Provided that you are using hardware that is compatible with all of the new graphical features of Windows Vista, the appearance of the GUI is completely different from Windows XP.

The Explorer instrument previews the content of files in a specific folder and also allows the size of the icons to be adjusted. Although these are not very large changes, they will allow some tasks to be done faster than previously allowed.

Positioning your cursor over the main bar allows you to easily change folders and preview their content.

A new feature of Windows Vista is the three dimensional view for multiple windows. This feature is made possible by the Aeroglass technology which allows for a much more rich graphical experience. Customers are also allowed to choose the level of transparency for the windows when they are in 3D view. It is important to remember that Windows Vista Home Basic and Windows Vista Starter Edition both won’t be able to support viewing windows in 3D. A DirectX 9 compliant video card with at least 128 MB of memory that supports the newest version of WDDM and Pixel Shader 2.0 will be required.

Windows Vista also allows users to place widgets on their desktop which provide information such as the time. These, however, are not required and are created just to provide easy access to information for users.

Vista Search Features

The new graphical interface only describes one aspect of the new features in Windows Vista. In order to make files more accessible and easier to find for users, Microsoft has included a new search function in Windows Vista which is integrated directly into the start menu.

As soon as a single letter is entered into the search box, Windows Vista begins to immediately compile a list of possible files that begin with that letter. As letters continue to be entered, Windows narrows down the options until the final file is found. The Windows Vista search engine is built upon an Indexing Service. The new Indexing Service runs in the background, however, it only indexes specific portions of the hard disk thus improving overall performance.