Features new to Windows Vista

Template:Future software Windows Vista (formerly known as Windows "Longhorn") has many significant new features compared to previous Windows versions, covering almost every aspect of the operating system.

The full extent of the new features to be included in Windows Vista has not been stated formally, so this is not a complete list.

Aero

Main article: Aero (user interface)

Windows Vista will include a re-designed user interface, code-named Aero – an acronym (or backronym) for Authentic, Energetic, Reflective, and Open. The new interface is intended to be cleaner and more aesthetically pleasing than previous Windows, including new transparencies, animations and eye candy, which some report as being similar to Mac OS X. Until build 5112, little or nothing has been shown of Aero in public/leaked builds. However, Microsoft makes it clear that the changes are by no means superficial. The previous UIs were Plex, which was featured in Longhorn builds 3683-4029; Slate, which was featured in build 4051 and was available until build 4083; and Jade (build 4074 and 4083, actually an early preview of Aero). Microsoft started using Aero in public builds since build 5048. The first build with full-featured Aero was build 5219. Originally, Aero was to have three levels available, one code-named "To Go", which had the Desktop Window Manager (DWM) composition engine (previously known as DCE) disabled. The next was to be AeroExpress, lacking many features of the highest level code-named Aero Glass. However, in December 2005, Microsoft announced that there would only be two levels available, "Windows Vista Aero" and "Windows Vista Basic", with the previous "Express" level integrated into the new "Windows Vista Aero" level. A control panel was added to enable the user to fine tune this functionality, such as being able to turn off the "glass" translucency effect. These levels are provided so that the Aero interface (to some extent) can be used with a relatively low-end graphics card.

Initially, a variation of Aero, code-named "Aero Diamond", was slated to be the user interface for the Windows Vista Media Center experience, although there has been no mention of diamond for a number of years, it may refer to the expectation that the interface will be written in pure XAML (as was Aero initially) but this has not been confirmed.

Search

Windows Vista will feature a search engine that will allow for instant display of results for a given search, in a manner similar to Google Desktop, Apple Computer's Spotlight, and Microsoft's Windows Desktop Search. This is in contrast to the search engine of Windows XP, which takes some time to display results, and only after the user has finished typing the search string. The Windows Vista search will allow users to add multiple filters to continually refine search results (Such as "File contains the word 'example'").

There will also be the ability to save searches as Virtual Folders (rather like the Smart folders of Mac OS X v10.4, and Search Folders in Microsoft Outlook 2003), where opening a folder will execute a specific search automatically and display the results as a normal folder. These virtual folders are also distributable via RSS. Previously there were rumors that unlike Tiger's smart folders or Microsoft Outlook 2003, users will not be able to open the files directly from the virtual folder in the same way as through the Windows Explorer, this was later found to be untrue.

The Windows Vista search is built on an expanded and improved version of the Windows indexing service from previous versions of Windows. Searching in Windows Vista will also allow users to search across RSS and Atom feeds, straight from Explorer.

Also like Apple's Spotlight, programs specifically developed for Windows Vista can also add search to their own programs. Windows Vista will also use IFilters that are used today by Windows Desktop Search. The IFilter interface can be implemented by software makers so that files created by their applications can be better integrated with search and indexing programs.

Inclusion of WinFS, which will be available as an add-on to Windows Vista, will make the search feature more powerful.

For more information on WinFS, see the WinFS article.

Security

Beginning in early 2002 with Microsoft's announcement of their Trustworthy Computing initiative, a great deal of work has gone into making Windows Vista a more secure operating system than its predecessors. Internally, Microsoft adopted a "Security Development Lifecycle" with the underlying ethos of, "Secure by design, secure by default, secure in deployment". New code for Windows Vista was developed with the SDL methodology, and all existing code was reviewed and refactored to improve security.

