1.

Log on as administrator and start a command prompt by clicking Start, Run, and then typing command.

2.

Create a new user account named Toby by typing Net user Toby /add. The account will be created with a blank password.

3.

Create a new user account named Abby by typing Net user Abby protection /add. The account will be created with the password protection.

4.

Add Abby to the local administrators group by typing Net localgroup administrators Abby /add.

5.

Turn on User Account Protection by clicking Start, Programs, Turn UAP Settings On or Off. Click Yes when asked whether you want to enable this security feature.

6.

Log off by clicking Start, Logoff to enable User Account Protection. Click Toby and leave the password blank to log on as a standard user, which is an account that is not a member of the local administrators group.

7.

Double-click the clock in the lower right-hand corner of the taskbar. Note that the clock now successfully opens so that you can view the date and time zone. In Microsoft Windows XP, a non-administrative user is not able to open the clock.

8.

Click the Unlock button in the date/time control panel. Note that you’re prompted for administrative credentials that will allow you to modify the clock. Abby is already selected as the account. Type in protection for the password and click the green circle with the arrow in it. The clock applet is now unlocked.

Figure 1. Obtaining Administrative Credentials for Abby

9.

Change the clock to a different time and click OK. Note that the time in the lower right-hand corner of your taskbar has been updated.

10.

Double-click the clock in the lower right-hand corner of the taskbar again. Note that the control panel applet is again locked. It locked automatically after you closed the applet in the previous step.

11.

Log off as Toby by clicking Start, Logoff. Click Abby to log on as Abby and use protection as the password. You will now be logged on to an account that has administrative privileges.

12.

In Windows Vista, even accounts that are members of the local administrators group will run the desktop, and common applications such as e-mail clients, with low privileges. These accounts will be prompted for their credentials when performing an administrative operation, such as changing the clock.

13.

As Abby the administrator, double-click the clock in the lower right-hand corner of the taskbar again, then click the Unlock button. Note that rather than being asked for different credentials as you were when you were logged on as Toby, you’re simply prompted for your password for this administrative operation. Type the password protection. The clock will be unlocked, and you’ll be able to change it.

14.

For advanced users, the prompt behavior in the previous example is configurable. Instead of prompting for credentials to unlock an administrative action, you can be prompted for consent instead. To see how this works, log on as the "administrator" account. Then set the following registry key by using the registry editor:

•	[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionPoliciesSystem]
•	"ConsentPromptBehavior" =dword:00000001
•	Now log off and log back on as Abby. Double-click the clock in the lower right-hand corner of the taskbar, then click the Unlock button. Note how you now receive a dialog box that states Windows needs your permission to complete this action instead of being prompted for credentials. This dialog box is a result of the registry change you made in the previous step. Click I want to complete this action to unlock the clock. Note that the purpose of this dialog box is to prevent a piece of malware from being able to automatically exercise your administrative privilege without your consent. Figure 2. Dialog Box That Prompts You for Consent

1.

Click the Internet Explorer address bar drop-down menu to see all the sites you have visited. To clean this browsing history, go to the Tools menu and click Delete Browsing History. This will erase all cookies, history, web form data, passwords, and temporary files.

2.

Go to http://www.passport.com, then click the Sign In link in the upper right-hand corner of the page. Note how the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) lock icon now appears to the right side of the address bar to show that you’re on a secure site, rather than just appearing in the lower right-hand corner of the browser window. Click the lock icon next to the address bar, and you’ll see information about the site’s owner and certificate. This helps ensure that you’re not on a phishing site.

Figure 3. Verifying a Secure Site

1.

Install Windows Vista onto three separate partitions on your computer.

2.

Install the XImage Windows Vista deployment tool onto one of the Windows Vista partitions. You can download XIMage from the Windows Vista WAIK, containing deployment tools, that is available along with Windows Vista beta 1 and can be downloaded from the http://connect.microsoft.com

3.

On the other partitions, install different applications to make them different.

1.

Using XImage, capture the second Windows Vista partition into a WIM file. (Type ximage without any parameters to see the list of commands and how to use them.)

2.

Notice the compression ratio and the size reduction of the image file by looking at the metadata of the file.

3.

Using XImage, capture the third Windows Vista partition into another WIM file. Now export this WIM file into the first one. Notice the size of the combined file relative to the original sizes of the partitions.

4.

Mount one of the images as a volume into an empty directory.

5.

Add a few files into this image and commit the changes into the image.

6.

Note how the file size changes to accommodate the new files.

1.

Burn one of the captured WIM files onto a DVD. Use this DVD to install the image onto a new desktop.

1.

From the Start menu, select Run and enter MMC. This will launch the new Microsoft Management Console (MMC) 3.0. Maximize the Console Root window.

2.

From the File menu, select Add/Remove Snap-in.

