My thoughts on Vista

[Noozer]

Well... I've had a chance to play with build 5384.4. Thought I'd share my
thoughts on the next incarnation of Windows.

I've been using PC's since the CP/M days. I've used OS/2. Tried BEOS and
Linux. I've done desktop support and have been a programmer. Suffices to say
that I've used MANY different computers and many different operating
systems.

The system I'm using is an Opteron 165 (dual core @ 1.8Ghz) based system
with the nVidia nForce4 chipset. 1 gig of memory and an eVGA 7600GT PCIe
video card.

Here's my list of issues that I have with Vista. It's not a complete list,
but enough to let you know what to watch for when you switch to Vista.

- "Which window is the active one?" Windows are all the same color. There is
no way to specify different colours for the active and inactive windows.

- "Where's my program?" The first thing that I did after installing Vista
was to install the Office 2007 beta. Once the installation completed I
clicked the Start button (ball?) but didn't see anything new. So I clicked
All Programs... Not in that list either? After about 20 minutes I realized
that I had to scroll the program list. There is no way that this new Start
button is going to work for most people. The text in the list is tiny and
there STILL isn't enough room for all my programs. Move the "My Computer",
"Network", etc. list to the left side of the menu and let the right side get
big enough to hold more programs... and let the groups pop open to show more
lists.

- There is ***NO*** shutdown button. Click start and you get a STANDBY
button and a LOCK this computer button. There is a tiny little button next
to these to get to the Shutdown, but I'm constantly missing it. I will
***NEVER*** lock my PC, nor use Standby. There is no way to modify these
buttons to the more useful Shutdown and Hibernate functions.

- New device detection. All you are told by Windows is that something was
found - NO indication at all if it's a Network device, soundcard,
mouse...etc. I've got a few items in my Device Mangler with the wrong
drivers installed because I didn't know what I was looking for.

- Aero... the new "glassy" interface. What is the point? First of all, being
able to see through the few pixels around the border of the window isn't
helpful at all. To make matters worse, everything under your window is
blurred beyond recognition. Also, the placement of the Minimize, Maximize
and Close buttons is just plain ugly. Looks like someone goofed. No border
above and a thick chunk of border below. They are also all different sizes
as well. UGLY.

- How many Network icons do we need in the Control Panel??? Network Center,
iSCSI, Firewall, Network Map, Network List, Network File & Printer
sharing... Why can't these all be within a SINGLE Network icon?

- Drive Mapping... How is it done? I don't have a menu bar on any of my
Explorer windows. Right clicking on a network resource doesn't give me the
Map Network Drive option.

- The User Account Control is annoying. I can understand why it's there, but
the Windows Help doesn't tell you how to disable it.

- You can't specify where you want your Gadgets. Gadgets have to be
installed on a bar, and they are top/left justified. Move them down and they
will just slide back up. On my XP system I have a nice clock that runs in
the bottom right corner of my desktop. There is no way to put the Vista
clock gadget into the lower right corner of my desktop.


....and some of the things I like about Vista...

- Gadgets. Definately an improvement from XP. They just need to get rid of
the requirement of installing them onto a "bar". I want to decide where to
put my gadgets, not have Windows stack them up in a pile.

- Operation seems smoother and more responsive than XP.

- Media Center has improved a bit. I don't have any TV tuners, so I can't
tell if recording has improved or if multiple sources are supported.


....all in all, I don't see enough improvement to go through the trouble of
working through the poor user interface changes. I'd suggest that folks
stick with XP until Vista has been out a year or two.

 

[Andre Da Costa [Extended64]]

- "Which window is the active one?" Windows are all the same color. There is
no way to specify different colours for the active and inactive windows.
* Don't have an answer but I agree with you, this was not thought out I
guess. But why would you want to know Active window unless you are using
para-normal brain activity to select the window. I don't know about you but
I select my windows just fine any and you can use the Taskbar if its giving
you problems still.

- "Where's my program?" The first thing that I did after installing Vista
was to install the Office 2007 beta. Once the installation completed I
clicked the Start button (ball?) but didn't see anything new. So I clicked
All Programs... Not in that list either? After about 20 minutes I realized
that I had to scroll the program list. There is no way that this new Start
button is going to work for most people. The text in the list is tiny and
there STILL isn't enough room for all my programs. Move the "My Computer",
"Network", etc. list to the left side of the menu and let the right side get
big enough to hold more programs... and let the groups pop open to show more
lists.
*Uh, the Programs group for each application group is there, simply click it
and it will reveal the list. I sent in a suggestion for an arrow should be
beside the folder to indicate that it is expandable. You can also do a
search for the name of the app on the Start menu and it will show up, you
can even filter down to to the file name, hit enter and it will open.

