 Let's face it. Most of us who are using Windows XP now, will be using Windows Vista sometime in the near future. Even if you have already made the plunge, you will find that Vista has many wonderful features that are not obvious when you first start using it.
Those of you who lament the fact that manufacturers don't include user manuals any more may be pleasantly surprised to find that although Vista doesn't have a printed user's guide; it does have some valuable tutorials.
Just click on "What's new in Windows Vista" from the Welcome Center in the center of your desktop and you can watch demos of topics such as searching, organizing, security, sharing, networking, parental controls, and many more. These tutorials are very well done and even better, they are printable. So after you watch one you can print the transcript to go over portions that you especially want to remember.
Oh, you say you don't see a Welcome Center in the center of your desktop. That's because some manufacturers ship Windows Vista with the Welcome Center on the screen and some don't. If you don't see it you can click on the Start button (which is now a large round button in the lower left corner). Then choose All Programs, then choose Accessories, then choose Welcome Center
But wait. There is an easier way to find things in Vista. Just click on the Start button and type the word welcome into the search box. The first item at the top of the results list will be the Welcome Center. Click it and it will appear on your desktop. This is a cool new feature in Vista. You may never have to search through the program files to find the program you want in Vista. Just click on Start and type the name of the program and Vista will find it for you. And Vista performs some pretty smart searches. If you type in Microsoft, it will find all your Microsoft programs. Type in Word and the first result will be Microsoft Word.
Not only has the search function for finding programs been improved, but the general search features in Vista make it much easier to find things. You can use the search box that appears when you click on the Start button to search the entire computer. The results are separated into categories like programs, favorites, and files.
Every folder that you open also has a useful search box of its own that you can use to search that folder. A search for any word or phrase will find files with those words and will also find files that use those words within the document itself. This is very handy for those of us who have trouble remembering where we put documents as well as exactly what we called them.
Another valuable feature in Windows Vista is called the Sidebar. Again, this may or may not be on the desktop of a new Vista machine. The Side bar is easily recognizable because in the default setting it has a large round conventional clock on the top, a nice feature for those of us who still know how to read the time on an analog clock. If you don't see the clock or the Sidebar, just click on the Start button, type in Sidebar, and it will be listed at the top of the results.
The Sidebar is a set of gadgets that you can customize. You can have a clock, a weather report, a stock watch, a calendar, a notepad, a slideshow or many other gadgets on your desktop all the time. While Macs have had similar capabilities in its Dashboard for years, this is a new and very useful feature for Windows users.
Vista also offers many other functional features like the ability to show TV on your PC, a new Back Up and Restore Center, and better methods for syncing your files and folders with other people and other devices. There are also new accessibility features that make inputting information easier. These include built-in voice recognition and ways to make the keyboard and mouse easier to use. In future columns we'll explore some of these new features so you'll be ready for Vista when it comes your way.
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