A number of specific improvements have been made:

• User Account Control, a new infrastructure which lets users perform administrative functions as a non-administrator; the user is prompted for an administrator password when attempting to do these things. This protection is extended to administrator accounts as well: if an administrator attempts to do a privileged operation, they are asked to confirm the operation.
• Protected-Mode IE: Internet Explorer runs in a separate, low-privilege process, protecting the user from malicious content and security vulnerabilities, even in ActiveX controls.
• Windows Firewall has been upgraded to support outbound packet filtering and full IPv6 support. A new MMC-based interface has been introduced which offers much more advanced control over the firewall.
• Previous versions of Windows ran System services in the same login session as the locally logged in user (Session 0). In Windows Vista, Session 0 is now reserved for these services, and interactive logins are done in other sessions.
• New security measures which prevent the kernel from being patched while running, except by authorized patches; this mitigates a common tactic used by rootkits to hide themselves from user-mode applications.
• Full support for the "NX" (No-Execute) feature of processors. This feature, present as NX (EVP) in AMD's AMD64 processors and as XD (EDB) in Intel's processors, can flag certain parts of memory as containing data instead of executable code, which prevents overflow errors from resulting in arbitrary code execution. This should not be confused with the protection facilities provided by a Trusted Platform Module.

XML Paper Specification (XPS)

Main article: XML Paper Specification

XPS was formerly known as "Metro", and is Microsoft's upcoming document format, which is based on XML. It is similar in many ways to Adobe Systems' PDF. XPS is intended to allow users to view, print, and archive files without the original program that created them. The name XPS also refers to one of the print paths in Windows Vista. With XPS, documents can remain in the same format from the time they are created to the time they are printed. Microsoft states that XPS will provide better fidelity to the original document by using a consistent format for both screen and print output.

While some suspect XPS is intended to be a "PDF-killer", Microsoft insists that it is not attempting to duplicate all the functionality of PDF. For example, at the time of writing, XPS is not planned to have the capabilities for dynamic documents.

XPS is a subset of Windows Presentation Foundation, allowing it to incorporate rich vector-graphic elements in documents. The elements used are taken to a lower level (i.e. described in terms of paths) to allow for portability across platforms. In effect, it consists of XAML files, with necessary fonts, zipped in a package.

Shell

Main article: Windows Shell

The new shell is a significant change from previous versions of Windows. Combined with the new desktop searching feature, the shell gives users the ability to find and organize their files in new ways. Apart from the typical file organization practice of using folders to contain files, a new collection known as Lists lets users organize files from multiple locations in a single place.

A new type of folder known as a Shadow Folder has the ability to revert its entire contents to any arbitrary point in the past. Shadow Folders utilize a transactional storage feature in the newest NTFS release.

Additionally, the shell contains significant advancements in the visualization of files on a computer. Previous versions of the Windows Shell would display thumbnails to represent different files on the computer. In Windows Vista the thumbnail concept is taken further by overlaying different imagery to communicate more information about the particular file such as a picture frame around the thumbnail of an image file, or a filmstrip on a video file. Windows Vista helps the user identify the file easily by more intelligently generating the thumbnails. Using algorithmic analysis, images are cropped around their likely subject, and interesting key frames are automatically chosen from a video file. Also, the ability to zoom the thumbnails in the shell greatly increases their usefulness.

An interesting addition to the shell is "breadcrumbs view", meaning that as users navigate down a folder hierarchy, all the previous levels the user has gone through will be displayed near the title bar. The user can thus move quickly to a higher level and re-navigate from there, instead of repeatedly pressing the Back button. This is possible today by pressing the small down-arrow next to "Back" in folders and in Internet Explorer, but Windows Vista will put it front and center.

The usage of Ratings will also be expanded to all files, and not just video and music files within Windows Media Player as is currently the case.

This new Windows Explorer shell will not be based on Internet Explorer browser.

Networking

Windows Vista is expected to have a brand new networking stack. A significant and much needed change is a more complete implementation of IPv6 which is now supported by all networking components, services, and the user interface. IPv4 implementation has also been completely overhauled. Windows Vista also takes advantage of peer-to-peer technology to provide a new type of domain-like networking setup known as a Castle. Castle makes it possible for user credentials to propagate across networked computers without a centralized server, making them more suitable for a home network.The Next-Generation TCP/IP stack uses a new method to store configuration settings that enables more dynamic control and does not require a computer restart after settings are changed. Furthermore, the new networking stack is expected to have improved resistance against all known TCP/IP-based denial of service and other types of network attacks. The new TCP/IP suite uses per-user routing table, thus compartmentalizing the network according to the user's needs. Data from one segment cannot go into another.

A significant change that will improve network throughput, is the automatic resizing of TCP Receive window. The receive window (RWIN) is the buffer that is used to temporarily hold incoming TCP data. Receive window auto tuning functionality continually monitors the badwidth and the latency of TCP connections individually and optimize the receive window for each connection. The window size will be increased in high-bandwidth (~5mbps+) or high-latency (>10ms) situations. With a large receive window, more data can be transferred at a time, so less time is spent waiting for acknowledgements for TCP packets, thereby boosting the data throughput rates considerably. It also tracks whether any intermediate routers drop the larger data packets, in which case it automatically scales back the packet size.