3.

Add the following snap-ins:

4.

Click OK to close the Add/Remove Snap-ins window.

Figure 4. Adding Snap-Ins

5.

In the left-hand pane, expand the Event Viewer node. Note that Global Logs, Application Logs, and Views are now available. Global logs unify multiple logs throughout the system, providing you with a single place to look for information. In Windows Vista, many components that formerly stored information in private text logs have adopted the standard event-logging format.

6.

Expand the Global Logs node and select System. A list of events will appear in the upper middle pane. Select any of these events to see more information about the event in the bottom middle pane.

Figure 5. Obtaining Information About an Event

7.

Click the Details tab in the lower middle pane to see the new schematized (XML) representation of the event you selected. Schematized events are easier to manipulate and manage than the text-based events they replace.

8.

Note the Actions pane on the right-hand side. In Windows Vista, you can create event filters, create views, and even attach a task to an event.

9.

In the Actions pane, click Filter. In the pop-up window that appears, go to Level, then select Error and Critical. Click OK. You now see only see a subset of events — those marked with a level of Critical or Error.

10.

In the Actions pane, click Save Log File as View. In the Name box, type errors only and click OK.

11.

In the left-hand pane under Event Viewer, expand the Views node. You will see the view you just defined titled errors only. You can select this view to quickly scan all critical and error events whenever you launch the Event Viewer.

12.

You can use the Task Scheduler wizard to attach a task to an event. In the upper middle pane, select any event. In the Actions pane, click Attach Task to This Event.

13.

The Task Scheduler wizard will launch, with the event you selected automatically set up as the trigger for a new task. Click Next.

14.

You can select a program to run whenever this event occurs. However, for now, click Cancel, because we don’t want to set up a task to launch in response to the random event you selected.

Figure 6. Attaching a Task to an Event

15.

In addition to the Task Scheduler wizard, you can set up tasks by using the Scheduled Task Viewer. In the left-hand pane, expand the Scheduled Tasks node. Click Scheduled Tasks Library to see a list of tasks scheduled to run on your computer.

16.

In the Actions pane, click Create New Task to open the Create New Task pop-up window. Under User options, note that you can define a security context for the task. This security context will be stored in Microsoft Active Directory (not locally), reducing the security risk and the need to update tasks when passwords change.

17.

Select the Triggers tab and click New to open the Create New Trigger pop-up window. Go to the Begin the task drop-down list. In Windows Vista, you can trigger a task based on an event, at logon, at start-up, or at a scheduled time.

18.

From the drop-down list, select On event. Note that you can enter an event log and event ID. This information was automatically populated when you used the Task Scheduler wizard.

Figure 7. Triggering a Task

19.

Click Cancel. Close all pop-up windows and exit the MMC application. (You can save the console settings if you want to spend more time exploring the Event Viewer and the Task Scheduler later.)

1.

Log on to Windows Vista.

2.

Notice the new visuals on the logon screen. While this is updated from Windows XP’s logon screen, these are not the final start-up visuals.

3.

Click the Start button. Notice the new text entry field in the bottom left-hand corner. This Quick Search Box lets you find and launch any application by typing the name of that application. If you want to just browse the installed applications, click the Programs button to see your applications in a more efficient way.

4.

Open some of the Explorers (e.g., Music, Documents, Photos). If your PC has a graphics card that has an updated Windows Vista driver, the frames of all the windows will feature translucent glass. In addition, you will now see subtle animations when you open, close, minimize, or maximize any windows.

1.

From the Start Menu, open the Document Explorer. Copy no more than 1000 files (not including e-mail messages) to the Document Explorer. Close the Explorer and wait about 15 minutes for the PC to fully index the content. You can check the status of the indexer by clicking the magnifying glass icon in the system tray.

2.

After the indexer displays idle in the status, re-open the Document Explorer.

3.

The default view is the All Documents view. Windows Vista shows you all your documents regardless of their physical location on the hard disk.

4.

Click the blue Authors folder. These new blue folders are called Virtual Folders and are simply saved searches (queries). Note that your documents are placed into stacks according to author.

5.

Click the Keywords Virtual Folder, and then click the Type Virtual Folder. Doing this gives you many different ways to look at the same content.

6.

Drill into any of your stacks and select a Microsoft Office PowerPoint presentation. When you select one, notice all the information it gives you about the file.

7.

Along the top of the window is the Command Bar. This bar has a series of available content-specific tasks. One of the controls on the Command Bar is the slider control, which lets you quickly switch between different views (e.g., Details view, Icon view).

8.

Some of your Microsoft Word documents or Microsoft Excel spreadsheets may feature Live Icons or live snapshots of the first page of those items. If you do not see Live Icons for those items, you need to open them up in Word or Excel, go to the File menu, choose Properties, and make sure the Save Preview Picture check box is selected. You should then see a Live Icon of that item.

