Vista Tweaks (Shell Related)

Turn on the sidebar

The long awaited Windows Sidebar, which first debuted back in the Longhorn alpha builds but was removed and remade into a seperate project has finally made its way back into Windows Vista. However, it is tucked away in 5308. To start it:

1. Click Start, and hover over All Programs.
2. Navigate to the Accessories folder.
3. Click “Sidebar”.

Bring back “Run” on the Start menu

One of the most favorite functions in Windows, the “Run” function, has been moved off of the Start menu by default in Windows Vista. To access it, you could press WinKey+R on your keyboard to bring it up. Or you can use the Search functionality built into the Start menu, it also works as the run command. Or, last but not least, you could just put the Run command back on the Start menu where it has lived for years:

1. Right click on the Start button, and click “Properties”.
2. In the “Taskbar and Start Menu Properties” dialog, click “Customize”.
3. Scroll down and in the list you shall find “Run command”. Check the box next to it.
4. Close any open dialogs by pressing OK.

Toggle DWM

If you find the Aero Glass user interface annoying, orif it is slow on your computer configuration, simply pressCtrl+Shift+F9 to turn it off. Press this key combination again to re-enable it.

Use the Search box in Windows Explorer to filter a file view

Did you know you can easily filter the list of documents and folders in a folder using the Search field in Windows Explorer? For instance if you have a folder containing a lot of folders and documents and you are specifically looking for “Vista”, all you need to do is type “Vista”, or even just part of the word, such as “Vis” to limit the list of files shown.

Use Flip3D
In build 5270, Microsoft had added a quick launch button to run “Flip3D”, the cool new task switching mode in Windows Vista. In the February CTP however, this quick launch item has been removed. If you’ve forgotten the key combination to run Flip3D, it is currently WinKey+Tab. If you want to run Flip3D without it closing when you let go of the key combination, press Ctrl+WinKey+Tab.

Limit the number of windows shown in Flip3D

If Flip3D is too slow for you or if you have too many windows open, you can easily limit the number of windows displayed in Flip3D. As you tab or scroll through them, other windows will appear.

1. Press WinKey+R on your keyboard.
2. Type “regedit.exe” without the quotes.
3. If asked for permission to launch the Registry Editor, click Allow.
4. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM
5. Right click on the right hand side of the registry editor, and under New, click on “DWORD (32-bit)”.
6. Name the new DWORD value “Max3DWindows” (without the quotes)
7. Double click on the DWORD value and set it to the maximum number of windows you want displayed in Flip3D. A good number is 5 for low-end cards and 10 for other cards.
8. Click OK and exit the Registry Editor.
9. Press Ctrl+Shift+F9 to shut down DWM, and then press the key combination again to restart it.
10. Press WinKey+Tab to display Flip3D.

Workaround for the dissapearing start button after using Flip3D

If you use the Flip3D function in Windows Vista February CTP, you may notice that when you return from the Flip3D display screen that the blue start button in the left hand corner is missing. To fix this, simply restart DWM by pressingCtrl+Shift+F9 twice.

Add another time zone to your clock

Onenice addition to Windows Vista is the ability to display the time in other time zones.

1. Click on the clock.
2. Click “Date and Time Settings”.
3. Click on the “Additional Clocks” tab.
4. Check the box labelled “Additional Clock #1″, and from the drop down menu choose a time zone.
5. Give the clock a name, such as “Microsoft” or “Texas”.
6. Press OK.

You can repeat this for the second additional clock as well.