Using Windows Vista: The MVP Way

[gxsaurav]

That’s it, I can’t see the slogan “Intel Inside, Idiot outside” coming true & then users blaming Windows just because they don’t know how to work on Windows. No operating system in this world is good enough out of the box, you always need to make it good by installing or removing things you need & don’t need. This is a process which will sure take some time but the process is easy & you can save the files & settings so that you don’t need to do it again & simply use the old settings.

There is a way I use my computer due to which I don’t need to install Windows again & again, like many people do. In my case, it works when I want it to, the way I want it to. I decided to share my deployment expertise here which might help other Windows Vista user. I don’t use many paid apps now, & also use some OSS apps where applicable, so I am making this tutorial in a step by step way.

1) Install Windows Vista, then go to Windows Update & install every update available.

2) If you have a Bluetooth adapter, then don’t forget to install BlueSoleil 5. It is a must have application for all your Bluetooth needs in Windows Vista. Although you can transfer & receive files without BlueSoleil in Vista too, but since it is an OEM bundle, chances are you already have it bundled with your Bluetooth adapter.



3) Make sure you use Ad Muncher, it is a must have application for Windows Vista. Just install it, then run it & forget it, it won’t bug you & do its work automatically. Vista comes with Windows Defender which is good enough for removing Adware & Spyware. If you want something else, there are many free tools to choose from but once u start using Ad Muncher, you won’t need an adware cleaner & you can very well disable Windows Defender.

4) The best torrent client for Windows is un-doubtfully µTorrent. It us low on resources, works the way you want it to work & even provides a WebUI for controlling even when you are away from the computer. Start it, configure the way you want it like setting the folder to download files to, enable port forwarding & that’s it, Just double click on a torrent file & it will do the rest automatically without bugging you. A very good Vistaish skin for uTorrent is the nCore suite.



5) For CD Burning you will be satisfied & surprised by InfraRecorder. It is a very small & simple, easy to use CD Burner with support for writing Audio & Video CD out of the box. It can also make CD Images of your optical CDs. For mounting Virtual CDs there is no better solution then DAEMON Tools for Windows. It hardly has any front end & runs simply from the tray. Install it, then right click on any disk image & select to mount it.



6) A must have Add-on for Internet Explorer 7 in Vista is IE7 Pro, it has one very small but effective Download Manager integrated which works very nicely with IE 7. If this isn’t sufficient for you then you can always use Orbit Downloader. To view the loaded cookies in Windows you can use Cookie Monster.

7) When it comes to IM clients, I recommend using the official IM client due to more features available compared to something like Pidgin.

8 ) For your Image Viewing & Management tasks, you can rely on the inbuilt Windows Photo Gallery or something like Pictomio which uses the power of WPF in Vista. If you can pay, then there is nothing better than ACDSee 10 for Windows. Other good solutions are XNView but I haven’t tried them. You can also use Paint.net which is by far the best free Image editing application for Windows Vista.

9) When it comes to system maintenance, Tune-up utilities is the all in one solution that I use. However you can also use separate applications for maintenance, however other CCleaner, I have not tested the others.

For cleaning temporary & obsolete files, you can use CCleaner

For Registry Cleaning, a simple & effecting solution is Eusing Free Registry Cleaner

For registry defragmenting use Free Registry Defrag/Compact

You can use either the inbuilt defragmentor or use any free defragmenting application like Defraggler or Auslogics Disk Defrag.

10) You must be having a mobile phone, right. If it is Sony Ericsson then make sure you see MyPhoneExplorer & if it is Nokia, then make sure to install Nokia PC Suite for managing everything in your phone

11) A very good & lite PDF reader is Foxit PDF reader , it’s only 2 MB & works wonders however it is good only for simple text PDFs, not those with inbuilt movies or interactive content. For that you should use Adobe Reader which is very fast now & even supports hardware acceleration in Windows Vista something which Foxit lacks. For printing to PDF, have a look at BullZip PDF printer with Ghostscript 8.6. Install it & then you can print any document or web page to PDF.

