Vista Tippage

Well, it's been an exciting Indy 500 race so far. Rain has postponed the race, but they are drying the track.

I remain hopeful race organizers will be able to get the cars out for some more laps on the Brickyard before dusk settles things.

Danica Patrick is looking quite fine; especially as she is currently held in 3rd position. I don't follow IRL anymore except for this one race that has always captured my imagination. I guess I stopped when the Indy car machine got fractured into all its different leagues way back when.

So since we have a race interlude, here is some Vista Tippage.

Dr. Watson, Would you be so good to look at this bug?

Anyone who has spent time in front of a Windows XP pc troubleshooting is probably familiar with Dr. Watson. That old Microsoft program error debugger that provides some error data. While not always providing the most easy to understand data, it can provide a starting point for diagnosing errors.

A post Resurrecting Dr. Watson on Vista at Crash Dump Analysis shows just how to restore the familiar Dr. Watson program back to Vista and set it as the default debugger, if you are so inclined.

Microsoft's Windows Hardware Developer Central also has a interesting related article: Debugging Windows Vista and Debugging Tools for Windows - Overview which contains some information on Microsoft's Debugging Tools software program.

Windows Vista Border Color Rotisserie

Vista offers users a choice of several window border colors with its Aero package. If you want more than just the default offering, you can expand the selection and mix your own.

But what if you want more? And don't want to change them yourself?

Every resourceful Ryan at CyberNet News introduces us to a new freeware toy: Vista Color Transform Alternates the Transparency Color.

This "no-install" Vista Color Transform application runs in the system tray and alternates the colors for you. You have some presets as well. You can also set it to display colors based on battery life for a clever signaling of system juice.

Vista Tweaks

I just love the tips I'm getting from ITsVISTA! It is making the job of learning and tweaking Vista very simple for me.

These two new tips are dead-useful:

ITsVISTA Tip 56: Display your 'Home' icon on your desktop in Vista

ITsVISTA Tip 57: Add 'Copy To' and 'Move To' to your Vista right-click menu

Vista Security in Detail

TechNet Magazine's June 2007 on-line issue is out. And it is jam-packed with geeky details on the inner workings of Vista security.

Security : Inside Windows Vista User Account Control - Written by Windows Master Mark Russinovich is a great review of just how the inner workings of UAC function. Great stuff to know.

Security: Exploring The Windows Firewall - Loaded with quite a bit of "flame-bait" on why Microsoft feels that "outbound" firewall protection is a load of Texas Cow Chips, it nevertheless provides background on the design and function of Windows Vista firewall. Not so much a "how to use" as a "what we were thinking" treatise. Interesting and readable, all the same.

Back to racing...I hope!

--Claus