- There is ***NO*** shutdown button. Click start and you get a STANDBY
button and a LOCK this computer button. There is a tiny little button next
to these to get to the Shutdown, but I'm constantly missing it. I will
***NEVER*** lock my PC, nor use Standby. There is no way to modify these
buttons to the more useful Shutdown and Hibernate functions.
* I guess Microsoft is saying, you will hibernate your PC more with Windows
Vista instead shutting it down regularly. I definitely agree with you
though, this area needs more work, I hope they come with a better layout.
Either remove Lock and Standby, and make those the optional ones instead of
the default.

- New device detection. All you are told by Windows is that something was
found - NO indication at all if it's a Network device, soundcard,
mouse...etc. I've got a few items in my Device Mangler with the wrong
drivers installed because I didn't know what I was looking for.
* Detected my Motorola E398 phone, but that I need a driver from the
manuafacturer. A lovely floating dialog popped up, which was nice.

- Aero... the new "glassy" interface. What is the point? First of all, being
able to see through the few pixels around the border of the window isn't
helpful at all. To make matters worse, everything under your window is
blurred beyond recognition. Also, the placement of the Minimize, Maximize
and Close buttons is just plain ugly. Looks like someone goofed. No border
above and a thick chunk of border below. They are also all different sizes
as well. UGLY.
* Glass does have its purpose by putting
more focus on the content of a window, so less focus is given to the window
frame, in XP, the Luna frame is always in your eye sight. Window titles are
not difficult to decipher, when Glass windows are are over each other, the
intensity of the outer glow is more visible, making the text very legible.
Window title bars are now found in the Bread crumb menu (Address bar).

- How many Network icons do we need in the Control Panel??? Network Center,
iSCSI, Firewall, Network Map, Network List, Network File & Printer
sharing... Why can't these all be within a SINGLE Network icon?
Agreed, its confusing.

- Drive Mapping... How is it done? I don't have a menu bar on any of my
Explorer windows. Right clicking on a network resource doesn't give me the
Map Network Drive option.
* Open an Explorer window > click Organize > Layout > click "Classic Menus"

click Tools > Map Network Drive...

- The User Account Control is annoying. I can understand why it's there, but
the Windows Help doesn't tell you how to disable it.
* Because you are not suppose to disable it.
User Access Control (UAC) enables a lock on administrative features
throughout the OS, making it more difficult for users to mess up areas of
the operating system that are vulnerable to attack or user accidents.
Whether it's Device Manager, Windows, System/System 32 folders or changing
account settings. Limited account users (now called Standard User) can
benefit from this very much, by getting more flexibility when it comes to
doing common task such as setting date and time or changing your account
password. For computers in public places I consider this beneficial and it
provides a better peace of mind for Administrators and even confidence for
inexperienced users when using the operating system, the major advantage
really is it brings awareness to what the user is doing and certain persons
will at least take the time to read the consequences of their actions before
they click "Allow". So in end, there is no excuse for running as
Administrator. So far, the status from the public on UAC is, it seems like a
highly annoying feature and trust me, it is at times. It's the first thing I
disable after I log into Vista for the first time. For me, I can manage the
consequences from turning it off, but I still see it as a benefit for the
novice, grandma or non computer savvy uncle who occasionally use their
computer and want to stay out of trouble every time they use it. So, it's
really a necessary annoyance, if you do know what you are doing, you can
disable UAC by clicking Start > All Programs > Run > type in MSCONFIG >
Tools (tab) > scroll down select Disable UAC > click Launch, restart your
system for the changes to take effect.


- You can't specify where you want your Gadgets. Gadgets have to be
installed on a bar, and they are top/left justified. Move them down and they
will just slide back up. On my XP system I have a nice clock that runs in
the bottom right corner of my desktop. There is no way to put the Vista
clock gadget into the lower right corner of my desktop.
* Don't understand, if you were to have Clock gadget miniturized to be
placed in the Notification area you wouldn't be able to read it. Click Clock
in notification area and you will see a nice Clock and Calendar anytime you
need it. I wish there was a AutoHide option for Sidebar though and an option
to place it at the top, so I can get more screen real estate.
--
--
Andre
Windows Connected | http://www.windowsconnected.com
Extended64 | http://www.extended64.com
Blog | http://www.extended64.com/blogs/andre
http://spaces.msn.com/members/adacosta

 

[Robert Rixx]

Try the Window With the Red "X" in the right upper corner!

