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Preface...... xxi Acknowledgments ...... xxvii Introduction ...... xxix

Part I: Getting Started with Ultimate ...... 1 Chapter 1: Introducing the New Windows Operating System ...... 3 Chapter 2: Installing Windows Vista Ultimate ...... 17 Chapter 3: Navigating Windows Vista Ultimate ...... 69 Chapter 4: Basic You Can’t Overlook...... 89 Chapter 5: Customizing Vista’s Look and Feel ...... 121 Chapter 6: Games and Programs Included with Windows Vista Ultimate...... 149

Part II: The Windows Vista Interface...... 177 Chapter 7: Choosing an Interface...... 179 Chapter 8: Exploring Interface Features ...... 199

Part III: Support, Stability, and Security ...... 231 Chapter 9: Getting Help...... 233 Chapter 10: Keeping Windows Vista Stable ...... 245 Chapter 11: Keeping Windows Vista Secure...... 271

Part IV: Networking and the Internet ...... 299 Chapter 12: Building a Home Network ...... 301 Chapter 13: Internet Applications ...... 335

Part V: Gaming and Multimedia Enhancements ...... 371 Chapter 14: Gaming and Audio Enhancements ...... 373 Chapter 15: The NewCOPYRIGHTED DirectX ...... MATERIAL 395 Chapter 16: ...... 409 Chapter 17: 11 ...... 435

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Part VI: Music, Movies, Video, and Audio ...... 459 Chapter 18: Digital Music Guide ...... 461 Chapter 19: Watching Video Through Vista ...... 507 Chapter 20: Editing Video with ...... 527

Part VII: Gaming on Windows Vista Ultimate ...... 565 Chapter 21: Introduction to Windows Vista Gaming ...... 567 Chapter 22: Installing Games (and Other Programs) ...... 589 Chapter 23: Optimizing Games for Performance and Visuals ...... 603 Chapter 24: Game Options, Conventions, Controllers, and Updates ...... 629 Chapter 25: Game Compatibility Issues ...... 667 Chapter 26: Integrating Windows Vista with the 360 ...... 679

Part VIII: Under the Hood: Tweaking Windows Vista ...... 693 Chapter 27: Optimizing for Gaming and Multimedia...... 695 Chapter 28: Tweaking Windows Vista Ultimate for Peak Performance ...... 705

Appendix: Maintaining Windows Vista Ultimate ...... 725

Index ...... 733

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Preface ...... xxi Acknowledgments ...... xxvii Introduction ...... xxix

Part I: Getting Started with Windows Vista Ultimate 1

Chapter 1: Introducing the New Windows Operating System ...... 3 The Vista Interface ...... 4 ...... 5 The Windows Sidebar ...... 8 Improved Safety and Security...... 9 ...... 9 and Windows Defender...... 9 Parental Controls ...... 9 Better Applications ...... 10 Multimedia and Gaming Enhancements...... 12 Windows audio stack ...... 12 Multimedia organization...... 12 New games...... 13 DirectX 10 ...... 13 Performance Rating and Tools ...... 13 Windows Ultimate Extras...... 14 Flip 3D...... 14 Summary ...... 15 Chapter 2: Installing Windows Vista Ultimate ...... 17 The Installation Process: An Overview ...... 18 Preparing for the installation ...... 18 Performing the installation ...... 19 Finishing the installation ...... 19 Official Hardware Requirements Versus Reality ...... 19 Installing Vista on a Newly Formatted Hard Drive ...... 21 Booting the DVD ...... 22 Giving the installer some information...... 23 Letting the installer do its job ...... 28 Providing more information ...... 29

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Upgrading from a Previous Version of Windows...... 36 Backing up your files ...... 37 Uninstalling or deactivating applications ...... 37 Streamlining the ...... 38 Checking the hard drive with ScanDisk or CHKDSK ...... 38 Downloading Vista modem or network interface drivers ...... 38 Performing the upgrade ...... 39 Performing the Finishing Touches ...... 48 Establishing Net access...... 49 Updating and activating Windows Vista ...... 49 Updating your device drivers ...... 57 Getting Started ...... 65 Summary ...... 67 Chapter 3: Navigating Windows Vista Ultimate ...... 69 Finding Your Stuff ...... 70 The new ...... 70 Your personal folders ...... 73 Navigating Through Windows ...... 75 Links and icons ...... 75 Contextual toolbars ...... 76 Share options ...... 79 Where has My Computer gone? ...... 81 The Network interface ...... 82 Searching in Windows Vista ...... 83 The toolbar Search box...... 83 The Search window ...... 84 Summary ...... 87 Chapter 4: Basic Settings You Can’t Overlook ...... 89 Changes You Can Make and Where to Make Them ...... 90 Customizing Windows Vista with the ...... 91 Using common shortcuts ...... 102 Multimedia Device Settings ...... 111 Adjusting the display settings ...... 111 Setting your sound card and speaker properties ...... 116 Summary ...... 118 Chapter 5: Customizing Vista’s Look and Feel ...... 121 Tweaking the Appearance and Personalization Settings...... 122 Display settings and appearance ...... 123 Desktop background and icons ...... 128 Screen saver selections ...... 132 Sound effects ...... 135 Mouse pointers...... 136 Themes...... 138

