Manage Your PC with New Choices in Control Panel

Manage Your PC with New Choices in Control Panel

The Control Panel in Windows Vista offers many new features too, as you can see in the screenshot below. Although each of the new items in Control Panel merit their own stand-alone articles, I'll introduce a few of the new items briefly.

New Control Panel items include:

•	Network Center. You can use this feature to view your Network Map and uncover connectivity problems, configure basic security settings, and view network details.
•	Parental Controls. You can use Parental Controls to enable, configure, and manage the new parental controls in Windows Vista.
•	Pen and Input Devices. You can use this feature to configure and manage alternate input devices including pens and input panels.
•	Sidebar Properties. With this feature, you can configure and manage how the Windows Vista sidebar appears on the interface.
•	Sync Center. You can use Sync Center to manage synched hardware such as PDAs, portable media players, and other devices.
•	Text to Speech. With Text to Speech, you can set up, train, and run speech recognition, and to configure and run text to speech translation.
•	Windows Defender. With this functionality, you can check for unwanted or harmful software, scan your computer, view quarantined items, and visit the Windows Defender Web site.
•	Windows SideShow. You can use the Windows SideShow to connect a secondary display that accesses information like e-mail or media from a mobile phone or other mobile device. And you can use Windows SideShow to check your mail while you are away from your computer.

Windows Vista truly is a giant leap into the technological future. Beyond the sleek, new, Web-like interface, new Windows Media Center 11 features, the increased security, hands-off approach to keeping your computer safe, and Windows Vista ease-of-use, there are a thousand things to keep you electrified, excited, and enthused. Just be careful, you may end up like me, doing more playing than working!