 

[Noozer]

- "Which window is the active one?" Windows are all the same color. There
is
no way to specify different colours for the active and inactive windows.
* Don't have an answer but I agree with you, this was not thought out I
guess. But why would you want to know Active window unless you are using
para-normal brain activity to select the window. I don't know about you
but I select my windows just fine any and you can use the Taskbar if its
giving you problems still.

My active XP window frame is orange. Inactive frames are dark grey. This is
on a relatively dark background. All I want is the option to specify a
different colour scheme for unfocused windows.

- "Where's my program?" The first thing that I did after installing Vista
was to install the Office 2007 beta. Once the installation completed I
clicked the Start button (ball?) but didn't see anything new. So I clicked
All Programs... Not in that list either? After about 20 minutes I
realized
that I had to scroll the program list. There is no way that this new Start
button is going to work for most people. The text in the list is tiny and
there STILL isn't enough room for all my programs. Move the "My Computer",
"Network", etc. list to the left side of the menu and let the right side
get
big enough to hold more programs... and let the groups pop open to show
more
lists.
*Uh, the Programs group for each application group is there, simply click
it and it will reveal the list. I sent in a suggestion for an arrow should
be beside the folder to indicate that it is expandable. You can also do a
search for the name of the app on the Start menu and it will show up, you
can even filter down to to the file name, hit enter and it will open.

So I need to work in this little tiny box? Why can't I have a flyout menu as
before? In XP I can nest my program groups as I like and have enough
realestate (the entire screen) to find my way through it.

- New device detection. All you are told by Windows is that something was
found - NO indication at all if it's a Network device, soundcard,
mouse...etc. I've got a few items in my Device Mangler with the wrong
drivers installed because I didn't know what I was looking for.
* Detected my Motorola E398 phone, but that I need a driver from the
manuafacturer. A lovely floating dialog popped up, which was nice.

My popups didn't identify what it found at all.

- Aero... the new "glassy" interface. What is the point? First of all,
being
able to see through the few pixels around the border of the window isn't
helpful at all. To make matters worse, everything under your window is
blurred beyond recognition. Also, the placement of the Minimize, Maximize
and Close buttons is just plain ugly. Looks like someone goofed. No border
above and a thick chunk of border below. They are also all different sizes
as well. UGLY.
* Glass does have its purpose by putting
more focus on the content of a window, so less focus is given to the
window
frame, in XP, the Luna frame is always in your eye sight. Window titles
are
not difficult to decipher, when Glass windows are are over each other, the
intensity of the outer glow is more visible, making the text very legible.
Window title bars are now found in the Bread crumb menu (Address bar).

If we want to focus on the content, then why all the focus of a pretty
background and flashy animations? I don't see any difference in intensity
between any of the windows I currently have open. If these windows weren't
overlapped, I wouldn't know which one was active.

- Drive Mapping... How is it done? I don't have a menu bar on any of my
Explorer windows. Right clicking on a network resource doesn't give me the
Map Network Drive option.
* Open an Explorer window > click Organize > Layout > click "Classic
Menus"

This is supposed to be easy, or logical?

- The User Account Control is annoying. I can understand why it's there,
but
the Windows Help doesn't tell you how to disable it.
* Because you are not suppose to disable it.

I understand why it's there... but I'm the ONLY user on this PC. I'm the
administrator. Anything that I'm trying to do, I WANT to do.

- You can't specify where you want your Gadgets. Gadgets have to be
installed on a bar, and they are top/left justified. Move them down and
they
will just slide back up. On my XP system I have a nice clock that runs in
the bottom right corner of my desktop. There is no way to put the Vista
clock gadget into the lower right corner of my desktop.
* Don't understand, if you were to have Clock gadget miniturized to be
placed in the Notification area you wouldn't be able to read it. Click
Clock in notification area and you will see a nice Clock and Calendar
anytime you need it. I wish there was a AutoHide option for Sidebar though
and an option to place it at the top, so I can get more screen real
estate.

No, it's a third party application. Its a larger clock that sits in the
bottom right corner of my screen. I could place it in the middle of my
desktop if I wanted to. I keep my task bar at the top of the screen as it
makes more sence here (at least for me).

A gadget isn't going to be useful if the computer wont let me place it where
I can use it.

 

[Andre Da Costa [Extended64]]

I don't know what is being done about the inactive window issue, I hope it
is resolved though. I would make a suggestion of more frosty for inactive
windows.