12) For all your Multimedia needs just install K-Lite Codec Pack. It has FFDShow inbuilt which is the only decoding engine you will ever need. For more formats like Quicktime & Real Media, just install Quicktime Alternative & Real Alternative. These codec come without the player so you can simply use Windows Media Player 11 or Media Player classic to play the videos.

13) The inbuilt security in Vista is quite beefed up, in most cases the default ones are enough. Still if you want to have control over the system, then just install Comodo Personal Firewall which is free for home use. You already have Ad muncher installed so with this firewall it is a killer combination. For your antivirus needs, I would recommend NOD32, the best antivirus for Windows Vista I have ever used. It’s very light on resource usage. For storing your passwords, you can either use Keypass or AI Roboform. Most of the time I have my antivirus disabled & I run it only when I plug in a pen drive of a friend or a CD. It's advisable to download Applications etc from reputed sources like Download.com or FileHippo or Fileforum

14) The Media center application in Vista will take care of all your PVR needs; you can even record TV using it. If your TV tuner card is not supported then have a look at ChrisTV or Media Portal, which is equally good.

15) For converting videos from on format to another, you can use SUPER, although I use Riverpast video cleaner.

16) A must have UI enhancer for Vista is Vize. Install it after you have installed every update for Windows. Vista comes with inbuilt sidebar which brings gadgets to Windows, but if you want a bigger library of Widgets, considers using Yahoo Widgets.

17) Windows Vista comes with Windows Mail inbuilt but it lacks support for Windows Live Mail in it. A better solution is Windows Live Mail desktop using which you can check & access your Yahoo, Gmail & Windows Live Mail. It’s quite simple to use & an All in one E-Mail Client.

18 ) For saving contacts, you can use Windows Contacts. It integrates with WLM Desktop so you don’t have to worry about syncing.

19) For archiving purpose WinRAR is the best but it is paid, however another good & free solution is jZip which integrates in Windows like it is a part of Windows. The shell integration is better than WinRAR. It can open RAR files too, just that you can only make Zip files using it.

20) You can use Winmpy FLV player for playback of FLV files like those downloaded from YouTube.

21) RSS Feeds are a very good way to stay in touch with latest news & articles. Although you can use any of the RSS reader application out there like FeedDaemon etc, but Windows Vista already has a RSS feed reader inbuilt, it’s in IE 7. A simple & easy to navigate RSS feed reader.

22) You can simply use TCPOptomiser to optimize the internet settings of your computer. Just select the speed of your internet connection & select Optimal Settings, then reboot.

23) GSpot is a free utility which identifies the codec required to play an AVI file and supplies other information as well.

24) For recording what you do on the screen I use Snag-It, but you can also use Jing which is free. The only problem is that it saves in Flash video format.

These are all the applications I use in Vista. There are some more professional applications such as 3ds Max & Photoshop CS3 but most home users won't need them.

A quite extensive TweakGuide for Vista can be found here.

Vista has inbuilt instant search but if you manage it like me, you will not need that. I am assuming that you only have 2 partitions in your computer, one C drive for Windows & another E drive for files.

1) Make some folders in E drive named Music, Movies, Documents, Software, Backup, Download, Pictures. Now go to C:\users\your username\ Right click on the appropriate folders & go to properties, then the location tab, then set the location to the folders created in E drive.

The benefit of this is that you don’t have to worry about backing up your data in case of a Virus breakthrough or corrupt windows installation. All you have to do is to insert the vista DVD & repair. All your documents will remain safe.



2) Make a folder inside the folder Backup in E drive with the name “Application files”. This is where you should save your application files like Firefox profile folder, or Windows Live Mail Desktop data folder. This way the application settings will remain same even if you reinstall Windows. In case you have to migrate to a laptop or new computer, just copy the files there. The method to change the folder location should be there in Options or Preference of the application. Like in ACDSee, the option to change the location of Database folder is in Tools->Options-> Database. Just give the path of this application folder & it will take care of the rest.



3) Copy all your songs to the Music folder & videos to Movies folder. Now open WMP 11, Go to tools -> Library -> Monitor folders & give the path of these 2 folders. WMP11 will automatically add new files placed in these folders to the library.

