3. Task Dialogs

In Windows Vista task dialogs replaces the error message box. In a nutshell, Task Dialogs include troubleshooters and links to help you cure the problem. Related to Task Dialogs is a new generation of built-in diagnostics. For example, help connecting to a network, or warning of impending disk failure. When you have a problem with Vista, seek the Task Dialog. These troubleshooters will save me at least $20 of frustration in a year.

Flip 3D

Flip 3D is Vista's new way to Alt and Tab. The idea is to allow you to see thumbnails with better graphics. Even though I had a mouse with a thumbwheel, I could not get this feature to work. Maybe my problem was related to my old Radeon 9200 graphics card, or more likely the Virtual Machine that I was using for testing.

Allegedly, this feature is so cool that it will connect to a new hotkey on the keyboard. $5

Sidebars

One minute you see Sidebars in Vista, the next minute they are out. In Vista RC1, Microsoft has hit on the compromise of allowing users to enable or disable these panels. It will be interesting to see if Microsoft or third parties make utilities that you can stuff into the Sidebar and thus give them purpose. At the moment there is a very nice clock, but I don't need a very nice clock on my desktop thank you very much. A grudging $5 in the hope that one day there will be a 'killer' application for the Vista Sidebar.

User Account Control (UAC)

In XP, you may have seen but avoided 'Run As...'. Well User Account Control is an improved system for encouraging you to only use the minimum privileges and so making Vista more secure from rogue programs. The UAC irritates me, in the Beta versions you could turn it off, but I have yet to find a method to disable it in Vista RC1. I give this $0, but how do you value UAC?

Guy's Total for Vista's Key Features, 30, 25, 5, 20, 5, 5, 0 = $90