Windows Vista Ultimate Features
Explore new features for searching, staying connected, networking, syncing devices, and managing files on your computer. Find things fast, get down to business, and focus on what matters to you.
Searching and organizing
In every folder in Windows, the Search box appears in the upper right corner. When you type in the Search box, Windows filters the view based on what you’re typing. Windows looks for words in the file name, tags that you’ve applied to the file, or other file properties. To find a file in a folder, type any part of a file name in the Search box to find what you're looking for. You can also use Search folders when you don’t know where a file is located or when you want to do an advanced search using more than just a single file name or property.
Security
Features such as Windows Firewall and Windows Defender can help keep your computer more secure. Windows Security Center has links for checking your computer's firewall, antivirus software, and update status. BitLocker Drive Encryption allows you to encrypt the entire system partition, which can improve security by preventing hackers from accessing important system files. User Account Control (UAC) can help prevent unauthorized changes to your computer by requiring permission before performing actions that could potentially affect your computer's operation or that change settings that affect other users.
New and improved Help
Windows Help and Support has been completely updated for this version. It's the place to get quick answers to common questions, suggestions for troubleshooting, and instructions for how to do things. And, when you're connected to the Internet, you can be sure that you're always getting the newest and latest versions of all Help topics.
Internet Explorer
Web feeds, tabbed browsing, and always-available search are just a few of the new features available in Internet Explorer.
Web feeds provide frequently updated content published by a website that you can subscribe to for automatic delivery to your web browser. With a feed, you can get content such as breaking news or updates to a blog without having to go to the website. Tabbed browsing allows you to open multiple websites in a single browser window. You can open web pages or links on new tabs and then switch among them by clicking the tabs.
Sync and sharing
Sync with other devices such as portable music players and Windows Mobile devices. With Sync Center, you can keep devices in sync, manage how your devices sync, start a manual sync, see the status of current sync activities, and check for conflicts.
You can also share files and folders with people on your network, even if they use a computer that's not running Windows. When you share files and folders, other people can open and view the files and folders just as if they were stored on their own computer. And they can make changes, if you allow that.
Ease of Access Center
The new Ease of Access Center replaces Accessibility Options in earlier versions of Windows. The Ease of Access Center comes with several improvements and new features, including centralized access to accessibility settings and a new questionnaire that you can use to get suggestions for accessibility features that you might find useful.
Parental Controls
Parental Controls makes it easy for parents to designate which games their children are allowed to play. Parents can allow or restrict specific game titles, limit their children's play to games that are rated at or below a certain age level, or block games with certain types of content that they don't want their children to see or hear.
Back Up and Restore Center
The Back Up and Restore Center makes it easier to back up your settings, files, and programs when and where you choose, with the convenience of automated scheduling. You can back up to a CD or DVD, an external hard disk, another hard disk on your computer, a USB flash drive, or to another computer or server connected to your network.
Networking
Use the Network File and Sharing Center to get real-time network status and links to customized activities. Set up a more secure wireless network, connect more securely to public networks in hotspots, and help monitor your network security. Access files and shared network devices, such as printers, more easily and use interactive diagnostics to identify and fix network problems.
Windows Meeting Space
Collaborate with and distribute documents to other people online. Share your desktop or any program with other session participants, distribute and co-edit documents, and pass notes to others. Windows Meeting Space works in a meeting room, a favorite hotspot, or where no network exists.
Windows Media Center
Enjoy all your favorite digital entertainment—including live and recorded TV, movies, music, and pictures—in one place with the Windows Media Center menu system and remote control. Windows Media Center in Windows Vista includes enhancements for expanded support of digital and high-definition cable TV, an improved menu system, and the ability to create a consumer-electronics-quality living-room experience, as well as new options for multi-room access to your entertainment through Media Center Extenders, including Microsoft Xbox 360.
Pictures
The Pictures folder and Windows Photo Gallery make it easy to view, organize, edit, share, and print digital pictures. When you plug your digital camera into your computer you can automatically transfer your photos to the Pictures folder. From there, you can use Windows Photo Gallery to crop photos, remove red eye, and make color and exposure corrections.
Mobile PC features
Use the Mobility Center to adjust settings you regularly change when you move from place to place (such as volume and screen brightness) and to check your connectivity status. Use a secondary, or auxiliary, display to check for your next meeting, read e mail, listen to music, or scan news without opening your mobile PC. You can also have an auxiliary display on a device, such as a cell phone or TV.
Tablet PC features
Improve handwriting recognition by personalizing the handwriting recognizer. Use flicks to navigate and perform shortcuts with your pen. See pen actions more clearly with optimized cursors. Use the Input Panel to handwrite, or use the soft keyboard anywhere on your screen. Use the touch screen to perform actions with your finger (the touch screen is only available if you have a touch-enabled Tablet PC).
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