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Vista Service Pack 1 final, Torrents have it ;)
2008-02-07 21:44:00
We're all eagerly awaiting Vista 's Service Pack 1 to come out. I tested the latest beta, as reported about 2 weeks ago, and I noticed some improvements. There were less of those annoying pop-ups, and Vista was finally able to see my 4GB of RAM in computer. Overall it did seem a little bit snappier than usual too, and this was just a beta. I bet this new Service Pack will greatly improve stability of the overall system and (finally) user's satisfaction with Vista. I do still prefer XP when it comes to working on Windows. Oh, and the main thing about SP1, while still not fully available from Microsoft as a download (they shipped the RTM to manufacturers first), you can get it on the lovely Torrent Network. PC World reports on the stats of that right here: http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,142231- pg,1/article.html While I do not support illegal downloading of software, Vista's update belongs to you if you have Vista anyway, so fire up those torrent applications ad get yours. He...
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First things I like in SP1
2008-01-14 22:41:00
There aren't any visual improvements with Vista's SP1 (that I've noticed in the first hour of playing with it), but I did notice the following: It does seem I am not being asked as much for a permission to do some things (finally) I LOVE that Vista now sees 4GB of RAM (the correct amount) and is not showing it as 3GB... It's nice to be able to use what you paid for :) When I see more things I'll let you know, but for now ... it seems fine :)
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Vista SP1 RC Refresh is now available :)
2008-01-14 17:35:00
It's been some time since we've all wanted an SP1 for Vista . The not-so-final version, but mostly good enough for public testing has been released today. As with every "beta" software, you should be careful and not install this on any mission critical systems, but if you are like me - you won't care less and just go for it and see what Microsoft's kitchen has in store for us. Here's the download link: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/detail s.aspx?familyid=529d992a-d69e-4c73-9213-7 a7f3852c0ca&displaylang=en&tm Also, you might be interested in reading up about it first on ZD-Net: http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1106 P.S. Is Microsoft trying to show us how good Vista is meant to be just a day before the MacWorld 2008? :)
More About: Software , Updates , Refresh

Vista freezing on iMac
2008-01-04 13:13:00
For the past couple of days I've been having strange issues with Vista on iMac. Namely, if I leave the computer alone for 5 minutes, it would go to a blank screen (all black) and never come out of it until I restart. This was annoying the living hell out of me... I disabled the Dream Scene package and now it all works like a charm. Also, with the Dream Scene out - I do not get the random Windows Manager restarts due to some video driver failures. So, if you are having some issues - try getting the Dream Scene out. It sucks without it, but what can one do? I rather have a stable system than 5 minutes of pretty animated desktop :) P.S. - Scratch out where I said Dream Scene works in last post. :)
More About: Tips , Scenes , Ultimate Extras

Hello Vista World :)
2007-12-29 20:12:00
Wow, it's been a really long time since I wrote on Vista Juice! I left the blog running since even with the latest tip being dated July 26th, 2007 - this site gets at least 400 unique visitors every single day! It was clear it is helping people with the tips that were already there which was the main reason for Juicing the Vista in the first place. Why wasn't I writing anything for such a long time? I am not a hypocrite; I wrote about Vista when I was using it and while I still expected Microsoft to fix those little issues which were found mostly everywhere. In the meantime I even moved to Mac - the moment I got my first iMac (the day Aluminum iMac came out) I never looked back. Leopard came and I fall in love :) Also, since I cannot live without some kind of Windows - I used Windows XP (with SP3 beta lately) on the iMac in Boot Camp... It works like a charm! I've always used Windows machines for my web development taks, and Mac and Leopard have opened my eyes to ease of managi...
More About: World

Get better battery life with Vista Battery Saver
2007-07-27 03:22:00
Two of the biggest battery hogs in Windows Vista are the flashy Aero user interface and the gadget sidebar. So it stands to reason that if you want to get the most out of your laptop's battery life you'll disable these features when running on battery power. Get your groove on: http://blogs.microsoft.co.il/blogs/tamir/ archive/2007/07/24/Vista-Battery -Saver-Be ta-2-is-available-for-download.aspx Via: Download Squad
More About: Life , A battery