Windows Vista Networking stack will also use several performance optimizations, which allow higher throuput by allowing faster recovery from packet losses, when using a high packet loss environment such as wireless networks. Windows Vista will use the NewReno algorithm which allows a sender to send more data while retrying in case it receives a partial acknowledgement, which is acknowledgement from the receiver for only a part of data that has been received. It also uses Selective Acknowledgements (SACK) to reduce the amount of data to be retransmitted in case a portin of the data sent was not received correctly. It also includes Neighbour Unreachbility Detection capability in both IPv4 and IPv6, which tracks the accessibility of neighboring nodes. This allows faster error recovery, in case a neighboring node fails.

In IPv6 mode, Windows Vista can use the Link Local Multicast Name Resolution (LLMNR) protocol to resolve names of hosts on a network which does not have a DNS server running. This service is useful for networks without a central managing server and ad-hoc wireless networks. IPv6 can also be used over PPP, for dial-up connections as well. Support for DHCPv6, which can be used with IPv6, is also included.

WinSock Network sockets subsystem in Windows Vista includes WinSock Kernel, which is a kernel mode implementation of WinSock, which allows easier development of drivers for network protocols, as well as increase the efficiency of applications using WinSock sockets for communication. The WinSock API has also been expanded to expose the enhancements of the new network stack, as well as new logging features.

In previous versions of Windows, all processing needed to receive or transfer data over one network interface was done by a single processor, even in a multi processor system. Windows Vista can distribute the job of traffic processing in network communication among multiple processors. This feature is called Receive Side Scaling. Windows Vista will also support network cards which have certain TCP/IP-related functionality implemented in hardware, to which it can offload framing, routing, error-correction and acknowledgement and retransmission jobs required in TCP/IP, to hardware accelerate them. This will remove a huge load from the CPU. Traffic processing in both IPv4 and IPv6 can be offloaded.

Wireless Networking supports in Windows Vista is getting upgraded. Support for wireless networks is built into the network stack itself, and does not emulate wired connections, as was the cae with previous versions. This allows implementation of wireless specific features such as larger frame sizes and optimized error recovery procedures. It will also be easier to find wireless networks in range and tell which are open and which closed. Hidden wireless networks, which do not advertize their Service Set Identifier (SSID) would be supported. Security for wireless networks is being improved with improved support for newer wireless standards like 802.11i. EAP Transport Layer Security (EAP-TLS) is the default authentication mode. Connections will be made at the most secure connection level supported by the wireless access point. WPA2 can be used even in ad-hoc mode. Windows Vista will also provide a Fast Roaming service that will allow users to move from one access point to another without loss of connectivity. Preauthentication with the new wireless access point will be used to reain the connectivity. The wireless card may also be virtualized to connect to multiple wireless networks simultaneously.

Windows Vista includes built in support for peer-to-peer communication. It includes a new version of the Peer Name Resolution protocol (PNRPv2), which is faster and more scalable. Peer-to-peer networking functionality can be accessed from the WinSock API as well. The peer-to-peer networking subsytem can also discover other people running the same service in the local subnet, using a feature dubbed People Near Me. This facility can be used to develop collaborative applications.

Windows Vista neworking stack includes integrated Quality of Service functionality to prioritize network traffic. Quality of Service can be used to manage network usage by specific applications or users, by throttling the bandwidth available to them. Or it can be used to limit bandwidth usage by other applications when high priority applications, such as real time conferencing applications, are being run, to ensure they get the bandwidth they need. Windows Vista also includes qWave, which is a pre-configured Quality of Service module for time dependent multimedia data, such as audio or video streams. qWave uses different packet priority schemes for real-time flows (such as multimedia packets) and best-effort flows (such as file downloads or e-mails) to ensure that real time data gets as little delays as possible, while providing a high quality channel for other data packets.

In order to provide better security when transferring data over a network, Windows Vista provides enhancements to the cryptographic algorithms used to obfuscate data. Support for 256-bit and 384-bit Diffie-Hellman (DH) algorithms, as well as for 128-bit, 192-bit and 256-bit Anvanced Encryption Standard (AES) is included in the network stack itself.

