Datasheet

WHAT’S NEW IN WINDOWS VISTA?

Figure 1.2

The non-glass UI looks

a lot like Windows XP,

but does include a few

Vista features.

Many Administrative Tasks Have Moved

You’ll still find the familiar

Administrative Tools

folder in the Control Panel and the applets it

contains still do all of the tasks it did before. The interface for the applets differs. In some cases, it

differs a lot. Most administrators won’t recognize the interface for managing Internet Information

Server (IIS). The new Microsoft Management Console 3 (MMC) interface has added some changes

as well.

However, the visual changes are just the tip of the iceberg. You’ll find that other tasks have

moved around. For example, you’ll use a different setup when you want to change the display set-

tings, or anything that might normally be associated with the user, rather than a strictly adminis-

trative task. The command line has also changed a little. Vista no longer uses the

BOOT.INI

file to

control the boot options. Consequently, you don’t use the utilities you might have used in the past

to modify the boot settings, you’ll use the BCDEdit utility discussed in Chapter 25 to perform the

change instead. You’ll also notice that any scripts you have require some additional setup and even

batch files have changed. The

CHOICE

and other commands (see Chapter 28) have new options

under Vista that actually break existing batch files. You’ll find a wealth of these changes through-

out the book so you won’t be surprised when you need to perform a task and find that it doesn’t

work the same way as before.

IE7

Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) has received considerable press because of the significant changes it pro-

vides. Vista comes with IE7 installed; you’ll use Microsoft’s latest browser from day one unless

you choose a third-party alternative. IE7 includes a number of important additions including RDF

Site Summary (RSS), antiphishing support, protected mode, and tabbed browsing. Chapter 15 dis-

cusses IE7 in detail, but the following paragraphs provide a good overview.

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