Documentos de Académico
Documentos de Profesional
Documentos de Cultura
As we update articles on our site, we will also update this e-book. Check our site for the latest version of this e-book on www.utilizewindows.com/e-books This e-book is published under Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0 We offer free quizzes which you can use to test your knowledge about Windows operating systems. You can find them here: www.utilizewindows.com/quizzes If you have a comment or if you would like to report some error, please use our contact form: www.utilizewindows.com/contact-us If you would like to support us, you can take action (www.utilizewindows.com/support-us) or you can donate (https://flattr.com/thing/710994)
CONTENTS BASICS .............................................................................................................................................................. 1 INTRODUCTION TO WINDOWS VISTA ............................................................................................................................................. 1 NEW INTERFACE IN WINDOWS VISTA............................................................................................................................................ 2 UPGRADE TO WINDOWS VISTA - OVERVIEW ............................................................................................................................... 10 MIGRATE TO VISTA USING WET .................................................................................................................................................. 11 MANAGE DRIVERS IN VISTA ......................................................................................................................................................... 15 SOLVE PROBLEMS WITH VISTA INSTALLATION ........................................................................................................................... 20 JOIN VISTA TO A DOMAIN ............................................................................................................................................................ 27 CONFIGURE AERO IN VISTA ......................................................................................................................................................... 31 CONFIGURE PARENTAL CONTROLS IN VISTA ............................................................................................................................... 38 SET UP ACCESSIBILITY OPTIONS IN VISTA ................................................................................................................................... 44 APPLICATIONS ................................................................................................................................................ 48 TASK MANAGER IN VISTA............................................................................................................................................................. 48 MICROSOFT MANAGEMENT CONSOLE IN VISTA .......................................................................................................................... 54 SECURITY CENTER IN VISTA ......................................................................................................................................................... 63 CONFIGURE UAC IN VISTA .......................................................................................................................................................... 67 WINDOWS DEFENDER IN VISTA ................................................................................................................................................... 71 FIREWALL IN VISTA ...................................................................................................................................................................... 80 MEDIA PLAYER AND MEDIA CENTER IN VISTA ............................................................................................................................ 97 NETWORKING .............................................................................................................................................. 104 NETWORK AND SHARING CENTER IN VISTA .............................................................................................................................. 104 CONFIGURE TCP/IP SETTINGS IN VISTA................................................................................................................................... 108 CONFIGURE DIAL-UP AND VPN CONNECTION IN VISTA ........................................................................................................... 120 CONNECT TO A WIRELESS NETWORK IN VISTA.......................................................................................................................... 128 CONFIGURE INTERNET CONNECTION SHARING (ICS) IN WINDOWS VISTA ............................................................................. 136 MANAGEMENT ............................................................................................................................................ 139 MANAGE HARD DISKS AND FILE SYSTEM IN VISTA ................................................................................................................... 139 CONFIGURE WINDOWS MAIL IN VISTA ...................................................................................................................................... 146 WORKING WITH WINDOWS MEETING SPACE IN VISTA ............................................................................................................ 152 MANAGE PERFORMANCE IN VISTA............................................................................................................................................. 157 WINDOWS UPDATE FEATURE IN VISTA ..................................................................................................................................... 162 HOW TO USE TROUBLESHOOTING TOOLS IN VISTA................................................................................................................... 164 WORKING WITH BACKUP TOOLS IN VISTA ................................................................................................................................ 168 WORKING WITH MOBILE DEVICES IN VISTA............................................................................................................................. 175 USER ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT IN VISTA .................................................................................................................................. 177 POWER OPTIONS IN VISTA ......................................................................................................................................................... 184 FILE SYSTEM ................................................................................................................................................. 187 ENCRYPTING FILE SYSTEM CONFIGURATION IN VISTA ............................................................................................................. 187 NTFS AND SHARE PERMISSIONS MANAGEMENT IN VISTA ....................................................................................................... 191
Basics
Introduction to Windows Vista
Parent Category: Vista Category: Basics
Windows Vista comes in several editions. Each edition is aimed at particular target audience and each edition has a particular price point.
Vista Editions
Vista editions are:
Starter
Windows Vista Starter edition does not support domains, Aero graphical user interface, Media Center, hard drive encryption, inbound network connections, and it can not be run on a Tablet PC. This edition supports only a single, 32-bit processor, and allows only three applications to run simultaneously.
Home Basic
Windows Vista Home Basic edition comes in 32-bit and 64-bit version. Home Basic does not support domains, Aero graphical user interface, Media Center, hard drive encryption, and can not be run on a Tablet PC. Home Basic does support parental controls and allows more than three applications open at once.
Home Premium
Windows Vista Home Premium does not support domains. Home Premium supports Aero graphical user interface, Media Center, and it can be run on a Tablet PC. Home Premium does support parental controls and allows more than three applications open at once.
Business
Windows Vista Business supports domains, Aero graphical user interface and it can be run on a Tablet PC. It does not support Media Center and full hard drive encryption.
Enterprise
1 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Ultimate
Windows Vista Ultimate supports all features of Windows Vista Enterprise and Premium.
Hardware Requirements
To run Windows Vista our computer should meet (at a minimum) the following hardware specification:
1-GHz or faster processor 512 MB of RAM 40 GB of available hard disk space DVD-ROM drive DirectX-capable graphics card with a Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) driver, Hardware Pixel Shader 2.0 support, and a minimum of 128 MB of graphics memory Keyboard and Microsoft mouse or compatible pointing device If we have an Windows XP machine which we want to upgrade, we can use Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor. Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor is a downloadable tool that allows us to determine whether a Windows XP computer is capable of running Windows Vista. We can download it from Microsoft web pages.
Remember
Vista editions are: Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, Enterprise and Ultimate. Windows Vista Business, Enterprise and Ultimate support domains. Windows Vista comes in both 32-bit and 64-bit editions (except Vista Starter edition). It is possible to run 32-bit edition of Windows Vista on a computer with a 64-bit processor, but it is not possible to run 64-bit editions on a 32-bit processor. To run Windows Vista our computer should meet (at a minimum) the following hardware specification: 1-GHz or faster processor, 512 MB of RAM, 40 GB of available hard disk space, DirectX-capable graphics card with a Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) driver, Hardware Pixel Shader 2.0 support, and a minimum of 128 MB of graphics memory.
There are a lot of differences between Vista and previous operating systems. Windows Vista has a greatly redesigned interface. The Windows Vista graphical user interface is three-dimensional and includes animations, transitions, and fades.
2 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Graphics
Rich graphics, animations, and transitional effects require a graphics card that supports a new graphic driver model called the Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM). These effects are part of the Windows Vista Aero desktop experience and include glass effects, advanced window management features, and a more stable experience through desktop composition. This rich graphical functionality is built on the Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) graphics subsystem, formerly called Avalon.
Customization
To customize Vista desktop, right-click on the desktop and select Personalize from the menu. Here we can find many options for customizing appearance and sounds.
The default Windows Vista (Aero) scheme is active by default if you have a supported video card. Aero allows you to see other items behind your window through a slightly blurred glass effect. If you don't want your desktop to use the default transparent glass, you can choose some other color scheme. There are even advanced color control settings that allow us to disable transparent glass, specify the intensity, and even custom-mix colors and specify color saturation so that we can really get the look we want.
Sidebar
The first thing to notice on the desktop is the Sidebar. Sidebar let's us add small applications called Gadgets to our desktop. If the Sidebar gets in our way, we can easily close it by right-clicking on it and choosing the Close Sidebar option.
3 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Taskbar
The Taskbar, the bar at the bottom of the screen can be locked, or we can turn on auto hide option.
4 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Similar buttons can be grouped together. We can show the Quick Launch and show live thumbnails of programs we currently use. We can use the ALT+TAB command to see live thumbnails, or Windows key + TAB to view opened programs in 3D. To cycle through the Windows 3D view, we can use the arrow/cursor keys or use the scroll wheel on our mouse.
Start Menu
The Start Menu has been redesigned. Our most recently used programs are on the left, and if we click All Programs, all applications installed on our computer will appear in the same area.
5 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
We can also customize the Start Menu by right-clicking the on the Task-bar, going into Properties and specify how we want the Task-bar and Start Menu to look.
Of course, we can always revert the Start Menu back to the classic Start Menu if we don't like the new one.
Notification Area
Notification area is the area in the lower right-hand corner, next to the Clock. In Properties we can choose to hide inactive icons. In Properties we have options for the Toolbars as well. We can add a bunch of Toolbars to the Taskbar.
6 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Control Panel
Another thing that has been redesigned is the Control Panel. If we don't like the new interface of the Control Panel, we can go back to the Classic View by clicking on the Classic View on the left.
7 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
When we click on things in the Control Panel, some of them will open in the same window and some of them will open in new window. For example, if we click on Back up And Restore Center, it will open up in the same window. Now, notice the Breadcrumb bar at the top of the window. If we want to go back to the Control Panel, we can simply do that by clicking the right option in the Breadcrumb bar. We can also click on the down-arrow to see all other places that we can go in the Control Panel. If we, for instance, click on the Security Center, it will open up in the separate window.
Windows Explorer
Windows Explorer has also been redesigned. If we go to the Computer, on the left we can see our favorite links and folders, so we can easily browse our hard drives, network, etc. This is where the Breadcrumb bar is very handy. In Windows Vista we are able to sort and group files by various criteria, including date, author, type, and keywords. Keywords use meta-data that is included in files stored on our computer. We can add keywords to our data files, for example, our image files, that Windows Vista will index. Search is integrated into everything now. As we will see, searching files on our computer is now much more efficient. We can easily change the default location of where documents are saved from within Windows Vista. The new Locations tab on the properties page for Documents allows us to move the location. The default Pictures and Music folders can also be moved in the same manner.
8 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
By default Vista does not display classic navigation menus in Windows Explorer. We can turn the Classic menu on or off by choosing the Organize option, then Layout and then choosing Menu Bar option.
Remember
Rich graphics, animations, and transitional effects require a graphics card that supports a new graphic driver model called the Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM). The default Windows Vista (Aero) scheme is active by default if you have a supported video card. Sidebar let's us add small applications called Gadgets to our desktop. We can use the ALT+TAB command to see live thumbnails, or Windows key + TAB to view opened programs in 3D. The Start Menu has been redesigned. There is a built-in Search tool and this is also the Run dialog box. Notification area is the area in the lower right-hand corner, next to the Clock. Another thing that has been redesigned is the Control Panel. Windows Explorer has also been redesigned. This is where the Breadcrumb bar
9 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
When upgrading to Vista from previous versions of Windows, we have to keep some things in mind. Before doing an upgrade it is strongly recommended to do a full backup, just in case of any problems with the upgrade. It is also recommended to turn off antivirus software, because Vista can have problems with it.
In-place Upgrade
An in-place upgrade keeps all user applications, settings, files and other user settings. To do in-place upgrade we can use a Vista DVD or do an install across the network. It is important to know which previous versions of Windows can upgrade to Vista. Any version prior to Windows 2000 cannot be upgraded to Vista. Windows 2000 can only be migrated to Vista and cannot be upgraded. That means that we can only upgrade Windows XP which has to be Service Pack 2 at minimum.
Different XP Editions
Different editions of XP can only upgrade to certain Vista editions. XP Home can upgrade to all Vista editions. XP Professional only upgrades to Vista Business, Enterprise or Ultimate edition. XP Media Center only upgrades to Vista Home Premium or Vista Ultimate because only those two editions of Vista contain Windows Media Center. XP Tablet PC only upgrades to Business, Enterprise or Ultimate. Any 64-bit edition of Windows XP can not be upgraded at all.
Remember
Windows 2000 can only be migrated to Vista and cannot be upgraded. We can only upgrade Windows XP which has to be Service Pack 2 at minimum. XP Home can upgrade to all Vista editions. XP Professional only upgrades to Vista Business, Enterprise or Ultimate. XP Media Center only upgrades to Vista Home Premium or Vista Ultimate. Any 64-bit edition of Windows XP can not be upgraded at all. We can not downgrade versions. When
10 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
We can perform migration to Windows Vista from Windows 2000 operating system and later. We do a migration when we want to transfer settings from old to the new installation, whether they are on the same or different computer. We have two tools available for migration and those are Windows Easy Transfer (WET) and User State Migration Tool (USMT).
On the menu notice the option 'Transfer files and settings from another computer'. When we click that option we will actually run the WET tool.
11 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
On the WET menu we can see a list of the things that we can transfer, like multiple user profiles, data files and folders, application settings, Internet Explorer settings and even e-mail messages. On the next screen we can choose how to transfer files to the new computer.
We can use an Easy Transfer Cable to do it directly to the other computer (used only if we have two computers). We can also use a network connection to do a direct transfer if we have two computers on the same network. If we don't have two computers we can use a network connection to transfer files to a third-party server. We can also put our data on a removable media such as a CD, DVD or USB drive. In our case we will use the third option.
12 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
For this example we will choose an 'External hard disk or a network location' option. This way we can browse to the location where we want to save our data.
For this example we will simply save the data to our C: drive. Notice that the data will be saved with .MIG extension and that we can also password protect it. On the next screen we can choose what to transfer.
