Fast Shutdown for Windows Vista

Here's a neat one I fell over somewhere on the web:
Open Regedit (WINDOWS KEY + R on your keyboard, or by clicking Start and typing on the search bar "regedit" without quotes. Hit Enter

Navigate to [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control] On the right panel look for the "WaitToKillServiceTimeout" string and change it value to 1000 by right clicking the string and selecting Modify...

Default Value WaitToKillServiceTimeout=20000

Modified value WaitToKillServiceTimeout=5000
Modified value WaitToKillServiceTimeout=1000 (extreme, use it at your own risk)

I found 3000 worked nicely but try the 5000 first. 3000 does sometimes leave some programs lagging which then need a further key click.

Why Vista Needs a High-end Video Card

Why is Vista’s graphics card requirement so high? To be able to run Vista’s new Aero user interface, you need a lot more graphics card power than you do for the standard interface. This is because Aero uses DirectX and this means that the majority of the work is carried out by the GPU on the graphics card as opposed to the CPU. You can choose to run Windows without Aero (business systems need not ever use it), but it's good to have the option to run it if you want.

While it is indeed possible to run Aero when your PC is equipped with a graphics card that has 64MB of RAM, not all cards can do this and the experience is sluggish at best. Microsoft recommends having 128MB of memory on the graphics card, but I think that given the price of cards now, 256MB should be what you aim for.

Running Older Software in Windows Vista

One concern for Windows XP users is if their favorite software applications will run once they upgrade to Vista.
Luckily, Windows Vista uses a feature called Compatibility Mode which tells the software application that Vista is actually an older OS, specifically Windows 95, 98, Me, NT, 2000, or XP.
Here's how it works:
If your software application won't install, open or work properly, right click on the application's .exe file. Select Properties and then click the Compatibility tab. From there, pick the previous Windows operating system you were on (most likely Windows XP). If you're a system operator, you can set this up as an administrator to make it easier for your staff.

Windows Vista Upgrade Secret

The "secret" is that the setup program (setup.exe) in Windows Vista's upgrade version will accept an installed copy of XP, W2K, or an un-activated copy of Vista itself as evidence of a previous installation.
This last option that enables you to perform a "clean install" off an upgrade version of Windows Vista to any formatted or unformatted hard drive! Basically you are installing Windows Vista twice to take advantage of this trick.

Kill Switch in Windows Vista

Microsoft's efforts to combat software piracy is stronger with Windows Vista than they are with XP. Vista will virtually disable your computer if your Vista install doesn't pass Microsoft's validation test. At one point, people using a failed copy of Vista will not lose access to their personal data. Instead, they will see a persistent message on the desktop telling them the copy of Vista isn't genuine and they will lose access to certain Vista features.

Windows Aero
Windows Defender
Windows ReadyBoost
Download Center
Windows Updates

How to Turn on Outbound Filtering in Windows Vista Firwall.

Windows Vista includes a two-way firewall that has outbound filtering disabled by default. That feature is turned off as well as hidden in Vista. In fact, it is hidden so well that many users may think that the two-way firewall was yet another feature that was pulled from the final product. While that is true for other features the two-way firewall made it into the final product, you just need to know how to find it.

Very simple, Click on the Start Button and key in wf.msc and hit Enter.
This will bring up the comprehensive Windows Firewall with Advanced Security management interface. Here you will be able to configure rules for incoming as well as outgoing connections.

How to Restore Files in Windows Vista?

To restore files in Windows Vista, perform the following steps:

1.Click the Start button, and click Control Panel. The Control Panel window appears.
2.Click System and Maintenance, and then click Back Up and Restore Center.
3.Click Restore files.
4.Choose either to restore the latest backup or a previous backup and click Next.
5.Choose the folders to restore.
6.Click Next.
7.Choose the location you want to restore to and click Start restore.
Files are restored to the location you chose.

Note: Check out my other post on how to back up files in Windows Vista.