Windows Vista has dropped support for rarely used protocols such as Bandwidth Allocation Protocol. In addtion, X.25 support for Serial Line Interface Protocol (SLIP) is also removed. SLIP connections are automatically upgraded to use Point-to-Point protocol (PPP). Services for Macintosh has also been removed.

Windows Vista introduces a concept of network profiles. For each network, the system will store the IP address, DNS server, Proxy server and other network features specific to the network in that network's profile. So when that network is subsequently connected to, the settings need not be reconfigured, the ones saved in its profile will be used.

The ability to assist the user in diagnosing a network problem is expected to be a major new networking feature. It can inform user of most causes of network transmission failure, such as incorrect IP address, gateway failure, port in use, receiver not ready etc. Transmission errors are also exhaustively logged, which can be analyzed to better find the cause of error. Windows Vista has a greater awareness of the network topology the host computer is in, using technologies such as UPnP. With this new network awareness technology it can provide help to the user in fixing network issues or simply provide a graphical view of the perceived network configuration. Since build 5231, there is also a new "Network Center", allowing the administration of the network topology. Windows Vista also provides a GUI module for configuration of both IPv4 and IPv6 properties.

Windows Defender

Main article: Windows Defender

Apart from various improvements in security, Windows Vista will include Microsoft's anti-spyware utility, recently renamed Windows Defender. According to Microsoft, it was renamed from 'Windows Anti-Spyware' because it not only features scanning of the system for spyware, similar to other free products on the market, but also includes Real Time Security agents that monitor several common areas of Windows for changes which may be caused by spyware. It also includes the ability to easily remove ActiveX applications that are installed, and to delete the histories in almost all Microsoft programs, and a number of other common programs including Acrobat. Also included is a SpyNet™ network, that allows users to communicate with Microsoft, what they consider is spyware, and what are acceptable applications.

Parental Controls

Windows Vista includes a range of parental controls. An administrator can apply parental control restrictions to other users on the computer. Facilities include:

• Web content blocking, including the ability to limit web browsing to "kids websites", as well as blocking particular categories of content such as "Pornography", "Drugs", "Web e-mail", "Web chat", and so on. File downloads may also be disabled.
• Time limitations on when the account may be used
• Restrictions on what kind of games may be played. ESRB ratings are used to determine the highest allowed game rating. As with web content blocking, a number of categories of content may also be blocked regardless of ESRB rating.
• Restrictions on what programs may be executed
• Activity reports to monitor what was done under Parental Controls

Mobile computing

Some significant changes have been made to Windows Vista for mobile computing.

• "Stand By" and "Hibernate" have been combined into a single "Sleep" function which combines the two modes. On mobile PC's, this function is displayed on the Start menu, and is intended to be the mode by which users will shut down their computer. When chosen, the new "Sleep" mode puts the computer into Stand By mode for three hours, then switches to Hibernate mode.
• Windows Mobility Center is a new control panel that centralizes information and functionality that is important to mobile PC's.
• Windows SideShow is a new technology that lets Windows Vista drive a small external display that is built into the outside of a mobile PC's lid. The display can be updated with a number of different kinds of information, such as contacts, maps, calendar, and email. This can then be consulted while the mobile PC is otherwise powered down.
• The battery icon in the notification area has been improved to let the user more easily select a "Power plan".

Audio

Windows Vista features a completely re-written audio stack and a new API created by a team including Larry Osterman.

• The new audio stack is run at user level increasing performance and stability.
• The new API has allowed a new volume control panel to be created allowing the user to change system volumes and individual applications' volume.
• Built-in support for microphone arrays, which will let a user connect multiple microphones to a single system, so that the inputs can be combined into a single, higher-quality source. A likely implementation of this is for laptops to incorporate multiple microphones at different points.

Device support

Windows Vista builds on the Universal Audio Architecture, a new class driver definition that aims to reduce the need for third-party drivers, and to increase the overall stability and reliability of audio in Windows.

