Microsoft QuickTips

Since downloading the vista beta and upgraded my graphics card to a ge-force 6200,i've found windows vista a pretty good successor to windows xp i've turned on the aero effects and ensured i've compatible security software(a.v.g for a/virus + spybot/win defender/adaware for an/spyware) but is there anything else i've missed in vista is there any hidden applications in vista ,as it took me a while to find the tool that switches between windows,but it was worth the wait has anyone got any good feedback or any info about windows vista that will help me use this new operating system a bit better cheers

Here are the maintenance functions that a computer system must have. - backup (to the point that the system could be totally restored on a replacement drive) - test that, if you can. it should be a no brainer, ready for use by a caveman - scandisk or checkdisk feature - none of this baloney about testing after restart. it should be smooth and built-in, with history reports and dianostic information - defrag - must be a no brainer and simple to use, with status reports and other real information about the fragmentation and need to run this. - anti-spyware - simple to use, easily configured. a user should be able to instantly see a list of all processes that are trying to access the internet, and a simple way to end these processes. - anti-popup - simple to use, easily configured. a user should be able to use any typical site with popups and plugins that popup. this includes real player popups, flash popups and things of that nature. - anti-virus - the need to use of a third party anti-virus program should be totally unneccessary - of course, trusting microsoft after 17 years of mistrust will be difficult to do. someday they will get this right. free anti-virus updates forever. - windows updates - totally harmess to all past and future applications and hardware; unlike the buggy stuff that microsoft has been plagueing us with. actually all bugs should already be found for us in advanced, so we don't become a slave to all of this maintenance and downloading. let's see, windows xp and windows xp with sp1 are no longer supported... in my book, that was only 4 years of support. support for windows vista should be for a lifetime... not 4 years. - firewall - again, totally configurable by the user. again, e application that might use the internet should be shown in a list with "internet permissions" controlled in that list. - msconfig - ahh, this aught to be built-in, and not an afterthought. let's see a task, process and startup sections that are totally explained, so a user can turn off the hundreds of processes that are not used. and no more silly ms messenger thing that looks for like microsoft is spying on me. - task manager - hey all processes should be listed and totally explained.. by someone that can actually write in english. - error messages - again, let's use a fully descriptive message for all fault conditions, so the user has a chance to diagnose or take the proper corrective action, without having to hire someone to fix something. of course, we can expect to see some innovation, but let's make the old stuff work too. i'm sick of paying billy again and again for the same screw-ups. we aught to get don trump to say "you're fired".