Finally, Vista compatible Palm Desktop (Beta)
2007-07-26 20:03:00
Even though Palm was supposed to publish the Vista compatible Desktop software when Vista came out, it's still better later than never. All of you Palm lovers can now go and enjoy Vista without too many issues. It's still in Beta after-all so good luck :) Via PalmBlog
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Vista's Service Pack 1 beta due July 16th?
2007-07-09 09:09:00
Hmm, According to ZD Net, Microsoft is to issue a long awaited Vista Service Pack 1 next Monday. Surely, this one will be in Beta stage - with final, real SP set for some time in November. Now, all this might simply not happen - but heck - it's nice to hope for something at least. I long lost hope for any ultimate Extras coming any time soon - so an SP would be nice :) Via: http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=559
More About: July , Vice

Heyaaaa everyone ;)
2007-06-26 06:58:00
Hey guys, Long time no see. I've been really busy lately starting up Peconi Group, LLC. and expanding PeconiHosting.com that I really did not have much time to write on Vista Juice. Truth is - not much is happening with Vista at the moment. Some updates here and there, still waiting for the real deal on those nice Ultimate Extras. Microsoft is making some changes to the integrated Start Menu search since Google sued them ... Wthell? Only in America can someone sue you for making your own product better... Other than that - same ol', same ol'. I am still a bit pissed that MS is not updating some things in Vista: #1 annoyance is when you open a folder full of photos, thumbnails load only on those you are seeing at the moment. All those other photos which are just a scroll-down away do not have thumbnails available until you actually scroll all the way to them... What a hell with that? I work with thousands of photos every single day and this has been one of the main reasons I a...
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Want a Dreamscene on a Non-Ultimate Vista - OK :)
2007-05-14 07:42:00
It seems that there's a patched version of Dreamscene which can be installed on any version of Vista - so you do not have to drop too much cache for Ultimate version if you simply want to use DreamScene. Here you can find the instructions: http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/05/10/ hack-to-run-dreamscene-in-vista-home-prem ium-basic-starter-business-and-enterprise /
More About: Want

Why not shrink the amount System Restore uses on Vista...
2007-04-26 20:10:00
In the last post I wrote about a nice hidden little feature in Vista which lets you change the amount of space used by System Rest ore in Vista. While some of you might need to do such thing, you should know what the consequences of such action are as well as the alternatives to it. I knew this all along - that's why I will never limit the amount restore uses on my system, but it didn't cross my mind that some users might run to take action so they can get more space back on their drives. You may be risking more than you are gaining since system restore in Vista works a bit different than in XP and it is very closely connected to your system backups and "previous versions" of files you have. Not to reinvent the wheel as my Computer Science teacher Fred Smith from UIC long time ago used to say, Ed Bott has a really nice and in depth article about this which I think all of you who are considering changing the amount system restore uses should definitely read before you...
More About: Stor , Restore

Reduce Vista's System Restore Disk Usage
2007-04-24 20:29:00
I mentioned long time ago why restore points in Vista take up so much space. Now, after using Vista for quite some time - I realize that I am missing about 15GB of my 120GB hard drive somewhere. By default Vista allocates 15GB of hard drive space for system restore points. If you like to experiment with new drivers and software like I do - then you should definitely leave that right where it is, but if you just simply use your computer for day-to-day purposes - you can optimize this and have some more HDD space for your other things. LifeHacker has a very nice writeout about this, and here's what they say: To recover some of that System Rest ore disk space, start up Vista's command line as an administrator, and run vssadmin list shadowstorage to see the current allocation. To change it, use: vssadmin resize shadowstorage /on=[drive]: /for=[drive]: /maxsize=[size] That is, to limit System Restore to 2 gigabytes on the C: drive, use: vssadmin resize shadowstorage /on=C: /for=C: /ma...
More About: Disk , Reduce , Stor

3D Cube Desktop (Beryl Like) in Vista
2007-04-23 20:00:00
Hey, it seems that the most attractive thing in Linux desktop environment (the super awesome Beryl) is coming slowly to Vista . Not that Beryl is being ported to Vista or anything, but thanks to Joe Shepherd who kindly pointed me in the right direction, there seems to be a bit limited but still fun 3D environment for Windows users as well called Yod'm 3D (Yet anOther Desk top Manager 3D). It is quite limited since it is quite young at the moment, it allows you to move the virtual desktops around (only horizontally though), and some other features. Fun to try but it does need a lot of work. I hope these guys keep up the good work or that someone ports Beryl to Windows environment. It really is a huge productivity boost as well - not just the eye candy - trust me on this! Thanks Joe! http://chsalmon.club.fr/index.php?en/Yod- m-3d-abou...
More About: Software , Cube

