Vista Video Tutorials

If your Email provider did not give you a setup disc you can setup a Windows Mail account manually as long as you have the settings available;

What you need to setup an account in Windows Mail:

1. You will need the Windows Mail program that comes free with Windows Vista
2. You will need to know your email address
3. Your password
4. Your incoming mail server
5. Your outgoing mail server
6. Sometimes you will need to know a port number to use. The default is 25, however some mail servers need to use 80.

Watch this video below to see how to add an email account to Windows Mail.

Adding people to your contact list in Windows Mail is pretty much exactly like Outlook Express in Windows XP. However there is an Extra Windows Mail tip for you.

Here are a few different ways to add a contact to your address book in Windows Mail.

Add a sender to your contact list

1. When your emails have come in and you see them in the inbox. Before opening them you can select it by making it blue.
2. Then right click and choose add sender to the address book.
3. Now you will be taken to the address book to edit your new contact.

Add all email addresses that came with the email

1. Open an email that has more than one recipient. (Your friend sent it to you and three others)
2. Then go to the tools menu.
3. Choose add sender to address book.
4. Then you will have a choice to choose to add the sender, everyone on the list, or choose the addresses individually. For example: my uncle sent me an email but he had sent it to my two cousins as well. Therefore in that list were my cousins email addresses.

Also watch this video tutorial on how to add a contact to your address book in Windows mail.

You don’t always have to double click on icons, files, and folders to open them. You can customize your mouseclick to suit your needs. I personally like to dispose of the double clicking and choose single click with underlining. So when you move your mouse over a filename or folder it will become underlined and makes it very clear that you are about to click on it.

How to change mouse clicking from double click to single click in Windows Vista.

1. Go to the start menu and choose computer
2. From the menu, choose tools. If there is no menu you can press the ALT key for them to appear. Also see Show the old menu with file, edit, tools, and view in Windows Vista.
3. Then choose Folder Options from the menu.
4. On the general tab undering the heading click items as follows, choose single-click to open an item.
5. Then choose which single click option you want to use.
6. Then press apply and ok.

 Watch this video tutorial to see an example of the different types of single click options in Windows Vista.

Just say you accidentally delete the Windows Vista Flip 3D icon and then realise that you cannot find the program to create another icon. Well there is no need to panic as it is easily fixed.  There are two detailed steps to restore your Flip 3D icon to your desktop or quick launch toolbar on the taskbar.

Step 1 : Create a desktop shortcut that opens the Windows Vista Flip 3D application

1. Right click on the blank area on your desktop
2. Choose New from the menu
3. Then choose shortcut
4. Now copy this RunDll32 DwmApi #105 and paste it into the area that says Type the location of the item
5. Press next. Then Type in a name for your shortcut. (Flip 3D)
6. Press Finish. That’s it.

Now when you double press on this icon it will start Flip 3D.

Step 2 :  Change the icon to a proper Windows Vista Flip 3D icon

1. Right click on the icon that you just created
2. Choose properties from the menu
3. Now the shortcut properties will appear and you need to be on the shortcut tab
4. Then press the Change icon button
5. Press browse to find the right icon for Flip 3D
6. The file you want is in C:/Windows/System32 folder and is called imageres.dll
7. Once you have selected this file press open
8. Now you will have lots of icons to choose from. The Flip 3D icon will be in there somewhere.

Please watch the video tutorial below to see more details.

Old habbits die hard! And this is exactly why we need to bring back the old style classic menu when using Windows Vista Explorer. There are menu items that are hiding from us.  I am talking about the file, edit, tools, view, and help menu that was on every explorer window in XP.

This classic menu enables you to change important settings such as folder options, which in itself has at least 30 settings alone.

Here’s how to show the classic old style menu (file, edit, tools, and view)

1. Go to the start menu and choose documents from the menu
2. Now press the Alt key on the keyboard
3. The classic menu will appear
4. If you press Alt again it will disappear

This is just a temporary fix because the classic menu will not stay there. Next time you go to m computer or documents, you will have to press Alt again.

To get the classic menu to stay in Windows Vista Explorer you need to:

1. Open computer or documents from the start menu.
2. Press the Alt key to get the classic menu to appear.
3. Now got to the tools menu and choose Folder Options.
4. On the general tab under the heading tasks put a check next to Use Windows Classic Folders.

Watch this video tutorial below to see more details.

The Windows notification area is the most frequently used part of the desktop taskbar. It keeps you up to date with whats going on on your computer by animated icons that occassionally poup with messages for you. A great example is when there are Windows updates ready for your computer or if your laptop battery is running low.

The notification area also holds the volume control icon, the time, and any other program icons that are enabled to show there. You can change the settings for a program icon to Hide when inactive, Always hide, or Always show. This allows you to remove annoying icons and just keep the important ones.
What are the most common icons that appear in the Windows Vista notification area?

• Time
• Volume
• Windows update icon
• Network connections icon
• Bluetooth icon
• Laptop Power icon
• Windows Live Messenger

How to add or remove icons in the notification area in Windows Vista

1. Go to the start menu icon in the left corner
2. Right click on it to bring a menu
3. Choose properties from the menu
4. Go to the Notification Area Tab
5. Click on customize to change the settings for each icon that shows up in the notification area

Watch this video tutorial to see more details..

Having used Windows Xp for what seems like forever, adapting to the changes in Windows Vista was a big task for me. Even though I am very familar with Windows XP and Vista seemed to be similar, it didn’t turn out to be afterall.

One of the features that was left out by default in Windows Vista was the good old run box link in the start menu. It was a complete delema for about 5 minutes in total. I supose its means nothing to the average computer user, however to the computer geek, freek, addicted person, it does.

Watch this video tutorial on how to put back the run box link in your Windows Vista Start menu.

Here is how to put a run command shortcut on your start menu in Windows Vista:

1. Right click on a blank space in your taskbar

2. Go to the start menu tab

3. Press on the customize button

4. Then scroll down near the bottom and tick the box next to run command

5. Press OK and then apply