Are you testing out Vista's features and compatibility but not sure
if you want to go ahead and activate it? Microsoft understands. It
has built a software licensing manager into the new OS that lets you
extend the activation period. At the Start menu's search bar,
simply type slmgr -rearm to get another 30 days. You can do
this a maximum of three times before Microsoft blocks further
extension periods. And once you're locked out, that's it.
The new 3D desktop is a tremendous improvement, but not all of the
features are handy, and some of the settings are downright
disconcerting. Control your own 3D experience! First, right-click
Computer and choose Properties to get the System
Properties page. Click Advanced system settings. On the
Advanced tab, click Settings in the Performance
section. The Visual Effects field is where you can choose
to Adjust for best appearance, Adjust for best performance,
Let Windows choose, or go wild with your own choices.
Power users are comfortable using the PrintScr key to capture
screen shots, but there's a better way in Vista. You can use the
integrated Snipping Tool to capture any object on your screen
and then annotate, save, or share the image. Simply use the mouse to
capture free-form shapes, rectangles, whole windows, or full
screens. After you capture a snip, it's automatically copied to the
markup window, where you can annotate, save, or share it. Bonus: If
you've clipped from an Internet Explorer window (not Firefox or
Opera) and save the snip as an HTML file, the URL is automatically
appended to your image. Neat!
Love him or hate him, Kevin Bacon is a name you'll never forget. Now
you can play "find the actor" anytime (not officially, that is, but
bear with us) using Windows Vista. First, launch Windows Media
Center from the Start menu. Navigate to TV + Movies
and select Recorded TV. Select the movie you are interested
in (Vista comes with snippets from Apollo 13 and Vertigo, just to
get you started). Select Cast + More, pick a cast member, and
repeat until you find Mr. Bacon.
The Sidebar's RSS Feed Reader is handy, but by default it picks up
feeds only directly from Microsoft. Making it work for you is a
two-stage process. First, find a Web page with an RSS feed on it
using Internet Explorer�the orange feed icon at the right of the
status bar lights up to indicate the feed's presence. Click it, and
select Subscribe to this feed. Then right-click on the module
and select Options; you'll be able to choose which feeds and
how many items are displayed. Want to find feeds using Firefox
instead? Download the Common Feed List tool from
www.netcrucible.com/blog.
As laptops became more popular, consumers became aware of Win XP's
power settings. Standby left your computer running at low power;
hibernate saved all memory to disk and then shut down your
system�but often balked at problem programs. With Vista, Microsoft
redrew the rules, adding an "away mode" and defaulting to "sleep"
rather than off. Sleep mode starts off like standby but saves memory
like hibernate. Then after 15 minutes it just shuts off, with no
back talk from programs. Nicely done, Microsoft! To shut down
completely, skip the Start menu's orange power button in favor of
the right arrow next to it.