• Extended support for USB audio devices:
  • Built-in decoding of padded AC-3 (Dolby Digital), MP3, WMA and WMA Pro streams and outputting as S/PDIF.
  • Support for MIDI "Elements".
  • New support for asynchronous endpoints.
• IEEE 1394 (aka Firewire) audio support is now built into Windows as a full class driver, automatically supporting IEEE 1394 AV/C audio devices.
• Support for Intel High Definition Audio devices (which replaces Intel's previous AC97 audio hardware standard)

Speech recognition

Windows Vista is the first Windows operating system to include fully integrated support for speech recognition. The speech recognition system lets a user control their machine through voice commands, as well as enable dictation into any application. Applications which don't present obvious "commands" can still be controlled by asking the system to overlay numbers on top of interface elements; the number can subsequently be spoken to activate that function. Applications needing mouse clicks in arbitrary locations can also be controlled through speech; when asked to do so, a grid of nine zones is displayed, with numbers inside each. The user speaks the number, and another grid of nine zones is placed inside the chosen zone. This continues until the user has focused to where they want to click.

Windows Vista is expected to include speech recognition for 8 languages at release time, and additional language support beyond that is planned for post-release.

Windows Vista will ship with version 5.3 of the Microsoft Speech API (SAPI 5.3) and version 7 of the Speech Recognition engine.

Speech synthesis

Speech synthesis was first introduced in Windows with Windows 2000, but it has been significantly enhanced for Windows Vista. The old voice, Microsoft Sam has been replaced with two new voices of generally higher naturalness and intelligibility: Anna and Lili, the latter of which is capable of speaking Chinese. The screen-reader Narrator which uses these voices has also been updated.

Windows Internet Explorer 7

Main article: Internet Explorer

Windows Vista will include a new version of Internet Explorer, which adds support for tabbed browsing, Atom, RSS, a search box, a phishing filter, an anti-spoofing URL engine, fine-grained control over ActiveX add-ons, thumbnails of all open tabs in a single window (called Quick Tabs), page zoom, and tab groups, which makes it possible to open a folder of Favorites in tabs with a single click. Importing bookmarks and cookies from other web browsers will also be supported.

Internet Explorer will operate in a special "Protected Mode", which runs the browser in a security sandbox that has no access to the rest of the operating system or file system, except the Temporary Internet Files folder. 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).

Additionally, there will be a large number of improvements and fixes to CSS and HTML rendering, and proper support for PNG images with transparency.

The Windows Vista version of Windows Internet Explorer will feature a WinINet API, different from those available for other versions of Windows. It will leverage Windows Vista's support of IPv6, and support hexadecimal literals in the IPv6 address. It also includes support for GZip and deflate compression, so that communication with a web server can be compressed and thus will require less data to be transferred. It will also support International Domain Names for web addresses.

Windows Media Player 11

Main article: Windows Media Player

Windows Media Player 11, which will also be available on Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, will feature a fully revamped interface. The library will now include thumbnail view of its items. And search has been upgraded to include word-wheeling. Results are searched and refined as it characters are entered in the search box. The online music store URGE, a joint venture of Microsoft and MTV Networks, is integrated. CD burning has also been upgraded. WMP now includes RSS feeds support, through the integrated feed store that comes with Microsoft Internet Explorer 7. Windows Media Player 11 for Windows Vista will include a superset of features^[1] of what will be in the version for previous Windows versions.

Digital Rights Management

Microsoft is introducing a number of Digital Rights Management and content-protection features in Windows Vista, to help digital content providers, corporations, and end-users protect their data from being copied.

• PUMA: Protected User Mode Audio (PUMA) is the new User Mode Audio (UMA) audio stack. Its aim is to provide a safer (for the content publishers, that is) environment for audio playback, as well as ensuring that the enabled audio outputs are consistent with what the publisher of the protected content allows.[2]
• Protected Video Path - Output Protection Management (PVP-OPM) is a technology that makes sure that the PC’s video outputs have the required protection and don't allow unauthorized copying of videos or that they are turned off if such protection is not available. Microsoft justifies this new technology by claiming that otherwise the content industry may introduce robustness rules and testing that would effectively lock out PCs from premium content, by not allowing PCs a license key for the encryption used by conditional-access systems or HD-DVD. and Blu-Ray Disc.[3]
• Protected Video Path - User-Accessible Bus (PVP-UAB) is similar to PVP-OPM, except that it applies encryption of premium content over the PCI Express bus.
• Rights Management Services (RMS) support, a technology that will allow corporations to apply DRM-like restrictions to corporate documents, email, and intranets to protect them from being copied, printed, or even opened by people not authorized to do so. MSN Spaces will also offer an open RMS server that home users and smaller businesses can use to extend this ability to their own documents.