4) Make a shortcut of the download folder & put it in the folder

C:\Users\saurav\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\ SendTo

This way you don’t need to copy files individually when you are trying to copy files from different locations to a particular location. Just right click on files placed in various locations & select downloads from the Sendto Menu. After this just copy the files at once from the download folder to where ever you like.

5) Make a habit of copying downloaded applications or files or documents to their proper location. Like make a folder named Office in the E:\Documents\ folder & place all your office related files there only. This simple task makes life easy.

6) Once Vista is installed, Disable DEP. To do this, go to Start -> Run -> Type “CMD” & enter this command.

bcdedit.exe /set {current} nx AlwaysOff

7) Don’t install applications in the default path of program files. Instead, make folders like “User Interface”, “Security” in Program Files folder & install the applications inside them. For example, this is how my Program Files folder looks like, all application released to security such as Firewall, NOD32, Ad Muncher & AI roboform are installed inside the Security Folder, while Codec Pack & Riverpast suite is inside the “Studio” folder.



8 ) Instead of Shutting down the system, Hibernate it.

9) Make links to frequently used folders in the Sidebar of explorer

10) Start up Regedit and navigate to [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l]
On the right pane look for the "WaitToKillServiceTimeout" string and change its value to 5000 . Default value is 20000.

11) Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\explorer, Create a new string called Max Cached Icons & give it a value of 10000.

12) To change the reserved bandwidth by Windows go to gpedit.msc then to Local Computer -> Administrative Templates -> Network -> QoS Packet Scheduler -> Limit reserved bandwidth Then enable it & change the bandwidth to 0

13) Disable Auto Play from control Panel. This will save you from the nasty virii like Brontok etc which spread via Pen drives.

14) I am not much into gaming these days, but Microsoft started a new program with Vista called, Games for Windows. Once you install a compatible game it automatically shows up in Games explorer, if u run he game from here then Vista automatically disables unused resources, DWM & indexing service for games to run faster & better. If a game is not detected then either follow this tutorial or use Vista Game Explorer Editor

Well, this is just part of how I use my Windows Vista system & how it stays top notch even after months of usage, I will be adding more to this guide soon about how I have made it easy to run Windows here. There are lots more tricks & tweaks, but this is how I use Windows.

[axxo]

I thought windows easier to use that Linux...anyway thanks for the tips GX will come handy whn i install vista in future

[Faun]

nice tips

[SunnyChahal]

Vista roxx and these apps will make it the best!!

[Who]

I would like to make some points here & there , Very good job though


1. thought utorrent is one of the best torrent client out there but Bittyrant is regarded as the fastest torrent clien ever , its also very light on resources & its free too.

Link: http://bittyrant.cs.washington.edu/d...in32.setup.exe

2. You must tweak you internet settings as defualt one sucks , there is a program on speed guide called TCP optimizer , its free but works better than paid ones.
Link : - http://www.speedguide.net/files/TCPOptimizer.exe

3. There are many defrag softwares are better than Defraggler , they are also free too, JK defrag is the best freeware defragger ever it even beats most of the paid ones , it lacks page defragment but it can achive by the free page defrag.

Links:-
http://download.sysinternals.com/Files/PageDefrag.zip
http://www.kessels.com/JkDefrag/JkDefrag-3.33.zip x86
http://www.kessels.com/JkDefrag/JkDefrag64-3.33.zip x64

4. There is registry cleaner that even beats most of the paid ones , it only lacks registry defragment.

its called Eusing Free Registry Cleaner
Link:-
http://www.eusing.com/Download/EFRCSetup.exe

Free Registry Defrag/Compact
Link:-
http://download.registry-clean.net/d...try-defrag.exe


Well your post was very good but this app will make it even better , also the most important thing if you want to tweak vista is this guide.

Link:-
http://www.tweakguides.com/files/TGTC_Vista_1.2.zip

[shady_inc]

Originally Posted by gx_saurav

A very good Vista-ish skin for µTorrent can be found here.

Where.??I think you forgot to add a link there.