I like this - Free WiFi
2007-04-23 19:46:00
I heard about the T-mobile and Vista promo long time ago. If you have a Vista computer, at any T-mobile HotSpot location you can get free WiFi access which will last till the end of April (which is soon). I never had a need to use it, but today I stopped by Starbucks and decided to go On-Line. What a nice surprise when I was granted free Internet within 2 minutes. All I had to do was create an account - that's it. This is not one of those trials where you have to remember to cancel or they'll bill you and such - it's just nice and simple - sign up and it gives you free access till the end of this month (April 07). I wish I had used this before - I'd be more in Starbucks than in Panera Bread (though Panera has completely free WiFi) So, if you got Vista - get out of the house a bit, the weather is great, and enjoy the free Internet in nearest Starbucks ;)
More About: Free , Wifi , Like

Hey, hey - more support! THANK YOU!
2007-04-23 18:29:00
It seems that some people find some useful information on Vista Juice which really makes me happy. What's even better is that they go a step further and make a nice donation which really does make me feel really nice and puts me in an even nicer mood for writing. So, without further ado THANK YOU: Neil Mills for a $10 donationand a really huge thanks to Erin Brophy for a $20.69 donation! You just gotta love the number coming from Erin :) Hey, maybe OCC can make us a Vista Juice bike, wouldn't that be nice.  
More About: Support , More , Thank You , Hank

Vista's full computer backup is awesome but with a catch
2007-04-23 18:20:00
As you may know, I was playing a lot with Ubuntu lately. At first I was really amazed that the moment I installed it everything worked without a hitch; or so I thought. This is for all of you who think Vista's bad with drivers - so is Linux. More on that at some later time, let's talk about backup now :) I did not want Vista to die on me while playing with Ubuntu, so I decided to use integrated backup. You go to the Control Panel and choose Back up and Restore Center. Click on Back up Computer , set it to where you would like a backup to be created at and voila - the fastest and best way to backup your OS is in progress. I must say, I am amazed at how fast this went. Within 10 minutes the whole computer, all of my documents and everything was backed up! Surely this will depend on how much stuff you have going on but it is faster than any other backup software I've ever used. To restore the backup, boot from your Vista installation DVD, instead clicking the Install button, rather go...
More About: Awesome , Full

Thanks for Support Dennis
2007-04-19 02:56:00
I just want to thank Dennis Castaldi for being the first to officially support VistaJuice! I just happened to glance over to the right side of the site where our ChipIn plug-in is located and I noticed we now have a total of $10.69 ... Sorry I haven't seen it earlier but it's not these types of things happen every day :) Before his donation we only had a nice and fun contribution from our friends at JunkNova.com in the amount of $0.69 cents :) Thanks Dennis - your PayPal donation is really appreciated! Petar
More About: Support , Hank

So where was I? - Ubuntu 6.10
2007-04-19 02:32:00
I disappeared again for couple of days - I got stuck in Ubuntu Linux. For some time now I've been seeing on YouTube and other sites people comparing Ubuntu with Beryl and Vista's looks so I decided to get my hands dirty a bit and see it for myself. I installed Ubuntu 6.10, installed Nvidia drivers (which work better on Linux than under Vista, lol), installed Beryl and went on playing around. I must admit - I liked what I saw. Vista does have cool transparencies, fairly pretty theme and icons, and DreamScene (which I never use). Ubuntu on the other hand looks a bit old-school-like. You know, like XP looks once you've experienced Vista for couple of hours. With Beryl - I must admit I had more fun in Linux than ever before. I love the effects, especially the burning of the windows once you minimize them, and I love how easy is to spin around the desktop "cube" and switch to other virtual desktops with a simple movement of the mouse. It is definitely something I'd like to see on Vis...
More About: Here , Where