13 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Here we can go to advanced options and select which data from which users we want to transfer. For this example we will simply choose to transfer all data ('All users, files and settings' option).
The system will ask us to confirm our selection. When we click the Transfer button, copying will begin.
14 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
The whole transfer can take some time to finish. When the transfer is complete we have to copy our .MIG file to the destination computer. Then we need to double-click it and follow the instructions. If we use direct transfer using cable or network, file copying is not necessary.
Remember
WET is designed for end users and it is easy to use. The transfer can be done using Easy Transfer Cable, network or by using removable media. We can transfer all users and their settings or only particular users and settings.
After the successful installation of Vista, we need to make sure that all our devices have appropriate drivers installed. The driver is a software which enables interaction between the operating system and a specific piece of hardware. Drivers are specifically designed for different types of hardware and operating systems.
Device Installation
When installing devices we should follow the instructions that came with the device. Typically the device will have an installation disk that includes the driver and often other software for getting the most out of the device. For some devices Windows will already have drivers built in. For that devices we can simply attach the device, and Windows will automatically install appropriate devices. For some type of devices we will never have installation disks or files. For example, Windows will always detected and configure the appropriate drivers for USB flash drives. To manage devices and their drivers we will use the Device Manager.
Device Manager
15 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
In Device Manager we can see all devices attached to our system. Notice that devices are organized by type. We can right-click any device and see the information about the device by going to its properties. Devices that have a regular icon identify devices that are correctly installed. A yellow exclamation mark identifies a device that Vista could not recognize (no driver was found for the device). The Windows has detected the name of the device but doesn't know how to configure it. To correct this problem we can click on the device and search for a suitable driver. To do that, right-click on the device with no drivers and select Update Driver Software. In many cases we will need to download the driver from the manufacturer's Web site or install the driver from the device's installation disc. The drivers on the installation disc are often outdated. To get the latest driver for a device, check the manufacturer's Web site.
16 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
A down arrow identifies a disabled device. Do disable particular device, right-click it and then select Disable. We typically do that for devices that we don't want to use, but we can't physically remove them from the system. When the device is disabled, the computer can't use it. To use a disabled device, enable it in Device Manager. In contrast to Vista, Windows XP will have a red x for disabled devices, instead of down arrow.
For most devices, we will typically physically install the device, then start Windows. The device will be detected and the drivers installed automatically or the Found New Hardware wizard will appear. The wizard will tell us that it needs to find the driver for the device. We have three options when this happens.
17 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
If we choose the first option our computer will search the Windows Update website for a driver that is compatible with the device. The behavior for looking for drivers at Windows Update is controlled by a setting on the advanced system properties. Let's go to Control Panel > System and Maintenance > System > Advanced System Settings > Hardware tab > Windows Update driver settings.
In our case Windows will ask us each time we connect new device before checking for drivers. If Windows Update server doesn't have the appropriate driver, Windows will ask us to insert the disk that came with this hardware. As soon as we insert the disk, Windows will automatically search the disk for the appropriate drivers. If we don't have a disk we can try other options. For example, we can download the drivers to our computer, so we will need to tell
18 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Uninstallation
If we physically remove the device from the system, Windows will automatically remove it from the list in Device Manager. If we attach that device again, Windows will automatically configure it since it already has drivers for it. If we uninstall a device in Device Manager, we can also choose to delete the driver software for that device. In that case when we insert the device again, we would have to reinstall the drivers. Also, if that physical device is still present in the system, rebooting the system or scanning for hardware changes in Device Manager will usually re-detect the device. To prevent a device from being used, disable it instead of uninstalling it.
Troubleshooting
If we are having problems with a device, we can try and update the driver through Device Manager or download the latest driver. If changing a driver causes system instability, we can use the Rollback feature to revert to a previous version. To use the Rollback feature, right-click on a particular device, select Properties, select the Drivers tab and click on the Roll Back Driver button.
If we can't log on after changing the driver, we can press F8 during the reboot process and choose the Last Known Good Configuration option. We can also select Safe Mode. In Safe Mode, we can use driver rollback or disable the device. All kernel mode drivers in 64-bit Vista editions must be digitally signed. If we find that we cannot install a driver, it could be because it is not digitally signed.
19 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Here we can see device resources like memory range, I/O range and IRQs. Here we can also see whether there are any conflicts with other devices on our system. By default, resources for plug and play devices are configured automatically. Today we will rarely need to change the hardware resources used by a device.
Remember
When installing new devices, the first thing we should do is follow the instructions that came with the device. In many cases this means running a setup program that came with the device. We can find Device Manager in Control Panel. A yellow mark identifies a device that Vista could not recognize (no driver was found for the device). A down arrow identifies a disabled device. For most devices, we will typically physically install the device, then start Windows. The device will be detected and the drivers installed automatically or the Found New Hardware wizard will appear. If changing a driver causes system instability, we can use the Rollback feature to revert to a previous version.
When troubleshooting Windows installation, we have to identify what is causing the problem and then test a potential solution. For example, if Vista wont install on our computer, we should check that our machine has minimum hardware requirements to run Vista.
20 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Before Installation
Check Hardware Requirements
There are several ways to check that our computer meets the minimum hardware requirements for Vista. For example, we can use System Information, System Properties or we can use Vista Upgrade Advisor. Vista Upgrade Advisor also checks our software to see if it will be compatible with Vista.
To start Microsoft System Information in XP, use either of the following methods:
Click Start, point to Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click System Information. Click Start, click Run, type msinfo32.exe in the Open box, and then click OK. To open the System Properties dialog box, use either of the following methods:
Right click the My Computer icon on your desktop and click Properties. Go into the Control Panel and double click the System applet.
21 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
We should also check Event Viewer to to verify that we're not having any serious error messages or warnings. To open Event Viewer in Windows XP, go to Control Panel, Administrative Tools and then Event Viewer.
If we find serious error messages we should go to the Internet and investigate how to fix those problems. Great place to check is Microsoft support website support.microsoft.com. Of course, we can also use a search engine like Google. We should also check that hardware devices are attached properly. It's always possible that, for example, memory chips, CPUs or hard drive cables become loose. If we can't boot from Vista installation DVD, we should check our BIOS settings and make sure that the proper boot order is configured. It is also possible that the DVD reader is malfunctioning itself.
22 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
After Installation
Display
Common problems after installation are Display problems. To try and correct visual problems in Vista we can go to Control Panel and then Appearance and Personalization (or Personalization if we are in Classic view).
Here we can change settings for color, transparency, desktop background, resolution and other display settings. Display problems are often the result of a video card that does not meet minimum Windows Vista requirements.
Devices
In Vista we should also check Device Manager. To open Device Manager in Vista go to Control Panel, Hardware and Sound and select Device Manager (if using Classic view in Control Panel, select System and then Device Manager).
23 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
In Device Manager we can see devices that don't have drivers installed. To update drivers on a device that we are having trouble with, we can right-click it and select Update Driver Software. Here we can also disable devices that we don't want to use.
Application Compatibility
Another common problem is application compatibility. We can download and use the Application Compatibility Tool Kit (ACT) from Microsoft to determine which applications are compatible with Windows Vista. For any program with which we are having problems, we can right-click, select Properties and go to the Compatibility tab and choose a compatibility mode.
24 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
This way we can simulate an environment of some other operating system. For example, if we need to use some legacy application that works on Windows XP and does not work on newer operating system, we can use Windows XP compatibility mode for that application.
25 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
In the lower left-hand corner we can select 'Repair your computer' option. This will initiate the Startup Repair Tool. It is going to ask us which operating system to repair, so we choose Vista and click Next. After that, the System Recovery Options window will appear.
Here we have several options that we can use to repair our installation. We can try to repair startup, attempt to use restore points, attempt to use complete PC restore if we have done complete PC backup before, do memory
26 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Remember
Before installing Vista be sure to check if your computer meets hardware requirements for Vista. To do that you can use System Information, System Properties or Vista Upgrade Advisor. We should also check Device Manager and Event Viewer to verify that we don't have any current problems with our computer. Common problems after installation are Display problems, problems with devices with no drivers installed and application compatibility. If we have problems with booting our Vista machine, we can use Startup Repair Tool to repair our installation. Paths that are mentioned in this article XP
Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > System Information - open System Information Control Panel > System - open System Properties Control Panel > System > Hardware tab > Device Manager - open Device manager Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Event Viewer - open Event Viewer Vista
Control Panel > Appearance and Personalization - personalize appearance and sounds Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Device Manager - open Device Manager (if using Classic view, in Control Panel select System and then Device Manager) Startup Repair Tool - available on Vista installation DVD ('Repair your computer' option in main menu)
If we are in a domain environment we will have to know how to join our Windows Vista machine to a doman.
27 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
While our computer is in a Workgroup, we only have a single, local Group Policy. To open local Group Policy editor, enter gpedit.msc in the Search bar and hit Enter. Select Continue if the User Account Control prompt appears.
28 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Join to a Domain
To join Vista to a domain, open the Control Panel, then System. In the 'Computer name, domain and workgroup settings' section click on 'Change settings'. We need to have administrative privileges to join computer to a domain. The System Properties window will open.
Now, on the Computer Name tab click the Change button. This will open the Computer Name/Domain Changes window. First we will change the name of the computer to ivancic-v. Note that we will not join a domain just yet. Let's click OK now.
29 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Changes will take effect after we restart our computer so we will do that now. Changing a computer name is not a requirement, but it is recommended that all computers in a domain have names that mean something to us. Let's go to System properties again. We will try and join our computer to a utilizewindows.localdomain. To do that we will select the Domain option and enter the utilizewindows.local domain name.
30 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
In our case something is wrong and the joining failed. We didn't even get a prompt for our credentials. A common problem when joining to a domain is problem with DNS settings. In our case a DNS name does not exist. This could mean that our server is not configured correctly or it could mean that we have wrong DNS settings on our local computer. We should check our local TCP/IP properties and ensure that we use a DNS server that is aware of the existence of the Active Directory domain. When joining computer to a domain we have to have domain level administrative privileges. Also, after the joining is successful, any local Group Policy settings that come in conflict with domain settings, will be overridden by the domain Group Policy settings.
Remember
To join a Vista computer to a domain, go to the Control Panel and then System (in Classic View). Then on the Computer Name tab click the Change button. This will open the Computer Name/Domain Changes window. We have to have domain level administrative privileges to join a computer to the domain.
We have four user interfaces available in Vista. The first is the Classic interface which is similar to Windows 2000 and previous operating systems. This interface will give us good performance in Vista. It is also good for backward compatibility.
31 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Vista Aero
The Windows Aero interface has the transparent glass design, smooth animations, graphics stability, Flip 3D and live thumbnails. It is not available in Home Basic or Starter editions. Video card must support WDDM, have at least 128MB video RAM, support DirectX 9.0, Pixel Shader 2.0 and the color has to be set to 32 bit.
Start Menu
In addition to Aero, the new thing in Vista is the Start Menu. The Start Menu no longer has expanding menus and it has integrated Search. The Search box is now also the Run dialog box.
Sidebar
The Sidebar provides a way to display information to which we desire quick and easy access. It is made up of small programs called Gadgets. Gadgets can display virtually anything, including weather forecasts, notes, etc.
Indexing
Vista indexes certain locations on our computer. By default, Vista builds an index of all files on the computer, including e-mail, data files, programs, media files, events, tasks and contacts. Those settings can be customized by going to Control Panel > System and Maintenance > Indexing Options. Here we can select default indexing locations, select which file extensions we would like to index or we can rebuild indexing. The Search is typically fast because it is not searching the complete hard drive but instead is looking through an index which contains all of the data you can search as criteria, including file name, author, creation date and tags.
Aero Features
In our example, we have one window opened. If we move our mouse above the taskbar, over the respective program, we will see a thumbnail of running program. This is called Live Thumbnails and they help us to figure out which program we want to switch to.
32 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
We can still use ALT+TAB where we will see live thumbnails as well. Vista displays those windows in real time.
We also have Flip 3D feature. Flip 3D comes up when we press Windows key and the Tab key. We can keep pressing Tab key to flip trough all windows.
33 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Customization
We can customize video settings by going to the Control Panel > Appearance and Personalization > Personalization. We can also open this window by right-clicking anywhere on Desktop, and then selecting 'Personalization'. Here we can alter various settings regarding our appearance, and also sounds. Let's first check Display Settings.
This window will show us monitors that are currently plugged in into our computer. In our case we have two monitors that have been detected. To show image on both monitors we have to select the monitor which is not active, and then check the 'Extend the desktop onto this monitor' option. We can also drag monitors from left to right and from right to left. We would do this if the actual layout of our monitors is different from the one shown on this window. If we are unsure which monitor we are looking at, we can click the 'Identify Monitors' button, and a big number will be shown on the monitor to tell us which monitor it is. The 'This is my main monitor' option identifies the monitor where the Start Menu and the Taskbar information show. When we select particular monitor, we will see the settings that apply to that monitor, like the resolution and the color depth. By changing the resolution we actually change the amount of information that is shown on the screen. A higher resolution makes images on the screen smaller, but it allows us to see more information on the screen. A lower resolution makes items larger. When configuring resolution for LCD monitor, we will typically set the resolution to the native resolution that's supported by the monitor to get the best results. CRT monitors usually support multiple resolutions, so we can choose the one that fits best for us. Remember that Aero is not supported if color is below 32 bit.