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The Start Menu and ...... 140 Folder options ...... 143 The Sidebar in Brief ...... 147 Summary ...... 147 Chapter 6: Games and Programs Included with Windows Vista Ultimate . . . 149 Games Included with Windows Vista Ultimate...... 150 The old standards...... 151 The fresh faces ...... 156 Applications and Utilities Included with Windows Vista Ultimate ...... 161 Applications ...... 161 Utilities...... 176 Summary ...... 176 Part II: The Windows Vista Interface 177

Chapter 7: Choosing an Interface ...... 179 All About the Aero Interface ...... 180 Aero versus XP ...... 181 Glass and opacity ...... 182 Flip! ...... 187 New window behavior and layouts...... 189 Other Interface Choices: Basic, Standard, and Classic...... 193 Windows Vista Basic...... 194 Windows Standard and Windows Classic...... 195 Summary ...... 198 Chapter 8: Exploring Interface Features...... 199 Vista’s New Start Menu...... 200 Using the Classic Start Menu ...... 203 Customizing the Start menus ...... 204 Customizing the Desktop ...... 208 Changing Window Color and Appearance ...... 210 Changing the Desktop Background ...... 214 The Sidebar ...... 215 Built-In Organization ...... 222 Contacts ...... 223 Documents ...... 224 Favorites...... 225 Music ...... 225 Saved Games ...... 226 Videos ...... 226 Desktop ...... 227 Downloads ...... 227 Pictures ...... 227 Searches ...... 228 Summary ...... 229 xiii 02_097137 ftoc.qxp 1/23/07 7:43 PM Page xiv

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Part III: Support, Stability, and Security 231

Chapter 9: Getting Help ...... 233 The Help and Support Window ...... 234 Surfing Windows Help and Support...... 234 Searching Windows Help and Support ...... 238 Getting online and offline help ...... 238 ’s Centralized Support Tools...... 240 Remote Assistance ...... 243 Summary ...... 244 Chapter 10: Keeping Windows Vista Stable...... 245 Challenges of Maintaining Stability ...... 246 Why do bad things happen to good computers?...... 246 What can you do to maintain stability?...... 247 Windows Vista’s Built-in Stability Enhancements ...... 248 SuperFetch ...... 248 WDDM...... 250 Windows Resource Protection ...... 251 And more...... 252 Windows Vista Updates — A Must! ...... 252 Enabling Automatic Updates ...... 253 Checking manually for updates ...... 256 Upgrading to Microsoft Update ...... 257 The Reliability Monitor...... 259 and Restore Functions ...... 261 Using ...... 261 Restoring files from Shadow Copies ...... 265 Backing up to external media or a network drive ...... 266 Summary ...... 269 Chapter 11: Keeping Windows Vista Secure ...... 271 Attacks from All Sides ...... 272 Viruses, worms, and Trojans...... 274 Deadly DoS attacks...... 274 Spyware and adware...... 275 Attacks from inside...... 276 Windows Vista is ready...... 276 User Account Control...... 276 Principle of Least Privilege ...... 277 Standard and administrator accounts ...... 277 Windows Vista’s Security Programs ...... 279 Windows Defender...... 280 Windows Firewall...... 285

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Secure Habits You Can Develop ...... 288 Update windows frequently or use Automatic Updates...... 288 Don’t trust unknown e- ...... 289 Heed IE7+’s warnings ...... 290 Create strong passwords ...... 290 Use antivirus software...... 291 Lock the operating system ...... 296 Lock the door...... 297 Summary ...... 297

