Turn off User Account Control (UAC)
Control your audio
Better screenshot tool
Multiple time zones in system tray
Improve network performance		 You may have the hottest hardware under the sun, but it's nothing if your system isn't running smoothly. After all, it's the little things that make life bearable, and given the undeniable nature of software to be annoying, you'll want to set it up exactly how you like.

To that end, we've taken a dive into the highly chlorinated pool of most commonly used software, and come out itching with some handy hints to make life a little easier. Note that a number of these tips require administrator access to your machine, and you may not (and most likely should not) be able to do them at work! - So come, wade with us, the water's fine...

Windows Vista SP1
Note for the sake of this article, the Classic View is used for Control Panel.

Turn off User Account Control (UAC)
The most annoying feature of Vista, UAC interrupts with a pop-up dialogue box, consistently asking if it's OK to run things. It serves two purposes, both to protect the user in case a malicious program is run, and to get programmers to write more secure code. Which is all very nice, but it completely gets in the way of day-to-day work. Here's how to turn off the annoying nuisance forever.

 
  1. Click the Windows button in the bottom left-hand corner.
  2. Click Control Panel.
  3. This step will change depending on whether you're using the Classic view for Control Panel or not.
    • If you're using Classic View, double click User Accounts
    • If you're using the default view, click on the green User Accounts and Family Safety link, then the green User Accounts link
  4. There should be a link here, Turn User Account Control on or off. Click it
  5. Click Continue in UAC for the last time
  6. Uncheck User Account Control (UAC) to help protect your computer, then click OK
  7. A notification will pop up — save any documents you have open, and choose Restart Now to reset your computer
  8. Never deal with UAC again!

Die, die, die my darling
 
Show multiple time zones in the system tray
If you're an international traveller, or have family or business overseas, this one might come in handy, allowing you to display up to two extra clocks from the system tray.

 
  1. Click on the time, then click on the Change date and time settings... link
  2. Click on the Additional Clocks tab
  3. Check one of the boxes that says Show this clock
  4. Set the time zone and display name and click OK when done
  5. Now when you click on the time, a second or third clock is shown, with the display name used as a label above it

World time is one click away
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Control your audio
Windows Vista supports per application volume control — meaning you can turn your Windows sounds right down, but Media Player right up, for example. Just right-click on the volume icon in the system tray, and click Open Volume Mixer for the extra level of configurability.

 

Finally, we can control volume per application. (Credit: CNET.com.au)
 
Better screenshot tool
Unlike the ages old Printscreen button on the keyboard that takes a screenshot of your entire screen, there's a more complex tool hidden within the bowels of every version of Windows Vista except Home Basic. Known as the snipping tool, it was originally found in an add-on pack for XP Tablet Edition 2005, to make using a stylus easier. Now mouse users on Vista can reap the benefits too.

Just open the Start menu, type snip and hit enter to load the tool. You can now specify whether you want to take a screenshot of a free-form area, a rectangular one, isolate a window or take a screenshot of the entire screen. After you've used the mouse to highlight the area you want, you can draw on the screenshot to add notes, and then save it as you would a normal file.

You can create a keyboard shortcut to it in two ways. For the first, right-click on the application, choose Properties, select the Shortcut tab and in the Shortcut key field click, and enter any alphanumeric key. By default Windows assigns a CTRL + ALT in front of the shortcut, however, we've found this often doesn't work — try holding down SHIFT while pressing a key, to make the key combination CTRL + SHIFT + [whatever key you pressed]. You might create a shortcut here that will clash with existing ones, so be careful.

By far the easier way is to simply CTRL + drag the Snipping Tool shortcut into your Quick Launch bar, effectively copying it there. Now you can access it by pressing + whatever number Quick Launch button it is (for example, if it was the first in the row, you'd press + 1).

 
 
Improve network performance
By default, Vista SP1 has protections enabled which throttle back network performance while playing a media file. This is to ensure the CPU has enough available cycles to play back the media smoothly; however, it may lead to noticeable network performance deficits, particularly over gigabit.

To turn it off:
  1. Click on the Windows button
  2. Type regedit and hit enter
  3. Browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Multimedia\SystemProfile\
  4. Double click the NetworkThrottlingIndex key, and enter FFFFFFFF as the Value data, making sure the Base is set to Hexadecimal

Note that the entry supports values between 1 and 70, and the default is 10. If you enter a numeric value, make sure that the Base is set to Decimal rather than Hexadecimal. The higher the number, the more the throttling is weighted in favour of the network. You may wish to experiment to suit your particular network set-up/media playing needs.
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