Vista Tips, How-To, and Miscellaneous Microsoft News

That last post ate up most of my afternoon troubleshooting. I have two more posts I want to get out the door before bed.

So these will be short and sweet.

Vista Tips

Improve Vista’s Disk Performance by 15% without SP1 - ITsVISTA blog

This post points us to Microsoft KB943899 described as "An update that improves the performance, responsiveness, and reliability of Windows Vista is available."

This article contains an update that resolves issues that may affect some Windows Vista-based computers. These issues have been reported by customers who use the Error Reporting service or Microsoft Customer Support Services.
This update improves performance, responsiveness, and reliability of Windows Vista

in various scenarios. This update resolves the following issues on a Windows Vista-based computer:

• You receive a "Stop 0x000000A0" error when you try to switch the computer to the hibernate state.

• You receive a "Stop 0x0000009f" error when you switch the computer to the hibernate state or to the standby state. Or, you receive this Stop error when you resume the computer from the hibernate state or from the standby state. This problem occurs on a computer that has a wireless network connection.

• The disk does not spin down after a specified time of inactivity.

Additionally, this update can help improve performance when you perform operations that are related to large disk I/O. After you apply this update, you may notice up to a 15 percent performance improvement in some copying operations and when moving some large files.

It's the last one that got me. Since it isn't yet being offered via Windows Update, this "hotfix" is optional. I installed it with no issues and though I can't really say it has made any measurable difference, I don't feel bad with it on either.

Upgrade at your own discretion.

Windows Tip: Faster Shutdowns Using the Run Dialog - Lifehacker Tip

Want to shut down your system a lot faster than normal? Open a Run window and enter the following command: shutdown -f -t 0

This does a "forced" shutdown with no time given for any running application or processes to wait before shutting down. It does work, but be sure you have saved and closed any important documents, files, folders, etc. because if you didn't save them, this will brutally close them.

Vista How-To's

TweakVista.com - Enable detailed logon, logoff and shutdown status messages

This is a fantastic Windows Vista troubleshooting tip. Wonder what is going on when your system is starting up and shutting down? While the pretty Vista graphics are soothing to look at, they don't really provide any useful information. That's why knowing how to drop into verbose mode is a great bit of information:

To enable detailed status messages on your computer, follow these steps:

1. Click on the start button and key in gpedit.msc and hit Enter.
2. When the Local Group Policy Editor has loaded, navigate through Computer Configuration, Administrative Templates and select System.
3. Locate the Verbose vs normal status messages policy, right click and select Properties.
4. Select Enabled and hit OK.

Done. When you wrap up your troubleshooting follow the steps again and set back to "disabled"

Simple guide to test Vista SP1 RC1 on a separate partition - istartedsomething

Long Zheng provides a well documented journey on installing Vista on a new system partition.

While that may sound useful to a handful of folks, the process really can be useful as a walkthrough on how to create a new partition space out of an already allocated section of an existing system.

When you are done, it also shows you how to merge one partition back into another.

Good skills to know.

Microsoft News

Microsoft Releases Update to Make IE7 ‘Vista Compatible’ - ITsVISTA

Posts points out this KB943302 "December 2007 Windows Vista Application Compatibility Update"

Note in particular that it address issues with the following applications, Windows Internet Explorer 7, Auslogics Disk Defrag 1.0.3, AVG Anti-Spyware 7.5.0.47, Opera 9.02. Among a few others I use...

The December 2007 Windows Vista Application Compatibility Update is a package of software updates that address common application compatibility issues in Windows Vista. When you try to install and run certain legacy games or applications in Windows Vista, you may experience one or more of the following symptoms:

• The game, the application, or the firmware may not be installed correctly.

• The game, the application, or the firmware may cause system instability.

• The primary functions of the game, the application, or the firmware may not work correctly.

This update is cumulative, and it supersedes update 935280. In addition to the fixes that are contained in update 935280, this update improves support in Windows Vista for the following games, applications, and firmware:

• Adobe Acrobat Reader 7.0 - 7.07

• WinAntivirus Pro 2007 v5.0.356

• Webroot Software Spy Sweeper 5.0

• Omniquad Total Security 2.0.3.0

• Windows Internet Explorer 7

This update also includes fixes that are contained in update 932246. These fixes improve support in Windows Vista for the following applications:

