Top 20 Windows Vista fixes

As a relative newcomer, Vista can’t boast the maturity and stability of Windows XP.

Despite Microsoft’s bold claims, the operating system still retains some kinks that need to be ironed out.

Compared with XP, many new features have been added, but early adopters have been frustrated by some seemingly unnecessary changes, as well as compatibility and performance issues.

In some cases, it’s just a matter of getting used to the way Vista does things, but there are some XP features missing in the new operating system that users would like to have back.

Similarly, some of the new features in Vista can be downright annoying. It’s inherently a more secure system, but, much like at an airport, added security comes with no small measure of inconvenience.

In this feature, we’ll look at 20 of the most common issues facing users new to Vista and show you how to deal with them.

1. User Access Control dialogues
For many, this is probably the most irritating Vista feature of all. You’ll probably encounter it within minutes of using the operating system and it’ll continue to bug you on a regular basis.

Any tasks that require administrator privileges to run require you to explicitly authorise them each time. This takes the form of a dimmed screen and a dialogue box alerting you to the fact that a program needs elevated privileges to continue.

Of course, preventing user programs from performing unauthorised functions is a good thing. Without access to privileged system components, malware is unable to wreak the havoc it enjoyed under XP.

Most other modern operating systems have a similar security system. However, Vista’s implementation can be disruptive to your work.

Although we wouldn’t recommend it, User Access Control (UAC) is easy to turn off. Open up the control panel and go to User Accounts. Under ‘Make changes to your user account’, the bottom option is ‘Turn User Account Control on or off’.

2. UAC screen dimming
When the UAC prompt appears, your desktop is dimmed and access to all applications is blocked until the prompt is dismissed. Microsoft calls this Secure Desktop.

You’ll probably find Vista switching to the Secure Desktop very annoying. For example, you may be watching a video on one screen while working on another, or perhaps engaging in an important online conversation. The last thing you want is to have the screen dimmed and access to your application prevented.

Although the purpose of the Secure Desktop might not be immediately obvious, it provides a significant additional level of security. Because running applications have no access to the Secure Desktop, there’s no way for a rogue application to spoof your mouse clicks and authorise the UAC dialogue itself – so disable it at your own risk.

You can, however, disable the Secure Desktop while keeping UAC enabled. This means you can carry on working in other applications and attend to the UAC prompt in your own time.