am

Dragging Items to the Start Menu

Here’s a case where Vista’s developers took a feature that worked beautifully in Windows XP, and ruined it. In XP, if you wanted Startmenu access to a program, file, or folder, all you needed to do was drag the item to the Start button and then to your desired location in the Start menu; Windows would then create a shortcut.

If you were to try that in Vista, it would actually move the file, program, or folder to the Start-menu folder. I’d be hard-pressed to imagine a situation where that would be a desirable result. No real solutions are available, but here are a couple of kludgy workarounds.

1. Drop it on the Start button, not in the menu: This action creates a shortcut, but it appears on the left pane, rather than in the All Programs section. And if the item is a folder, the shortcut doesn’t act as a cascading submenu.

2. Use the context menu: Instead of left-dragging the object to the desired location in the Start menu, right-drag it. When you release the button, select Create Shortcuts Here from the resulting menu.

Folders in the Start Menu’s Right Pane

Vista’s Start menu introduced another great place where you can easily access a few important folders: the menu’s right pane. The icons are big and convenient, and you can set each icon to act as a link or a menu. But the only folders you can put there are the few that Microsoft permits you to put there (Documents, Music, etc).

Here are two fixes.

1. Make your special folder an official special folder: You can get the folder you want access to on the pane by telling Windows that it is your photo or music folder. For details, see “Can I add XPlike expanding folder shortcuts to Vista’s Start menu?” .

2. Use Vista Start Menu: Dennis Nazarenko’s free program replaces Windows’ own Start menu with a larger, more versatile, and—to be honest—ugly alternative. You can control what folders and other items appear on the main menu. Other cool features include keyboard shortcut labels that, by default, are visible only when you bring up the menu with the keyboard. Download Vista Start Menu here.