• Absolute Poker Version 5.7

• ACDSee 8

• Adobe Creative Suite CS2

• Adobe Photoshop 7.0.1

• Adobe Photoshop CS 8.0

• Adobe Photoshop Elements Version 4.0

• Adobe Premiere Elements 3

• AOL 9.0 - x64

• AOL Safety and Security Center 2.5.4.1

• ArcSoft PhotoImpression 5

• Auslogics Disk Defrag 1.0.3

• AVG Anti-Spyware 7.5.0.47

• Azureus 1.0

• Battlefield 2 Deluxe

• BeatJam 2006 SE

• BitLord 1.1.5.6

• Bitvise Tunnelier 4.20

• Calyx Point 5.3

• Crystal Player Professional 1.97

• CyberLink PowerCinema 4.0

• Delphi 7 Professional

• Deterministic Network Extender (DNE) Driver - 3.12.2

• Digital Zenkoku Map Townpage Database 7

• Doranet Kids Nyugaku Jyunbi Taikenban

• Doranet Shogaku Ichinensei Taikenban

• EasyRecovery Professional Version 6.04

• Family Feud Online Party

• Google Desktop 4.2006.1008

• HD Tach 3

• HD Tune 2.5.1

• IBM Rescue and Recovery with Rapid Restore 3.00

• IBM SmartSuite Millennium Edition - Freelance Graphics 9.8

• Justsystems Ichitaro 2006

• Jv16 Power Tools

• Label Mighty 6

• LEGO Star Wars

• Lenovo Presentation Director 1.0.0.1

• LimeWire 4.12

• Macromedia ColdFusion MX 7 Enterprise Edition

• Macromedia Fireworks MX2004 7.0.2.295

• Microsoft Age of Empires III : The Asian Dynasties Expansion Pack

• Microsoft Age of Empires III : The WarChiefs Expansion Pack

• Microsoft Age of Empires III

• Microsoft DevStudio 9.0

• Microsoft Digital Image Suite 2006

• Microsoft Dungeon Siege II

• Microsoft Dungeon Siege: Legends of Aranna

• Microsoft Encarta Standard 2007

• Microsoft Fable: The Lost Chapters

• Microsoft Flight Simulator X

• Microsoft Money 2005

• Microsoft Money 2006

• Microsoft Office 2003 Web Folders

• Microsoft Office Outlook 2003

• Microsoft Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends

• Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2

• Windows Small Business Server 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1)

• Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1) Administration Tools Pack

• Microsoft Zoo Tycoon 2: African Adventure Expansion Pack

• Microsoft Zoo Tycoon 2: Endangered Species Expansion Pack

• Microsoft Zoo Tycoon 2: Marine Mania Expansion Pack

• Microsoft Zoo Tycoon 2: Zookeeper Collection Expansion Pack

• Microsoft Zoo Tycoon 2

• Minna de TV Denwa Starter

• Minna de TV Phone Starter 2.1.0.1

• MotionDV STUDIO 5.8J for FUJITSU

• Opera 9.02

• Palm Desktop 6.0

• Power Utility - Remote administration 3.1.0.0

• RealNetworks RealPlayer 6.0.12

• Rosetta Stone 2.1.3

• Roxio Easy Media Creator 7.5

• SG TCP Optimizer 2.0.3

• SmartInstall 2.16

• Softex OmniPass 1.0.0.1

• Sony FeliCa Port (PaSoRi) 3.0.0.0

• Speedbit Download Accelerator Plus (DAP) 8.1.5.6

• SpeedFan 4.31

• Sun Microsystems J2SE Runtime Environment 5.0 Update 9

• Sun Microsystems Java Control Panel

• The Weather Channel Desktop 5.0.1

• Toshiba Tecra M7 1.70

• Total Commander 6.55

• Trend Micro Internet Security 2006 (PC-cillin) 14.0 – 14.59

• Trend Micro Internet Security 2007 (PC-cillin) 15.0 – 15.19

• TweakNow PowerPack 2006

• Ulead DVD MovieFactory 5 Plus

• Virtual CD 8

• WinRaR 3.5-3.7

• Yahoo AutoUpdater 8.1.0.249

It does warn that if you install this update and find that a CD/DVD device no longer works, it may be due to the software/driver being blocked and you will need up upgrade your driver to a newer version.

I'll let you know if it helps

Microsoft Hot Fix and Hot Issue Center - New Microsoft Blog.

I'm always looking for good sources of back-stage Microsoft information. This blog promises to deliver information on Microsoft Hot-fixes. These are often undocumented patches and updates as well as documented ones that don't qualify for push on Windows Update. I'm going to be keeping an eye on it and have added it to my RSS feed list.

If you do need a Microsoft hotfix that isn't downloadable, usually you have to call Microsoft and negotiate with a technical specialist to get the patch on a case-by-case basis.

Don't forget Microsoft now offers a website where you can request a download link via email. It works very fast. See my previous post for more details: Grand Stream Dreams: RE: Microsoft Hotfixes (Now no Dime Required!)

The Windows Experience Blog : Microsoft Team Blogs - Nice roundup of many of the Microsoft Team blogs. Another good source for leads. Many haven't been updated for months or longer.

Microsoft Download Center - Beta - Want a sneak-peek of the face of Microsoft's next Dowload Center iteration? Hop over to this site, grab SilverLight and install, then take a look. Very Web 2.0. Time will tell if the new design is actually more useful.

-- Claus