Snipping Tool

Before we go into more detail on how to use the tool and it's options, I want to explain how the tool works. The Snipping Tool allows you to capture portions of your screen using four methods and then save these snips as a JPG, GIF, PNG, or MHT file. The capture methods that can be used to take snips are free-form, rectangular, window, and full-screen. We will go into more information about these different methods later in the tutorial. What is important to know, though, is that when you start the Snipping Tool, it automatically goes into capture mode using the last selection type that was selected. What this means is that while Snipping Tool is capture mode, you will not be able to use Windows normally unless you either cancel the capture by pressing the Capture button or by Alt-Tabbing out of the tool. Now that we understand this, lets move on to finding and starting the Snipping Tool.

To start the Snipping Tool please follow these steps:
1-Click on the Start button to open your Start Menu. The Start button looks like this:
2-Then click on the All Programs menu option.
3-Then click on the Accessories group
4-Finally click on the the Snipping Tool icon which looks like this:
The snipping tool should now be started and you will see a screen similar to the one below.

As we are not going to take a snip right now in this portion of the tutorial, press the Cancel button to exit capture mode. Now, let's move on to learn about the different selection types available to us.

Speed up Vista search

Windows Vista's search can bog down if you've got a lot of files, e-mails, contacts and more on your hard disk. But there's a simple way to make searching zippy again.
Most of the time when you do searches, you use the Search box on the Start menu, and those are most likely the times when you're looking for fast results. So I'll show you how to speed up searches launched from the Start menu.
First, decide what type of information you're usually looking for when you do a search from the Start menu's search box. Are you always looking to run a program? For a file? For an e-mail message?
After you decide that, right-click the Start button and choose Properties. Click Customize next to the Start menu entry, and the Customize Start Menu dialog box appears.
Uncheck the boxes next to any type of content you don't want to search. For example, if you only want to search for programs, uncheck the boxes next to Search communications and Search favoritesand history and select Don't search for files.
If you only want to search for files, uncheck the boxes next to Search programs, Search communications and Search favorites and history. Click OK when you're done, and OK again. Search will be sped up considerably.

Resize desktop icons

Not happy with the size of the icons on the desktop or in Windows Explorer? It's a snap to change their size in Vista. Press the Ctrl key and scroll your mouse wheel (or trackpad equivalent) forward to enlarge the icons, or toward you to shrink them. You'll have many degrees of size to choose from, and they'll stay at the new size until you change them again.
If you don't have a wheel on your mouse or trackpad, there are still several ways you can change the size of the icons. For a quick way, but with few choices for icon sizes, right-click the desktop and select View. You can now choose small, medium or large icons.
If you want more choices, right-click the desktop and choose Personalization. Click Open classic appearance properties for more color options, click the Advanced button, choose Icon from the drop-down list, and use the Size control to change the size. Click OK, then keep clicking OK until all menus disappear.
In Windows XP, right-click the desktop and choose Properties. Click the Appearance tab, then the Advanced button. Choose Icon from the drop-down list, and use the Size control to change the size of the icons. Click OK, then keep clicking OK until all menus disappear.

Speed up Windows Flip 3D

Windows Flip 3D, which gives you a pop-up preview of all your open windows, is one of Windows Vista's coolest new features -- but if your hardware isn't up to snuff, its operation can be jagged and sluggish.
With a Registry tweak, you can speed it up and smooth its animations by limiting the number of windows it will display.
Launch the Registry Editor by typing regedit at the Start Search box or a command prompt.
Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM
Create a new DWORD value and name it Max3Dwindows.
Set the value to the maximum number of windows you want displayed. If you have severe performance problems, set it at 4; you can always re-edit and up the number later.
Exit the Registry Editor.
For the change to take effect, you'll need to either restart your PC or restart Vista's Desktop Windows Manager (DWM). To do the latter, launch an elevated command prompt (which means you're operating the command prompt with administrator rights) by typing cmd in the search box and pressing Ctrl-Shift-Enter. Type net stop uxsms and press Enter. Then type net startuxsms and press Enter. Windows Flip 3D will now be sped up.
With the new settings in effect, Windows Flip 3D will display only the number of windows you've told it to. If you have six windows open and your set maximum is four, only four will be displayed at a time. As you scroll through your windows, each new one will replace an old one.