Cascading menus were thought to be too unwieldy. But if you have a limited
set of programs installed, I agree, you should still have Cascading menus,
basically, it should be an available choice.

I don't know why your pops up were not identified, but a call out should
appear in the notification area asking you to click it for further details.

If you are having issues with Glass, don't use it. Open Control Panel >
(set to "Classic View") > Personalization > Themes > in the Themes list box

select Windows Classic.

I agree with you about Map Network Drive issue, but its considered a
Advanced feature, so I guess they are expecting it to discovered if you used
to to it. The interface is definitely dumbed down though. Lots of problems
are gonna be caused here.

If you understand the consquences of disabling UAC (UAP), nobody is stopping
you. But, there are a lot of novices out there, so they had to make a
default choice.

You can drag the Clock gadget and any other gadget off the Sidebar and place
it anywhere on your desktop.
--
--
Andre
Windows Connected | http://www.windowsconnected.com
Extended64 | http://www.extended64.com
Blog | http://www.extended64.com/blogs/andre
http://spaces.msn.com/members/adacosta

 

[Noozer]

I don't know what is being done about the inactive window issue, I hope it
is resolved though. I would make a suggestion of more frosty for inactive
windows.

Maybe they should add a "frosty" slider to the custom section?

: )

Cascading menus were thought to be too unwieldy. But if you have a limited
set of programs installed, I agree, you should still have Cascading menus,
basically, it should be an available choice.

I can deal with the current interface, but it's definately not an
improvement. It would REALLY help if Microsoft didn't stuff the root of ALL
PROGRAMS with tonnes of their own programs.

You can drag the Clock gadget and any other gadget off the Sidebar and
place it anywhere on your desktop.

Doh! Almost no point to the sidebar then... You can't set the sidebar to
autohide, so what use it it?

Thanks!

 

[Andre Da Costa [Extended64]]

I agree, the Windows Applications should be consolidated into one menu
group. As for Sidebar Autohide, bugged it in 5308 and haven't heard anything
on it since. There is a version 2 coming in the future, so maybe they are
saving it for then.
--
--
Andre
Windows Connected | http://www.windowsconnected.com
Extended64 | http://www.extended64.com
Blog | http://www.extended64.com/blogs/andre
http://spaces.msn.com/members/adacosta

 

[Frank]

Well... I've had a chance to play with build 5384.4. Thought I'd share
my thoughts on the next incarnation of Windows.

I've been using PC's since the CP/M days. I've used OS/2. Tried BEOS and
Linux. I've done desktop support and have been a programmer. Suffices to
say that I've used MANY different computers and many different operating
systems.

The system I'm using is an Opteron 165 (dual core @ 1.8Ghz) based system
with the nVidia nForce4 chipset. 1 gig of memory and an eVGA 7600GT PCIe
video card.

Here's my list of issues that I have with Vista. It's not a complete
list, but enough to let you know what to watch for when you switch to
Vista.

- "Which window is the active one?" Windows are all the same color.
There is no way to specify different colours for the active and inactive
windows.

- "Where's my program?" The first thing that I did after installing
Vista was to install the Office 2007 beta. Once the installation
completed I clicked the Start button (ball?) but didn't see anything
new. So I clicked All Programs... Not in that list either? After about
20 minutes I realized that I had to scroll the program list. There is no
way that this new Start button is going to work for most people. The
text in the list is tiny and there STILL isn't enough room for all my
programs. Move the "My Computer", "Network", etc. list to the left side
of the menu and let the right side get big enough to hold more
programs... and let the groups pop open to show more lists.

- There is ***NO*** shutdown button. Click start and you get a STANDBY
button and a LOCK this computer button. There is a tiny little button
next to these to get to the Shutdown, but I'm constantly missing it. I
will ***NEVER*** lock my PC, nor use Standby. There is no way to modify
these buttons to the more useful Shutdown and Hibernate functions.

- New device detection. All you are told by Windows is that something
was found - NO indication at all if it's a Network device, soundcard,
mouse...etc. I've got a few items in my Device Mangler with the wrong
drivers installed because I didn't know what I was looking for.

- Aero... the new "glassy" interface. What is the point? First of all,
being able to see through the few pixels around the border of the window
isn't helpful at all. To make matters worse, everything under your
window is blurred beyond recognition. Also, the placement of the
Minimize, Maximize and Close buttons is just plain ugly. Looks like
someone goofed. No border above and a thick chunk of border below. They
are also all different sizes as well. UGLY.

