By Preston Gralla

After five years, Windows Vista is finally here. With a Mac-like interface, improved security, and far better networking, it's a great improvement over Windows XP. There's plenty to like about the new operating system --- here are five of my favorite. For in-depth details about how to use Windows Vista, look for my book, Windows Vista in a Nutshell. (http://tinyurl.com/27r2v3)

Graphical Interface and Windows Aero

The thing you'll probably like most about Vista is its new interface. Transparent windows slide into place with animations, there are useful gadgets on the right side of the screen, and the colors are subtler than in previous versions of windows. Overall, it's less cartoonish and more Mac-like than Windows XP.

At the heart of the new interface is Windows Aero, which features windows with glassy, translucent edges, and whose colors, level of transparency, and saturation can be customized. The Alt-Tab switching between open windows has been drastically improved with Windows Flip and Windows Flip 3D. With Windows Flip (Alt-Tab) you see thumbnails of all your windows as you rotate through them. Windows Flip 3D stacks all of your windows in three dimensions; you can flip through them like cards.

Two more elements of the new user interface are particularly notable, the gadgets on the Sidebar, and Live Thumbnails. Hover your mouse over a window on the Taskbar, and a thumbnail of that window pops up, including the program and document name or Web site just above it. These thumbnails are "live" -- if there’s video playing in the windows, you’ll be able to see the video playing in the thumbnail.

Gadgets live on the Sidebar, and are interactive applets that gather and display information, such as displaying RSS feeds, updating stock quotes, and so on. Windows Vista ships with about a dozen of them.

Network and Sharing Center

Windows Vista is the first version of Windows built in a world where networking has become nearly ubiquitous, and it shows. Microsoft has finally gotten networking right..

Command central for networking is the Network and Sharing Center, which lets you easily configuring a network and all its features, including sharing files and folders, connecting to and managing multiple networks, and accessing all of your network's resources. All of your vital networking tools and information are right at hand.

To see my favorite new networking feature, click "View Full Map," and Vista shows you a complete map of all of the PCs and devices on your network, including switches, and gateways. Click a device or hover over it and you'll see more details. So click a PC, and you'll see shared network files and folders.

Wireless Networking

If you frequently connect to multiple wireless networks, you'll appreciate the ease with which you can connect to and manage wireless networks and connections. Click the network icon in the System Tray, click "Connect or disconnect" and you’ll see a list of nearby wireless networks. Hover your mouse over any network, and you'll see details about it, including the network type (802.11b, 802.11g, etc), whether security is being used, and if so, what kind.

You can also easily manage multiple networks and connection. For example, if you use a wireless network at home, one at work, and several at Hot Spots, you can name and save each connection and tell Vista to automatically connect to each when you're in range. There's nice built-in security as well. You designate each network as a public or private one, and when you connect to each, Windows Vista automatically applies the relevant security. Private networks, for example, allow file-sharing; when you're at a public network, Windows Vista automatically turns that off.

Search

The new search built into Windows Vista is it's exceedingly fast, makes it a breeze to find any file, and lets you save searches for future reference. Search is built into every level of Windows Vista; it’s on the Start menu, it’s on the upper right-hand side of Windows Explorer, and it can be gotten to via Start-->Search. It uses indexing to perform your searches, and because of that, it displays results lightning-fast. It searches the index as you type, so that results appear as you type your first letter of your term, and narrow as you keep typing.

In addition, there is a very powerful advanced search tool that lets you narrow your search by date, file size, author, tags, and location. It accepts Boolean searching. You can even search other computers on your network, as long as you have the rights to read from the other PCs. You can even save your searches. Create a search once, then visit again in Windows Explorer so that you don’t have to re-create it.

Security

It's no secret that previous versions of Windows have been chockfull of security holes. Microsoft aimed to plug them in Windows Vista, and it's done quite a nice job.

The Windows firewall has been improved; it now blocks dangerous outbound connections as well as inbound ones. Vista also ships with Windows Defender¸ anti-spyware with some particularly notable features, especially the Software Explorer, which shows you programs that run at startup and currently running programs, and provides details about each, including whether it’s classified as malware.

BitLocker Drive Encryption, available only on the Enterprise and Ultimate versions, provides a hardware-based way of locking down an entire PC and all its data.

Internet security has also been improved. Internet Explorer now includes a very good anti-phishing filter. In addition, any IE window, including popups, now includes an Address Bar with a URL. In previous versions of the browser, popups didn’t include URLs, and so you couldn’t know whether they originated from a legitimate site or a spyware purveyor.

Also, by default, IE runs in the new Protected Mode, in which the browser can't modify system files or settings. In addition, protection against cross-domain scripting attacks has been added. In this kind of attack, a hacker could create a malicious Web site that would spawn a legitimate Web site in another window, such as a banking site. But when you enter information into the banking site, the hacker can read it from his other domain.