DirectX

Windows Vista will include a new version of Direct3D, called D3D 10. Version 10 will represent a departure from the driver model of DirectX Graphics 9.0, with the addition of a scheduler and memory virtualization system. Direct3D 10 will forego the current DirectX practice of using "capability bits" to indicate which features are active on the current hardware. Instead, Direct3D 10 will define a minimum standard of hardware capabilities which must be supported for a display system to be "Direct3D 10 compatible". According to Microsoft, Direct3D 10 will be able to display graphics up to 8 times more quickly than DirectX Graphics 9.0c. However, Direct3D 10 will not be backward compatible with current versions of DirectX, so computer games made for Direct3D 10 will not function on any other model of DirectX. In addition, Direct3D 10 will incorporate Microsoft Shader Model 4.0. DirectX will support side-by-side installation with DirectX 9.0L, the version of DirectX 9.0 for Windows Vista.

DirectX 10 API will introduce unified vertex and pixel shaders. In addition, it will also support Geometry Shaders, which work on whole triangles, which make up a 3D model. Data churned out by the GPU can be reused by either the GPU or the CPU. This, at least in theory, means that the vector processing abilities of the GPU can be used for non-graphics related jobs as well.

Command-line tools

New command-line tools in Windows Vista include:

• mklink — create, modify and delete symbolic links

Kernel and Core OS changes

• Improved memory manager and processes scheduler. I/O has been enhanced with I/O asynchronous cancellation and I/O scheduling based on thread priority. Rewritten many kernel structure data and algorithms.
• Support for condition variables and reader-writer locks.
• Deadlock Detection Technology is a new technology that will prevent many common causes of hangs and crashes and determines if a hang is due to a deadlock condition
• Registry virtualization: Reads and writes in the HKLM\Software section of the Registry by user-mode applications while running as a standard user are "redirected", transparently storing the data with the user's account instead.
• InfoCard, a user interface to the Identity Metasystem.
• Support for the PCI Express 1.1 specification.
• Full support for the ACPI 2.0 specification, and parts of ACPI 3.0. Support for throttling power usage of individual devices is improved.
• The NTLDR boot loader has been replaced by a more flexible system called Boot Configuration Data.
• Support for peer-to-peer file transfers using Background Intelligent Transfer Service, known as "Neighbor Casting".
• SuperFetch caches frequently-used applications and documents in memory, and keeps track of when commonly used applications are usually loaded, so that they can be pre-cached. SuperFetch aims to negate the negative performance effect of having anti-virus or backup software run when the user is not at the computer.
• Support for hybrid drives, a new design of hard drive developed by Samsung and Microsoft, that incorporates non-volatile memory into the drive's design, resulting in lower power needs, as the drive's spindles do not need to be activated for every write operation. Windows Vista can also make use of the NVRAM to increase the speed of booting and returning from hibernation.

File Systems

• Transactional NTFS allows multiple file/folder operations to be treated as a single operation, so that a crash or power failure won't result in half-completed file writes. Transactions can also be extended to multiple machines.
• File encryption support superior to that available in Windows XP, which will make it easier and more automatic to prevent unauthorized viewing of files on stolen laptops or hard drives.
• A new file system called EXFAT, which is similar to the FAT filesystem, but is optimized for use with flash-style removable devices.
• Improvements to Universal Disk Format filesystem support; notably, the ability to format and write to UDF volumes, support for UDF 2.50, and longer volume label names.
• Support of UNIX-style symbolic links.
• File virtualization, a feature that automatically creates private copies of files that an application can use when it does not have permission to access the original files. This facilitates stronger file security and helps applications not written with security in mind to run under stronger restrictions.
• Volume Shadow Copy (read-only snapshots of a disk volume at an earlier point in time), fully supported on local volumes.
• A new file-based disk image format called Microsoft Windows Imaging Format (WIM), which can be mounted as a partition, or booted from. An associated tool called xImage provides facilities to create and maintain these image files.

