Short cuts and other tips

[Znod]

Hi Felix:

When you talk about dual booting in the context of your tip, are you talking about using two partitions or two drives?

[CrowdAds]

[felix8406]

So r u ready to “collaborate”, let the process begin.
If this is the 1st time you use People Near Me (PNM) or Windows Meeting Space (WMS), PNM (Note: These r not official abbreviations, I choose them to reduced typing) will ask u for a display name. Note also the “Sign me in automatically….” and “Allow invitation from:”…it’s up to u. Press OK and the Meeting Space interface will pop up. Now u can invite others to join ur meeting, start a shared session, add a handout, etc., etc.
Click Start New Meeting, create a meeting name and password. Use the Options button to select whether or not u want to allow others to join ur meeting (but why not, it’s a meeting). If another user, let’s call him Joe, has connected to PNM, ur meeting will be displayed on his WMS, but won’t be able to join in until u invite him and provide the password to the meeting. Click “Invite people, select Joe’s name and click send invitation. Note that u can also send invitation by email.
Once Joe has joined ur meeting, u both can start collaborating. For example, u can send Joe a note by doing a right-click on his icon and selecting “Send A Note”. This opens the “Send A Note” window on Joe's PC. Joe can reply and continue the conversation.
U can share handouts by clicking the Add button on ur toolbar. If more than two users is collaborating, only one user at a time will be allowed to modify the handout…changes will be send automatically to each PC user….ur original handout will not be modified.
U can share a program by clicking on Share A Program Or Your Desktop. U can allow Joe to access an application running on ur desktop or even ur whole desktop.
Stay tune…more to come. Happy computing.

[felix8406]

Originally Posted by Znod

Hi Felix:

When you talk about dual booting in the context of your tip, are you talking about using two partitions or two drives?

As far as I know, it shouldn't matter whether you have two partitions or two HDs. I happen to have two HDs, and up until just a few days ago, I was running Vista x86 on WinXP in each HD respectively. At present I'm running Vista x64 and x86 respectively..got rid of WinXP (have a back up just in case). I have not run these OS on separate partitions on same HD however. So if anyone outhere has this setup, please let us know if u can choose which OS to boot from and how it's working for u.
Please note that u can't install Viista and WInXp on same partition and dual boot. If u happen to try this, Vista will take WinXP files and place them on a folder call "Windows Old". U'll not able to boot from WinXP, and u cannot restore WinXP and go back to it. Another thing, if u dualboot XP and Vista, and u decide to get rid of vista, use your XP CD for a fast fix.
Here r the basic steps:

1. Insert disk, restart and boot to the CD.
3. Start the Recovery (R) Console
4. Run Fixboot
5. Run fixmbr to reset the master boot record
6. Exit and and reboot
8. Use the boot.ini file to remove the "Microsoft Windows Longhorn" entry.
9. Now u can format the partition where Vista was installed. Happy computing!

[crabby]

If you have 2 hard drives... and are installing to each one with a different os. Then remove the other whilst installing and use the bios/boot menu to choose which to boot... saves hassle if things go wrong. A 'for instance' is if you format the drive with the boot data... then you cant boot into the other os.

crabby

[felix8406]

Have u noticed the new cool feature in Vista? It allows u to independently control the sound level for each application that uses sound. For example, say u want to keep Windows system sounds at a mid range level, and Media Player at a lower level. U can change the volume level settings by opening the speaker volume application (lower/right hand side of notification area of task bar), click mixer, and individually change the volume level for any application that uses sound and is currently running. U can even mute the sound for each individual application. :flowercool: Happy computing!

[crabby]

Some applications do not support this feature and the master volume changes instead... otherwise it is really useful (Hate game install music!!)

crabby

[felix8406]

Want to know more about ur performance rating? Go to C:\Windows\Performance\WinSAT\DataStore on ur PC and double click on the file, or drag it to IE. Happy computing!

[crabby]

EDIT: Drag to IE

crabby

[felix8406]

Originally Posted by felix8406

Want to know more about ur performance rating? Go to C:\Windows\Performance\WinSAT\DataStore on ur PC and double click on the file, or drag it to IE. Happy computing!

Edited post: Changed EI to IE.
Thanks Crabby.

[felix8406]

Want to be able to see the old File, Tools, View, Help menu on Vista's application? Simply press the "Alt" key. Happy computing!

[TurboStorm]

Felix,
do you need a different key for the 5 OS's? I am a little confused on that one, I did a clean install, used my key from my DVD mailed to me, and it installed the Ultimate version. The email I recieved for the RC1 download link, had a different key.
Maybe this weekend I will try each one of the versions, see which one works best.
:nicethread:
TurboStorm

[felix8406]

TurboStorm, yes u do need a separate key if u want run a different version of Vista. The key that u received is for the ultimate version. The only reason behind it, that I can think of, is that Microsoft wants a complete test, rather than just a test on a specific version. The logic might be that if u can run the ultimate version and discovered bugs, the fix for those bugs can be apply to the other versions as well. But please keep in mind that this is just my opinion and that there might be other reasons. Do give it a try and see what happens, u have nothing to loose anyway...plus u get to try the version that will fit ur needs. Happy computing!

[felix8406]

Also the User Account Control (UAC) helps eliminate security problems; its behavior can really get in ur nerve. When performing task(s) that need security permission elevation, Windows blanks out the desktop, restricts its access, and brings the elevation prompt up front. Depending on ur system, this can slow down ur computing minutes significantly. Although the idea behind this feature is understandable due to problems with malware, viruses, hackers, etc., it could be a pain in the back side when setting up ur system.
There’s a solution however; U can disable the secure desktop blanking feature and re-enable after completing ur setup.
1.Click the Start
2.Type gpedit.msc in search area and press Enter.
3.Click the gpedit that pops up and allow the program to run by clicking Continue in the security box.
4.On the Group Policy Object Editor window, expand Computer Configuration, if not already expanded.
5.Expand Windows Settings, Security Settings and Local Policies.
6.Click on Security Options.
7.On the right pane, scroll to the bottom of the listing, and double-click on "User Account Control: Switch to the secure desktop when prompting for elevation."
8.Select Disabled, and press OK.
9.Close the Group Policy Object Editor. Happy computing!

[crabby]

An easier way to disable UAC would be to go to users in the control panel and do it from there. Does your way keep UAC enabled but emove the prompt only?

crabby

[Znod]

Originally Posted by TurboStorm

Felix,
do you need a different key for the 5 OS's? I am a little confused on that one, I did a clean install, used my key from my DVD mailed to me, and it installed the Ultimate version. The email I recieved for the RC1 download link, had a different key.
Maybe this weekend I will try each one of the versions, see which one works best.
:nicethread:
TurboStorm

The same key will work for all Beta versions. So, you now have 2 keys that will work on all Beta versions. All Betas are Vista Ultimate Betas.