Personalizing Vista
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Users like to personalize their version of Windows, and users of Windows Vista are no exception. This multi-part article explains how to customize the user interface of the operating system and how to change it back to factory settings. It is excerpted from chapter four of
Windows Vista Administration: The Definitive Guide, written by Brian Culp (O'Reilly, 2007; ISBN: 0596529597). Copyright © 2007 O'Reilly Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission from the publisher. Available from booksellers or direct from O'Reilly Media.
A common request from users is to change the user interface. Wait. Strike that. A common task carried out by users is to change the user interface. Your job as administrator, then, is to walk over to the user’s cubicle, figure out what in the name of William Gates he did to make his system look like that, and then figure out how you can put the Vista interface back in order.
This chapter looks at many features that will affect how users navigate the operating system. In it, we examine such things as working with multiple monitors, customizing menus, and using virtual folders.
A few of the topics discussed here may seem a bit elementary to some, but then again, brain surgery is elementary to brain surgeons. So consider some of what follows as Anatomy 101 of the Windows Vista desktop. You have to know this stuff fairly well to go on to bigger and better topics. Don’t worry; more than a few nuggets here will raise the eyebrows of all but the most experienced Windows network admins. (For example, do you know what to do if you delete the Quick Launch toolbar’s Show Desktop icon? You will find out in the pages herein.) If you like to dive into the registry as some sort of display of bravado, you will find plenty to like here.
And for all you English majors/part-time IT admins out there, the chapter’s underlying theme will be relatively easy to spot: it’s all about control—control of the desktop, control of the Start menu and taskbar, and control over the output to one or more monitors. After digesting this entire chapter, you have my permission to armchair-psychoanalyze how this chapter serves as a transparent glimpse into my id, ego, or otherwise by emailing any comments to this address: hmsbrian@brianculp.com.
We’ll begin by looking at how to take command of the new and improved Vista Start menu.
Next: Controlling the Start Menu >>
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 This article is excerpted from chapter four of Windows Vista Administration: The Definitive Guide, written by Brian Culp (O'Reilly, 2007; ISBN: 0596529597). Check it out today at your favorite bookstore. Buy this book now.
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