Author, editor and blogger, Ed Bott is currently publishing a series called Fixing Windows Vista, which contains really nice information and instructions on how to get the most out of your Vista machine.
Currently three parts has been published:
Fixing Windows Vista, one machine at a time
Ed Bott shows how to install a clean Vista with the latest drivers (which is the most important thing on any Vista system) on a Sony Vaio.
Fixing Windows Vista, Part 2: Taming UAC
The User Account Control, UAC, has been one of Vistas most discussed and mocked features. I think it is a great feature, but it could of course be tweaked a little more. Until recently I only had one annoyance with the UAC and that was when I wanted to use the Task Manger and show all processes. To do that with UAC enabled you had to click Ok in the consent dialog. Of course when you need this your machine is working heavy and it all takes a long time to show the consent dialog and the secure desktop. Ed shows here how to solve these problems by creating a shortcut to a Task Manager that starts with showing all processes without the UAC, using the Scheduled Tasks. He also has instructions on how to disable the secure desktop.
If you try the Scheduled Task trick, and your shortcut does not work try to use this command line instead, notice the slash before the task name.
C:\Windows\System32\schtasks.exe /run /tn “\Task Manager wo UAC“
Fixing Windows Vista, Part 3: Top Troubleshooting Tools
The latest part covers how you can use the built-in tools in Vista to identify your bottlenecks, such as the Task Manager, Resource Monitor and the Windows Experience Index.
As always it’s all about the drivers…