Want to know what’s going on behind the surface of your Windows Vista PC–and how to make it run better? Beyond the eye candy of the Aero interface lie some new tools that will help you monitor and maximize the performance of your system.

We got a look at some of these tools from one of Microsoft’s own übergeeks, Mark Russinovich, at the recent Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC). If you’ve been serious about digging into the inner workings of Windows, there’s a good chance you’ve used a tool created by Russinovich. He founded Sysinternals, a company that developed Process Explorer, a much more powerful version of Windows Task Manager, as well as a slew of other utilities. Sysinternals was bought by Microsoft last year.

Here are a few of Russinovich’s favorite Vista tools:

Performance monitoring: Russinovich uses Vista’s Resource Overview, a nicely upgraded utility that provides at-a-glance system performance charts for CPU, disk, network, and memory usage. Clicking any of the four charts provides detailed information on how much each resource is being used by currently running tasks. Preston Gralla has written about it for PC World, along with the companion Reliability monitor tool, which can…

Quick Photo Editing in Windows

Vista’s Photo Gallery program is handy for more than just viewing photos–it also serves as a quick-and-dirty photo editor. To get started, open an image in the app and click Fix to adjust its color and exposure, remove red-eye, and perform other actions; or click Auto Adjust to apply the fixes instantly (see FIGURE 7).
Search Windows Media Player

If you have a big media library, finding specific files can be difficult. Windows Media Player 11 lets you more easily search for tracks by album, artist, and other criteria through search modifiers. For instance, to find Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone,” type Title:Rolling Stone into the search box to keep the similarly named band out of the results. To see what other fields are available, right-click a column heading and select Choose Columns. Or right-click a track, choose Advanced Tag Editor, and make your selection.

For more on Windows Media Player, see our chart of WMP keyboard shortcuts.
Snip Your Screens

Capturing screens just got a lot easier: Vista’s Snipping Tool makes snagging all or part of your screen images–and adding annotations–a breeze. Click Start, All Programs (or Programs on…

Fix Vista-XP Network Glitches

If your network has both Vista and XP machines, the PCs might not get along very well. One problem is that by default Vista and XP use different workgroup names: ‘Workgroup’ in Vista and ‘Mshome’ in XP. As a result, the systems may not be able to find one another.

To rename the workgroup on the XP PCs, right-click My Computer, select Properties, Computer Name, Change, and type Workgroup under ‘Workgroup’ near the bottom of the screen. Click OK twice.
Map Your Network

Vista’s Network and Sharing Center shows info about all of the devices on your network, including their MAC and IP addresses. Click Start, Control Panel (Start, Settings, Control Panel on the Classic Start menu), Network and Internet, Network and Sharing Center, View full map. Hold the mouse over a device to see its IP and MAC addresses (see FIGURE 5).

Non-Vista PCs take forever to show up, if they appear at all, and even then they’re listed at the bottom of the page, off the map. The new protocol that Vista uses to map the network will eventually be available for XP, but Microsoft isn’t saying when.
Add VPN…

Bring Back Classic Menus…

One of the most disconcerting changes in Vista compared with previous Windows versions is the switch from menus to toolbars in Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer. If you prefer to order off the menu, simply press the key to bring the menus back. Press again to make them disappear. To keep menus around in Windows Explorer, choose Organize, Layout, Menu Bar. In Internet Explorer, click Tools, Menu Bar.
…And the Run Command, Too

XP’s Run box is a quick and easy way to open programs and run DOS commands, but Vista’s new Start menu has replaced it with the Start Search box. If you’re a fan of the Run box, you’ll be delighted to learn that it’s easy to bring back. Right-click the Start button, choose Properties, Customize, check Run command, and click OK. The old favorite will be back on the Start menu, where it belongs.
Create Your Own Icons

Windows’ icons aren’t much help in finding important files and folders at a glance. It’s easy to create your own icons to help you spot last year’s tax return (skull and crossbones?) or your résumé (double dollar signs, perhaps). You…

Switch From FAT to NTFS

Windows’ NTFS file format offers a number of performance, security, and other benefits over the older FAT and FAT32. You’re asked if you’d like to convert your drive to NTFS when you upgrade from XP to Vista, but to switch a drive manually from FAT or FAT32 to NTFS, click Start, Run (or just Start on Vista’s menu), type cmd, and press to open a command prompt. Type convert x : /fs:ntfs (with x being your hard drive’s letter) and press .
Right-Click for a Command Prompt

Sometimes the fastest way to get something done in Windows is via the command prompt. And the fastest way to get to a command prompt is through your right-click menu. To do so, click Start, Run (or just Start on Vista’s menu), type regedit, and press to launch the Registry Editor. Navigate in the left pane to HKEY_ LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Classes/Folder/shell. Right-click in the right pane and select New, Key. Name it Command Prompt. Select the new key in the left pane, and double-click (Default) in the right pane. In the ‘Value data’ field, type Open Command Prompt, and press . Right-click in the right pane,…

Start With a Backup

All PC tweaking begins with a backup, even if you simply create a new restore point. To set one in XP, click Start, Programs (or All Programs), Accessories, System Tools, System Restore, choose Create a restore point, click Next, and step through the wizard. In Vista, click Start, Programs (or All Programs), Maintenance, Backup and Restore Center, select Create a restore point or change settings, choose System Restore, click Next, and then follow the on-screen instructions.

Restore points won’t solve all your problems. That’s why one of the most welcome new tools in Vista is Complete PC Backup, which creates a snapshot of your machine, including all of your applications, settings, and data files. Later, if (when?) your hardware fails, you can restore the entire system, not just your files. (Note that Complete PC Backup is not available in Vista Home Basic or Home Premium.)

To create a backup, click Start, Control Panel (or Start, Settings, Control Panel on the Classic Start menu), Back up your computer (in Classic View, double-click Backup and Restore Center). Choose Back up computer and follow the steps. I recommend making a backup at least once per month…