Datasheet

WHAT’S NEW IN WINDOWS VISTA?
11
Print Management Console
Microsoft has made it significantly easier to manage printers. The Print Management console lets
you view the currently installed drivers, monitor printer status, add or delete printers, and perform
administrative tasks such as assigning a printer to a port. Chapter 9 discusses this topic in detail.
User Account Control (UAC)
The biggest user-oriented change in Vista is the UAC. In fact, this is the most hotly debated change
as well; some people feel that it’s too invasive and a few feel that it’s not really needed at all. UAC
is a new method that Microsoft is using to protect the user from outside influences and to help the
user think through tasks that might have invited attack in the past. Depending on the user’s rights,
UAC can also prevent the user from performing actions that could cause problems. For example, the
user might not even be able to view the Windows System32 folder, much less do anything with it.
A network drive might become inaccessible unless the administrator provides specific access to it.
You’ll find a discussion of how to manage UAC in Chapter 3.
Tablet and Media Center Support
You won’t find separate editions of Vista for Tablet PC users or for Media Center any longer. If you
want the best of both technologies, you’ll need to obtain Vista Ultimate edition. Tablet PC users can
also upgrade to Vista Business edition, while Media Center users can update to Vista Home Pre-
mium edition.
Vista contains everything that you used in the past with some enhancements. Tablet PC users
will still find the Sticky Notes, Tablet PC Input Panel, and Windows Journal. These three utilities
look about the same as they have in the past, but their operation is smoother and they work fine for
desktop users as well.
The Windows Media Center application has received a minor boost in functionality for Vista.
You’ll find that it provides support for all of the latest devices and makes it easier to perform tasks
such as burning a DVD.
Built-in RAM and Disk Diagnostics
Many network administrators carried floppies or CDs around in the past so they could boot their
modern systems with ancient DOS in an effort to find the errant RAM or partially functional hard
drive on a system. It turns out that Windows often got in the way of performing a complete check
of the system with the result that the error remained hidden from view. Vista fixes both problems
by providing diagnostics that you can use to locate both RAM and hard drive problems without
Windows interference. You’ll find out more about these new diagnostics in Chapter 29.
Vista also introduces a new technology to help safeguard data before a failure occurs. Current
hard drive technology relies on Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology (SMART) to
provide an early warning on machines where the user has actually activated the required support in
their computer’s setup. (The required support is often turned off by default and most users don’t
know they need to activate it to obtain the required support.) However, this system has limitations
and doesn’t always provide the user with enough advance notice of the hard drive failure to save the
data completely. A newer technology named Proactive Reporting and Correcting Safeguard (PRCS)
attempts to resolve these reporting problems and give the user more time to save data before the hard
drive fails. Microsoft has submitted this technology to the T13 standards committee, and you can read
more about it at http://www.t13.org/docs2005/e05142r0-PRCS_Proposal.pdf .
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