34 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
35 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Here we have the 'Enable transparency' check box and we can also control the intensity of that transparency. We can also change the color of the windows by picking one of the available colors or create our own color using the color mixer. We can also change the intensity of the selected color. Another option that we can change is Desktop Background.
36 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Here we can choose the graphic that shows on the background on our desktop.
Problems
37 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Remember
Four user interfaces available in Vista are Classic, Basic, Standard and Aero. Aero is not available in Home Basic or Starter Vista edition. Aero features include The transparent glass design, smooth animations, graphics stability, Flip 3D, live thumbnails, etc. Typically, a computer with a base score of 3.0 or higher can display all Aero functionality. Paths that are mentioned in this article
Control Panel > System and Maintenance > Indexing Options - path to the indexing settings Control Panel > Appearance and Personalization > Personalization - various settings when it comes to appearance
We can use Parental Controls in Vista to protect children, other computer users, and our computer against offensive and unsafe Internet content and games, as well as set time limits and to log user activity.
Availability
Parental controls are designed for controlling home users with standard accounts. Parental Control is available in Windows Vista Home Basic, Home Premium, or Ultimate. Parental controls are not included in the Business or Enterprise editions of Windows Vista. Also, when you connect a computer using Windows Vista Ultimate to a domain, the Parental Controls are by default no longer accessible. We also have to have at least two user accounts - an administrator account for the parent and a standard user account for the child. Parental Controls are configured by someone using an administrator account, and apply only to standard user accounts. Administrator needs to be protected with password. There are four main things that we can restrict for our computer users.
Logon Hours
The first thing that we can control is the logon hours. We can restrict what times of day the user is allowed to access our computer. If a user tries to log in to Windows Vista outside the allowed window of time, the login will fail. If user login stretches outside the time allotment, the user is automatically logged off.
38 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Games
One way to restrict games is rating based system using the ratings designed by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB). There are different ratings and the first one is Early Childhood rating EC. This rating means that the game is designed for those ages three and older. Second rating is Everyone or E which is designed for those ages six and older. Everyone 10+ or E10+ is designed for those 10 and older. Teen or T is designed for 13 and older, Mature (M) for 17 and older, and Adults Only or AO is not intended for anyone under the age of 18. We also have the option to block games with no rating. Rating settings are cumulative, which means that, for example, AO rating will include all other ratings, or M will include EC, E, E10+, T but not AO. Another way to block games is content-based. We can block games with inappropriate sexual content, violence gambling etc. We can also block specific games installed on the system.
Programs
We can also restrict specific programs from being used. We simply specify the path to the program that we want to restrict. If the user attempts to access restricted sites, he will be prompted for the admin credentials. This allows us to allow the user to do specific tasks. As administrators and parents we can do activity reporting and find out what websites our users are going to, look at their e-mails, Instant Messenger, and we can look at what media were they looking at. There are some legal issues here. If we are dealing with a child, then we have to make sure that we are their legal guardian. These parental controls could be used in a small business environment, but the computer can not be a member of a domain. In this case we also have to ensure that we are not violating user rights.
Configuration
To configure Parental Controls we can go to Control Panel > User Accounts and Family Safety > Parental Controls.
39 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Remember, parental controls only work with standard user accounts. If the second account also has administrative privilege we can not assign parental controls to that account. Also, our administrative account has to be password protected. Now, we need to choose a user on which to set up parental controls. In our case we will select Kim.
40 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
The first thing to do is to turn on Parental Controls. We can also choose to turn Activity Reporting to collect information about computer usage. Next, we can filter out what websites they are allowed to go to, specify what time of day they are allowed to log on, we can restrict games and specific programs. First, let's block some websites by clicking on the Windows Vista Web Filter.
Here we can allow all websites or block some websites. We can setup specific lists by clicking on the 'Edit the Allow and block list'. Here we can also select to only allows websites which are on the 'allow' list. We can also block web content automatically were the browser will attempt to figure out the rating level and then block sites based on the rating level. The default restriction level for automatic blocking is Medium. This will block unratable content, mature content, pornography, drugs, hate speech and weapons. The High restriction level will block all web content except websites approved for children. We can also select the None level, which will remove any restrictions. If we select Custom we can choose categories that we want to block. Here we can also block file downloads. Next, we can configure Time Restrictions. This way we can configure exact time when the Kim is allowed to use our computer. We can simply click and drag the hours we want to block or allow. Blue color means blocked.
41 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Let's configure Game Controls. We can block all games or block or allow games by rating and content types. We can allow games with no rating or block them, and specify what level of rating the child is allowed to play. We can also block games based on content. We can also block specific games.
42 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Next, we can check Activity Monitor for Kim. We can use activity reports to display information about what was done online and offline, including visited Web sites, instant Messenger recipients, downloads and accessed programs.
43 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Remember
Parental controls are designed for controlling home users with standard accounts. Four main things that we can restrict are logon hours, web access, games and programs. Parental Controls can only be applied to standard user accounts. Parental Controls are not accessible in domain environment. Paths that are mentioned in this article
Control Panel > User Accounts and Family Safety > Parental Controls
Windows Vista has a number of Ease of Access settings available to help users who are visually impaired, hearing impaired, physically impaired or cognitively impaired.
44 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
The top part of the screen lists quick access to common tools. For example, we have the Magnifierwhich can help somebody who is visually impaired. This tool creates an enlarged view of the area around the mouse pointer.
We can also use Narrator tool which reads English text on the screen including menu and button text. We can also start On-Screen Keyboard. Users who have trouble using the keyboard can use the mouse pointer to press keys.
45 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
We can also set up high contrast which reduces eyestrain and makes things easier to read. If we are not sure where to start we can click on 'Get recommendations to make your computer easier to use'.
46 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Remember
Features which we can use to make our computer more accessible are Magnifier, Narrator, On-Screen Keyboard and High Contrast.
47 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Applications
Task Manager in Vista
Parent Category: Vista Category: Applications
Task Manager is very helpful when we have problems with processes which are frozen, or if we need to check current resources utilization.
Applications Tab
In this tab we can see all opened applications which are shown on the Taskbar, with the exception of the Task Manager itself. In our case we only have Windows Media Player opened, so we only see one entry in the list. Notice the status of the application - it is 'Running'.
48 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Each time we open an application we will get a new entry in the list of running applications. If our application is not responding, we can select it and then click the End Task button. We can also start new applications by clicking the New Task and entering the name of the program we want to run.
In our case we have entered 'wmplayer' which will open Windows Media Player.
Processes Tab
You will notice that there will always be many processes that are running even though we don't have any application running and showing on the Taskbar.
49 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
For example, taskmgr.exe is the process associated with Task Manager itself, and wmplayer is the process of the application which we have previously open. In this tab we can see information about the running process such as the CPU percentage and the memory that it's using. From here we can also end the process, for example if a process isn't responding. We can do that by selecting the desired process and then pressing the End Process button.
Services Tab
The Services tab shows services on our computer.
50 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
For example, the DHCP is a service that registers and updates IP addresses and DNS records for our computer. If this service is stopped, this computer will not receive dynamic IP addresses and DNS updates. If this service is disabled, any services that explicitly depend on it will fail to start.
Performance Tab
The Performance tab gives us a snapshot of information about our computer.
51 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
We can see a meter that shows us the percent of use of our CPU along with a graph. If we had multiple CPUs installed we would have multiple graphs. If we notice that the CPU usage is constantly high, we should reduce the amount of workload on our it. Here we also have information about how much system memory is currently being used, along with a graph that shows memory usage.
Networking Tab
The Networking tab shows us information about our network connection. In our case we are currently sending and receiving small amount of data over our network link.
52 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Users Tab
The Users tab shows us the users who are currently connected to our computer. To disconnect or log off a user, simply right-click it and then select the appropriate option.
53 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Remember
Using Task Manager we can close unresponsive applications, end processes, run and stop services, check computer performance, check network utilization, and see logged on users.
The Microsoft Management Console (MMC) is a tool developed by Microsoft which provides a consistent interface for management tools.
Run MMC
We can open MMC by going to the Start Menu and typing in 'mmc' in the search menu.
54 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
This way we will open a blank MMC. To work with our computer we need to add snap-ins. To do that we can go to the File menu and then select Add/Remove Snap-ins.
Snap-ins are programs that we can add to the Management Console to manage a part of our computer. For example, we can add Computer Management. To do that select Computer Management and click Add. After that we need to specify whether we want to see events on this computer or remote computer.
55 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
In our case we will select Local computer and click Finish. Let's also add Disk Management andLocal Users and Groups.
When we are finished adding snap-ins we can click the OK button. The selected snap-ins will appears inside the Management Console.
56 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
There are three different parts of the Management Console. The left side shows us a tree view of the different snap-ins and option within each snap-in. By expanding any snap-in we can see options that we can configure in that snap-in. In our example we clicked on the Disk Managementsnap-in.
57 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
We could save this console as a preset console by going to the File menu and then selecting Save As. That way when we open it again we would have these same snap-ins already added.
58 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
This console has several snap-ins that have already been added to it. For example, Event Viewer shows us events that have taken place on our computer. We can Use Event Viewer to view logs about programs, system events, and security. Each entry can be listed as a warning, error, or information event. There are three groups of logs in the Event Viewer. The Application log contains events such as application installations, un-installations, and application errors. The System logcontains a list of events such as system modifications, malfunctions, and errors. The Security logcontains a list of events such as security modifications and user login events. If we browse to theWindows Log and then go to Application, we can see a list of events that have occurred on the system related to the applications. Also, if we select an event we can see more information about what it was.
59 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
If we have a problem with our PC, it is a good idea to check system related events in Event Viewer and look for errors. Another snap-in that is included in Computer Management is Device Manager. In Device Manager we can see a list of devices within our computer, organized by type.
60 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Here we can see the statistics about how our computer is working. We can see the CPU utilization percentage, disk use, network usage and memory information. A counter identifies a specific statistic, such as % Processor Time or % Disk Free Space. We can add or remove counters to customize the statistics you can see. Real-time data are displayed in a graph. To save statistics we have to use use a data collector set, since Performance Monitor does not save any data by itself. Under Reliability Monitor we can see a historical data about our computer. Reliability Monitor shows an historical chart that identifies when software installs/uninstalls and failures have occurred. By clicking on a day, you can view the changes to the system that have affected its stability. Here we can also see our system stability index that ranges from 1 to 10 (10 being the most stable). The stability rating is affected by application, hardware, Windows, and other failures.
61 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
62 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
In this window we can also stop a service that is already running. In most cases we need to be careful that we do not stop services that are required for the system.
Remember
We can open empty MMC and add snap-ins to it, or we can use predefined Management Consoles which already have default snap-ins added to it. Predefined consoles provides most of the functions that we will need to work with when we are troubleshooting and managing our computer.
The Windows Security Center is a central place to check various security applications that are being monitored on our computer.
Firewall
63 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Firewall is a system or software designed to prevent unauthorized access to or from a private network or computer. In our case we are using built-in Windows Firewall and it is actively protecting our computer by default. We can turn it off or on. Of course, we can also use any other Firewall as well. If we use a third-party Firewall we should use the Security Center to identify which Firewall is running. Also, when we are on a domain, it is possible that we find Firewall turned off. This is typical because Firewall settings are set trough domain.
Automatic Updates
Automatic Updates are also monitored to make sure that we always get the latest updates from Windows Update.
Automatic Update checks for, downloads, and installs critical updates for our computer. The default setting is to check download, and install updates automatically every day at 3:00 a.m. We can customize the frequency and the schedule of automatic updates. The second option is to download updates but not install them. We must manually install any necessary updates in this case. The third option is to check for updates, but not download them or install them. The fourth option is to turn off updates.
64 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Malware Protection
By default Windows Defender is actively protecting our computer against Spyware and other malware.
In our case we can see that we do not have any antivirus software installed on our computer. This can a big security issue so we will fix it. We are going to install Microsoft Security Essentials which is free antivirus software. After the installation, in Security Center we can see that the virus scanning is on.
Malware is any program that is harmful to our computer and it includes viruses, worms, Trojan horses, and spyware. While some of those programs only collect Internet browsing information, others locate and expose important personal information, as well as cause harm to computer components such as a hard drive. Security Center monitors programs used to eliminate these dangers, including antivirus and malware agents. Windows Defender helps protect against slow performance and security threats caused by spyware and other unwanted software and is monitored by Security Center.
65 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
In our case we don't have any warnings. All security settings are set to to their recommended levels. We can toggle UAC on and off. By turning UAC off, Vista will not prompt for administrative credentials before performing an action which may affect performance (such as security settings or new software installations).
Left Menu
From the menu on the left we can go directly to the Windows Update, Windows Firewall, Windows Defender and Internet Options. Also, we can change the way Security Center alerts us in case of problems.
