Mastering and Streamlining the Windows Vista Interface

Now that you've tweaked the mechanics of your computer's Windows Vista installation, let's start in on the visuals. The Vista interface presents a lot of tweaking opportunities and hidden goodies for the diligent user, and PCSTATS is going to reveal a few of the best in this section.

54. Use checkboxes for multiple file selection

This tip is a perfect example of why people should not give up on Windows Vista. Lurking within the standard Vista explorer interface is a really, really convenient way to highlight multiple files without using shift or CTRL. Welcome to the era of the checkbox. Once you have enabled this feature, you will see a little checkbox at the upper left corner of each icon in the explorer window. Checking this box will highlight the file in question. Genius.

To enable checkbox file selection in Windows Vista:

Go to 'start/computer'.

Click the 'organize' menu and choose 'folder and search options'.

Select the 'view' tab.

Scroll down and check the 'use check boxes to select items' option.

55. Enable Windows classic desktop

If you just can't get used to the look of the Vista interface, or you are running under 1GB of memory and you need to speed up the desktop, try enabling the Windows Classic interface. This is a two step process involving changing both the desktop settings and the Start menu. Note that while in XP the 'classic interface' was that of Windows 2000, in Windows Vista it is the XP interface that is brought up when you make this change.

To revert to the Windows classic interface:

Right click on the 'start' menu and click 'properties'.

Select the 'classic start menu' option and click 'ok'.

Right click on an empty area of the desktop and choose 'personalize.'

Select the 'theme' option.

In the 'theme' dropdown box, choose 'Windows Classic.'

Click 'ok'.

All the bells and whistles are now gone completely.

56. Reduce start menu opening delay

If the Vista interface seems sluggish to you, this tip may help things feel a little more frisky by boosting the speed of the start menu.

To reduce start menu opening time:

Open the 'start' menu, type 'regedit' and hit Enter.

Navigate to 'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop'

Double click on the 'MenuShowDelay' value and change its value to 150.

57. Disable mandatory thumbnail previews

By default, Windows Vista renders nearly every directory in thumbnails, which can be a good thing, but can also be a pain if you've got a lot of files and little memory. If you'd like to go back to the XP-centric explorer where thumbs where an option not a mandate, it's easy enough to do, fortunately.

To disable automatic thumbnail previews:

Go to 'start/computer.'

open the 'organize' menu and choose 'folder and search options.'

Choose the view tab and place a check next to the 'always show icons, never thumbnails' option at the top. Hit 'ok.'