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.