66 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Remember
Things that are monitored trough Security Center are Firewall, Automatic Updates, Malware Protection, Internet Security settings and User Account Control. Paths that are mentioned in this article
Control Panel > Security > Security Center - path to the Security Center
The purpose of User Account Control (UAC) is to reduce the exposure and attack surface of the operating system by requiring all users to run in a standard user mode instead of using administrator credentials. This way user is logged on with least privilege. If the user needs to do something with administrative privilege they are prompted for a password. Privileges are escalated for that one instance.
Access Token
When a user logs on to the system, an access token is generated for the user. The access token controls the type of actions that the user can perform on the system. The access token identifies the user account as either a standard user or an administrator. Certain actions can only be performed by a user with an administrator access token. Let's say that we log on to Windows Vista as a standard user and we try to install some application or edit some important system settings. Let's go to Start, right-click Computer and then select Manage. We will get UAC prompt asking us to provide Admin password. The standard user token is used to attempt to perform all tasks for both standard users and administrators. If standard user rights are not sufficient to perform the task, the system requests privilege elevation. The standard user is prompted to provide administrator user credentials (username and password). This process is referred to as Prompt for credentials.
67 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
If we install some application with admin credentials, it does not mean that we can run it without admin credentials. Notice the window shield icon on the System Restore shortcut telling us that we are going to be prompted.
Any time we see that shield we will be prompted. Also, we are prompted for admin password every single time we use a particular piece of software. Instead of double-clicking the software we can also right-click it and select Run as Administrator. It is the same thing.
68 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
If we log on to Vista as an administrator, UAC acts a little bit differently. The difference when we are administrator is that we are prompted for consent and not for credentials. This is called Admin Approval Mode. The administrator user is asked whether the administrative token should be used to perform the task. Because the administrator has already logged on with the username and password, this is a simple Continue or Cancel question. This process is referred to as Prompt for consent.
In our case we tried to run System Configuration. All we have to do is click Continue. As administrators we still see the shield icon and we are prompted for credentials. This feature of UAC helps protect the system when an administrator user account is used by running all processes using the least administrative privileges necessary.
Secure Desktop
69 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Here we have an option to turn User Account Control on or off. If we turn it off here it will be turned off for all users on the machine.
UAC Behaviour
We can change how UAC acts in our Local Group Policy. To open group policy editor enter 'gpedit.msc' in Run menu and hit Enter. Let's go to Computer Configuration > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Local Policies > Security Options. Here we can find UAC options.
70 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
We scrolled down to the bottom and we can see 9 different UAC settings. As administrators we can control the behavior of the elevation prompts for standard users and administrators. We can select, for example, to elevate without prompting or to only elevate files that are signed and validated.
Remember
UAC is a feature in Vista that helps minimize the dangers of unwanted actions or unintended software installations. We will see Prompt for credentials when a standard user tries to install some application or tries to edit some important system setting. If we log on as an administrator we will be prompted for consent and not for credentials. Prompting for credentials or consent activates the Secure Desktop which forces us to respond to the prompt. UAC can be turned off, and we can edit UAC behaviour trough Group Policy.
In Windows we should always have some type of software that will protect us from the spyware and other security threats. Windows Defender will help us do just that, and it is offered by Microsoft for free.
Updating
By default, at 2 a.m. Windows Defender will go to the update server and make sure that it has the latest definitions. We can also manually check for definitions.
Real-time Monitoring
Windows defender also includes real-time monitoring agents to help protect our PC. Real-time protection alerts us when spyware or potentially unwanted software attempts to install itself or run on our computer. It also alerts us when programs attempt to change important Windows settings. Real-time protection uses security agents that monitor specific system components and software.
Real-time Agents
There is an agent for IE configuration that keeps track of changes made to our browser security settings. Also there are agents for IE downloads and add-ons such as ActiveX. There is real-time agent for auto startup programs designed to eliminate the danger of spyware running without our knowledge. Defender checks the list of applications configured to run when we start our computer. There are real-time agents for system configuration
71 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Automatic Scanning
Automatic scanning checks files on our computer. Defender can run Quick scan, Full scan and a Custom Scan. A Quick scan checks hard drive locations which are most likely to be infected by spyware. A Full scan checks all files on the hard disk, the registry, currently running applications, and all other critical areas of the operating system. A Custom scan checks only the drives and folders that we specify.
Alert Levels
Alert actions define what to do when a security threat is detected. Each alert is classified with an alert level that describes the seriousness of the potential threat. Alert levels are Severe, High, Medium, Low and Not yet classified. Severe level warns us about exceptionally malicious programs, similar to viruses or worms, which negatively affect our privacy, the security of our computer and damage our computer. We should remove this software immediately. High level warns us about programs that might collect our personal information, damage our computer by changing settings, typically without our knowledge or consent. We should remove this software immediately. Medium level warns us about programs that might affect our privacy by collecting personal information or make changes to computer that could negatively impact our computing experience. We should review and consider removing this software. Low level warns us about potentially unwanted software that might collect personal information about us or our computer or change how our computer works, but is operating in agreement with licensing terms displayed when we installed the software. We should review the alert details or check to see if we recognize and trust the publisher of the software. 'Not yet classified' warns us about programs that are typically benign unless they are installed on our computer without our knowledge. If we do not recognize the software or the publisher we should review the alert details to decide how to take action.
72 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Defender in Vista
We can open Defender in Vista by going to Control Panel > Security > Windows Defender.
From this window we can manually scan our computer. We can select to do a Quick scan, Full scan or Custom scan. From custom scan we can select which files and folders to scan.
73 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Options
To check automatic scan settings we can go to Tools and then Options.
74 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Here we can choose the default action that we want Defender to apply when items with certain levels are detected. If we scroll down again, we can see real-time monitoring agents that are running.
75 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
We can turn them off or on. Scrolling down we can find other options relevant to scanning.
SpyNet
Let's go to the Tools and then Microsoft SpyNet. The SpyNet community is an online Microsoft community that allows us to see if other people have downloaded and installed certain software. This may help us when trying to decide whether to trust downloaded software or not. SpyNet also allows our computer to send Defender information to Microsoft for use in analyzing software.
Joining SpyNet with a basic membership sends information about detected software and the actions we took to Microsoft. Most (but not all) personal information is excluded. We will not be notified of software that has not yet been analyzed. Joining SpyNet with an advanced membership sends more information to Microsoft, which might include additional personal information (although this information will not be shared). We will be notified of software that has not yet been analyzed.
Quarantine
If we go to Tools and then Quarantined items, we can see which programs are prevented from running until we choose to restore them or remove them.
76 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
If we go back to Tools, and then to Allowed items, we can see which programs are always allowed to run.
Software Explorer
77 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
By default, list of programs is sorted by Publisher. We can also sort those programs by startup type by rightclicking on any program and selecting 'Startup Type'. When we select particular program, on the right side we can see additional information about that program.
78 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
When we select particular software, we can remove it or disable it by clicking on the appropriate buttons below. If we select the Currently Running Programs category, we can select particular software and end it by clicking the End Process button.
Alerts
When Windows Defender finds suspicious item it will warn us. Depending on the alert levels we can get different warnings and choose different actions.
79 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
For best protection, we should always keep the definition files up to date. Defender can check for new updates every time a system scan takes place. Windows Defender also uses Windows Updates to automatically download definition files. Non-administrators can use Defender and take actions on software (such as Ignore, Remove, or Quarantine). To run a program in the Quarantined items list, we must restore it on our system. When we run it, Defender will identify it again as a potential security threat. When detected, then we can choose Always Allow to add the program to the list of allowed items so that we can run it again in the future without a prompting. We can review past actions taken by Windows Defender through the History screen, or check for Defender events in Event Viewer. In a corporate environment Group Policy can be used to manage Windows Defender settings on domain members.
Remember
With defender, we can select to do a Quick scan, Full scan or Custom scan. It is recommended to check for updated definitions before scanning. We can select default actions for items detected during scan. The SpyNet community may help us when trying to decide whether to trust downloaded software or not. Quarantined items are prevented from running until we choose to restore them or remove them. Software Explorer displays information about software on our system. When Windows Defender finds suspicious item it will warn us. Depending on the alert levels we can get different warnings and choose different actions. Paths that are mentioned in this article
Control Panel > Security > Windows Defender - path to the Defender in Vista
Firewall in Vista
Parent Category: Vista Category: Applications
Windows firewall allows us to control the flow of traffic to our network interfaces. Firewall has inbound rules for traffic that will be allowed through the firewall from the outside world, and outbound rules which are concerning traffic going from inside to outside. Also, we can have connection specific rules, which are specific to the network interface.
80 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Default Configuration
The default behavior of Windows Firewall in Vista is like XP Firewall. That means that all outbound connections are allowed and the replay traffic is allowed back in. However, all externally initiated traffic coming to the Firewall is blocked. The difference between the XP version of the Firewall and Windows Firewall in Vista is that in XP there were no outbound rules. There was no way to control outbound traffic. Now, in Windows Firewall we can control outbound traffic. Outbound blocking is off by default, so we need to use the firewall MMC snap-in to configure that. We can make exceptions to allow certain traffic through the Firewall. For example if we are hosting a Web server or FTP server behind the Firewall, we can allow those exceptions trough the firewall. To work with Windows firewall with advanced security, we need to use the Windows Firewall MMC snap-in. Here we can get into great detail when customizing the firewall.
Network Location
Great new feature is the ability of blocking the traffic based on the network location type. There are three options for network location type: a domain profile, public profile or a private profile. If we are at work and logged on to an Active Directory domain, we are in the domain profile. In situation like this, it is likely that our Firewall will be turned off to make it easier for administrators at corporate environment to manage our computer. Public profile means that we are connected to a public network and we want to protect ourselves, for example, on the Internet. Private profile is used when we're not connected to the Internet, perhaps at home or some other small network. Based on the profile we're in we will have different Windows Firewall settings. We can also configure settings specifically for each profile.
MMC Snap-in
At the Firewall MMC Snap-in we can create very detailed inbound and outbound rules. We can filter our view by profile when we want to work with specific profile, we can enable or disable existing rules, we can require the use of IPsec for certain rules and we can restrict what users and computers are allowed to use. We can also import or export our policy settings from or to other computers. In MMC we also have real-time monitoring capabilities. We can also configure ICMP exceptions. ICMP is a protocol used for common network diagnostic tools such as ping andtracert. By default, incoming ICMP requests are blocked. We can enable Edge Traversal. Edge Traversal allows the application or service to be accessible from outside of a Network Address Translation (NAT) device. We can configure connection-specific rules such as different port exceptions for different interfaces. For example, we can allow Remote Desktop on the wired interface while keeping it blocked on the wireless interface.
Rules
Rules are still based on protocols port numbers and programs. We can specify rules that only apply to certain range of IP addresses. We can also customize them to only apply to certain profiles.
81 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Example Configuration
There are two main areas where we can configure the Windows firewall. The first is the standard view for Windows Firewall. For that we can go to Control Panel > Security > Firewall. Here we can see if our Firewall is turned on or off and change those settings.
82 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
We can turn on our Firewall with or without exceptions. We would select 'Block all incoming traffic connections' option when we connect to less secure networks. When we select that, all exceptions will be ignored and we will not be notified when Windows Firewall blocks programs. Typical we will leave it to 'On'. We can see which programs or services are allowed trough a Firewall on the Exceptions tab.
83 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
On the Exceptions tab we can see a list of programs and ports that are allowed or not allowed trough the firewall (checked programs or ports are allowed). The Exceptions list is initially created based on the services originally installed on our computer. Each time a program attempts Internet access it is added to the list but not allowed unless we grant permission. We can select any entry in the list and click on the Properties button to get more information on what it does, but not in great detail. For example, let's do that for File and Printer Sharing.
84 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
On the Exceptions tab we can also add our own programs or ports which we want to allow trough the Firewall. To add a program click on the 'Add program...' button.
If the program is not on the list we can browse for it. Also, Notice the 'Change scope...' button.
85 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
We simply enter the application name, enter the port number which the application is using and select the transport layer protocol (TCP or UDP). Here we can also change scope for that particular port. On the Advanced tab we can see network connections on which we have enabled our Firewall.
86 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Advanced Configuration
All settings mentioned until now are enough for end users. Advanced users should configure Windows Firewall with Advanced Security. We can find those advanced features in the MMC console. Enter mmc in search menu and hit enter. Empty MMC will open up. From the File menu select 'Add or Remove Snap-ins', select 'Windows Firewall with Advanced Security' and hit OK. We will manage our local computer. The following windows will appear.
87 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
As we said before, Firewall settings change based on the network location type. Overview window shows us how our firewall will behave in various profiles. Of course, all these settings can be managed trough Group Policies. If we scroll down, we can see that we can set up IPsec connections here.
Here it is referred to as communication authentication or Connection Security Rules, but actually we are configuring IPsec here. IPsec is used to secure IP traffic from one computer to the other. Notice that on the right-hand side of the Console windows we have Actions. We can import and export all our firewall settings. Also, here we can find the Properties button. We can also go to properties if we right-click on the Windows Firewall with Advanced Security.
88 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
In the Properties window we can customize settings based on profiles. Notice the Domain, Private and Public Profile tabs. In each profile we can specify the Firewall state (on or off). For example, common settings for Domain Profile could be that the firewall is turned off. This is the case because administrators manage our Firewall from central location. However, in Private and Public profiles we want to have our Firewall turned on. For each profile we can set some customized settings, so let's click on the Customize button.