[Who]

he forgot to add , hmm... maybe he was mentioning this
Utorrent Vistaish skin
http://www.box.net/public/3mam3d15o1

image:-
http://img90.imageshack.us/my.php?image=utorrentyc8.png

Found another one
Link:-
http://mywebserver.servebbs.com/webs...sta%20Skin.rar

[ico]

nice tips.......thank you.......

[gxsaurav]

Here is the uTorrent skin I was talking about.

[anandk]

Nice !

For me, its All Updates, CCleaner, Registry Defrag Freeware & Auslogics Defrag. Thats its !

Two other things I do:

"I suggest you download a 'good' Hosts file from mvps.org and replace your original hosts file situated in C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc with this one and then lock it or make it a read-only file. HostMan is a good freeware Host manager.

I also suggest you use ZonedOut utility to Add, Delete, Import, Export, Build a Black/WhiteList and do More. It now includes Restricted, Trusted and Intranet Zones". It is an excellent too just 185kb. Then download IE-SpyAd For ZonedOut . Its is a simple registry patch that adds a long list of known porn-sites, cracksites, advertisers, marketers, and malware pushers to the restricted sites zone of IE. Using ZonedOut you can add this list easily."

My Vista too is as peppy as it was when I installed it in March 2007 !

[ravi_9793]

A very informative and much needed post for vista user.

[vish786]

[PJ]MVP way. ?? thought without even touching mouse getting things done. [/PJ]

they should had this as HTML tag too in Web 2.0.

[gxsaurav]

Updated with part 1 of deployment settings, rest will come tomorrow.

[praka123]

will be nice for vista users.but even after all this,novices who will browse warez sites etc will get spywares installed may be.the important part you forgot i think is to be sure to update all your AV,ant-spyware etc db daily!

[casanova]

Nice, GX.

[ranjan2001]

Thanks for the list which is quite useful for XP users too.

[gxsaurav]

Originally Posted by smit

1. thought utorrent is one of the best torrent client out there but Bittyrant is regarded as the fastest torrent clien ever , its also very light on resources & its free too.
Link: http://bittyrant.cs.washington.edu/d...in32.setup.exe

It's Java based, means non-native to Windows Vista. Utorrent is better in this respect, and both will download at full speed anyway.

will be nice for vista users.but even after all this,novices who will browse warez sites etc will get spywares installed may be.the important part you forgot i think is to be sure to update all your AV,ant-spyware etc db daily!

Not even required Dude, if you use Ad Muncher, then Ads & scripts will not load first of all. Then if you visit warez site...it's not my problem if you screw your system with some untrusted source. Spyware comes from applications only & the applications which I use & wrote above are without any spyware. This is why I made this guide, to help users stay with good apps.

[The Conqueror]

Thanks for the list...

[gxsaurav]

Updated with contents from Smit & images. More to be added soon

[infra_red_dude]

Originally Posted by gx_saurav

Not even required Dude, if you use Ad Muncher, then Ads & scripts will not load first of all. Then if you visit warez site...it's not my problem if you screw your system with some untrusted source. Spyware comes from applications only & the applications which I use & wrote above are without any spyware. This is why I made this guide, to help users stay with good apps.

Of corz required!!! The next most imp. thing to do after installing AV/Firewall/Anti-spyware etc. is to keep it updated. Why do you think that virus/trojans can come only thru the net? What about flash drives cd/dvds etc.? Ad Muncher will haf nothing to munch, then!

Its always best to install those 3 software and update it at least once every 4 dayz.

[alsiladka]

From the corner of my eyes :

The folder in the InfraRecorder screenshot read "Importent Docs". The correct spelling should have been "Important"

Some of them are nice, some are not!
Real player or VLC, anyone of them can play the FLV files. And i would recommend VLC for the universal playback.

Where did you get the icons you are using for the program files? please post a link to them.

For taking screenshots, i would recommend an excellant freeware. http://www.windowclippings.com/

[gxsaurav]

Originally Posted by infra_red_dude

Of corz required!!! The next most imp. thing to do after installing AV/Firewall/Anti-spyware etc. is to keep it updated. Why do you think that virus/trojans can come only thru the net? What about flash drives cd/dvds etc.? Ad Muncher will haf nothing to munch, then!

