A new version of the Windows Vista tweaking software Tweak Vi has been released two days ago with several new functions added to the software. Take a look at the list of fixes below to get an overview of what has been changed.

Please note that this are just the changes from the last version of Tweak Vi. If you are running an older version you are in for a lot of more changes. Take a look at the complete release history to find out what has been changed so far.
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The default Windows Vista bootscreen is not really spectacular at all. It just shows a loading bar and the Microsoft Corporation copyright on a black screen. There is however a way to activate a secret Windows Vista bootscreen that looks visually more appealing.

I’m not sure why the bootscreen was hidden by Microsoft considering the fact that it looks much nicer. To enable it you simply type ‘msconfig’ in the search box, click on the boot tab and check “No gui Boot” in the same menu.

If you reboot your computer afterwards you will see the changed bootscreen called Aurora.

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I personally think that some of the icons found in Windows Vista are not that great at all and decided to look for a way to replace them with better suited icons. During the search I found a website that offers icon packs for Windows Vista that look really great.

You do find for instance icons for mp3 players,  alarm and notification icons, style icons and several other icon packages at Vista icons. All icon packages can be downloaded for free and have a size of about 2 Megabytes each. They do come in different sizes suiting your settings perfectly.

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There aren’t that many useful Vista sidebar gadgets available at the windows marketplace at the moment. I never quite understood why someone would want to add another clock for instance to the sidebar, does not make that much sense to me. One way to change the relative uselessness of the Windows Vista sidebar is to use the Amnesty Generator to convert web widgets to sidebar gadgets.

We all know that many widget databases exist that allow you to add widgets to your website. All you need is the final html code that would be used to display the widget on your website. Instead of doing that you would simply paste the code into the generator and watch how a new Vista gadget gets created.

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Internet Explorer 7 allows a maximum of two simultaneous downloads which might be enough for casual downloaders but is definitely not enough for users who download a lot in a short time. I’m on a very fast connection and have no problem to download 8-10 files at a time.

You will have to edit some registry keys as an administrator to change the number of downloads in Internet Explorer 7. To do so press Windows + R, type regedit and hit enter. Navigate to the key HKEY_CURRENT_USER \Software \Microsoft \Windows \CurrentVersion \Internet Settings and create a new 32 bit Dword MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server. Now change that value to a value that is greater than 2.

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I was trying to find a way to shutdown Windows Vista using only the keyboard and had the problem that the method known from Windows XP was not working in Vista anymore. It remains a mystery to me why Microsoft decided to change this and remove the keyboard shortcut to shutdown in Windows Vista.

There is however still a way. It is not really a shortcut but a combination of keys that lead to the shutdown button. To shutdown Windows Vista hit the Windows button, press left, press right and hit enter. Sounds simple enough does not it ?

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Microsoft confirmed that Vista’s Aero theme is consuming more power which leads to a faster battery drain. They say it is not that much that people should get worried but I personally feel that Aero consumes to much power. I also think that it is a pretty useless feature of Windows Vista. Sure it looks nice but that’s it. The transparency feature of Aero will be disabled whenever you switch to Power Save mode.

This helps but is not enough for me at least. If I work on the road I want maximum battery life and not some fancy interface with Flip 3D tabs and the like. One way to achieve this would be to disable Vista Aero completely, another better way in my opinion would be to turn Aero off automatically when you disconnect the notebook from a power source.

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I always liked the concept of the program Autopatcher which is available for Windows XP. This tool is basically a collection of all fixes and patches for Windows XP which can all be automatically added to the operating system without connecting to a official Microsoft website and downloading them from there. Very convenient, just download one file, execute it and your Windows is up to date.

The Autopatcher guys created a version for Windows Vista as well. The principle is the same. Just download the newest version from the official website and execute it once it has been downloaded. It contains all critical and recommended updates as well as add-ons for Windows Vista. The real beauty is that it works universally one all versions of Windows Vista. You still have to download a different executable if you run a 64-bit version of Windows Vista.

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Microsoft is very keen to incorporate the gaming experience of Xbox Live to Windows Vista. Soon the first games will come out that makes it possible to compete with PC and Xbox 360 players alike in the same game. I think the first will the Shadowrun that supports this feature. While shooters are best played with a mouse and keyboard other games feel more natural with a gamepad. I’m thinking of beat em up games or arcade shooters for instance.

This was probably one of the reasons why Microsoft created the Xbox 360 Wireless Gaming Receiver which can be connected to the PC to be able to connect Xbox 360 gamepads to the computer. The real beauty is the wireless factor of course and that the gamepads will be recognized at least by Windows Vista without installing drivers. It is even possible to play the games that ship with Windows Vista using the gamepad. All other games that support gamepads are supported as well of course.

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Just a quick tip today. If you bought or received Windows Vista Home Basic you probably have noticed that you cannot activate the Aero interface and wondered why that is the case.  If you did not know, Windows Vista Home Basic does not ship with the Aero interface. That is at least what Microsoft wants you to believe.  There is however a way to activate the Aero interface in this operating system.

To do that you need to edit two registry keys and restart your computer afterwards. You find both keys in the registry under Hkey_Current_User \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ DWM \ Change the values of the entry Composition to 1 and the value of CompositionPolicy to 0 and restart your computer afterwards.

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