Lexica

For those who have spent the last five years using the Windows XP operating system, it must surely have grown under your skin and a switch to the latest Microsoft operating system Windows Vista may not be exactly the most desirable thing. No doubt, with Windows XP you had to put up with a number of patches as well as updates and of course in all this time the face of computing had undergone many changes.

At present, users need to use the Internet to perform downloads of various tools, and software products, and of course, you must have got used to downloading your favorite music as well as video using the Windows XP operating system. As a matter of fact, for many years Microsoft has been working in developing a radically different operating system in the form of the Windows Vista which is the product of extensive research and development.

Now that the testing and adjustments have been finished, Windows Vista is the new operating system being shipped with all new hardware, and so it pays to find out just how its launch is going to affect you. The first thing that will strike you is that Windows Vista is not radically different from Windows XP and so there is less to learn once you make the switch. In fact, you will feel very much at home using the Vista operating system, though once you dig a little deeper into how each works, there will be a few notable differences.

Windows Vista of course has a number of new tools and features that help you to perform your computing quicker and in an easier manner and best of all, using this new operating system is actually quite a lot of fun. There are also certain developments that make your Vista more intuitive as well as safer and secure. What’s more, there are as many as eight different Vista editions with some versions specific to certain companies and also to large corporations.

If you are living in the United Kingdom, you can opt for either Vista Home Premium or Vista Home Basic that essentially are very much like your old Windows XP Home Edition. However, if you need something even more advanced, you can opt for Windows Vista Ultimate that is the equivalent of Windows XP Professional Edition.

Vista sports a whole new design including the excellent transparency effects which you get provided you have a powerful enough graphics card. The Start button has gone and been replaced with Windows Logo. Overall, Vista is very efficient, and searching is integrated very tightly into your Start menu. For first time users, there is a Welcome Center that shows you how to configure your system.

A new feature is Parental Controls and in addition, there is also Windows Sideshow to specify what must be displayed on this screen. Control Panel options have been given a new name and the old Display Properties is now known as Personalization. New tools have been added and now Windows Mail replaces Outlook. XP Pictures as well as Fax Viewer are now Windows Photo Gallery, and the way folders are displayed is also new.