Last week I promised that I’d take a look at the new version of Windows that is currently under development, Windows Vista. Not wanting to disappoint, I will today be taking a look at the latest preview build (5231) that was released to beta testers a few days ago.

Windows Vista (formally codenamed ‘Longhorn’) was originally envisioned as a minor upgrade to Windows XP designed more as a stopgap although as work progressed on the Operating System it took the shape of an all encompassing major upgrade.

Let us take a look at some of the new features this Operating System will offer although please do bear in mind that the finished version is over a year away yet so obviously features are subject to change.

New look – Windows new look and feel is known as “Aero” which on suitably equipped machines will use the PC’s 3D accelerator to create a glass effect that will make the Windows visual experience deeper and more engaging. A downside to this effect is that it will require some pretty beefy hardware to create although on less powerful machines you will be able to go back to the classic Windows look.

Security – This is being touted as the big improvement over previous versions of Windows and Microsoft is confident that they have truly got it right this time around. Windows XP if you will remember was riddled with massive security vulnerabilities when it first released and it took the release of two service packs to get it up to anywhere near a decent standard. Obviously there is plenty happening behind the scenes to protect you from security vulnerabilities but since the majority won’t be aware of any of this background work we should focus on the things that will make a difference in the way you use the computer day to day.

Notable features include a firewall that will protect against unauthorised outbound activity in addition to the current ability to protect against inbound connections, parents will be able to set up parental controls to restrict what their children access and the OS should be able to prevent the installation of malicious software by using restricted access user accounts for day to day activities. The in-built e-mail client will provide anti-spam facilities as standard and Microsoft is planning to offer an anti-virus and anti-spyware subscription service although I would have personally liked to have seen this included as standard in the OS.

Internet Explorer – Windows Vista will include Internet Explorer 7 which is the replacement for the now four year old Internet Explorer 6. Although IE7 will be available for Windows XP eventually will be standard in Vista. As Microsoft is facing heavy competition from third party alternatives such as “Firefox” we should expect IE7 to be vast improvement although I think it is unlikely that they will think up anything original but just rip the best bits out of Firefox. For example, IE7 will support tabbed browsing and a built in RSS reader both of which Firefox has always included from the start. Security is again paramount in the new version of IE as it will include a protected mode to prevents Spyware and Malicious software from easily entering your system as well as a “phishing filter” which will protect you from fraudulent websites.

To summerise the new version of Windows looks as though it could be a worthy upgrade to the current Windows XP although we’ll have to wait until December 2006 to see everything that Microsoft has up their sleeves. Of course, there’s a lot more that I’d love to tell you about but unfortunately it’s difficult to cover an entirely new release of Windows in a 600 word article. For more information straight from the horses mouth visit www.microsoft.com/windowsvista

It [...]]]> Over the past few months I’ve mentioned the Mozilla Firefox browser several times because it is a worthy alternative to Internet Explorer not least because as well as being free it also is in my opinion a faster and more stable browser than the Microsoft equivalent.

It seems only natural then that I should digress and discuss the e-mail client available from the same people so it would compliment Firefox perfectly. I would probably pitch Mozilla Thunderbird as a viable alternative to Outlook Express as to be honest the product isn’t feature rich enough to compete on a level playing field with the expensive Microsoft Outlook 2003. Such a comment isn’t an insult to the programmers as I think it would be unreasonable to expect a free 5.8mb download to compete against a program that is dozens of times its size and comes as part of an expensive office suite.

The main advantage to Thunderbird over Outlook Express is that it contains a powerful anti-spam filter that is integrated into the program. This feature alone will be enough to convince a large number of people to make the switch as every week my inbox is filled with people asking my advice on how to get a usually poor anti-spam program installed on their machine. When you consider that many anti-spam solutions cost money then it could be a cheaper option to change your entire e-mail program to the free Mozilla Thunderbird as opposed to trying to get anti spam integration with your existing one.

As many of you will know the Mozilla suite of programs are ‘Open Source’ and this means that anybody can download the original code and improve/add to it with a view of their changes making it into a finished version of the product. One advantage to making programs in this fashion is that often you collect a loyal user base who are happy to spend their time working on improvements. As well as changes to the program itself, these improvements can also be accommodated into Thunderbird as a ‘plug-ins’. Whilst the core version of Thunderbird is relatively small you can then add features that you require via plug ins to add functionality such as the Mozilla calendar or perhaps you’d prefer several new custom tool bars.

The look and feel of Thunderbird is relatively minimalist and easy on the eye but the layout can be largely customized to your own taste or even changed completely by loading up a new ‘skin’ for the program – such skins are often created by other users and available online to download for free.

An especially nice feature that I noticed is the ability to restrict the download of messages over a certain size. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had a good chuckle watching a user on a slow 56k connection be unable to view any of their e-mail as Outlook Express is busy downloading a 50mb file that was sent to them by a relative who has broadband. If the user cancels the download then all that happens is next time they try and download their e-mail is that the entire process starts again from scratch – More often than not they’ll spend 2 hours downloading a rubbish program which is then instantly deleted.

When composing an e-mail Thunderbird has full support for HTML messages as well as the ability to add emoticons (smilies and the like) to messages. Incoming e-mail can be downloaded as either plain text or formatted HTML and the program has the ability to view RSS feeds without any additional software.

Possibly one of the most important features of the program is the import feature. The first time you run Thunderbird it will ask you if you want to import all your messages and settings from another mail client such as Outlook Express. Just say ‘yes’ and the program will quite happily take all the information it needs from your previous mail client before asking you if you then want to make it the default. Once you are happy that Thunderbird is for you then just delete your previous mail client and begin the experience of spam free and speedy e-mail.