Five essential Vista tips and tricks

Just upgraded to Vista and annoyed with quirks that Microsoft considers as "features"? Follow these handy tips to make your transition from XP painless.

1. Disable User Account Control
2. Change preinstalled Vista features
3. Save searches
4. Improve program access with Quick Launch
5. Use ready boost to improve system performance

Tip 2: Change preinstalled Vista features

Vista, like all versions of Windows, comes with a lot of preset features you may never need or want. If you don't think you'll use Remote Differential Compression, the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0 XPS Viewer, or Windows Meeting Space -- or if you really need a simple telnet client -- it's easy to do.

• Click on the Start button, then click on Control Panel.
• Click on "Uninstall a program" under the Programs category.
• Click on "Turn Windows features on or off".
• Click on an empty checkbox to add a feature; conversely, uncheck the box to remove a feature.