10 Best New Features in Windows Vista

I have been using Vista since the end of March so I thought I'd try and find things that Vista does well. So here it comes, the 10 best new features in Windows Vista in no particular order:

1. Windows Updates are now managed more gracefully though a built-in app in Windows.
2. No more 'my' in front of everything! It's just Computer, or Documents.
3. CPU Meter gadget. See your CPU usage and memory usage in real-time.
4. The install process is extremely easy. Even a new computer user can do it. Almost just one click.
5. Error reporting actually gives useful information when you submit a problem. It even tells you how to fix what went wrong.
6. Aero looks good. Hovering over a minimised windows shows a preview.
7. Built in search that is fairly easy to use.
8. Most XP apps work fine in it. Visual Studio 2005, not so great.
9. It makes you feel more secure with user account control (UAC) if you don't get annoyed and turn it off.
10. When you copy files it tells you how fast they are going in KB or MB, depends on how fast it's going.
    

Windows Home Server Release Candidate 1 Review

I've been using Windows Home Server RC for a while now. It really acts as more of a file server for me because I don't use any of the Window Home Server console software to do anything. The console lets you do many things like user management, setting up shares, remote access. I used all of those initially to set it up but i also put in a raid card and didn't want to add it to the Windows Home Server array because it said I would have to format it. It's about 600 gigs of data so i wasn't going to do that. I just installed it and shared it normally as you would on a Windows XP/ Server box.

Everything works great. I've had one issue with the users where it stripped admin rights off one user. It also has not been able to install the latest security patches. I tried to install them manually but that didn't work either. I think it's almost ready for release because of the quality of the OS. It's just like Windows Server 2003 but without enterprise features and a really stripped down start menu. All in all I'd rate it 8/10

Watch a video of Bill Gates with Windows Home Server

Get a free copy of Windows Home Server Release Candidate 1

PeerGuardian 2 for Vista, release client available

It seems that a lot of people want to protect themselves from the nasties out there on the net and here's the program to do it. Only download this if you are prepared to try pre-release software. Get it while it's hot.

Peer Guardian 2 on Windows Vista

I hate using any sort of P2P program or torrents on the net without Peer Guardian 2. It stops more ip's than I can think of. The latest peer guardian 2 doesn't work with Vista but the old windows 98 version does. The great people at phoenixlabs haven't come up with a driver for vista so the newest versions won't work but, the windows 98 version looks identical and works great on vista. download it here

Update: Have a look at my latest post on Peer Guardian 2. Peer Guardian 2 now works with Windows Vista fully.

Windows Vista Crashing On Install

Well i just tried installing Windows Vista after getting it from MSDN. i do stress TRY. It crashed on install and here is the pic of it :) It's a HP xw4400 workstation, a vista capable PC :)