Maintaining your system is easy! (...part 2)



Categories

· Windows edition -- Which edition do you have? The name and copyright appear here.

· System -- Here the processor (CPU) type, memory (RAM) amount, and system type (32-bit versus 64-bit) are displayed. If you have Tablet PC functionality, you'll see that as "available." Above those lines is a rating known as the Windows Experience Index (WEI -- pronounced the way Lucille Ball pronounced "Wah!"). We'll examine the WEI more closely in a moment.

· Computer name, domain, and workgroup settings -- This is networking information. You can use the Change Settings link to change your computer's description and domain or workgroup name.

By the way, the System Properties dialog box that appears when you click Change Settings contains five of the seven tabs from XP's System Properties (the one Win+Break leads to directly in XP); the missing tabs are General (whose information is on the previous System screen) and Automatic Updates (now part of Security or System and Maintenance under the Control Panel).

· Windows activation -- Activating Windows Vista involves sending information to Microsoft about your computer and your copy of Windows Vista. Through activation, Microsoft attempts to track where copies of Windows Vista are installed as part of an effort to thwart piracy. You must activate Windows Vista within 30 days of installation or first startup. If you do not, Windows Vista will eventually refuse to run. You may as well activate as a part of installation or first-time startup.


Note

I'd like to call this screen "System Information," but there is a different, older System Information tool still around. In another location, this is launched as "System Properties," but, again, there is a different, older tool by the same name. Clearly, it is not a System Center or System Explorer. In the taskbar, address bar, and Control Panel, it is simply "System," an unprecedented example of excess brevity. What to call something is not a frivolous matter; it affects your ability to find information in this book and to relate that information to other sources.

 




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