Tricks with Windows Vista

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Laptop Install


Losing an Item from the Start Menu
I use the Quick Launch Toolbar extensively.
  1. Click Start > Programs > Accessories > drag WordPad icon to the desk top.
  2. This moves this Icon to the desk top. This is not what you meant to do.
  3. What you meant to do was copy it to the desktop. So you should have right-clicked and dragged the icon.
  4. To put the icon back in the menu drag it from the desktop to the Start button (by left clicking and dragging it).
  5. Then click Start and drag the WordPad icon from the upper part of the split menu to the programs and continue to drag it to the correct menu.
  6. If you have the Icon copied to the desktop simply drag it to the Quick launch bar and release it.


Dual Boot or Not
Using Virtual PC 2007
    One solution for folks who want to upgrade to Vista but still have some applications that won't run on the new OS is to dual boot XP and Vista on the same machine - but it can get tedious, shutting down one operating system and booting into the other. A more efficient way to handle the problem is to install XP in a virtual machine and run it, and the applications you want to run on it, in a window on your Vista desktop. You need VM software to do it, but Virtual PC 2007 is a free download at Downloads
This DOES work with Vista Home Basic ... just ignore the warnings that say it is unsupported

  • The hostKey = Right Alt key. To switch back to Windows Vista hostKey + down arrow.
  • Once you go through this process what you have is the ability to switch operating systems at the click of a mouse.
  • I am running 32 bit Windows XP Professional under Windows Vista 64 bit.


Using Open Source Under Windows Vista 64
Open Source means Linux in most cases.
Open Source
  • Using Open source code I have found to be a convenient workaround for lack of Windows 64 bit native code.  FTP = fileZillia


Dell Inspiron E1705 Laptop
Installing Windows XP.
  1. Boot the laptop from a USB floppy drive using a Windows 98 SE boot floppy.
  2. Next Launch FDISK and removed all partitions on the hard drive.
  3. Then using FDISK partition the hard drive into 2 partitions.
    The first partition was 20% and the second was 80% of the 110Gb drive.
  4. The laptop was then booted from the Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 CD.
  5. Windows XP was installed in the first partition after it was formatted as FAT32.
  6. Once Windows XP was installed the proper drivers were added from a separate CD.
  7. Lastly the second partition was formatted as an NTFS partition.
  8. The laptop was booted from the USB floppy and a Ghost image of the Windows XP installation was made.
    This Ghost image was stored in the second partition in a directory called Ghosts\winXP.
  9. Applications and utilities and updates were added and a second Ghost image was made.
Installing Windows Vista.
  1. Boot the Inspiron from the Windows Vista DVD.
  2. Windows Vista 32 was installed in the first partition after it was formatted as NTFS.
  3. The laptop was booted from the USB floppy and a Ghost image of the Windows Vista 32 installation was made.
    This Ghost image was stored in the second partition in a directory called Ghosts\vista32
  4. Applications and utilities and updates were added and a second Ghost image was made.
This Dell has an external SD card slot.
  1. SD Cards are interesting
  2. Specifications
  3. Flash Drive


Fixing Some Vista Problems
Using a Restore Point   Can cure a broken driver install or evan a botched application install.
  • Restore Point How To Do