Drivers

• A new user-mode driver model called the User Mode Driver Framework, which is part of Microsoft's new driver model, Windows Driver Foundation. A user-mode driver would typically be used for devices which plug into a USB or Firewire bus, such as digital cameras, PDA's and mass storage devices, as well as "non-hardware" drivers, such as filter drivers.
• Kernel-mode drivers on x64-bit versions of Windows Vista must be digitally signed; even Administrators will not be able to install unsigned kernel-mode drivers.[4] A boot-time option will be available to disable this check for a single session of Windows. Installing user-mode drivers will still work without a digital signature.
• Driver packages that are used to install driver software will be copied in their entirety into a "Driver Store", which is a repository of driver packages. This ensures that drivers that need to be repaired or reinstalled won't need to ask for source media to get "fresh" files. The Driver Store can also be pre-loaded with drivers by an OEM or IT administrator to ensure that commonly used devices (e.g. external perhiperals shipped with a computer system, corporate printers) can be installed immediately, but don't need to be pre-installed.
• Support for Windows Error Reporting; information on an "unknown device" is reported to Microsoft when a driver cannot be found on the system, via Windows Update, or supplied by the user. OEM's can hook into this system to provide information that can be returned to the user, such as a formal statement of non-support of a device for Windows Vista, or a link to a web site with support information, drivers, etc.

Other features and changes

• Windows Installer 4.0 (MSI 4.0) with support for features such as UAP (User Account Protection), Restart Manager, and MUI (Multiple User Interface).
• A new "Restart Manager" which will reduce the number of reboots and update files dynamically.
• The Task Scheduler has been significantly upgraded. New features include:
  • Ability to schedule tasks to be executed when a particular event is logged to an event log
  • A number of new conditions and filters
  • New security features, including using Vista's new Credentials Manager to store passwords so that they cannot be found easily, and scheduled tasks are executed in their own session, instead of the same session as system services or the current user
  • The ability to chain a series of actions together, instead of having to create multiple scheduled tasks
  • Ability to wake a machine from sleep or hibernation to execute a scheduled task, or to run a previous scheduled task after a machine gets turned back on
  • Tasks can be scheduled to execute only when the machine is idle
  • A completely new user interface based on MMC
  • The history of executed scheduled tasks can be reviews
  • The scheduled tasks API is now fully available to scripting languages
• Seven new Latin fonts: Calibri, Cambria, Candara, Consolas (monotype), Constantia, and Corbel. Segoe UI, previously used in Windows XP Media Center Edition, is also slated to be included, but may not be due to a licensing dispute with Linotype. There is a new Japanese font, Meiryo, supporting the new and modified characters of the JIS X 0213:2004 standard[5], and a new Korean font named Malgun Gothic.
• Built-in DVD recording capabilities, including Mt. Rainier support.
• Native raw image support (a variety of formats used by professional digital cameras).
• Native, embedded RSS support, with developer API.
• The "My" prefixes have been dropped, so "My Documents" will just be "Documents", "My Computer" will just be "Computer", etc.
• The long "Documents and Settings" folder is now just "Users", although a symbolic link called "Documents and Settings" is kept for compatibility.
• Microsoft Sam is replaced with the new high-resolution voice, Microsoft Anna. A second new voice, Lili, is able to speak fluent Chinese.
• Windows System Assessment Tool (WinSat), a built in benchmarking tool which analyzes the different subsystems (graphics, memory, etc), and uses the results to allow for comparison to other Windows Vista systems, and for software optimizations. The optimizations can be made by both Windows and third-party software. Tom's Hardware Overview
• Windows Backup (code-named SafeDocs) allowing automatic backup of files, recovery of specific files and folders, recovery of specific file types, or recovery of all files.
• Windows Flip 3D: Windows can be stacked and rotated in 3D to provide views of all of them simultaneously (Windows Vista: The Features)
• Windows Mail replaces Outlook Express, the well-known email client in previous Windows versions. It incorporates several user interface features from Outlook 2003, as well as Junk Mail filtering which is enhanced through regular updates via Windows Update.
• Windows Calendar is the new calendar application that is included in Windows Vista. It supports sharing of calendars on WebDAV-enabled web servers.
• Windows Photo Gallery, a photo & movie library management application. WPG can import from digital cameras, tag and rate individual items, adjust colors and exposure, create and display slideshows (with pan and fade effects), and burn slideshows to DVD.
• Windows DVD Maker, presumed to be a DVD creation application.
• Windows Collaboration is the replacement for NetMeeting. Users can share applications (or their entire desktop) with other users on the local network, or over the Internet. Connections between local users is done through "People Near Me", a technology that uses WS-Discovery to see other users on a local network.
• A revised Windows Update that runs completely as a control panel application, not as a web site as in prior versions of Windows.
• New tools under Computer Management to allow a user to visually monitor CPU, disk, network, and memory activity over a period of time, including exactly which applications are consuming these resources.
• Significantly upgraded support for printer management.
• The Events facility has been completely rewritten around XML, and allows applications to more precisely log events. Event Viewer has also been rewritten to take advantage of these new features.
• New support for infrared receivers; digital cameras and other devices supporting infrared can transfer files to a Windows Vista PC with no additional software.
• Remote Desktop Protocol 6.0 incorporating support for application-level remoting, improved security (TLS 1.0), support for connections via an SSL gateway, improved remoting of devices, and support for Avalon/WinFX remoting.
• The new Kernel Transaction Manager enables atomic transaction operations across different types of objects, most significantly file system and registry operations. [6]
• BitLocker Drive Encryption. Formerly known as "Secure Startup" , this software utilizes a TPM (compliant with the 1.2 version of the TCG specifications) to improve PC security. It ensures that the PC running Windows Vista starts in a known-good state, and it also protects data from unauthorized access through full volume encryption.[7]
• Internet Information Services version 7 is included with Windows Vista. A significant change from IIS 5.1 (included with Windows XP) is that there are no longer hard limits on concurrent connections or defined web servers.
• Games: Every game included with Windows has been rewritten to take advantage of Windows Vista's new graphics capabilities. New games include Chess, Mahjong Titans, Purble Place, and Hold 'Em.
• System Protection, previously known as System Restore, is more proactive at creating useful "Protection Points".

