What’s New in Windows Vista?

Vista is a major improvement over previous versions of Windows, in both form and function.

Windows Vista has a smoother look and feel than previous versions of Windows. The aesthetic changes that make Vista feel more polished result from subtle tweaks—minor animations and colorful effects, such as glowing buttons—and from major changes, such as Aero’s translucent windows and 3-D features. The most notable visual changes are listed below.

In Vista versions with Aero, the edges of Windows and various other key components of the Windows interface appear translucent: you can see through these elements to get a glimpse of the graphics or other windows “behind” them. Though translucency can make it easier to “look through” your open windows to see which programs you have running, its main purpose is, admittedly, to look cool.

In previous versions of Windows, file folders (or fold­ ers for short) were represented by a flat, “plain manila” folder with the name of the folder shown below it. Folders in Vista include the folder name and a small 3-D graphic that includes a preview of the files that the folder actually contains. For instance, folders with various Word, Excel, or PowerPoint documents will show a tiny rendering of those documents.

In Vista, when you scroll over the icons of each program in the taskbar (the horizontal bar at the bottom of your screen), a small version of that program’s full-size window, known as a live thumbnail, pops up. For instance, if you have a document open in Microsoft Word, a tiny version of that document will appear in the live thumbnail that pops up when you scroll over Word in the taskbar.

Vista includes hundreds of new features designed to make using Windows more efficient and secure. The most important new features are described below.

Windows Flip is a feature that lets you switch between the open windows on your desktop by pressing the Alt and Tab keys simultaneously. In Vista, Flip shows a small version of each of your active windows, which makes it easier to see what each open window contains. Once you’ve opened Flip, hold down Alt and press Tab repeatedly to switch between windows. Letting go of Alt selects the window you’re currently on (indicated by a colored ring) and makes that window the active window.

The flashiest aspect of Windows Aero, Windows Flip 3-D is a feature that presents your open windows as a layered three-dimensional stack on the desktop. When you activate Flip 3-D, you’ll see not only which windows are open but also the actual “live” contents of each window. You can then choose which window you’d like to switch to by clicking on it in the Flip 3-D layout. To activate Flip 3-D, press Tab and the Windows key (the key with the symbol) at the same time.

The Windows Security Center is Microsoft’s response to perhaps the most troubling weakness of previous versions of Windows—vulnerability to viruses and spyware. The Security Center includes features such as Windows Defender, Windows Firewall, BitLocker Drive Encryption (Vista Ultimate and Business versions only), and User Account Control, all of which are designed to make Vista much more secure than previous versions of Windows. (For more on Vista security, see How to Use Vista’s Security Center.)

Vista’s search features are much quicker and more effective than search features in previous versions of Windows. (For more on the new search, see How to Use Vista’s Search.)

Vista comes with a preinstalled copy of the newest version of Microsoft’s popular web browser, Internet Explorer 7. The new Explorer includes several major improvements to previous versions, including tabbed browsing. (For more on the new Internet Explorer, see How to Browse the Web with Vista.)