Part IV: Networking and the Internet 299

Chapter 12: Building a Home Network ...... 301 Introduction to Networking ...... 302 Why go wireless? ...... 303 Understanding the wireless standards...... 305 Building a Network: The Hardware Side...... 306 Determining what you’ll need...... 306 Setting up the hardware ...... 308 Configuring the router, if necessary ...... 310 Setting Up a Network: The Software Side ...... 311 Network and Sharing Center ...... 312 Setting up a connection or a network ...... 316 Wireless Network Security ...... 318 Changing the password ...... 320 Changing the SSID and not broadcasting it...... 320 Securing your network’s transmissions ...... 321 Network Activities ...... 324 Sharing files and folders ...... 324 Finding files and printers on the network...... 331 Summary ...... 332 Chapter 13: Internet Applications...... 335 What’s New in 7+ ...... 336 The new interface: Where are all my menus? ...... 336 New convenience features ...... 340 New security features ...... 351 What’s New in Windows Mail ...... 355 The interface...... 356 Filtering ...... 358 ...... 360 Windows Vista’s RSS Support...... 362 What is a feed? ...... 362 Subscribing to feeds through IE7+ ...... 362 RSS options ...... 365 Summary ...... 369 xv 02_097137 ftoc.qxp 1/23/07 7:43 PM Page xvi

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Part V: Gaming and Multimedia Enhancements 371

Chapter 14: Gaming and Audio Enhancements...... 373 Gaming Enhancements in Windows Vista ...... 374 Games Explorer ...... 374 Parental Controls ...... 376 Microsoft DirectX 10 ...... 379 Windows Media Player 11 ...... 379 The Windows Experience Index ...... 380 Audio Enhancements in Windows Vista ...... 387 Individual audio control ...... 387 High-end audio playback ...... 388 Room correction...... 389 Speaker fill ...... 391 Virtualization ...... 391 Advanced voice communication ...... 391 Summary ...... 393 Chapter 15: The New DirectX ...... 395 The Essential New Features ...... 396 32-bit floating-point audio with 144 dB SNR ...... 396 Glitch resilience ...... 397 Enhanced, high-speed DLLs ...... 398 Digging Deeper into Microsoft DirectX 10 ...... 398 Updated components ...... 398 Unified Architecture ...... 399 Other changes in DirectX 10 ...... 400 DirectX Diagnostic Tool ...... 402 DirectX 9.0L: Backward Compatibility ...... 406 Summary ...... 406 Chapter 16: Windows Media Center ...... 409 Using Your Computer as an At-Home Multimedia Hub ...... 410 Setting up the Windows Media Center ...... 411 Setting up recorded TV...... 420 Accessing online media...... 421 Performing tasks...... 422 Displaying pictures and videos ...... 427 Listening to music ...... 428 Using the remote control ...... 431 Using Media Extenders...... 432 Windows Media Center as an All-in-one Media Center ...... 432 Summary ...... 433

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Chapter 17: Windows Media Player 11...... 435 A World of Enhancements ...... 436 A new look for a new release ...... 436 Playing media...... 439 Burning CDs and DVDs ...... 441 Improved rip and burn interfaces ...... 442 Improved sync ...... 448 The URGE music store ...... 449 Sharing Multimedia ...... 451 Organizing Your Multimedia ...... 454 Summary ...... 457

Part VI: Music, Movies, Video, and Audio 459

Chapter 18: Digital Music Guide ...... 461 Music and Windows Vista Ultimate ...... 462 Organizing Your Digital Music ...... 465 Acquiring Digital Music ...... 470 Ripping your CD collection ...... 471 Procuring music online...... 476 Using the URGE music service ...... 479 Nuts and Bolts: Windows Media Player 11...... 481 Basic options ...... 482 Ripping, bit rate, and audio quality ...... 483 Devices...... 485 CD burning ...... 488 Library options...... 490 Privacy and security ...... 493 Performance settings...... 497 Enhancements ...... 497 Enjoying Your Music ...... 500 Creating playlists and burning CDs ...... 500 Syncing to a portable media player ...... 504 Summary ...... 506 Chapter 19: Watching Video Through Vista ...... 507 Watching Video on Vista ...... 508 Organizing Your Video Files ...... 509 The Videos folder ...... 510 Windows Media Player 11 ...... 516 Configuring Windows Media Player 11 for Videos ...... 517 DVD options ...... 517 The Video Settings enhancement ...... 522 Other Media Player 11 tricks ...... 522 Summary ...... 525