Windows XP features excluded from Windows Vista

Some features present in Windows XP will be removed in Windows Vista.

• Windows Messenger is being removed entirely; no replacement for it is expected to be included.
• NetMeeting is also being removed entirely, in favor of Windows Collaboration.
• Internet Explorer is no longer integrated with Windows Explorer. This can also be seen in Internet Explorer Beta 2 preview on Windows XP.
• Windows XP's well-known Luna theme has been removed.
• The Gopher protocol, an old protocol now considered obsolete, is no longer supported.
• Several old and little-used technologies have been removed from Internet Explorer: DirectAnimation support, XBM images, Channel Definition Format (CDF), view-source: and telnet: protocol handlers, 40-bit SSL ciphers.
  • A CDF file is responsible for the "Show Desktop" Quick Launch button included in some versions of Windows. This functionality is available on XP and later with the "Show the Desktop" taskbar menu item.
  • HTML source is more easily accessed through a browser than through the protocol.
  • Telnet support is still easily available through the "telnet.exe" console application, which the telnet: protocol launches by default anyway.
  • Due to increasing advancements in computer technology and speed, ciphers that were secure years ago are now easily cracked by an individual with his PC, given the proper software tools. 40-bit SSL has been removed to force websites to migrate to more secure alternatives.
• Links to the Backgammon, Hearts, Reversi, Spades, and Checkers games on MSN Gaming Zone have been removed.
• The default Administrator account has been hidden and is only available in safe mode. (first seen in build 5308). The first user account that is created on the computer after installation, is an account with administrative privileges.
• Motherboard support for ACPI is required for Windows Vista; as a result, older motherboards supporting only Advanced Power Management will no longer work. Other "legacy" hardware technolgies no longer supported include: Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA) bus, AMD K6/2+ Mobile Processors, Mobile Pentium III SpeedStep and ISAPnP is disabled by default,
• Startup Hardware Profiles have been removed.
• Unlike Outlook Express, Windows Mail has no support for HTTP mail via the WebDAV protocol (used by older Hotmail accounts and Yahoo! Mail); the addition of Windows Live Mail Desktop is likely to be required for similar functionality
• IPX networks are no longer supported.
• rexec, rsh, finger and some other command-line tools primarily used to communicate with UNIX-based systems have been removed from the default installation. Services for Unix still provides them as an optional component.
• Windows Explorer's "Web Publishing Wizard" has been removed.
• Direct3D Retained Mode is no longer supported.
• Services for Macintosh is removed.
• FrontPage Server Extensions has been dropped is being replaced with Windows SharePoint Services client support.
• Significant changes to the logon and authentication architecture has resulted in the removal of GINA.
• Support for enabling a folder for "Web Sharing" with Internet Information Services via the Windows Explorer interface has been removed.

See also

• Microsoft Windows
• Windows Vista
• Development of Windows Vista
• History of Microsoft Windows

Related Links

• Making Your Application a Windows Vista Application: The Top Ten Things to Do — from MSDN.
• A summary with 15 videos: Why do I need Windows Vista?
• MSDN documentation for Networking features in Windows Vista