I have installed Windows Vista Ultimate on my new PC, and while I'm still getting to grips with it, I have come across a few tools, gadgets, suggestions that make a few things easier and nicer to look at. I will probably continue to add new information as I come across it.

Vista Shortcut Overlay Remover (FxVisor 1.2)
XP had TweakUI, Vista doesn't, so removing the arrow on shortcuts is slightly harder, but FxVisor makes it easy!

Add Internet Explorer to Vista's Desktop (FxDeskie 1.2)
Some people like to have the Internet Explorer icon on their desktop. In XP that was easy to turn on, but in Vista it isn't With FxDeskie it brings that simplicity back.

Vista Orb Clock
The default clock on your sidebar is OK, but I prefer this one!

Make Winamp the default MP3 player
Unfortunately Winamp 5.x isn't entirely Vista compatible, hopefully this situation will improve in a later update. The file types option does not have much effect in Vista, especially on MP3 files.

You will have to right click on an MP3, choose Open With, then "Choose Default Program..."

How to change the power button in Vista to shut down your PC
Sending your PC to sleep is great and all (amazingly fast to turn back on), but sometimes you don't want to have to worry about the power going out and losing all your data.

Black Viper's Windows Vista Service Configurations
Black Viper's site is fantastic. He offers descriptions of what each service in Vista (and previous versions of Windows) does, and what the best setting for it is. His site was offline for a while, but it's back and better than ever.

Make Firefox your default browser
Although you may think that Firefox is your default if you said Yes when it asked you, it might not be the browser that opens (IE) when you click on links in some programs such as mIRC or Yahoo! Messenger. This is easily fixed however.

Click on Start, Default Programs, Set Program Access and Computer Defaults, click on Custom. Now you'll probably see that your browser option is set to "Use my current Web browser", you must select Firefox here to force the setting. This might actually be the case for Opera too, I don't use it myself so I can't be sure.

I forgot to update the shipping address on the heatsink I bought from Scan so it was delivered to my home address, and there was me thinking I had another day to wait!

Here's what it looks like fitted to my motherboard:

I spent most of last night installing the heatsink, motherboard, one of the new fans, the hard drive and the DVD burner into the Lian Li PC-7B. Unfortunately I am still waiting on a power supply so it's not finished.

I found that I'm unable to use the other fan I bought on the front of the case where I'd wanted it to go because it's not designed to be placed there, which is rather frustrating. So I may just leave the existing fan there for now - I don't know how loud it is until I turn the PC on, and it just wasn't ready last night for that. I may also have to leave the side fan as it is, I haven't worked out a way to attach another fan to it yet, due to it having a thread embedded in the plastic.

The case came with rubber mounts for the hard drive to reduce vibration noise, I wonder how much of an effect they will have. I did notice that the hard drive cage itself rattles a little, I'm sure that can't help! You can see the rubber mounts in the bag on the left.

I decided to bite the bullet and buy a new case, another Lian Li. I went for a black PC-7 with a window. It looks very similar to my current case but instead of 80mm fans it has space for two 120mm fans which should reduce the noise levels a bit, as my current case can be a little too loud at times.

I have also forked out for a more powerful heatsink than Intel's own one - the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro, which has scored highly in many reviews.

20/08/07 UPDATE: The items from KustomPCs arrived this morning!

A few weeks ago I decided to splash out on some new hardware, to replace my ageing AMD AthlonXP 2500+.

So I've bought...
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6750
Motherboard: Asus P5K Deluxe/WiFi-AP
RAM: OCZ 2GB PC2-8500 DDR2
Graphics Card: XFX GeForce 8600GTS XXX 256MB
Hard Drive: Western Digital 320GB
DVD Burner: Asus DRW-1814BLT
PSU: Corsair HX620W

Unfortunately there seemed to be a problem with the Corsair PSU so I've had to RMA that, and I'm still waiting for a replacement. When that arrives I will be able to install all the bits in a case, as it is they're all set up on my dining room table.

I've been trying out Windows Vista on the new PC and so far it seems pretty good, but I doubt I'll be dumping XP just yet. There are still too many teething problems and incompatibilities, but I'm sure I will continue to use Vista in a secondary capacity.

This is what the new PC currently looks like:

You can see the Corsair PSU in the background (this has since been sent back), and a really cheap Jeantech in the front which is what is currently powering the motherboard. It's only 300 watts, which I've found does not seem to like the DVD burner being hooked up!

Unless I change my mind, I will be pulling all the hardware out of my current PC's case and putting all that into it, although I am wondering if I should just buy a new case with 120mm fans on the front and back to try and reduce the noise multiple fans create. I changed my mind.

My current case has 2 80mm fans on the front, 1 on the back and 1 on the top. I would quite like the new PC to be quieter than the old one. Maybe a new case is in order? Something to think about.

UPDATE: 17/08/07 - there is a follow-up post to this entry.