9.

Select another document, and in the preview pane, select keyword and add your own keyword to that document. Wait briefly, and that keyword will then show up within the expanded Keyword Virtual Folder within the Navigation Pane.

10.

Keeping the Keyword Virtual Folder open, select the All Documents Virtual Folder. Multi-select a group of documents. Drag those documents on the Custom Keyword (the one that you just created) node found within the Keyword Virtual Folder. This adds that keyword to those documents.

11.

Create more keywords by repeating the previous steps. You can add multiple properties to the same document either by dragging it onto a node within the Keyword Virtual Folder or by manually typing it into the Preview Pane.

12.

Click the All Document Virtual Folder. See the column header controls available to you in the pane viewing area in the window. Hover over the keyword column header until a drop-down arrow appears. This control lets you group, stack, or filter by keyword.

13.

Notice the Quick Search Box in the top right corner of the Explorer. This lets you quickly filter content in any view, based on any of the displayed properties found on the column header (such as name, author, or keyword). In Beta 2, this will also be a full-text search mechanism.

14.

The same features are also available in the Photos and Music Explorers.

1.

Open the Start Menu and select Search, which can be found in the lower right half of the menu. The Search Explorer will open.

2.

Type the name of a file, a keyword, or any word found within any of the documents on your desktop. The results should instantly be returned. You can use any of the filter controls to narrow your search results (column header control or Quick Search Box). Desktop Search works over documents, photos, music, and e-mail from Microsoft Outlook Express or Outlook. In Beta 2, it will also search over Internet History and any RSS Feeds to which you have subscribed.

1.

Open any Word document on your PC. Go to the File/Print menu. Within the available printers box, you should see a selection for Microsoft Digital Document Writer. Select it and click OK.

2.

The File Save dialog box should pop up. Name the file and save it to the desktop.

3.

To view this document, you need to have WinFX installed. When installed, you can open the file by using the XPS Viewer, which is hosted by IE.

1.

For PC-to-PC synchronization, you need to have two Windows Vista PCs.

2.

Open the Start menu. Right-click the Documents Explorer, and choose the Sync with Other PCs option.

3.

Choose the option to manually enter the name of the other Windows Vista PC on your network. Follow the remaining steps.

4.

The files should immediately begin to copy over to the other PC. You need to wait until the second PC has fully indexed those files.

5.

After the second PC’s indexer is idle, you can open a document on one PC, change it, then save it, and those changes will almost immediately replicate to your other PC.

1.

Go to the Start Menu and open the Control Panel.

2.

The Control Panel features two views: the Classic view and the new Task-based view.

1.

Start | Network Presentation | Broadcast a Presentation

Windows Vista will enable users to broadcast presentations directly from one to many nearby PCs. The above navigation path will launch a step-by-step wizard that starts the broadcast process.

Figure 8. Step 1 of the Broadcast a Presentation Wizard

2.

Start | Network Presentation | View a Presentation

Users who want to receive or view the broadcast should follow the above navigation path. A list of available presentations on the local network is displayed. Again, the list of available presentations is restricted to the local subnet. Select one, enter the password, and begin the viewing session.

While the presentation broadcast and viewing scenarios will remain in Beta 2, they will be reorganized and presented in a single meeting utility that also incorporates file transfer, invitation of nearby people, and lightweight chat.

3.

Start | Network Presentation | Connect to a Projector

The above path will launch a wizard that finds and connects to available network-attached projectors on the local network.

The user will see a list of nearby network projectors. Select one, configure the connection (e.g., mirrored or extended mode, positioning of the projector on the left or right), and begin.

Figure 9. Step 1 of the Connect to a Projector Wizard

Again, the initial list of nearby projectors is limited to the local subnet. However, users can connect to any network-attached projector on the local area network (LAN) directly with the URL address of the projector.

Hover behavior. Hovering over the battery icon in the system control area with the mouse will display a large tile with the following information: current power plan, available battery life (in hours and minutes), and the percentage of the battery power available. A higher quality battery graphic will also change to reflect the amount of life remaining in the battery at a glance.

Figure 10. Battery Meter Hover Tile

Single-click behavior. A single click of the battery icon displays the larger battery fly-out tile. This tile inherits all the battery information from the smaller hover tile but also adds a means to change power plans quickly, a link to the power options control panel, and a link to help topics about power management.

Figure 11. Battery Fly-Out Tile

Power plans. The default Windows power plans have been simplified and consolidated. Users will see the following plans available on the battery meter fly-out: Automatic (which lets the system balance performance and power consumption), High Performance (which instructs the system to sacrifice longer battery life for maximum performance), and Power Saver (which instructs the system to save battery life at the expense of peak performance).