Enable/Disable Hibernation in Vista
2007-04-14 04:46:00
I was running around all over Vista trying to get my Hibernation mode back on - since for some strange reason it disappeared all by itself. An even stranger thing is that I could not pinpoint where the setting which controls it really is. I knew it was around Power Configuration somewhere but dammit - no sign of it for me tonight. It turns out there's a really easy way to do this, so if you want to turn the hibernation on or off, simply do the following: 1. Click Start, All Programs, and then right click on "Command Prompt".2. From the context menu click on "Run as administrator".3. If User Account Control prompts you to allow the action, click on Continue.4. In the command prompt window, type "powercfg ?h off" (or "on" without the quotes) followed by Enter button.4. Close the Command Prompt window and you're done :) Via: http://vistahelp.blogspot.com/2007/01/dis able-hibe...
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Hey guys - Long time no see!
2007-04-13 20:30:00
All rite all! Thanks all for comments and patience waiting for me to get back to Vista Juice. I've been sick for about week and a half some long time ago when I wrote one of the posts below, but then after that I just got so busy I had no time to even check my email - and a lot less to write here. Now, after getting back on my legs, finishing some web dev work for my clients, installing a new Xtreme N gigabit router from D-Link in my home network, and finishing BuckeyeCollisionAndGlass.com website for my girlfriend's uncle - I'm ready to find some spare time and get back to giving you some more Vista tips. If Adam Curry can find time to do a freakin' awesome podcast every single day, I guess I can manage to write a post or two making your lives in Vista more fun :) Talking about fun - I HATE SONY - Again! :) That does not stop me buying computers from them, but nonetheless - I hate them. Even with the DVD they sent me with the "Express" Vista upgrade package - it took over ...
More About: Time , Guys , Long

Just a little note
2007-03-15 18:44:00
Hey all! I just want to let you know why I haven't written anything in the past couple of days. I've been sick, some strange high temperature hit me out of nowhere so I was in bed most of this week. Before that for 3 days I had to work on a project of mine, so with the sick-days combined - it probably seemed like VistaJuice dried out :) I am still not feeling quite all right, so within a day or so I hope to come back to the daily VistaJuice routine ... Thanks!Petar
More About: Note , Just , Little , Litt

Why incremental backups are larger than expected?
2007-03-07 21:41:01
The Filing Cabinet has a nice explanation on this. I'm glad they wrote it since I was really beginning to wonder - why! Incremental backups are suppose to save the amount of space over the full backup - which they do, but not in the ordinary fashion. We?ve seen a number of customers ask why their incremental backups are almost as large as their full backup. This can be surprising on a lightly used system where you don?t change or add a lot of files between backups. Seeing files backed up that you know you didn?t change can be perplexing, but there is a good explanation: the files were indeed changed, either by a program or a perhaps inadvertently by a person. For example, any of the following actions can cause files to be changed and therefore backed up: Antivirus programs writing to alternate streams on the files or programs that update media file metadata (ID3 tags, for example). Even right-clicking a file and viewing its properties can add an alternate data stream to the file,...
More About: Mental , Backup , Men , Back , Expect

Vista Pricing in UK and is Vista really overpriced?
2007-03-07 21:41:01
In the UK, Brits are angry that Windows Vista is far more expensive than in the U.S.. Windows Vista Home Premium, which carries an MSRP of $159 in the States, is £129.48 in the UK, coming out to $254.53. Microsoft offers no explanation for the huge gap, although most all products are more expensive in Britain than America, just not by so large a margin. For example, a $600 Mac Mini is $778.61 in England. Talking about pricing, Robert McLaws has done a study of basically every single version ever of Windows, and determined that based on inflation, Windows has gone down in price for the most part for more than a decade. Useful info next time you get into an arguement. Verbatim Via: InsideMicrosoft
More About: Rice , Price , Real , Over

Vista and UAC (User Account Control)
2007-03-07 21:41:01
Corrine has a nice find on her SecurityGarden site about Vista 's UAC which can solve some of common questions and misconceptions about it: Copy-Paste: "UAC does not, nor is it intended to, stop malware."What UAC does do is enable running a computer with Windows Vista installed as a standard user. The result of this is important. By following the recommendation to keep UAC running, the computer is significantly less vulnerable since currently most malware requires administrator privileges.Does running as a standard user protect against the computer operator allowing installations? Absolutely not. However, it is certainly hoped that the average computer user will recognize the difference between an unexpected request for elevated privilege and a request when intentionally installing software.For in depth look at User Account Control for Windows Vista, tune in to the Channel 9 interview of Jon Schwartz, UAC Architect, and Chris Corio, UAC Technical Program Manager, where they tackle ...
More About: Count