Its always best to install those 3 software and update it at least once every 4 dayz.

I forgot to add, disable auto play.

[Gigacore]

exhaustive guide gx.. nice one

[gxsaurav]

Originally Posted by alsiladka

The folder in the InfraRecorder screenshot read "Importent Docs". The correct spelling should have been "Important"

Bug Fixed

Real player or VLC, anyone of them can play the FLV files. And i would recommend VLC for the universal playback.

I m not recommending anything, I am just writing how I use my Windows System.

Where did you get the icons you are using for the program files? please post a link to them.

Various icons. Looks for "GX icons" threads in chit chat section

[Partymonger]

Originally Posted by gx_saurav

Bug Fixed
I m not recommending anything, I am just writing how I use my Windows System.

Well then learn a few things from us..

For multimedia needs, no vlc, use km player..plays ****everything**** in good quality..

This is for those who consider using the above mentioned things..

Those folder arrangement in program files is okie but i dont think u would like to do that everytime u install progs..besides it has no added advantage for general users

The changing of the path of favourites and other essentials is imperative...But plzz dont format d or e drive thinking u dont hav anythin in them, while actually u had changerthe path of favourites and other after reading this thread..
BUT u can always consider online favourites management sites..i wont mention names, there r plenty..

Keep thing simple and straight and concentrate more on ur work...

Ps:-u can try all the speed optimising programmes in this world but the result wud be zero...since speed (in india atleast) is limited from the providers side and not by hardware or software as in many other countries...

PPs use a good antivirus like kaspersky internet security, available in india for 1000rs only...the kaspersky firewall is really good too..

[gxsaurav]

Originally Posted by Partymonger

For multimedia needs, no vlc, use km player..plays ****everything**** in good quality..

WMP with K-Lite codec pack is a media player & a media library application, can KM player or VLC do the management things?

This is for those who consider using the above mentioned things..

Those folder arrangement in program files is okie but i dont think u would like to do that everytime u install progs..besides it has no added advantage for general users

Catagory, well...tht's how I use it. Simple.

The changing of the path of favourites and other essentials is imperative...But plzz dont format d or e drive thinking u dont hav anythin in them, while actually u had changerthe path of favourites and other after reading this thread..

Lolz....whose that stupid. This saves u from making backups too...if something goes wrong, just reinstall the OS.

[Partymonger]

True..kmplayer is not library management tool, bu then u recomended a separate player for flv files...then???hope u take ur own advice...

Wat i suggest:- Do not install any codec pack, just use wmp for library management, and km player for all the other tasks like playing some lesser known format...

Originally Posted by gx_saurav

Catagory, well...tht's how I use it. Simple.

No issues on the way u use it...write down the program files structure with a pen and paper amd i would not give a damn, it was for those people who wud be reading ur suggestions, BECaUSE, Categorising ur program files folder is useless...And in turn time consuming too...If u can list a few good uses then im all ears..

Categorising ur favourites folder would earn us a lot of saved time

Originally Posted by gx_saurav

Lolz....whose that stupid. This saves u from making backups too...if something goes wrong, just reinstall the OS.

I actually recomended that, the lines u quoted, were meant to bring a smile to people who read it, and in turn lead to a more advanced tip that would totally negate the problem..

[gxsaurav]

Originally Posted by Partymonger

True..kmplayer is not library management tool, bu then u recomended a separate player for flv files...then???hope u take ur own advice...

Actually, it's just me. With K-Lite codec pack & FLV splitter, Flash videos will play fine in WMP 11 too.

Wat i suggest:- Do not install any codec pack, just use wmp for library management, and km player for all the other tasks like playing some lesser known format...

What's the point of managing library in WMP if you won't use it....

[ring_wraith]

No operating system in this world is good enough out of the box,

Except for leopard

j/k

Very nice tut. But i still feel that vista hogs more system resources that low-mid end machines can afford to lose.

[alsiladka]

Hey GX, those links in your icon's thread are no longer working. Care to upload them somewhere again?