- How many Network icons do we need in the Control Panel??? Network
Center, iSCSI, Firewall, Network Map, Network List, Network File &
Printer sharing... Why can't these all be within a SINGLE Network icon?

- Drive Mapping... How is it done? I don't have a menu bar on any of my
Explorer windows. Right clicking on a network resource doesn't give me
the Map Network Drive option.

- The User Account Control is annoying. I can understand why it's there,
but the Windows Help doesn't tell you how to disable it.

- You can't specify where you want your Gadgets. Gadgets have to be
installed on a bar, and they are top/left justified. Move them down and
they will just slide back up. On my XP system I have a nice clock that
runs in the bottom right corner of my desktop. There is no way to put
the Vista clock gadget into the lower right corner of my desktop.


...and some of the things I like about Vista...

- Gadgets. Definately an improvement from XP. They just need to get rid
of the requirement of installing them onto a "bar". I want to decide
where to put my gadgets, not have Windows stack them up in a pile.

- Operation seems smoother and more responsive than XP.

- Media Center has improved a bit. I don't have any TV tuners, so I
can't tell if recording has improved or if multiple sources are supported.


...all in all, I don't see enough improvement to go through the trouble
of working through the poor user interface changes. I'd suggest that
folks stick with XP until Vista has been out a year or two.

Well...you're right! We are all holding our collective breaths hoping
that the powers to be (the developers/programmers?) know what they are
doing. Personally, I'm praying that marketing has the final say so and
Steve really kicks some ass so that this thing is MARKETABLE when they
finally let it loose.
Can you say scientifically conducted, randomly sampled, market survey.
Hello, hello hello! Is anyone in friggin authority listen?
Houston, we have a problem!
Fix the damn thing...NOW!!!
Frank

 

[Lang Murphy]

If you drag gadgets off the sidebar and then hide the sidebar, the gadgets
remain visible... don't know if that addresses the issue or not... just
pointing that out...

 

[John Jay Smith]

I have pointed out many of the things you say, before on this newsgroup

Vista is turning out to be a WindowsME of 2007

 

[John Jay Smith]

Glass does have its purpose by putting
more focus on the content of a window, so less focus is given to the window
frame,

that is the lamest excuse for bad design I have ever read!

Glass is confusing! PERIOD! I now have windowblinds with various glassy
themes. Well glass makes things
worse, but I am using it for a while because it is kinda cool....
The way to have more focus in the content area is to make it thinner and
light colored.
Not transparent....

By the way, I was experimenting with various transparent things long before
vista, and although they were cool,
you had to strain your eyes and it was non productive so every time I went
back to the normal non transparent way.

Bottom line: the only reason Vista has glass, is because it looks different
from anything that out in the market,
and its kinda cool, so they figure that will mean more money in their
pockets. They NEED something different in vista.. because it has no REAL
innovation!

 

[Zack Whittaker]

Actually I'll agree with the fact that it doe bring focus to the window -
especially the faded shadow round the window edges. If you don't like it -
just turn on the Classic theme!

--
Zack Whittaker
» ZackNET Enterprises: www.zacknet.co.uk
» MSBlog on ResDev: www.msblog.org
» Vista Knowledge Base: www.vistabase.co.uk
» This mailing is provided "as is" with no warranties, and confers no
rights. All opinions expressed are those of myself unless stated so, and not
of my employer, best friend, Ghandi, my mother or my cat. Glad we cleared
that up!

--: Original message follows :--

 

[Geeter]

John Jay Smith wrote:
| I have pointed out many of the things you say, before on this newsgroup
|
| Vista is turning out to be a WindowsME of 2007
|

No, it's not. Vista and Vista SP1 are going to be more the Windows 95/98 of
the new post-Millennium.

 

[Geeter]

Wrong. I tried it out and it is not in the least confusing. With Aero it's
quite clear what's what and I had no problem with it and rather liked it.
The overall look and feel of the default theme is modern yet professional
almost masculine. I like it and between it and the "Classic" will probably
never bother with any of those skinning programs.

