Features new to Windows Vista
Moreover, Windows Aero encompasses new sets of cursors, fonts (the Segoe UI typeface), notifications, sounds, and wizards, as well as revisions to prose and tone of text used throughout the operating system.
[8] New organizational capabilities enabled by the Windows Search Index and platform include Stacks, which are collections of related items (depicted visually as a pile) assembled by a common property, and Saved Searches, which are built by specifying predicates on item properties, and separate the concept of organization from the concept of location;[2] these features were originally intended to be provided by WinFS.
With Windows Vista, Windows Search also includes an optional natural language search syntax called Natural Query Syntax (NQS) that enables queries such as "documents modified today", "e-mail from holly sent this week", "music by Mozart", and "videos of family created December 2007".
Windows Vista includes Calendar, Clock, Contacts, CPU Meter, Currency Conversion, Feed Headlines, Notes, Picture Puzzle, Slide Show, Stocks, and Weather gadgets.
Windows Vista introduced native support for packet writing on optical media, using the Universal Disk Format (UDF) file system.
This feature aims to mitigate problems whereby newly discovered flaws in the browser (or in ActiveX controls hosted inside it) allowed hackers to subversively install software on the user's computer (typically spyware).
The administration interface additionally is rewritten and uses the Microsoft Management Console for asynchronous operation and other features, with ASP.NET configuration being more prominent.
[2] Microsoft also introduced the Magnification API so that developers can build solutions that magnify portions of the screen or that apply color effects.
Windows Mail replaces Outlook Express and introduces fundamental revisions to the storage architecture and security mechanisms.
The interface has undergone a revision where each button in the main menu includes sections that, when selected, provide submenus that extend horizontally outward.
These submenu options are presented as a grid, with each providing album art for tracks, or thumbnails for photos, television shows, and videos; while playing, live content is overlaid in the background during user interface navigation.
Rather, on selecting the category in the left pane, the contents appear on the right, in a graphical manner with thumbnails—a departure from textual presentation of information.
Users can adjust color, exposure, saturation, temperature, and tint, crop or resize, lessen red-eye, rotate, print, rate, or tag photos.
Windows Firewall is significantly improved, with the new ability to block and filter outbound connections, as well as to provide granular configuration policies.
Instead of windows drawing directly to the video card's memory buffers, contents are instead rendered to back-buffers (technically Direct3D surfaces), which are then arranged in the appropriate Z-order, then displayed to the user.
Machines that can't use the DWM fall back to a "Basic" theme, and use screen drawing methods similar to Windows XP.
HD Photo (previously known as Windows Media Photo) is a new photographic still graphics file format that supports features such as high-dynamic-range imaging, lossy as well as lossless compression, up to 32-bpp fixed or floating point representation, transparency, RGB, CMYK and n-channel color spaces, Radiance RGBE, embedded ICC color profiles, multiple images per file and support for Exif and XMP metadata formats.
[63] Pen panning allows users to drag pages upward or downward in Internet Explorer 7 and Microsoft Office 2007.
The recognizer can now identify and adapt to specific handwriting, with an optional Automatic Learning feature improving recognition accuracy on an ongoing basis through regular use; users can also manually correct characters, words, or submit handwritten ink samples, and a training interface allows users to practice with sentences.
[64] An optional data collection feature allows handwritten text samples to be sent to Microsoft to improve handwriting recognition.
The Tablet PC Input Panel itself can now be resized, and it supports scratch-out gestures with which whereby users can quickly delete a word or phrase by scribbling instead of erasing with the back of a pen.
In previous versions of Windows, installation routines varied due to hardware configurations such as function keys, manufacturer requirements, and manufacturer-specific interfaces.
[73] Windows Vista Service Pack 1 enhances network projection by temporarily resizing the desktop to accommodate custom projector resolutions.
Schemes change based on user context — when a PC is plugged in, it can use High Performance, but when it is unplugged, it can automatically switch to Power Saver.
Applications can now register to be informed of changes to power schemes to scale back features (such as graphical details or network polls) so that bandwidth and/or battery life is preserved.
[79] Windows Vista also includes new power options for indexing items, playing video, and streaming media; users can prioritize battery life or efficiency of any of the aforementioned activities.
[78] Windows Vista SP1 introduces the ability for the operating system to turn off periodic VSync interrupt counting of CPU cycles when the screen is not being refreshed from new graphics or mouse activity, which can result in significant energy savings.
[80] Sleep is the default power suspension state (instead of shut down) for desktop computers and mobile PCs such as laptops[75][76][81] and it replaces the standby feature of previous versions of Windows.
[66] Windows Vista introduces Away Mode power management functionality that suppresses all display and sound emissions while allowing a PC to remain operational for recording or streaming.
The Enterprise and Ultimate editions of Windows Vista allow additional languages to be installed with Multilingual User Interface.