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Chapter 20: Editing Video with Windows Movie Maker ...... 527 What You Need to Get Started ...... 528 A video camera...... 528 A way to capture video ...... 529 Hard drive space...... 529 Getting to Know Windows Movie Maker ...... 530 The interface...... 530 AutoMovie ...... 534 Importing Media ...... 534 Letting Windows Movie Maker create clips...... 536 Creating your own clips ...... 538 Importing audio and images...... 541 The Editing Process ...... 541 Starting the editing process...... 543 Snipping and trimming clips ...... 544 Using audio ...... 546 Adding fades, transitions, and effects ...... 547 Adding titles and text ...... 552 Publishing the Finished Product...... 555 Publishing to a file ...... 556 Publishing to a DVD...... 558 Summary ...... 562

Part VII: Gaming on Windows Vista Ultimate 565

Chapter 21: Introduction to Windows Vista Gaming...... 567 Gaming in Windows Vista Ultimate ...... 568 How DirectX 10 benefits gamers...... 569 The Games Folder ...... 571 Features of the Games folder ...... 572 System performance rating ...... 575 Parental Controls ...... 578 Summary ...... 588 Chapter 22: Installing Games (and Other Programs)...... 589 Installing a Game ...... 590 Adding a Game to the Games Folder ...... 597 Installing Other Programs ...... 600 Turning Windows Features On or Off ...... 601 Summary ...... 602 Chapter 23: Optimizing Games for Performance and Visuals ...... 603 Why Optimize? ...... 604 Frame rates and playability...... 604 Visuals and realism...... 605

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In-Game Settings ...... 607 Resolution ...... 611 Shader Quality ...... 611 Antialiasing...... 612 Texture detail ...... 613 Shadows and Reflections ...... 614 Building, model, and terrain detail ...... 615 Visual effects quality ...... 616 Texture filtering ...... 617 Examples of Game-Specific Tweaks ...... 617 Physics ...... 617 Tree Quality ...... 618 Post Processing...... 619 Object Scarring...... 621 Graphics Card Settings ...... 623 Getting Games to Look Good and Run Well...... 627 Summary ...... 628 Chapter 24: Game Options, Conventions, Controllers, and Updates . . . . 629 PC Gaming 101 ...... 630 The prevailing genres ...... 635 Whatever happened to...... 638 The necessity of patches and updates ...... 642 The mouse and keyboard as game controllers...... 643 When other controllers are needed...... 643 Keeping Games Up to Date ...... 644 Why update? ...... 644 How to update ...... 645 Installing and Configuring Game Controllers ...... 648 Launching a Game ...... 655 Autorun ...... 655 The Games folder ...... 656 The Start Menu...... 657 Setting Game Options ...... 657 Controls ...... 659 Audio ...... 662 Other game options ...... 663 Summary ...... 665 Chapter 25: Game Compatibility Issues...... 667 Gaming and Compatibility ...... 668 Working through installation issues ...... 669 Setting compatibility options ...... 669 Running Windows XP Games on Windows Vista ...... 674 Hitman: Blood Money ...... 674 F.E.A.R...... 675 Prey ...... 676 xix 02_097137 ftoc.qxp 1/23/07 7:43 PM Page xx

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Running Older Games on Windows Vista...... 678 Summary ...... 678 Chapter 26: Integrating Windows Vista with the Xbox 360 ...... 679 The Xbox 360 as a Media Extender ...... 680 What is a media extender? ...... 680 Using the Xbox 360 as a media extender ...... 680 Xbox Live and Live Anywhere ...... 684 Xbox Live ...... 684 Live Anywhere ...... 685 The Universal Controller ...... 688 The Xinput API ...... 689 Xbox Wireless gamepad and Windows Vista...... 689 Universal USB controllers ...... 690 Summary ...... 691

Part VIII: Under the Hood: Tweaking Windows Vista 693

Chapter 27: Optimizing for Gaming and Multimedia ...... 695 Optimizing for Gaming ...... 695 Increasing RAM ...... 696 Using a souped-up video card ...... 696 Using ReadyBoost...... 696 Checking your drivers ...... 697 Ending unnecessary services...... 698 Looking at a few other optimizations ...... 700 Optimizing for Multimedia...... 702 Summary ...... 704 Chapter 28: Tweaking Windows Vista Ultimate for Peak Performance . . . 705 Tweaking the Vista Registry ...... 705 Using the Registry Editor ...... 706 Using tweaking applications ...... 708 Tweaking Individual Program Properties ...... 712 Fine-tuning applications...... 712 Launching applications with minimum features ...... 712 Limiting startup applications ...... 713 Making Internet Explorer work for you ...... 716 Tweaking Hardware ...... 719 Summary ...... 723

Appendix: Maintaining Windows Vista Ultimate ...... 725

Index ...... 733 xx