89 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
In the Custom Settings windows we can set how notifications are displayed, or how to respond to multicast or broadcast network traffic. Also, we can select how to merge local rules and rules set trough Group Policy. Let's go back and check out Logging.
90 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Let's go back to Domain Profile and turn off our firewall for that profile. When we go back to the Overview window we can see that the Firewall is turned off for Domain Profile.
We assume that we have some kind of enterprise firewall protecting our whole network in this case. On the left-hand size we select to customize our Inbound and Outbound rules. Let's select Inbound rules.
91 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
By default, all externally initiated traffic is blocked unless we have made an inbound rule exception. In contrast, outbound rules are wide opened by default which means that any traffic is allowed out. Now, notice that each rule in Inbound Rules are several times in the list. That's because settings are set for different profiles. Let's try and customize some rule. Let's select Netlogon service, right-click and select Properties.
92 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
We can see if it is enabled or not and short description. On the General tab in the Action section we see IPsec related configuration. Also, important tab is Users and Computers.
93 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
This is where we can configure which computers and users are allowed to use this rule. On the Protocols and Ports tab we can see which protocols and which port this rule applies to. On the Scope tab we can set which IP addresses are allowed to use that particular service. On the Advanced tab we can select to which profiles and which interfaces does this rule apply to. Since there are some settings that we can't modify because this is a predefined rule, we might want to create our own rule. To do that simply right-click on Inbound Rules and select New Rule, or select New Rule option from the Actions pane. New Inbound Rule Wizard will open.
94 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
In the first step we have to select what type of rule we want to create. Our rule can control a program, port, some predefined connections or we can create custom rule. In our case we will select Port and click Next.
On the next screen we have to select our protocol, TCP or UDP. We also have to specify port numbers (if our rule doesn't apply to all ports). We will just enter some example port, choose TCP and click Next. On the next screen we set what to do if the traffic meets specified conditions. In our case we will block the connection and click Next.
95 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
On the next screen we select which profiles does this rule apply to. We will select all profiles and click Next.
On the next screen we can name our rule and give it short description. In our case we named it Example Block Rule. After that we can click Finish. Notice that in the rule list, our rule has little red icon, which means that it will block the traffic that meets this rule.
Disabled rules are grayed out. Let's disable our rule now by right-clicking it and selecting Disable Rule.
96 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Outbound rules function exactly the same way, we just have to set them up.
Remember
Advanced users should configure Windows Firewall with Advanced Security. We can find those advanced features in the MMC console. Firewall settings change based on the network location type. For each network profile we can set customized settings. We can import and export all our Firewall settings. The default log file is called 'pfirewall.log'. By default, all externally initiated traffic is blocked unless we have made an inbound rule exception. In contrast, outbound rules are wide opened by default which means that any traffic is allowed out. Since there are some settings that we can't modify because this is a predefined rule, we might want to create our own rule. Rules with red icon are blocking rules. Green icons represent rules which allow traffic. Disabled rules are grayed out. Paths that are mentioned in this article
Control Panel > Security > Firewall - end user application which can be used to configure Firewall %windir%\sysstem32\LogFiles\Firewall\pfirewall.log - default location of the log file called pfirewall.log
Knowing how to work with or configure media players in Windows is not of crucial importance for computer administrators, but nevertheless, we should know how do default players look and how to work with them.
97 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Notice that when we open WMP, we see our library with all our music by default. The media library organizes digital media on our computer. WMP can go to the Internet and get album covers, song names and other information about our music. We can enable media sharing in the Media Player properties. We can do the same thing through the Network and Sharing Center. Once the sharing is enabled, we can share media with users on the same computer or with users on the same network. Media Player can monitor specific folders on our computer, so when we add media content to any of the monitored folders, the content is added to the library automatically. By default, Media Player will monitor all of our personal folders. We can select other types of media in our library by clicking on the down arrow on the Library tab.
Library Tab
Notice that we can see video files, pictures, recorded TV, and play lists. Using WMP we can also rip audio CDs which we have purchased.
98 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Rip Tab
Rip Options
With WMP we can also burn audio CDs and DVDs. CD burning is available in all versions of Vista, and DVD burning is only available in Home Premium and Ultimate editions. We can also sync our media with removable devices. There are also a bunch of other options to play with in WMP. One of the important ones are privacy and
99 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Security Options
Interesting options are also on the DVD tab. From here we can set playback restrictions and set default languages to use when playing DVDs.
DVD Options
Protected Content
100 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Extenders
The extender accesses digital media on our PC through a network connection and plays that content on the TV. If we have a PC running Windows Media Center, we can get media content from that PC to other devices such as TVs, by using extenders feature. In that case, extender is a TV configured to accept media from Windows Media Center. To send media to other devices we have to go to the extender (the TV), and run a setup program which will connect back to the PC running Windows Media Center. Then we will have to enter eight digit code which will be provided by the extender and enter that digit code in the Windows Media Center, where we will continue the installation of the extender. Because of the availability of wireless networks, we can port our media files using wireless connection to the extender and have our media content available on any supporting device. We can also use wired network if necessary. Each TV requires its own extender. We can connect up five extenders to our PC. Also, we have to ensure that Media Center Extenders is allowed to go trough our firewall. When using wireless connections, we must use an infrastructure wireless setup. Ad hoc wireless networks are not supported. Media Center includes a Network Performance Monitor that tests the network to see if it can support media playback. To open WMC we can go to all programs and then Windows Media Center. The first time we run it, we will see a welcome screen in which we can choose to run setup now or to run it later. In our case we will selest "Custom setup" option.
101 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
WMC Setup
When we click next, we will be warned that we will need to complete required setup and optional setup in order to fully utilize Windows Media Center.
Steps
On the next screen we will be asked to view privacy statement. When we click next again we will be asked to help improve WMC by sending anonymous reports about WMCs performance. In our case we will choose not to join this program. When we click next after that, we will have an option to connect to the Internet to download content like cover art for albums and DVDs, music and movie information, TV Program Guide listings and other Internet services. In our case we will choose "Yes" for that feature.
102 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Optional Setup
WMC interface is designed for remote control, but we can easily move trough menu by using the arrow keys on our keyboard. You will notice that you can go up and down, but you can also go right and left on particular section. When we enter some menu item, we can hit the backspace key if we want to go back. To fully utilize WMC we have to have TV tuner card. This will enable us to watch and record TV signal on our computer by using WMC. To add an extender device we can go to the Tasks > add extender. There are a bunch of other options to play with in WMC. We will not cover them here since it is not not of crucial importance for computer administrators to know how to configure WMC.
103 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Networking
Network and Sharing Center in Vista
Parent Category: Vista Category: Networking
In Windows Vista we can access and configure all networking settings using Network and Sharing Center. We can use it to check the status of network connections, connect to a network, view a graphical representation of network connections, and diagnose and repair network connectivity issues.
Network Discovery
Network Discovery allows our computer to discover others and others to discover our computer. When Network Discovery is on, our computer can see other network computers and devices, and it is also visible to other computers and devices. We can also specify if we're going to allow Printer Sharing, File Sharing, or Media Sharing. When Printer Sharing is on, people with network access can use printers attached to our computer. When File Sharing is on, files stored on our computer are accessible to people on the network. We should use this method of sharing if we prefer to share files directly from any folder on our computer without copying or moving them to the Public folder, and if we require more control over who we share files with on the network. The thing is that there are two ways of sharing files on our network. One way is using standard File Sharing, where we can set shared folders and appropriate permissions. A new feature in Vista, designed to make it easier for end users to share their information is called Public Folder Sharing.
Public Folder
Public Folder Sharing is a way to share files with other people on the network. These files are stored in one central location on our hard drive, in C:\Users\Public. We should use this method of file sharing if we prefer the simplicity of sharing files from a single location on our computer (in the Public folder) and if we want everything we share to be kept in a separate location from the rest of our files. Everyone can access our public folder so we don't have to worry about sharing permissions for individuals. There are some restrictions that we can set. We can set that users can only open files, or we can set that users can open, change, and create files. We can also turn off sharing.
Media Sharing
104 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Example Configuration
To open Network and Sharing Center, go to Control Panel > Network and Internet > Network and Sharing Center.
105 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
In our example we can see that we are connected to the private network. On the network map we can see our computer (ivancic-v), the network that we are in (Home Network), and we can see that we are connected to the Internet. Below the map we can wee we have local and Internet access and that we are using Local Area Connection. To change the name or network location we can click on the Customize link.
106 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
In our case we can see some network devices, but also notice the warning that File sharing is turned off. Now, let's try to turn off Network discovery.
107 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
The list of devices is now gone. We can click on the notification to change Network discovery back to 'on'. There are other things that we can do in Network and Sharing Center. We can connect to another network, set up new connection or network, manage existing network connections and troubleshoot network problems.
Remember
We can configure various network settings using Network and Sharing Center. To change the name of network, or to change network location, we can click on the Customize link. In the Sharing and Discovery section we have various options to share our resources and to secure our computer on the network. To see computers and devices on our network we can click on the 'View computers and devices'. Paths that are mentioned in this article
Control Panel > Network and Internet > Network and Sharing Center - path to the Network and Sharing Center C:\Users\user_name[\music] [\pictures] [\videos] - typical locations which are added to the Media Player's library.
108 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Notice that the connection that we are using is Local Area Connection. To view details about this connection click the 'View status' link.
109 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
We can see that we do have connectivity. Our speed is 1 Gbps. To see even more details we can click on the Details button.
110 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Interesting things here are the MAC address, DHCP status, IPv4 address, Link-local IPv6 address, etc. We can close this window now. To change settings on this connection we have to click the Properties button.
111 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
In our case we want to check IPv4 settings so we will select Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) option from the list and click the Properties button. The following window will appear.
112 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
In our case we currently have the default settings. Our computer will try to obtain an IP address automatically. When this option is set, notice that we have an Alternate Configuration tab visible. Only if DHCP fails, our computer will use the settings from the Alternate Configuration.
113 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
In Alternate Configuration tab we have two options that we can use. We can use APIPA or Automatic Private IP address or we can set our own IP settings. This second option (User configured) is also often called Alternate Configuration. If we don't want to use DHCP we can use static configuration. To do that, in General tab we simply check the 'Use the following IP address' option.
114 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Notice that the Alternate Configuration tab is not visible in this case. Let's cancel all changes that we made for now. Another way to get to our network connections is to go back to the Network and Sharing Center and then from the left menu select the 'Manage network connections' option.
115 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Here we can right-click it and go to the properties of the connection, disable it, diagnose any problems, check the status, etc. Let's open the properties of our connection and open IPv4 configuration.
116 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Notice that the current configuration is set to obtain the DNS server address automatically. If we go to the details of our connection we can find the address of our DNS server.
117 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
In our case the DNS server is also the Default Gateway as well as our DHCP server. Remember that the DNS server IP address can be on different subnet than our computer is. Notice also that we can have proffered and also alternate DNS server configured.
118 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Now, let's try and use the static configuration. We will use the 192.168.1.0 network. Our subnet mask will be 255.255.255.0. The IP address will be 192.168.1.100. Default gateway as well as our DNS server will be 192.168.1.1. Alternate DNS server will be 172.16.1.1.
119 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
After we hit OK, our computer will be able to communicate with all devices on the 192.168.1.0 network.
Remember
We can configure TCP/IP settings for particular connection trough Network and Sharing Center. We have to have administrative rights to make changes. If we have DHCP server on the network, we will use the 'Obtain an IP address automatically' option. If there are some problems with DHCP, our computer will use APIPA or Alternate Configuration (if it's configured). Another option is to use Static Configuration, where we have to manually enter IP address, Subnet Mask, Default Gateway and DNS Server. In that case we will use the 'Use the following IP address' option. Paths that are mentioned in this article
Control Panel > Network and Internet > Network and Sharing Center - path to the Network and Sharing Center
120 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Although Dial-up is obsolete technology today, we may still use it in some special situations. VPN connections are great when we have to connect to remote networks securely, such as our workplace. Dial-up can be used for the same reason.
Dial-up
To configure dial-up and VPN connections in Vista we can go to Control Panel > Network and Internet > Network and Sharing Center and then select 'Set up a connection or network' from the menu on the left. The wizard will appear.
On the picture we can see that we can set up a connection to the Internet, wireless router, dial-up connection, and at the bottom we have a VPN connection. If we had a wireless network adapter, we would see more options. Let's now create a dial-up connection. We already have our dial-up modem installed so we will select 'Set up a dial-up connection' option and click Next.
121 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
On this screen we type in the phone number that our ISP gave us, our user name and password. We also have options to remember our password so we don't have to type it in every time we connect to our ISP. We can also change the connection name. We will allow other people to use this connection. In our case, the example configuration looks like this:
122 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Here we can right-click any connection and go to its Properties. On the General tab we can manage dialing rules, on the Options tab we can set redial attempts, progress display, etc. On the Security tab we can set how to verify our identity. If we go to the advanced settings in the Security tab, we can see that we can use various protocols like PAP, CHAP or MS-CHAP-v2. We can also use EAP or Extensible Authentication Protocol if we have smart cards or certificates.
