I’d like everyone to welcome our guest blogger for the day, Luke. He’s just had Vista installed on his computer at work and has noted down some tips for those of you who are just starting out with Vista.

Vista Tips:

To disable superfluous visual effects, like windows fading in and out:

Press Start and choose Control Panel. Click the Ease of Access option, then choose Optimize Visual Display, then enable the ‘Turn off all unnecessary animations’ option, toward the bottom.

To disable constant authorisation requests and screen dimming:

Press Start and choose Control Panel. Click the User Accounts option, then choose User Accounts again. Click ‘Turn User Account Control On or Off’ and continue past the prompt. Untick the ‘Use User Account Control (UAC) to help protect your computer’ option and press Okay. You’ll need to restart.

To disable ’security’ nagging:

You’ll notice this for the first time after you’ve restarted with UAC disabled. To disable the nag in the Notification Area,  Press Start and choose Control Panel. Click Security, then Security Center. Next, click the ‘Change the way Security Center alerts me’ link, in the left hand column. In the window that’s displayed, choose the ‘Don’t notify me and don’t display the icon (not recommended)’ option.

To access 3D application switching:

Hold down the windows key and press tab. Continue to press tab to cycle through the applications. Alternatively, you can use the scroll wheel on your mouse. Hold down the shift key as well, and it will go backwards.

To disable the confusing window transparency:

Press Start and choose Control Panel. Choose Appearance and Personalization, then choose the Personalization option. Click ‘Window Colour and Appearance’, then disable the ‘Enable Transparency’ option.

To resize those super-large desktop icons:

Left click on a blank area of the desktop, then hold down the control button down while using the scroll wheel on your mouse to scroll up or down.

To disable the sidebar and the widg… I mean, gadgets:

Right click the Sidebar and choose Properties. Disable the ‘Start Sidebar when Windows starts’ option, and press Okay. Right click on the Sidebar again and choose Close Sidebar. Right click on the icon which will appear in your notification area (beside the time in the bottom right hand corner of the screen) and choose Exit.

Disable window previews in the Task Bar:

Right click a blank area of the Task Bar and choose Properties. Disable the ‘Show window previews (thumbnails)’ option, and press OK.

To disable the ugly shortcut image in the corner of your desktop icons:

Press the windows-r shortcut to display the Run menu. Type ‘regedit’ (without quotes) and press OK. Open HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, then scroll down to the lnkfile folder. Left click on it. Delete the Is Shortcut item, then restart your computer.