Microsoft Press Windows Vista Administrator's Pocket Consultant ebook
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Whether attached to the sidebar or detached, gadgets can be configured to be translucent or not translucent by setting an opacity percentage. The default opacity percentage is 100%, meaning you can't see through the gadget. If you want to be able to see through the gadget when it is inactive, you can reduce the opacity percentage by right-clicking the gadget, pointing to Opacity, and selecting an opacity percentage less than 100%. When you move the mouse pointer over a gadget, it is always displayed with 100% opacity.
You can remove a gadget from the sidebar or desktop by right-clicking it and selecting Remove. Rather than removing multiple gadgets individually, you can easily remove multiple gadgets by following these steps:
Right-click an open area of the sidebar and then select Properties.
In the Windows Sidebar Properties dialog box, click View List Of Running Gadgets.
In the View Gadgets dialog box, click a gadget to remove from the sidebar or desktop and then click Remove. Repeat this step to remove other gadgets.
Click Close and then click OK.
Screen Saver Dos and Don'ts
Screen savers are designed to turn on when a computer has been idle for a specified period of time. The original job of the screen saver was to prevent image burn-in on CRT monitors by displaying a continuously changing image. With today's monitors, burn-in is no longer a problem, but screen savers are still around. The primary benefit they offer today is the ability to password-lock computers automatically when the screen saver turns on.
Configuring Screen Savers with Password Protection
Password-protecting the screen saver deters unauthorized users from accessing a computer, which can protect both the personal data of the user and the intellectual property of the organization. As an administrator, you should ensure that the computers you deploy have password-protected screen savers enabled.
You can password protect the screen saver by performing the following steps:
Right-click an open area of the desktop and then select Personalize.
Click the Screen Saver link to display the Screen Saver Settings dialog box, shown in Figure 4-12.
Figure 4-12: Set a screen saver with password protection for user and organization security.
Use the Screen Saver list box to select a screen saver. To disable the screen saver, select None and skip the remaining steps.
Real World
Unfortunately, screen savers can use up a lot of the computer's resources, increasing both the energy usage of the computer (which otherwise would be idle) and its memory and processor usage. Some screen savers, particularly the three-dimensional ones such as 3D Text, can cause the processor to run at a high percent utilization. The reason for this is that 3D designs are very complex and the computer must make a lot of computations to maintain and update the screen saver image. For tips on reducing resource usage when screen savers turn on, see the sections of this chapter entitled "Reducing Screen Saver Resource Usage" and "Setting Energy-Saving Settings for Monitors."
Select On Resume, Display Logon Screen.
Use the Wait box to specify how long the computer must be idle before the screen saver is activated. A reasonable value is between 10 and 15 minutes.
Click OK.
Reducing Screen Saver Resource Usage
A computer that is running Windows Vista and that performs background tasks or network duties, such as print services, should not be configured to use a complex screen saver, such as 3D Text. Instead, the computer should be configured with a basic screen saver, such as the Blank screen saver. You can also modify the settings for advanced screen savers to reduce resource usage. Typically, you do this by reducing the redraw and refresh rates of the advanced screen saver.
To reduce screen saver resource usage, follow these steps:
Right-click an open area of the desktop and then select Personalize.
Click the Screen Saver link to display the Screen Saver Settings dialog box.
If you want to use a screen saver that uses fewer resources without making configuration changes, use the Screen Saver list box to select a basic screen saver, such as Blank or Windows Logo.
If you want to use a more advanced screen saver but reduce its resource usage, select that screen saver and then click Settings. Afterward, use the Setup dialog box to reduce the Complexity, Speed, or similar field values that affect the drawing or refreshing of the screen saver. In the example shown in Figure 4-13, I've reduced the resolution and set the Rotation Type to None to reduce the resource usage of the 3D Text screen saver.
Figure 4-13: Advanced screen savers have settings that you can use to reduce resource usage.
Click OK once or twice as necessary to close the open dialog boxes.
Setting Energy-Saving Settings for Monitors
Many newer monitors have energy-saving features that cause them to shut off after a certain period of inactivity. Enabling this feature can reduce the organization's electricity bill because monitors typically use a lot of electricity to stay powered up. On some systems, this feature might have been automatically enabled by the operating system during installation. This depends, however, on the operating system properly detecting the monitor and installing any necessary drivers.
On a portable laptop computer running on batteries, saving energy is especially important. By configuring the monitor to shut off when the computer is idle, you can save the battery life and extend the battery availability time when the laptop is unplugged.
To manage a monitor's energy settings, follow these steps:
Right-click an open area of the desktop and then select Personalize.
Click the Screen Saver link to display the Screen Saver Settings dialog box.
Click Change Power Settings. The Power Options Properties dialog box is displayed.