123 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
124 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
First we have to choose if we want to use a connection that we already have or we want to create a new connection that we will use to connect to the Internet. As we can see on the picture above, we can use our existing dial-up connection which will connect first, and then our VPN will go over that dial-up connection. In our case we will create a new connection, so we will just click Next.
On the next screen we have to choose how we want to connect to our workplace. In our case we will use VPN, which means that we will use our Internet connection. We will not Dial directly. So, we will select the first option. On the next screen we have to enter the IP address or host name of the VPN server.
125 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
In our case the IP address is 100.100.100.100. We will leave the default Destination name. We will allow other people to use this connection. We will also select the option not to connect right away. When we click Next we will have to enter our credentials.
126 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
These properties are similar as Dial-up properties. One difference is that on the Networking tab we can specify what kind of tunneling protocol we would like to use.
127 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
The 'Automatic' option will simply select whatever is available on the VPN server.
Remember
For Dial-up connection we must have a Dial-up modem installed. We have to have valid credentials which will be used to connect to remote server. For VPN connection we must have a VPN server already configured. Typically, we will also have to have some kind of credentials. There are several types of VPN, and we can choose the appropriate one in the properties of the VPN connection (Networking tab). Paths that are mentioned in this article
Control Panel > Network and Internet > Network and Sharing Center > Set up a connection or network path to the connection wizard
128 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Wireless network management has been simplified in Vista. Connecting to wireless networks is now more user friendly.
Notification Area
When trying to connect to wireless networks the first place we can try is the notification area, which is located in the lower right-hand corner. We will click on the icon with two monitors. This icon tells us that we are connected to the network, but in our case this is a wired network.
Notification Area
List of Networks
To see which wireless networks are available we can click on the 'Connect to a network' option. We can also do a right-clik on the icon and select the 'Connect to a network' option. We can also go to the Start Menu and select 'Connect To' option. When we do that, we will see a list of available networks, including wireless networks.
129 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
List of Networks
Notice that we have a drop down arrow which we can use to filter different types of networks in the list. Here we can select between Dial-up, VPN and wireless connections. Also notice that we have a refresh button which we can use to refresh our list ov available wireless networks. Vista will rank available wireless networks based on their signal strength. On the left side we can see the SSID of the network. In the second column we can see if the network is security enabled. Security enabled wireless network can use WEP, WPA or WPA2 configuration. In the last column we see the signal strength. When we put our mouse over some network, we will see a little window in which we can see the SSID, radio type, signal strength and also the security type of the wireless network.
Pop-up Window
In our case we can see that the security type is WPA2, which is good. In contrast to that, we could have WEP, which is easily cracked using some Linux tools. Also notice that the radio type is 802.11g. The wireless connection that we see (H1 Telekom) is infrastructure network, and we can see that by the icon of the network. We can also have an ad-hoc (peer to peer) network. The ad-hoc icon is shown on the picture (SSID: ad-hoc-new).
Ad Hoc Icon
If the network is not using any security method, we will see that in the second column. The icon will also have a small yellow shield on it.
130 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Unsecured Network
When we try to connect some unsecured network, we will get a warning because our information will be visible to others on the network.
Security Key
When we set up a wireless network we have an option to save all the necessary settings for clients to a USB flash drive. If we had this kind of USB flash drive we would insert it at this point and it would automatically set up the connection for us. This is great if we don't want to share the passphrase with end-users. So, we simply enter the network key, click on the Connect button, and we will be connected to the wireless network (if the key is correct of course).
Network Connections
Notice that in our case we have three network connections. Two of them are wired, and one is wireless connection. One connection doesn't have a cable plugged in, other connection is currently connected, and a wireless connection is disconnected. Interesting option that we have here is Bridge Connections. If we right click wireless connection we can select the 'Bridge Connections' option.
This allows us to combine different types of networks (like wireless and wired networks) into one logical network. When we do that, clients on the wireless network will be able to access our wired network and clients on the wired network will be able to access clients on the wireless network. Important thing to know is how to see the properties of the wireless connection. To do that, right-click it and select the Properties option. There we can edit TCP/IP settings for our connection. Now, let's go back to Network and Sharing Center and let's select the Manage Wireless Networks from the left. Here we can set a lot of options for our wireless networks. Notice that we already see one wireless network in the list. That's because we have connected to that network previously.
132 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Wireless Options
Profile Types
By default, all users in Vista can connect to any wireless network that has been set up. We can change this so that users can only use and modify connections that they made themselves. When we do that, there might be some loss of connectivity when we change form one user that has access to some connection, to another user which doesn't have access to that particular connection.
133 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Manually Connect
So, we need to know all of the parameters of the wireless network. When it comes to security types, 'No authentication (Open)' means that there is no security set on the network. WEP type is better then nothing, but it is easily cracked. With WPA-Personal and WPA2-Personal we will use a passphrase to secure our network. With those two types we can also select the encryption type which can be TKIP or AES. 802.1x security type uses certificates to secure the network connection. In our case we have entered SampleSSID as our network name, the security type is WPA2-Personal, encryption type is AES, and we have entered our passphrase. This connection will be saved for all users on our computer and everyone will be able to use it. If you don't want that, you should go back to the 'Profile types' windows and change the settings. One other important thing is to choose the 'Connect even if the network is not broadcasting' option. When we choose that we will be able to connect to the wireless network which doesn't broadcast its SSID. That's it. If all settings are correct, that connection will be listed as the connection that we can connect to.
134 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Ad Hoc Parameters
In our case the network is called 'peer-wireless', security type is WPA2-Personal, and we have entered our passphrase. We will also choose to save our network. When we click Next, other people will be able to connect to us, to this wireless network, if they know the security key. Notice that we can also turn on Internet connection sharing if we want others to access Internet trough our computer using this ad hoc network.
Ad Hoc is Ready
If we go to Start > Connect To, we will see our newly created ad hoc network. Notice the 'Waiting for users to connect' status.
135 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
List of Networks
Remember
Vista will rank available wireless networks based on their signal strength. We should only connect to secured networks. When connecting to a security enabled network we will be prompted for a WEP or a WPA passphrase. When we set up a wireless network we have an option to save all the necessary settings for clients to a USB flash drive. Bridge Connections option allows us to combine different types of networks (like wireless and wired networks) into one logical network. By default, all users in Vista can connect to any wireless network that has been set up on our computer. We can connect to a network which is not broadcasting if we know all all of its parameters. Ad hoc network is peer to peer network.
In this tutorial we will use a ICS feature in Windows to configure our Vista machine as the default gateway on our private network.
136 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Network Connections
Remember that we have to enable ICS on the connection which is connected to the Internet. That's because we want to share that Internet connection with other computers on the network. In our case we will right-click the "Internet Connection", select Properties, and then open the Sharing tab. Here we have to select the "Allow other network users to connect trough this computer's Internet connection" option.
ICS Checked
To configure NAT features we can click on the Settings button here. In this window we can select the services which will be available to Internet users. We will not enable any services now.
137 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
When we click on the OK button, several things will happen. First, our LAN (private) network adapter will be configured to use IP address 192.168.0.1. We can check this on our private connection. Let's open the properties of our Local Area Connection, select "Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)", and click the Properties button.
IPv4 Selected
Notice that our adapter is configured to use the IP address 192.168.0.1 and the subnet mask 255.255.255.0. This happened when we enabled ICS on our Internet connection.
Our ICS computer is now configured as a limited NAT router. It uses NAT on the Internet connection to translate addresses from the private network to the public address. Our ICS server is also configured as a limited DHCP server which provides IP address information for hosts on the private network. ICS computer is also configured as a DNS proxy. Note that other computers on the private network must be DHCP enabled. This way they will get proper IP address information from our ICS server.
138 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Management
Manage Hard Disks and File System in Vista
Parent Category: Vista Category: Management
Hard disk management is closely related to file system management, so we need to be familiar with Disk Management console which we can use to work with our disks.
Device Manager
First let's check our disks in Device Manager. Right-click on computer, select the 'Manage' option, and then go to Device Manager. Let's open Disk drives. Notice that in our case we have one disk installed.
Let's open the properties of that hard disk and then go to the Volumes tab. Here we will click the Populate button which will query the hard drive and find the various volumes that have been configured on the disk.
139 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
In our case we can see that there's one volume with a drive letter of C. While we can see the physical disks that are in our system using Device Manager, to manage file system we will typically go to Disk Management. Let's say that we have bought two new disks and that we have attached the to our computer. We will use Disk Management console to set them up.
Disk Management
Disk Management is also part of the Computer Management console which we have already opened. Simply select it from the menu on the left. To open Disk Management we can always go to Control Panel > System and Maintenance > Administrative Tools > Computer Management > Disk Management. On the top of the Disk Management window we can see all of the volumes that exist on our computer. Notice that we have only one volume. The bottom portion in the middle shows us each individual disk along with the volumes on each disk. Notice that we have two new disks with unallocated space.
140 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
In our case Disk 0 is the first disk and it has one volume (C). To be more precise, we have one partition on our disk, and one volume which is using that single partition. Notice that we also have two other disks which are not initialized and the space is unallocated, so before we move on we have to solve that issue. To initialize a disk simply right-click it (in Disk Management) and select the Initialize Disk option. The following window will appear.
We will use the MBR partition style and click OK. After we have done that we can work with our disks. Let's play with them a bit. Let's create a spanned volume from two disks.
141 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Spanned Volume
Spanned volume is made up of disk space on more than one disk. We can create a spanned volume if we need a volume that is too big for a single disk. We can also expand a spanned volume by adding free space from another disk. To do that right click on Disk and select the 'New Spanned Volume' option. The wizard will appear. We want our new volume to be 512 MB in size so in in our configuration notice that we have taken 256 MB from every disk.
After we click 'Next' we will select to assign a drive letter E to our new volume and to format it using NTFS file system. We will also named it 'Spanned'. Before we continue we will get a warning that our disks have to be converted to dynamic disks.
That's fine with us so we can just click OK. If we look in Disk Management console now, we can see our new volume E. Notice that when we click on it on one disk, it will also be selected on all other disks.
So, the spanned volume contains space from two separate partitions on two separate disks, Disk 1 and Disk 2. Let's create a Stripped Volume now.
Stripped Volume
142 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
We will assign drive letter F to it, format it with NTFS, and label it with 'Stripped'. Our disks in Disk Management Console now look like this.
Simple Volume
Let's also create a simple volume on Disk 1. A simple volume can only be on a single disk. To do that we will right-click on Disk 1 and select the 'New Simple Volume' option. The wizard will appear. In our case we will select the rest of the space on Disk 1 which is 478 MB.
143 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
If we don't assign a drive letter to our volume and if we don't format it, we won't be able to use it in Windows. It will exists as a volume in Disk Management, but as a volume without a drive letter label.
Unallocated Space
Notice that on Disk 2 there's additional space on the disk that is labeled as unallocated. Unallocated simply means that it is a portion of a disk that has not been assigned to a partition or a volume. We can use the unallocated space on the disk to create additional partitions or volumes.
Windows Explorer
We can look at the data that exists on a volume by going to 'Computer' or 'My Computer' in Windows Explorer. Here we can see the volumes that exist on our computer. Those are C:, E:, F: and G:.
Notice that they correspond to the volumes that we have defined in Disk Management. Also notice that the unallocated portion on Disk 2 can not be used in Explorer. To see the files that are saved on a volume we can just double click on the volume. Let's open our Spanned volume. We currently don't have any files on it. To create a file we can simply right-click and chose New. Then we choose a type of document that we want to create. In our case we will create two text documents, Text 1 and Text 2. Of course we can open a program and edit these documents.
144 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
We can also use folders to organize our documents. Folders are simply markers that allow us to organize how the files are viewed on the disk. They don't actually change the position of the file on the disk. They simply change how we see the files when we browse the file system. For example, let's create new folder called 'Intro' and move our file Text 2 to it.
So, we didn't actually moved the file to a different location on the disk. We have simply associated the Text 2 file with the Intro directory. That way as we browse the volume we can use the folders to organize our files.
Formatting
Formatting prepares the volume with the structure that is necessary to save files on the volume. Without formatting the operating system does not know how to identify files within the portion of the disk. Let's see how to format hard drive from Explorer. We wil work on our simple volume which has drive letter G. We have already formatted it, but for the purpose of demonstration we will do it again trough Explorer. We will right click it and select the 'Format' option.
145 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
By default NTFS is the file system type that Windows prefers, although we can also chose FAT or FAT32. We will leave our label 'Simple' and check the Quick Format option. When we click on Start we will get a warning which tells us that formatting erases all the data that's on the disk. In our case this is fine because there's nothing on the disk to begin with. If we have something important on our disk, we have to be sure to back it up.
Remember
We can use Device Manager to view the physical disks that are installed on our computer. By viewing the properties of the disk we can also look at the volumes that have been defined on that disk. With Disk Management we can view the disks, the partitions as well as the volumes for each of the disks. We can also see unallocated space on a disk. We use Disk Management to create partitions, volumes, to perform formatting and assign drive letters. We use Explorer to browse the file system and view the contents of the disk. Folders are ways of organizing files. Files contain the data that programs create.