John Jay Smith wrote:
|| Glass does have its purpose by putting
|| more focus on the content of a window, so less focus is given to the
|| window frame,
|
| that is the lamest excuse for bad design I have ever read!
|
| Glass is confusing! PERIOD! I now have windowblinds with various glassy
| themes. Well glass makes things
| worse, but I am using it for a while because it is kinda cool....
| The way to have more focus in the content area is to make it thinner and
| light colored.
| Not transparent....
|
| By the way, I was experimenting with various transparent things long
| before vista, and although they were cool,
| you had to strain your eyes and it was non productive so every time I went
| back to the normal non transparent way.
|
| Bottom line: the only reason Vista has glass, is because it looks
| different from anything that out in the market,
| and its kinda cool, so they figure that will mean more money in their
| pockets. They NEED something different in vista.. because it has no REAL
| innovation!
|
|

 

[John Jay Smith]

And who said you have good taste?



c I tried it out and it is not in the least confusing. With Aero it's

quite clear what's what and I had no problem with it and rather liked it.
The overall look and feel of the default theme is modern yet professional

c. I like it and between it and the "Classic" will probably

 

[John Jay Smith]

do you also see pink elephants?

 

[Geeter]

No, but it sounds like you're believing the little macs and linux guano.

John Jay Smith wrote:
| do you also see pink elephants?
|
|
| || John Jay Smith wrote:
||| I have pointed out many of the things you say, before on this newsgroup
|||
||| Vista is turning out to be a WindowsME of 2007
|||
||
|| No, it's not. Vista and Vista SP1 are going to be more the Windows 95/98
|| of
|| the new post-Millennium.

 

[Todd]

I agree, the Windows Applications should be consolidated into one menu
group. As for Sidebar Autohide, bugged it in 5308 and haven't heard anything
on it since. There is a version 2 coming in the future, so maybe they are
saving it for then.
--

In Windows 2000 you can use Windows Explorer to go to Documents and
Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs and create a folder called, for
instance, Microsoft Crap and move whatever you like, such as for example all
the Microsoft Applications, into it.

In other words, in Windows 2000 you can have whatever structure you want in
the start up menus.

Can you do this in VISTA? Or have they protected users from being able to
do what they want to do?

 

[Geeter]

Microsoft is not "out to get you". They really do work hard to make the
computer operating system better, compatible and interesting to use.

There are - don't quote me on this - there are at least two menu systems in
Vista. The new Aero System which is an update on the XP system (and drops
the cascade) and the classic system as in Windows 2000 (which has cascading
menus and the "personalization" feature if you want it).

You will pretty much be able to do everything on Vista. It's just that
Microsoft has arranged things so that the default is a "standard user"
rather than an Administrator. This was done because of security concerns -
and is probably a wise move. AFAIK, if you want to run with Administrator
privileges you will be able to configure an account for yourself to be able
to do so.


Todd wrote:
| || I agree, the Windows Applications should be consolidated into one menu
|| group. As for Sidebar Autohide, bugged it in 5308 and haven't heard
|| anything on it since. There is a version 2 coming in the future, so
|| maybe they are saving it for then.
|| --
|
| In Windows 2000 you can use Windows Explorer to go to Documents and
| Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs and create a folder called, for
| instance, Microsoft Crap and move whatever you like, such as for example
| all the Microsoft Applications, into it.
|
| In other words, in Windows 2000 you can have whatever structure you want
| in the start up menus.
|
| Can you do this in VISTA? Or have they protected users from being able to
| do what they want to do?
|
|| --
|| Andre
|| Windows Connected | http://www.windowsconnected.com
|| Extended64 | http://www.extended64.com
|| Blog | http://www.extended64.com/blogs/andre
|| http://spaces.msn.com/members/adacosta
||
|| |||
||| |||| I don't know what is being done about the inactive window issue, I
|||| hope it is resolved though. I would make a suggestion of more frosty
|||| for inactive windows.
|||
||| Maybe they should add a "frosty" slider to the custom section?
|||
|||| )
|||
|||| Cascading menus were thought to be too unwieldy. But if you have a
|||| limited set of programs installed, I agree, you should still have
|||| Cascading menus, basically, it should be an available choice.
|||
||| I can deal with the current interface, but it's definately not an
||| improvement. It would REALLY help if Microsoft didn't stuff the root of
||| ALL PROGRAMS with tonnes of their own programs.
|||
|||| You can drag the Clock gadget and any other gadget off the Sidebar and
|||| place it anywhere on your desktop.
|||
||| Doh! Almost no point to the sidebar then... You can't set the sidebar to
||| autohide, so what use it it?
|||
||| Thanks!

 

[Gerry Hickman]

* Open an Explorer window > click Organize > Layout > click "Classic Menus"

That's hardly intuitive, and the new Explorer just doesn't seem right
with the "Classic Menu" enabled. I'd be interested to know if enabling
this menu will also enable the right-click functions too, as this was
very useful in earlier o/s.