In the left pane, click Choose When To Turn Off Display.
Use the selection list provided to specify when the monitor should be turned off to save energy. By default, all the standard power plans turn off the computer's monitor after 20 minutes.
Click Save Changes.
Note
If the computer is connected to a monitor that doesn't support Energy Saving settings, some power options might be grayed out or unavailable. If you are configuring the computer in a build area and are using a different monitor than the one the user will have, you might want to obtain the user's monitor model and repeat this process.
Real World
Typically, you'll want to turn off the monitor after 15 to 20 minutes of idle time. On my office computer, I turn on the screen saver after 7 minutes and then turn off the monitor after 15 minutes of idle time. On my laptop, I use settings of 5 minutes and 10 minutes, respectively.
Modifying Display Appearance and Video Settings
The display appearance and video settings have a major impact on the look and feel of the Windows Vista desktop and its graphical elements. Appearance options control window, button, color, and font settings. Video settings control screen resolution, color quality, refresh frequency, hardware acceleration, and color management.
Configuring Window Color And Appearance
By default, Windows Vista uses the Aero design for its windows and dialog boxes. With Aero, three key areas of the display appearance can be optimized: color schemes, window transparency, and color intensity. To configure these display options, follow these steps:
Right-click an open area of the desktop and then select Personalize.
Click the Windows Color And Appearance link to display the page shown in Figure 4-14.
Figure 4-14: Configure the visual appearance of the display using the options from the Change Your Color Scheme page.
Change the color of windows by clicking one of the available colors. To make your own color, click Show Color Mixer and then use the Color, Saturation, and Brightness sliders to create a custom color.
To enable transparent glass (on computers that have graphics cards with sufficient memory to support this feature), sele
ct Enable Transparent Glass. The edges of windows will then be semi-transparent so you can see through them.
Use the Transparency slider to set the strength of the color and the level of transparency. Increase the intensity to make the color brighter. Reduce the intensity to make the color dimmer.
If you prefer, you can use the classic style windows and dialog boxes. When you do so, however, the appearance of most windows and dialog boxes is changed substantially. Additionally, desktop compositing is disabled, which removes features like transparency and glass. To configure Windows Vista to use the classic display appearance, follow these steps:
Right-click an open area of the desktop and then select Personalize.
Click the Window Color And Appearance link.
Click Open Classic Appearance Properties.
In the Appearance Settings dialog box, select a color scheme other than Windows Vista Aero and then click OK.
If you later want to restore Windows Vista Aero, you can do so by following these steps:
Right-click an open area of the desktop and then select Personalize.
Click the Window And Appearance link and then click Open Classic Properties.
In the Appearance Settings dialog box, select Windows Vista Aero as the color scheme and then click OK.
When working with any display appearance style, you can override default settings for individual graphical elements, such as the desktop or message boxes, using the Advanced Appearance dialog box. To access and work with this dialog box, follow these steps:
Right-click an open area of the desktop and then select Personalize.
Click the Window And Appearance link.
Click Open Classic Appearance Properties.
Click Advanced.
Use the Item list to select the items that you want to modify and then set the size, color, and font options as appropriate. (For some items, not all of these options will be available.) Changes you make are recorded when you make them, enabling you to configure multiple elements before clicking OK to apply the changes.
With graphic elements that contain system text, you can use the Font list box to select the typeface to use and the related Size and Color list boxes to set the size and color of the font respectively.
Click OK three times to close all open dialog boxes.
Configuring Video Settings
Video settings control screen resolution, color quality, refresh rate, hardware acceleration, and color management. This section focuses on making sure that Windows Vista has correctly identified the video card and monitor and on optimizing various video settings.
Checking the Current Video Adapter and Monitor
Proper display is dependent on the computer using accurate information about the video adapter and the monitor. Depending on which video adapter and monitor models Windows Vista thinks you have, different driver files are installed. These drivers are extremely important in determining which display resolutions, color depths, and refresh rates are available and appropriate for the system. If the adapter and monitor aren't detected and configured properly, Windows Vista won't be able to take advantage of their capabilities.
Current settings for the video adapter or monitor can be wrong for many reasons. Sometimes, plug and play doesn't detect the device, and a generic device driver is used. At other times, Windows Vista detects the wrong type of device, such as a different model. In this case, the device will probably work, but some features won't be available.
To check the current video adapter and monitor configured for a computer, follow these steps:
Right-click an open area of the desktop and then select Personalize.
Click Display Settings to display the Display Settings dialog box, shown in Figure 4-15.
Figure 4-15: If you're having display problems, check the monitor and video driver being used.
On the Monitor tab, you'll find the currently configured monitor and video card. The format of the entry under Display is