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 5: Use ReadyBoost to improve system performance

Have a spare flash drive sitting around? Vista lets you use it to speed up your computer.

• Attach a flash device (such as a USB thumb drive).
• When the AutoPlay window appears, click on "Speed up my system using Windows ReadyBoost".
• Click on the "Use this device" radio box.
• Click OK.