Anyone who’s read about Windows Vista in the press will be aware that some people have taken a strong dislike to it. If you’re thinking of buying a new computer for Christmas, or in the January sales, that may put you off: after all, just about every new PC comes with Vista installed. So should you worry?

Fortunately, the answer is no. Although Vista does have some downsides, most problems are caused when upgrading Windows XP computers to Vista or running very old software. Better still, Vista includes a few great tools that you just won’t find in Windows XP or any older version of Windows. Some are entirely new programs, some are tweaks, while others work behind the scenes to beef up security or improve the way Windows handles audio and video. In this issue we’ll explain 10 of the best features in the most common version of Vista, Home Premium.

Instant search
Instant search is one of the best things ever to happen to Windows. Where Windows XP put an annoying cartoon dog in charge of finding files, Vista has a search box above the Start button in the bottom left of the screen. Better still, it’s far faster than XP at finding things, with results starting to appear on the menu as soon as the first character has been typed into the search box; carry on typing and Vista refines the list until the elusive file is revealed and ready to be opened.

It’s also possible to search inside individual disks, folders and subfolders using the search box at the top right of each window. And, because nobody’s perfect, Vista includes an Advanced Search option along with each search result. This means that, if the answer’s not there, it’s easy to refine the search by filtering the results: you can search by document type, date, author and so on. Programs aren’t ignored either and Photo Gallery, Media Player and Internet Explorer all include the new search box.

So why is Vista’s search so much quicker? Because it creates an index of the files on the hard disk and zips through that, rather than searching the actual contents.

Windows Calendar
XP users who’ve had to fork out for Microsoft Outlook in order to get organised will enjoy the altogether simpler charms of Windows Calendar, which looks as though it’s learned some design lessons from Apple’s iCal and provides all the scheduling tools most of us will ever need. It provides day, working week, week and month views, includes a to-do list and supports multiple, colour-coded calendars, making it easy to create and maintain co-existing schedules for work, family, school and hobbies.

Windows Calendar also understands ICS files of the type widely used by other electronic calendars (including Google Calendar), so it’s possible to subscribe to an online calendar and get automatic updates whenever the content changes ­ or to synchronise one or more online calendars manually, using the Sync command in the Share menu. This is useful for all kinds of things where schedules are subject to change: sports fixtures, rehearsals, school timetables and so on. It’s everything you need to keep organised, and it’s right there in the Start menu when you need it.