Windows Mail is a free application available in Windows Vista which we can use to send and receive e-mail messages.
146 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Configuration
To open Windows Mail we can go to Start Menu, and then select E-mail. When we first open it, it will prompt us to open e-mail account. For the purpose of this demo we will use a Utilize Windows e-mail account. The name will be "Marko Ivancic".
On the next screen we will enter our e-mail address, which is forum (at) utilizewindows.com.
E-mail Address
147 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Server Names
Credentials
If everything went fine, the Windows Mail application will now open. On the left hand side we can see Local Folders which contains our Inbox, Outbox, etc. We can also see the Microsoft Communities which stands for newsgroups. On the right hand side we can see a list of e-mails. In our case, we have only one e-mail in our Inbox. If we select that mail, we will see its content in the preview pane which is located below the list of e-mails.
148 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Application
If we want to add additional e-mail accounts, we can go to Tools > Accounts. Here we will see existing accounts, which we can edit. We can also add new accounts by clicking the Add button.
List of Accounts
Some servers will require that we use some advanced settings for our account, like special port numbers, secure connection (SSL) settings, and other settings. For example, if you use a GMail account, you will have to check the 'My server requires authentication' option for the Outgoing mail server. This is enabled in the Servers tab. In our case we don't have to use that option.
149 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Account Properties
Also, sometimes servers will use different ports for their services. For example, GMail requires the use of SSL. The outgoing mail (SMTP) port is 465, while the incoming (POP3) port is 995. All that options can be configured in the Advanced tab. In our case our account can use the default settings, and we don't have to change anything.
Advanced Settings
We can also configure options for Junk filter. To do that we can go to Tools > Junk E-mail Options. As we said, there are several levels of junk e-mail protection levels, and we can choose the right one for us here. We should be careful with those levels, because sometimes we will have legitimate mail sent to the junk folder: We should be careful when deleting e-mails from our junk folder and check for regular e-mails.
150 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
On the Safe Senders tab we can add addresses or domain names to the safe senders list. That way their e-mail will never go to the junk folder. The same is with the Blocked Senders list (their mail will always go to the junk folder). We can also block Top-Level Domain names on the International tab. As we know, some countries are famous for sending a lot of spam. But we should also be careful with those options, because we will block all emails from some country, including legitimate ones. There is also a Phising tab where we can choose to enable protection from messages with potential phishing links. By default it is turned on. For more Windows Mail options we can go to Tools > Options. Here we can choose what to do when we send or receive messages, how often to check for messages, etc. On other tabs we can choose how to format our messages and how to display the ones that we receive. We can also configure our signatures. We should be familiar with settings in the Security tab.
General Options
We can also set rules for our messages if we go to Tools > Message Rules > Mail.
151 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Rules
Troubleshooting
If we can send e-mail but cannot receive it, we should check our e-mail account settings, especially the Incoming server part. We should also verify that firewall settings allow incoming e-mail. If we can receive e-mail but not send it, we should check our configuration with the outgoing mail server settings. If Windows Mail doesn't open when we click on some e-mail link, Windows Mail is probably not set as the default e-mail application on our computer.
Windows Meeting Space is a collaboration tool which can be used to view and edit documents by multiple people at the same time. Meeting Space is not available in Vista Starter edition. Vista Home edition can only join a meeting (cannot host a meeting). Meeting Space uses the People Near Me feature of Vista. People Near Me lets us find meetings and send invitations to other people to join meetings.
Firewall Warning
The new window will pop up. Here we will set up the People Near Me feature. We will enter our display name and choose to allow invitations from anyone. We could also allow invitations only from trusted contacts or from no one. Trusted contacts are those who have digital certificates to verify their authenticity.
The next thing we will see is the Windows Meeting Space window. On the left-hand side we can start a new meeting, join an existing meeting, or open an invitation file to join the meeting.
153 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Let's start a new meeting. We have to enter a meeting name and a password which has to have at least 8 characters.
New Meeting
Before we continue let's look more options by clicking on the Options link. Here we will be able to edit visibility options. With visibility options we can allow people which are signed in People Near Me feature to see our meeting, or we can disable that. If we disable this, only people with invitation will be able to join our meeting. Here we can also configure a private ad hoc peer-to-peer wireless network and set up meetings that way.
Visibility Options
We will continue creating our meeting by clicking on the green arrow button. This will create our meeting. As we can see on the picture, we have a very simple interface.
154 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Interface
On the left-hand side we can choose to share some program or our whole desktop with others. When we click that we will get a warning about a security risk. The risk is that others will see all items on our desktop, but we can actually avoid that by choosing the program from the list. Notice that in our case we have a Windows Calendar application running in the background. In our case we will choose only that application and share it with others.
List Of Programs
We can see how our shared session looks like on other computers by clicking the appropriate option on the Meeting Space window. We can also stop sharing at any time. On the upper right-hand corner we can see the list of participants attending the meeting and invite people to our meeting. To invite others to this meeting, they have to be signed in to the People Near Me.
155 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Invite Window
We don't see anybody on the list, so we will click on the "Invite others" button and create an invitation file. We can send an invitation in e-mail or simply create an invitation file and save it on our computer.
Invitation Options
In our case we will select the second option and save or file to our Documents folder with the name "CicnaviMeeting". This file can then be sent by e-mail, instant messaging, or shared on the network. So, other people have to get this invitation file somehow. The password for the meeting can also be phoned in person, in addition to mentioned methods. In meeting we also have a handouts feature. We can add handouts to our meeting which will then be copied to each participant's computer. In our case we have added one handout which is a picture of a creek.
Handouts
156 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Save Handouts
Here we can also leave the meeting, we can invite others, share our desktop or application, and add handouts. In the upper right-hand corner we can give control of the program we are sharing or our desktop to someone else. We can take it back with the Windows+Escape buttons.
Give Control
On the Options button we can show windows meeting space window, and also connect to a network projector.
Options We cannot be joined to two meetings simultaneously. We have to leave one meeting and then join another separately. We always have to be sure that we trust the people in a meeting since we will typically share our resources. Also, we should only share the specific resources we need to share.
Troubleshooting
In order to set up a meeting we have to make sure that we have network connectivity. Firewall settings also have to be set up. Meeting Space will try to automatically open the correct firewall ports when we first start the application. We must sign in to People Near Me before we can use all the Meeting Space features. The maximum number of participants in a meeting is 10 (one presenting while 9 watch). If Meeting Space won't run, we have to make sure that the proper services are running. Those services are Peer name resolution protocol, Peer networking grouping, Peer networking identity manager and DFS replication. Sometimes others won't be able to see or join a meeting. To resolve this, the person who set up the meeting should have Network discovery enabled in the Network and Sharing Center. Also, other people might not have the correct firewall ports open. During the meeting certain file types cannot be shared. Those files are Encrypting File System (EFS) files.
157 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
MMC Snap In
On the main screen we can see the resource overview which includes the CPU, Disk, Network and Memory. Notice that in our case we have a lot of CPU and Memory usage. To get more details about specific area we can expand specific option. Let's see which process actually consumes our CPU. For that we will expand the CPU section and then click on the CPU column to see the highest value first.
158 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
svchost.exe
In our case we can see that the svchost.exe is currently consuming a lot of processing power. This is OK in our case. Let's now select the Performance Monitor option from the menu on the left. Here we will click on the "plus" icon to add a counter. Notice that here we can add counters from other machines. In our case we added few processor counters, including C1 Time, Idle Time, User Time and Interrupts/sec.
Counters
This will give us real time view of the performance but notice that the data is deleted during time. We only see small portion of data.
159 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Graph
Now let's select the Reliability Monitor from the menu on the left. Reliability monitor keeps track of our system stability over time. Notice that we have a score indicating how stable our installation is.
Reliability Monitor
160 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
DCSs
After some time we will stop the process of collecting data in the same way. All data will be saved in the C:\perflogs\ folder. But, now we can also take a look at reports of our data set. From the menu on the left we will select Reports, then System, then System Diagnostics. Notice that now we have a ready report available.
Reports
From the report we can see all kinds of information, and among other things we can see that our CPU has high load so we should investigate this. We can get a lot of details from those reports.
161 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Event Viewer
Event Viewer is another snap-in so we can simply select it from the menu on the left, if we have opened Computer Management console. In Windows Vista, Event Viewer has a redesigned interface. It is designed to look like Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM). In the menu we still have standard Windows Logs portion.
Event Viewer
Windows Logs section includes Application, Security and System logs. We also have some new sections which include Custom Views and Application and Services Logs. We also have Microsoft logs which gives us many ways in which we can keep track of what's going on the computer. On the right side we have some additional actions that we can take. Among others we can filter our logs which is often useful. If we go to Properties, we can subscribe to other computers to receive logs from them also. So in one location we can gather data from multiple machines.
Updates are used to fix bugs in the code, to fix security issues or to add new features to our installation.
162 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Windows Updates
Notice that in our case there are 15 important updates that we should install. We are using Vista Ultimate so we also have some additional (Extras) available for download. On the menu on the left we can choose to manually check for updates. We can also choose to change the update settings.
Update Settings
Notice that in our case the system will check for updates, but we will choose when to download them and install them. Starting from Vista we can also choose to download and install recommended updates automatically. On the previous window we can also choose to view update history.
163 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Update History
On this list we can right-click any update and view the details about it. On this windows there is a link to "Installed Updates". From Installed Updates we can remove particular update if we need to.
Installed Updates
Installed Updates can be found in Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features > Installed Updates.
164 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Windows Vista has several diagnostic tools which can be used to troubleshoot various problems.
Task Manager
Task manager is the classic tool used to troubleshoot our computer. To open Task Manager, right-click on the Taskbar and select Task Manager option. In Vista, Task Manager is a bit different then previous versions. We have several new tabs, and some new features. For example, in Processes tab we can now see processes that belong to all users. In this tab we can also end particular process, set its priority, etc. A new tab is the Services tab. This tab lists all services on our system and their status (running or stopped). From this tab we can also go to Services MMC snap-in directly by clicking the "Services" button. The Performance tab is the same as in previous version of Windows. In this tab we can see current CPU and memory usage. The new thing here is the Resource Monitor button. This button will open up Resource Monitor tool. Resource Monitor will basically give us more detailed information about the performance of our computer. We have a separate article in which we discuss performance issues in Vista. In Task Manager we can also track network usage on the Networking tab, and see all active users on the Users tab.
165 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Network Diagnostics
Problem Reporting
As you can see, in our case we don't have any problems right now. If we had some problems, we could click on the "Check for new solutions" option to check for solutions on the Internet. After we have done that, some new solutions appeared. That's because we had some problems in the past, and now there are solutions available to those problems.
New Solutions
167 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Memory Diagnostics
We can choose to reboot our computer immediately and then scan our memory, or we can choose to check for problems the next time we start our computer
The older NT Backup program that was available in Windows XP is replaced by the Backup and Restore Center in Windows Vista. It comes with some great new features.
New Features
168 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Backup Status
On the first screen we see that the automatic file backup is not set up in our case. We will click on the "Set up automatic file backup" option. On the next screen we can select where do we want to save our backup. The options are hard disk, CD, DVD, or a network location. In our case we will enter the UNC path to the network location and click Next.
169 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Backup Location
If we had multiple disks on our computer we would be able to select which disks do we want to back up. In our case we only have one disk, so we move on to the next screen where we have to select the file types that we want to back up.
What to Back Up
Note that we can't actually choose specific files and folders, but using the Recovery Wizard we can select specific files to restore. System files, executables, temporary files, files encrypted using Encrypting File System (EFS), program files, recycle bin, files stored on FAT file systems and user profile settings will not be backed up. We cannot back up files to the system or the boot partition. For the purpose of this demo, we will only select Documents.
170 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
How Often
On the next screen we can select how often do we want to create a backup. We will do it weekly. The first backup will be performed right away.
Complete PC Backup
This feature creates a image-based backup including programs, system settings and files. In short, everything we need to restore our system is backed up, so we can use it in case of hard dick crash or similar. We can create the Complete PC backup manually by clicking on the "Create a backup now" option.
Complete Backup
Complete PC Backup can only be stored on hard disk or on DVDs. In our case we have plugged in a hard disk so we will select the hard disk option, and click Next.
171 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Location
On the next screen we have to confirm our backup settings. Here we can also see how much space the backup could take. To restore from the Complete PC Backup, we can boot our computer from the Vista DVD and choose a Complete PC Restore option, or we can go to the Backup and Restore Center in Vista and select the "Restore computer" option.
The Center
172 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
System Restore
The different part is the left menu with tasks. Here we can choose to repair Windows using System Restore or to create a restore point. If we click on the "Create a restore point" option, a System Protection tab will open.
System Protection
Here we can create restore points manually or change restore settings. Restore points can be used to undo unwanted system changes. By default restore points are only made on the system drive. If we need to restore our system files to an earlier point in time we can click on the System Restore button. A new window will pop up in which we will be able to choose the recommended restore, or some other restore point.
173 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Restore System
If we select "other restore point" option, we will get a list of available restore points.