Language Packs in Vista
2007-03-07 21:41:01
Vista comes with a lot of different language packs available for download through the Windows Update. Unlike with XP, with Vista you can change languages as easily as logging off and logging back on, and each user of the computer can use his or her preferred language to interact with the PC. This is really great if you have a foreign exchange student at home, if you are learning a new language, or if you just simply want to have some fun! You can install as many languages as you want, but there are some important things to know first, about installing them. Because language packs contain language-specific resources for all the Windows Vista components, the language packs are large and take some time to install. The average download size is approximately 200 megabytes (MB) and may require up to 1,100 MB of free disk space to install. The installation process takes approximately 30 minutes. However, the time varies depending on the performance of the computer. And one last fine-print...
More About: Vista , Language , Pack , Packs

New iTunes version still not fully Vista-ready
2007-03-07 21:41:01
A new version of iTunes (7.1) was released yesterday by Apple and you can get it here. Some issues have been fixed but then the most important one like Ejecting an iPod using the "Safely Remove Hardware" icon in the system tray could still result in a corrupt iPod! Apple recommends that users always eject their iPods within the iTunes software. Apple says they are working with Microsoft on this. (LOL - Apple and MS Working together on something, c'mon - this is an issue that can be fixed faster than this!) I just think Apple is mad at Msoft since they heard the rumor that Msoft was planning to ditch Office for Mac just to hurt Apple... (can't post a link on where I heard a rumor since I forgot where it was, sorry). Via: Vista Horizons.com
More About: Itunes , Read , Itune

Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1
2007-03-07 21:41:01
For all of you programmers who did not hear about it yet, Microsoft has released the Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1 Update for Vista. You can get it here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/detail s.aspx?FamilyID=90e2942d-3ad1-4873-a2ee-4 acc0aace5b6&displaylang=en
More About: Vice

Answer to the Search Keywords
2007-03-06 03:38:01
I have a very nice statistics program monitoring visits and trends on VistaJuice.com called Mint. I love a little add-on which shows me what keywords brought people to VistaJuice in the first place, so to make it easier to find things, here are the top searched keywords and where to find info on them right here on VistaJuice. "KB929327" - or in plain English - Ultimate Update for Windows Vista - DreamScene Package~ Click here to search for posts on dreamscene tag "Windows DreamScene Preview" was a second set of keywords, and a preview can be seen here: DreamScene and DeskScapes in Action "vista auto login" - is of course possible, and you can learn how to make it work here: Auto-login how-to for Windows Vista Fourth keyword bringing people to this site was "VistaJuice", so I suppose no more info is needed on this since you're here already :) "upgrading from XP to vista" was the fifth one, and more you can find in this post: Upgrading Windows XP to Vista - ScreenShots "Nvidia ...
More About: Answer , Word , Search , Words , Keyword

A really nice gadget for Vista's Side Bar
2007-03-06 03:38:01
Lately, DreamScenes were my choice for a desktop wallpaper but until someone makes a really nice and amazing one - I think I'll just stick to the nice little gadget I found on the net called: Desktop Wallpaper. It acts as a slide show on the Side Bar, but besides that, you can set it to automatically change your desktop wallpaper at pretty much any time interval you desire. It's a great thing if you are like me and simply like too many wallpapers, or are just bored of the same ol' same ol'. You can also set it to grab the pictures from any folder on your computer. Here is a screenshot of how it looks, and to get it click here.
More About: Vista , Gadget , Real , Nice

Why do restore points in Windows Vista use so much disk space?
2007-03-05 15:37:02
You may have noticed that Restore Points on Vista take a lot more than the usual 50 or so megs as they did on XP. They can take up as much as 3GB at times. If you ever wondered why, Eduardo (the Program Manager for System Restore at Microsoft) has a very nice explanation for this: In Wind ows Vista, System Restore is now based on the VSS technology, which keeps track of block-level changes across your entire volume(s). In contrast, Windows XP System Restore would keep copies of changed system files by using a file system filter. The Windows XP method isn't performance efficient because it works above the file system level, impacting every system operation. It is also not consistent as it doesn't have needed information across the entire volume. It wouldn't restore, for instance, applications that place binaries (purposely or maliciously) in the user profile. These new restore points, aka Shadow Copies, are taken daily across your volume, or at application/driver installation. Th...
More About: Space , Windows Vista