Backup program in Windows Vista

is light years ahead of its predecessor. Backup and Restore Center after RC2, and the basic procedure is still the same. The exact capabilities of the Backup program depend on which Vista edition is installed, but all are worth setting up. Here are some updated notes and comments:

• On Windows Vista Business or Ultimate, you can use the new Complete PC Backup feature to save an image of your system drive after you get everything configured just right. Remember that if you need to restore a Complete PC Backup image, you'll have to partition the restored drive identically (same partition layout, same partition sizes), so make sure you have the partitions defined to your liking first.
  
  
• With Home editions of Vista, only file-based backups are available. With Home Basic, you have to manually perform a backup. With Home Premium, you can set up a file-based backup as a scheduled task. By far the best destination for these backups is an external (USB or Firewire) hard drive.
  
  
• If you need to retrieve an earlier version of a file and you're running Vista Business or Ultimate edition, you can use the Previous Versions tab on the Properties dialog box for that file or folder. This tab contains files from backups and from restore points, which are created automatically by the Shadow Copy feature when you have System Restore enabled for a given drive. (This is a good reason to make sure System Restore is enabled even on a drive that contains only data.) On Home Basic and Home Premium editions, the previous Versions feature isn't available and your backed-up files are available only from the Backup program.

Services You Can Disable with Vista

There are several services you can disable to help improve performance.
Desktop Window Manager Session Manager - Provides Desktop Window Manager startup and maintenance services.If you don't plan on using Aero Glass, you can disable this service:

• Diagnostic Policy Service - Enables problem detection, troubleshooting and resolution for Windows componentsSet to Disabled.
  
  
• Diagnostic Service Host - Same as above
  
  
• Diagnostic System Host - Same as above
  
  
• Vista Offline Files - The Offline Files service performs maintenance activities on the Offline Files cache, responds to user logon and logoff events, implements the internals of the public API, and dispatches interesting events to those interested in Offline Files activities and changes in cache state.
  
  
• Vista Terminal Services - Allows users to connect interactively to a remote computer. Remote Desktop and Terminal Server depend on this service. If you don't use either of these, then you can disable the service in vista.
  
  
• Windows Vista Error Reporting Service - Allows errors to be reported when programs stop working or responding and allows existing solutions to be delivered.
  
  
• Windows Vista Search - Formerly this was the Indexing Service. Provides content indexing in vista.

Tweak Windows Vista's Indexing Options

Windows Vista works in the background to automatically index all the files in the Start Menu, user profile folders and files setup for offline access by default. If you have many files in these locations and the files change often, the indexing service may slow down your system's performance. Unlike Windows XP, Vista now allows you to
easily tweak the indexing service following the steps below. It is recommended that you disable indexing for the other locations other than the Start Menu for maximum performance. Bear in mind that while this tweak speeds up your overall system performance, it will also slow you down when searching for files in those locations.

• Click on the Start Button and enter Indexing Options. Hit Enter and the Indexing Options should load.
  
  
• Click on the Modify button, followed by Show all locations.
  

Scroll through the tree-view and uncheck all options except the Start Menu. Hit OK.Note: For advanced users, you can also change other indexing options, like the file types to index, by clicking on the Advanced button.

Access Denied to Folders

If you are getting Access Denied errors when trying to open folders like Documents and Settings, Application Data, Local settings: Right click on the Folder Select Properties Click on the Security tab Click on the Advanced button Click on the Owner tab Click on the Edit button In the Change owner to box, highlight your account Check Replace owner on subcontainers and objects Click on Apply, Click on Yes, to replace all permissions Continue to click on OK until exiting.

Use Small Icons Size Tip for Windows Vista

(Troubleshooting large Icon)

The Windows vista icon size of the recently run programs list on the Start Menu is set to large by default. This is great if you like the large icons but it also cuts down on the number of recently run programs that can be displayed. Follow the steps below to give your Start Menu a cleaner look.

Disable large icons problem:

• Right click on the Start Button and select Properties.
  
  
• Click on the Customize button.
  
  
• Scroll to the bottom of the list and remove the check from Use large icons. You can now also increase the number of recently run programs in vista that are displayed to something larger than 9.
  
  
• Hit OK when you are finished.

Snip a Screen Shot

Snip a screen shot The Snipping Tool shown here was originally designed for Windows XP Tablet PC Edition. Now that Tablet PC features are built into all premium versions of Windows Vista (everything except Vista Home Basic), you can take advantage of this cool tool on any desktop or notebook. It lets you capture all or part of a screen and paste it into an e-mail message or document or save it as a graphics file.

Type snip into the Start menu Search box to quickly find the Snipping Tool shortcut. Right-click that shortcut and pin it to the Start menu or add it to the Quick Launch bar for easy access. When you run the Snipping Tool, click the drop-down arrow next to the New button to select what you want to copy: a portion of the screen, a window, or the full screen. Click the Options button to open a dialog box where you can specify custom settings. I recommend getting rid of the red ink border; you might want to ditch the prompt to save files each time you exit the tool as well.

Get a Quick System Checkup

Get a quick system checkup Windows Vista has no shortage of diagnostic tools. The System Health Report is one of the most useful. It takes input from the Performance and Reliability Monitor and turns it into a well-organized, information-packed report that does a good job of spotlighting potential problems. To run this report, open Control Panel, click System and Maintenance, and then click Performance Information and Tools. In the Tasks list along the left, click Advanced tools. The last item on the resulting list is Generate a system health report.

Each report gathers information for roughly 60 seconds, so it's easy to run several reports. To establish a baseline, run a report immediately after startup, with no programs running except those that start up automatically. You can run additional reports while you run particularly stressful programs to see whether the load is overtaxing your system.

Use the Mobility Center on a notebook

Notebook users have an easy-to-access control panel for common configuration options. Vista's Mobility Center gives you the ability to quickly enable or disable an external monitor, enable or disable a wireless adapter, check your battery level, and much more. To configure your notebook so Mobility Center is always available, add its shortcut to the Startup group. To open or switch to Mobility Center, use its keyboard shortcut: Windows logo key+X.