Introducing Windows Vista Lesson 1

Skills Matrix Technology SkillObjective DomainObjective # Understanding Windows Vista System Requirements Identify hardware requirements 1.1 Running the Upgrade Advisor Run the Upgrade Advisor1.1 Using the Windows Vista Interface Configure Windows Sidebar 5.6

Chapter 1 Windows Vista Starter Windows Vista Home Basic Windows Vista Home Premium Windows Vista Business Windows Vista Enterprise Windows Vista Ultimate Introducing Windows Vista Editions

Chapter 1 Vista Capable PC ◦800 MHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor ◦512 MB of system memory ◦DirectX 9–capable graphics processor Understanding Windows Vista System Requirements

Chapter 1 Vista Premium Ready PC ◦1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor ◦1 GB of system memory ◦DirectX 9 and WDDM–capable graphics processor, with Pixel Shader 2.0 and 32 bits per pixel Understanding Windows Vista System Requirements (cont.)

Chapter 1 Vista Premium Ready PC ◦128 MB of graphics memory ◦40 GB of hard drive capacity with 15 GB free ◦DVD-ROM drive ◦Audio output capability ◦Internet access capability Understanding Windows Vista System Requirements (cont.)

Chapter 1 Running the Upgrade Advisor Before you run the Upgrade Advisor, be sure to plug in and turn on any USB or other devices such as printers, external hard drives, or scanners that you regularly use with the PC you are evaluating.

Chapter 1 Insert the Windows Vista installation disc in the DVD drive. Click the Check Compatibility Online arrow. Running the Upgrade Advisor (cont.)

Chapter 1 A screen appears specifying whether your computer is capable of running Windows Vista and, if so, recommending a specific edition. Running the Upgrade Advisor (cont.)

Chapter 1 Windows Classic Windows Standard Windows Vista Basic Windows Aero Introducing Windows Vista User Experience Levels

Chapter 1 Standalone Workgroup Domain Understanding Windows Vista Organizational Roles

Stand-Alone vs. Networked Stand-Alone Not connected to a network Networked Connected to a group of computers (LAN) by wireless or wired NICs

Local vs. Remote Local computer is the computer you are sitting in front of Remote is the computer you are connecting to, wired or wirelessly, over a a network

Workgroup – (Peer to Peer) Local storage and processing Workstations act as Client and Server Small Networks (10 max) Low hardware and support cost Low to Nil Security Client and Server

Domain – (Client/Server) Distributed storage and processing Medium hardware Cost Higher support cost Better Load Balancing No single point of failure Centralized administration and authentication Domain Controller

Chapter 1 What’s New in Windows Vista? Microsoft has chosen to release Windows Vista on DVD discs, and not CDs, as they did Windows XP. All Windows Vista installations begin with the installation of the MinWin module and are followed by the addition of a secondary module containing the functionality of the particular edition designated by the product key.

Chapter 1 Vista orb Vista Sidebar What’s New in Windows Vista? (cont.)

Chapter 1 Navigation pane Breadcrumb navigation Preview pane Details pane What’s New in Windows Vista? (cont.)

Chapter 1 Introducing New Vista Features SuperFetch — Enhanced method of prefetching in which the system maintains a more detailed profile of the computer’s disk usage and can make far more educated guesses about what information to include in the cache

Chapter 1 ReadyBoost — Feature that enables Windows Vista to use the storage space on a USB flash drive as additional system memory. ReadyBoost uses a flash drive to store the SuperFetch cache, thereby freeing up the system memory where the cache would ordinarily be preloaded. Introducing New Vista Features (cont.)

Chapter 1 Windows Defender — Used to prevent spyware from infiltrating your system and compromising your privacy Windows Firewall — Introduced in Windows XP, Windows Firewall prevented unauthorized network traffic from entering the system. In Windows Vista, Windows Firewall is now bidirectional, meaning that it also prevents unauthorized traffic from leaving the system. Introducing New Vista Features (cont.)

Chapter 1 User Account Control — New security feature that attempts to limit the damage that unauthorized programs and users can do to a system by limiting the capabilities of all user accounts on that system Windows PE — Vista’s solution to eliminate DOS from the boot process completely by supplying its own pre-installation environment Introducing New Vista Features (cont.)

Chapter 1 BitLocker drive encryption — Feature designed to address the problem of data that is compromised when a computer is lost or stolen Introducing New Vista Features (cont.)

Chapter 1 You Learned Windows Vista is available in six editions: Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, Enterprise, and Ultimate, each of which contains a different set of features. Windows Vista has two sets of system requirements: those for Windows Vista Capable PCs and those for Windows Vista Premium Ready PCs.

Chapter 1 You Learned (cont.) Upgrade Advisor is an application capable of running on Windows XP or Windows Vista that determines whether the computer’s hardware and software is Vista compatible. Windows Vista has four user experience levels that affect the look and feel of the operating system, as well as the hardware resource utilization.

Chapter 1 You Learned (cont.) Windows Vista is capable of functioning as a standalone computer, a workstation on a workgroup network, or a member of an Active Directory domain.

Chapter 1 You Learned (cont.) Windows Vista includes a variety of new security and performance features including SuperFetch, ReadyBoost, Windows Defender, Windows Firewall, User Account Control, Windows Preinstallation Environment, and BitLocker drive encryption.