Flipping Vista in 3D

You will be hearing a lot about Vista’s graphical interface, originally called ‘Aeroglass’ now just plain Aero, and the rumours are mostly true. It looks great and is a lot of fun to play with (and you Mac fans can stop sniggering, yes, I know you’ve seen it all before…) but for Windows users it will be a revelation.

One of the most visually impressive features -- and quite useful too -- is 3D Flip. This works a bit like the Alt -Tab ‘Task Switcher’ in previous versions of Windows (and that’s still works, and it looks a whole lot prettier with thumbnail views of open programs). But back to 3D Flip, and this works when you press Winkey + Tab. Open Applications are presented as large ‘live’ thumbnail views, in 3D. Repeatedly pressing the Tab key shuffles through the windows, until you find the one you want then release the Winkey and the window appears.

Where’s the Menu Bar Gone?

On most Vista dialogue boxes the familiar Menu (File Edit View Tools Help etc.) bar is not displayed. Don’t worry, it’s still there, simply press the Alt key to toggle it on or off.

Enable Run on the Start Menu

Old Windows hands will miss not having Run appear on the Vista’s Start menu. If you can remember the keyboard shortcut Winkey + R it’s no big deal, but if you want it to be there then simply right-click on the taskbar, select Properties, click the Start Menu tab and then the Customize button. Scroll down the list and check ‘Run Command’, click OK to exit the dialogue boxes and Run is back where it should be.

Rate Vista PCs Before you Buy

Vista has a built in Performance Rating utility that gives the user a simple assessment of a PC’s abilities on a scale of 1 to 5. It’s designed to help buyers choose a new PC, and owners pep up their machines or fix problems that are slowing their machines down.

To see a PC’s Performance Rating right-click on Computer (The old Windows Explorer/My Computer) and select Performance. The average rating is derived from a series of scores (1 to 10) for the PC’s critical components, including Processor, Memory, Hard Drive and Graphics.

Disable User Access Protection

Depending how you look at it Vista’s User Access Protection (UAP) is on it its best or worst features. In short every time you want to do anything that could possibly threaten the PC’s security or change Windows settings a message box pops up onto the screen demanding to know if you really mean it, or it asks you for a password or change your account status. For most users it is unnecessarily, annoying and a touch nannyish. If you are the only one using your PC, and you reckon you know what you are doing one of the first things you will probably want to do is switch it off. To do that go to Run on the Start menu (if it’s not showing see previous tip) or press Winkey + R and type ‘msconfig’ (without the quotes) and select the Tools Tab. Scroll down the list, highlight ‘Disable UAP’ and click the Lunch button. A DOS type command window opens, click the exit icon to get rid of it, reboot the PC and you won’t see the pesky warnings again.

Pen Drive for Swifter Vista

Although Vista is designed to run only on reasonably fast PC’s, anything that can make it go even quicker has to be welcome. A feature called Windows ReadyBoost makes use USB 2.0 memory cards, pen drives and so on as a secondary cache. A cache is memory used to temporarily store data and normally Windows uses a chunk of hard disc space, but this is relatively slow, compared with solid-state memory, hence the small but useful boost in performance when using the memory card as a cache. To use it all you have to do is plug in the card or drive (512Mb or more) and on the AutoPlay dialogue box that appears select ‘Speed Up My System’ and follow the prompts

Mixed Networking With Windows Vista

Windows Vista has a useful networking tool, called Network Map, which displays a graphical view of all of the computers and devices connected to a network, and how they are interconnected, and it works just fine when all of the PCs concerned are running Vista. The trouble is, in the early days at least, many networks will be mixed and running mostly XP machines and that’s the problem. XP computers won’t show up in Vista’s Network map because they lack a component called a Link Layer Topology Discovery (LLTD) responder. If this careless omission has been bugging you – and why wouldn’t it -- then you‘ll be pleased to know Microsoft has now released a fix in the form of a download, which if installed on your XP computers, makes them magically visible to Vista. Get it now, while it’s hot…

Solution Center

Keyboard shortcuts on Vista