Vista Annoyances Resolved

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MattyC

Gawd
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Mar 13, 2007
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Didn't see this posted anywhere else (only a quick glance and search, but meh), and I thought it was a pretty good read:
http://www.tweakguides.com/VA_1.html

The only one that has bugged me was the changing folder views, but it is pretty comprehensive.
 
Excellent read. Anyone who has issues with Vista should read it.

Question though. I know that the UAC is there to prevent malicious code to run on your system but I disabled it anyways because some applications need administrator rights and I didn't want to have to r-click to run everything that does (the checkbox run as admin does not work as intended). If I reenabled UAC and used the security policy (I have business) and did that trick it shows, I wouldn't be protected from the malicious code would I?
 
bigdogchris said:
Excellent read. Anyone who has issues with Vista should read it.

Question though. I know that the UAC is there to prevent malicious code to run on your system but I disabled it anyways because some applications need administrator rights and I didn't want to have to r-click to run everything that does (the checkbox run as admin does not work as intended). If I reenabled UAC and used the security policy (I have business) and did that trick it shows, I wouldn't be protected from the malicious code would I?
Click to expand...

You should get either get a prompt asking for elevation or the malware should fail if its not elevated, assuming that A) It needs to be elevated. Malware can still do a lot of harm running under the logged in user, like wiping out the users documents, or scanning or uploading files. B) Doesn't somehow elevate itsself. I'm not currently aware of an attack that can do this in Vista but there's probably something out there that could under the right circumstances.
 
That's a nice link.

I already own the TweakGuides Tweaking Companion for XP, and I really like it, so I went ahead and ordered the version for Vista.

It's not a bad deal. There is a free online version, a downloadable PDF file for $4.95, or a printed version for $21.00. The last is the one I just ordered.
 
The second page of that article is fantastic. Every Vista hater should read it and learn just how "amazing" their beloved XP was a couple of years ago.
 
Interesting read. Even though I've known about Koroush's 'Tweaking Guides' since about forever, I hadn't read his Vista guide since the first 'version' of it was published, and it's nice to see how it's progressed since. It's turned into a huge endorsement of Vista!

Let's see what he recommends you do to your Vista install:

Fix Folder views
Leave UAC alone
Configure Search Indexing to use your actual data storage folders
Run malware scanning and defragging as manual tasks rather than background.
Turn off or restrict space available for System Protection if you need the drive space.


That's what you get if you actually READ what the man says. All the rest of it - the actual 'tweaks' - he's saying you're a goose for doing. (He's being nice about it, but that's what he's doing!)

I disagree with disabling background malware scanning. If that's causing a problem then your rig doesn't have enough 'grunt'. It's the same deal as wanting enough horses under the hood to handle overtaking in your vehicle. My 'everyday' rig is a rapidly aging dual core/2Gb 400Mhz RAM jobbie, and that shows no discernable real world impact from background scanning. Manually scanning every file you download is just dopey.

I also think he 'left out' the bit about dumping cruddy programs which generate UAC prompts. Funny how those are all too often the 'pet' system tools favoured by the "I know what I'm doing" crowd. There are better alternatives available, which DON'T generate UAC prompts!


Anyways, good to see people are prepared to pay money for a hardcover copy of a book which is, effectively, a glowing endorsement of Vista pretty much just the way it is!
 
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