A first look at Windows Vista (finally!)
More control over volume
Vista's audio stack has been completely rewritten, making this versatile mixer possible. You can control the volume for individual programs, including system sounds, by using the individual sliders.
See also:
See also:
- Will Windows Vista be worth the wait?
- Vista Mythbusters
- Vista Media Center: Ready for the living room?
- 10 tips and tweaks for Vista experts
Just In
Wow - you can set the volume for individual applications now?
I've been dreaming of that for years!
I've been dreaming of that for years!
"Vista's Disk Management console includes the capability to shrink or extend a hard disk partition (called a volume in Windows-speak) so you can configure a dual-boot system or move data files to a separate volume. In all previous Windows versions, this required third-party tools."
Will it be able to do this without losing data???
That's the important question!
Will it be able to do this without losing data???
That's the important question!
I've shrunk and extended many disks. It's very, very fast and hasn't caused a single problem for me.
Rapartitioning has always been a most problematic part of Windows, glad to see it's much easier now!
I would presume that on a system like mine, which is too old to support 48-bit LBA in BIOS (and which requires a software solution), the answer would probably be "no". (Even a third-party app, Acronis Disk Director 10, to be specific, fouled up my 250Gb main drive when I attempted to create a second partition on that drive.)
A decent PCI-based IDE controller would cost you about $10. Why not do that?
Its like they finally became computer users themselves and made the operating system truly useful. It looks like its ready for the next 5 years of future computing. great!
Are you using any ad-blocking software? I suppose it's possible that the screens are being blocked for you.
Tried it in both IE 6 and FF 1.5.0.7 ... Made sure all IE, Google Toolbar, and FF Popup/Ad blockers are off ... still no images. Upgraded FF to 1.5.0.8 and same result. Trien opening them in new windows, new tabs ... nothing. The windows/tabs come up, but have the same content as the parent. Checked FF Extensions for conflicting applets, nothing that would block images/windows. Strange.
Rebooted and wallah ... there are images here! Ain't technology wonderful ??? [sheesh] As Rosanna Rosanna Danna used to say ... "Nevermind".
Yes I know wallah isn't a real word, but I don't speak French, so .... hehe 
I work in a shop with about 40 graphics designers who mainly use Macs, but some of the production work is also done on Windows. Some of my power users run into real problems with Windows that aren't evident in casual use, but still manage to cause problems. It would be nice if MS has managed to fix some of these in the new version of Windows.
Ever tried to read from a smudged CD or DVD? It basically locks up almost everything in Windows.
Ever tried to transfer thousands of files from directory or device to another? Windows hits some kind of limit that slows it to a crawl when the selection is over a couple of thousand files.
Ever tried to transfer thousands of files from a CD or DVD? Windows goes crazy, causing the optical drive to do thousands of unnecessary seeks and taking HOURS to transfer mere megabytes.
Disk maintenance and volume maintenance on Windows has not kept up with the expanding capacities. The tools available today were designed to manage disks sizes of 10 years ago, not the gigabyte monsters available today.
Ever tried to read from a smudged CD or DVD? It basically locks up almost everything in Windows.
Ever tried to transfer thousands of files from directory or device to another? Windows hits some kind of limit that slows it to a crawl when the selection is over a couple of thousand files.
Ever tried to transfer thousands of files from a CD or DVD? Windows goes crazy, causing the optical drive to do thousands of unnecessary seeks and taking HOURS to transfer mere megabytes.
Disk maintenance and volume maintenance on Windows has not kept up with the expanding capacities. The tools available today were designed to manage disks sizes of 10 years ago, not the gigabyte monsters available today.
file transfers and disk maintenance. not sure about the other one
yews it is a pain, but if you do it a lot, it is worthwhile to start/run cmd, then use xcopy to copy files from one device or folder to another - many many times faster
So Does any experienced user need more, larger graphics to work with a computer? Don't most experienced users just want to use their apps?
--not impressed so far...
--not impressed so far...
are you just a small child who just looks at pictures or did you read the captions? theres nothing in there that talks about large icons.
Thanks for the walk thru. Looks very good to me and if it works without a lot of critical problems even better. Next we come to the price of getting this new wonder. I myself will wait for others to get the bugs fixed and Microsoft to decide that everyone cannot afford their high prices. Some of us are Seniors and need some sort of Senior price too.
BBaker7958
BBaker7958
I think he meant the old Apple Mac 'Classic' look.
hehe
hehe
Microsoft's mother of invention has again given birth to a fledgling that will need more post release care than the WMD hype. When will microsoft realize that the public is tired of release now and fix forever. Hackers don't make the flaws, they just find them. Perhaps microsoft should hire them for the nth million lines of code this release has.
Yes it will be serviced and patched many times over, but Vista is the next step in the advancement of computers. What the public is actually tired of is vandals and scumbag scammers f'ing around in their online business. Microsoft is trying to make an easy useful operating system and make a ton of money.
Not sure if I may have missed something here but doesn't this look alot like the organization on MAC OS X? Looks like Gates is still stealing MAC ideas and getting away with it.
I kinda like my Windows to look like and run like
my Mac and Vice versa. A neat feature is a good
thing and I want it on both boxes.
my Mac and Vice versa. A neat feature is a good
thing and I want it on both boxes.
I just heard last week that every sound card that provides hardware acceleration of audio thru DirectSound will get iced out by Vista because the new stack has done away with the Hardware Abstraction Layer.
While it's a good idea to get as much stuff out of the kernel as possible - M$ is probably tired of Windows getting blamed for poor HW drivers - the side effect of progress is the past get kicked to the curb and any games or cards that can't run the OpenAL API are hosed and will revert to plain old stereo.
I'm surprised this hasn't been more known sooner. Creative has had some statements about this in the past week.
While it's a good idea to get as much stuff out of the kernel as possible - M$ is probably tired of Windows getting blamed for poor HW drivers - the side effect of progress is the past get kicked to the curb and any games or cards that can't run the OpenAL API are hosed and will revert to plain old stereo.
I'm surprised this hasn't been more known sooner. Creative has had some statements about this in the past week.
Or can you toss all the fancy idiot-mode crap in the wastepaper basket and get a full set of menus on all windows?
Join the conversation!
The best of ZDNet, delivered
ZDNet Newsletters
Get the best of ZDNet delivered straight to your inbox
Vendor Showcase