Restore Points
This is great because if we installed some application which caused some problems, from here we can restore our system to the date prior the installation of problematic application. Thanks to the System Restore technologies, we can also restore previous versions of files. If we go to the properties of some file, we will see a Previous Versions tab.
174 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Previous Versions
If the System Restore created a snapshot of the file, we will see a previous version of the file here.
Windows Vista comes with bunch of options to effectively work with mobile devices.
Mobile Devices
Mobile devices such as laptops, tablets, PDAs, smart phones, cell phones, all have some special configuration options which ordinary desktop computers don't require. Most mobile devices can be synchronized with a desktop PC. Vista has the sync center which we can use to synchronize data between the Vista machine and other PCs, servers, and mobile devices.
Sync Center
The Sync Center enables us to configure synchronization partnerships. Partnerships are a set of rules which control the synchronization. In general, we simply connect our device, configure the partnership and then choose what we want to sync. Mobile Device Center is another name for Active Sync feature. Sync Center is available in Control Panel.
175 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Sync Center
In our case we currently don't have any partnerships configured, but this is where we would go to set sync partnerships with other computers and mobile devices. Partnerships can be either one-way or two-way.
Mobility Center
Mobile Display
There are two basic options when configuring mobile display settings. This depends on whether we are working with the external display or some kind of projector. With an external display we can go to the Windows Mobility Center to connect to the display device. We can also go to Appearance and Personalization option in the Control Panel to configure display settings. External display can be:
mirrored - Desktop is duplicated on all display devices. extended - every display shows different parts of Desktop. By default, the source display has the Start Menu. only external display used - original display is turned off. Vista also has an option to connect to a network projector across the network.
176 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Presentation Options
In Mobility Center we can also work with presentation options. With this options we can make sure that the computer always stays turned on. We can also disable system notifications, screen saver, set the volume, choose the background, and work with connected displays.
User accounts in Windows are used for controlling the security on the computer and for saving user settings.
177 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Notice that the Guest account is here but it is disabled. Also, notice that we don't have a default Administrator account visible. We will see the reason for that shortly. To create a new account we can simply click on the "Create a new account" option. In our case, the name of our new user will be Ana, and she will have administrative rights on the system.
New User
To change an account we can simply select it from the list of accounts. The following window will appear.
Here we can change the account name, change the picture, etc. Here we can also set the password for the account.
178 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Set Password
So, all this is just one way of managing user accounts on the Vista system. Another way is to use the Computer Management console.
When we select Users, we will see all available users on the system.
179 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Users
Notice that we can see the Administrator account here, but it has a little down-arrow on it. This means that the account is disabled. If we right-click the account, we can go to its properties.
Administrator Properties
On the properties window we can see that the Administrator account is disabled. If the account is disabled, it can't be used to log on to the system. To enable the account, we can simply uncheck the "Account is disabled" option. To set the password for the account we can right-click the account and select the "Set Password" option. We can also reset the password this way if the user forgot the password. To manage groups we can select the Groups option from the menu on the left.
180 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Groups
Here we have a list of the default groups on the system. Every group has its description so we can see what type of access the members of the group have. To see the members of the group we can right-click it and go to its properties. Let's check the properties of the Administrators group.
Administrators Group
181 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Users Group
Notice that here we have users that are also members of the Administrators group. So, users can belong to multiple groups. In fact, all users that we create will be members of the Users group. To add the user to the group we can click on the Add button from the properties window. The Select Users window will appear. Here we have to enter the name of the user and click the Check Names button. We will try to add Kim user to the Administrators group.
182 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
In our case we entered "Kim" and clicked on the Check Names button. If we are not sure of the user name, we can click on the Advanced button and search for users on the system. We can also manage group membership for particular users. Let's go back to users, go to the properties of the Kim user account, and then go to the Member Of tab.
Member Of Tab
Here we can see that the Kim user is now member of the Administrators and Users groups. To add this user to another group we can click on the Add button. The Select Groups window will appear, so now we have to enter the name of the group and click on the Check Names.
183 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Select Groups
In our case we entered the "Backup Operators" group and clicked on the Check Names button. Again, if we don't know the exact group names, we can always click the Advanced button, and search the system for available options.
With Power Options in Vista we can configure how our computer uses power.
Power Options
To configure Power Options in Vista we will go to the Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Power Options.
184 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Power Plans
Here we can select a power plan. As you can see there are three predefined plans: Balanced, Power saver, and High performance. We can customize each plan as we like. Let's look at the balanced plan.
In our case we see options in case our computer runs on battery and in case our computer is plugged in. If you don't have a battery, you'll only see option for the plugged in state. If we click on the "Change advanced power settings" option we will see many other options that we can configure.
185 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Advanced Options
Here we can change the plan which we want to customize and then change particular setting. We can configure how logn the computer will wait after a period of inaction before turning off the hard disk, we can modify the how our wireless adapter, USB devices, PCI devices, display devices, CPU, and other use power. On the left hand side of the Power Options window we have a "Choose what the power button does" option.
If you are not on a laptop, you will probably only see the power button option. We can also create a custom power plan, but I don't think that you will be using that option very often :).
186 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
File System
Encrypting File System Configuration in Vista
Parent Category: Vista Category: File System
In this tutorial we will see how to work with file encryption in Windows Vista.
Encrypting Files
In this example we will first take a look at how to encrypt some file. We have some example text file in our example folder. To encrypt our "Example File", we will right-click it, and on the General tab we will click on the "Advanced" button. The "Advanced Attributes" windows will appear, and here we will check the "Encrypt contents to secure data" option.
EFS Checked
When we click OK button, and then OK again, we will get an Encryption Warning window. We will have to choose if we want to encrypt the file and its parent folder, or if we want to encrypt the file only. If we choose the first option, everything inside the folder will be encrypted. In our case we will encrypt the file only.
187 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
EFS Warning
Notice that the file which is encrypted is colored green. This tells us visually that the file is encrypted. We can still open that file because we have encrypted it (we have the private key).
Green File
If we right-click that file again, go to its properties, and click the Advanced button again, we can now click the "Details" button. When we do that, a "User Access" window will open. This window lists all users which have access to that particular file. By default this list will contain only the user which encrypted the file.
188 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Note that in this window we can click on the "Add" button to name additional users which will have access to our encrypted file. We can only add individual users, meaning we can't add groups of users. The lower part of this window lists all DRAs which have access to the file. Vista installation which is not a member of the domain does not have a DRA by default. Now let's try to access that encrypted file by using another account on our system. In our case we will use the "hrlec" account, which is a standard user account (doesn't have administrative rights). Our file is located in "C:\Example Folder\Example File.txt". Let's try and open that file with "hrlec" account.
Access Denied
We are able to access the folder in which the file is located, but we are not able to open the file. We get a "Access is denied" message. EFS doesn't care about the NTFS permissions which are set on the folder and file, it only cares about its own permissions. Now, let's create new file in this folder by using the "hrlec" account and encrypt it. We will encrypt the file only. Now we have two files which are both green, so we don't actually know which user has access to which file.
189 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Two Files
Let's go to the properties of the "hrlec file", and add another user which will have access to that file. To do that we will click the Details button in "Advanced Attributes" window, and then click on the "Add" button. In our case we only have two accounts which can be added to the list. In order for users to appear in this list, users have to already use EFS in some form. If they are not using EFS, they will not be in this list. To use EFS, user can simply encrypt some file, and that will include him in the EFS. This will create their certificates.
User Certificates
In our case we will select the "ivancic" certificate and add it to the list. Remember that if we loose our EFS keys, we wont be able to access our files which are encrypted. To back-up keys we can click on the "Back up keys" button in the "User Access" window. We have to select the user from the list and then click the button. The wizard will appear. In our case we are able to create a PFX file which contains the private key.
hrlecKey File
We should keep that file in a safe place. Only original user should have access to that file. When we click Next, we have to enter the password to maintain security. After the password, we simply specify the name of the file which will be exported. In our case this will be "hrlecKey", and we will save it in "C:\Example Folder\".
190 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
To open the key management wizard we have to click the "Manage your file encryption certificates" option. We can use this wizard to select or create certificates, back up certificates and keys, etc.
As computer administrators we have to know how to manage NTFS and Share permissions on our computer. This will help us to ensure privacy of our data.
191 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Security Tab
By default, all permissions are inherited from parent object (parent folder). This is why we will always see some default permissions on our folders and files, even if they are newly created. As we see in our case, certain users and groups are already in the list. Also, notice that we can't change inherited permissions by default (they are grayed out). The inheritance can be turned off, and in that case we will be able to change all permissions. To change current permissions we can click the Edit button. A new window will pop up, and here we we will be able to add new users or groups of users to the list, or change permissions for current users or groups.
192 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Edit Permissions
To add new users or groups, we can click the Add button. New windows will pop up, and here we have to select the object which will be added to the list. In our case we will add the "Users" user group.
Add Users
193 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
To turn inheritance on or off, we have to click the Advanced button which is located on the Security tab. New window will pop up.
194 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Advanced Permissions
Notice that in this list we can see from which objects are our permissions inherited from. In our case our "Demo" folder which is located on the Desktop inherits permissions from the C:\Users\Admin\ object. To change inheritance settings we can click the Edit button. New window will pop up. To turn off inheritance we have to uncheck the "Include inheritable permissions from the object's parent" option. When we do that we will get the following warning.
Inheritance Warning
We have to select if we want to leave all existing entries (the Copy option), or remove them. If we leave existing entries we will be able to change them. If we remove them, we will be able to set brand new permissions. In our case will select the Remove option. When we do that, we will see that the only permissions that are left are those that we manually set previously (we have added the Users group to the list).
195 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Inheritance Removed
Even if we remove all users from this list, the owner of the object will always be able to access it and set permissions on it. The owner of the object is the user who created it, but we can also change the owner. To do that we can go to the Owner tab in the advanced Security settings.
Owner Tab
196 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Effective Permissions
Effective Permissions tab is great when we need to determine permissions for users which belong to multiple groups. Another interesting feature is the Auditing tab. Here we can set events which will be tracked on the current folder. Events will then be visible in the Event Viewer console.
Sharing Permissions
We share folders on our computer to allow users to access our data over the network. To get to the Share options and permissions, we can right-click certain folder and select the "Share" option, or we can go to the Properties of the folder and select the Sharing tab. First let's check the Sharing tab.
197 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Sharing Tab
Notice that our "Demo" folder is not shared currently. Let's click the Advanced Sharing button. New window will pop up.
198 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Share Name
In this window we can select to share this folder and enter the share name. Notice that the share name doesn't have to be the same as the folder name. To set Share permissions we can click the Permissions button. New window will pop up.
199 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Share Permissions
The default permission for Shares is the Everyone group with Read permission. This means that everyone will be able to read the content from our shared folder, so we should be careful when dealing with the Everyone group. We may or we may not want that group in the list. As with NTFS permissions, here we can add additional users or groups of users to this list. When thinking about effective permissions on shared folders, we have to keep in mind that both NTFS and Share permissions are applied to shared folders. So, the cumulative NTFS permissions and cumulative Share permissions are combined, and then the more restrictive permission is applied. For example, if we have Full Control NTFS permission, but we have Read Share permission, the effective permission will be Read (when we access the folder over the network). Also, if we have the Full Control Share permission, and we have the Read NTFS permission, the effective permission will be Read. So, as you can see when combining NTFS and Share permission, the effective permission will be the more restrictive one. Remember that the NTFS and Share permissions are only combined when we access folder over the network. If we access folder locally, only NTFS permissions are applied. To check for some general sharing settings we can go to the Network and Sharing Center in the Control Panel.
200 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Sharing Center
Notice that the File Sharing setting is currently turned on. This happens automatically when we share some folder on our computer. Even if we turn off this option in the Network and Sharing Center, shared folders that we previously configured manually will still be available over the network. So, we should be careful when looking this option in the Network and Sharing Center. In fact, if we want to turn sharing off, we should do that manually on every single shared folder. Now, let's also check the new sharing procedure intended for end users. Let's right click our Demo folder and select the Share option. Our folder is already shared, so we will get the following window.
Here we will choose to change sharing permissions. On the next screen we can set additional options.
201 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Note that we don't see the standard sharing options and permissions. Here we can also add or remove users and groups, and we can give them specific permission levels or roles. The roles are Reader, Contributor and Coowner. Reader role has read access, Contributor role has read and change permissions, and Co-owner has full control. This new interface is intended to make sharing easier for end users. In Network and Sharing Center we also have an option for Public folder sharing. The public folder is a single folder on the computer which can be used by all users to share their files. Local users will always have access to the public folder, but for network users we have to enable this option.
We have an option to allow users to only read files, or to allow them to also change and create files. Public folder is located in C:\Users\Public. Public folder is also here to make it easier for end users to share their files with all users. Computer administrators should be familiar with the Administrative Tools MMC console where all the shared folders can be listed. To open Computer Management we can go to Control Panel, or we can run it from the Search menu by entering the compmgmt.msc. Once in Computer Management we can go to the Shared Folders to see the list of all shared folders on our computer.
202 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Notice that we can see our "Demo Share" folder, and we can also see some other shares which end in "$". Those shares are automatically created and users with administrative rights can always use those shares to access data on computer over the network.
203 www.utilizewindows.com Free Windows Tutorials Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)