Bitlocker Drive Encryption, encrypt the entire Windows volume. It ensures that your data remains encrypted, even if the computer is tampered with. Say, someone moves your hard drive to another computer, he will not be able to view the contents of it.To turn on Bitlocker Drive Encryption: Open the Control Panel, select Security and click Bitlocker Drive Encryption. Click the Turn On Bitlocker option for the operating system volume. Choose one of the available options to save the recovery password. The recovery password can be saved to a USB drive, in a folder or it can be printed. This password is required to move the drive to another computer. Once you have selected the password recovery option, click Next to continue encrypting the operating system volume. Next, verify that the Run Bitlocker System Check option is selected. Click Continue. The computer will restart and proceed with the volume encryption.

To configure your computer to display a message to users who are attempting to log on. Goto Start > Control Panel > System and Maintenance > Administrative Tools > Local Security Policy. Within the console, expand Local Policies. Click Security Options. Scroll through the options and locate Interactive Logon: Message text for users attempting to log on.Double click the security option. Type in the message text that you want users to see.Click OK.

To extend the grace period another 30 days, simply start a command prompt as Administrator, and shoot the command slmgr - rearm .Reboot require. You can only extend three times, so the total grace period for a Vista evaluation is 120 days.

One of the new features that you will immediately notice in Vista is User Account Control or UAC. Each time user attempts to perform a task that requires administrative rights, a dialog box appears prompting you for permission. This feature is enabled by default. To turn this feature off. Go to Start > Control Panel > User Accounts and Family Safety > User Accounts > Uncheck the box to Turn User Account Control on or off > Click OK.

Right-click on the Command Prompt Shortcut and select Properties. Click the Advanced button and check the Run As Administrator box. Click OK. To launch command prompt with administrative privileges, double click newly created shortcut.

Open Control Panel > System and Maintenance > Adminitrative Tools > Local Security Policy > expand Local Policy > Security Policy. Double Click Accounts: Rename Administrator Account. Type the new account name. Click OK.

Open command prompt with admin right and run slmgr -dli. A message box will appear with proper details.

Open Windows explorer > Go to application executable, right click executable > Go to Properties option > Select compatibility tab > Select Run This Program in Compatibility Mode option > Choose OS from the drop down list you ran before upgrading to Vista > Click OK.

Open regedit, navigate HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Start Menu, on right hand side set HideTV to 1.

Create a shortcut, and type rundll32.exe PowrProf.dll,SetSuspendState.. Run this shortcut for hibernate Vista.

Open regedit, navigate HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows Mail, edit or create DWORD value NoSplash and set to 1.

Copy your images into the wallpaper folder (C:\Windows\Web\Wallpaper) > Group select your images and add a descriptor in the tags field > Click the save button in details pane > Right click the desktop, click Personalize and click Desktop background > Select Windows Wallpaper using the location drop down. Your new wallpapers will appear in the list under the descriptor.

Run command, with administrativr rights, Net user administrator activate:yes. This will activate administator account in Vista.

To hide Recycle Bin icon from desktop, goto Control Panel >Appearance and Personalization > Click Personalization > click Change desktop icons > Uncheck Recycle Bin check box >Click OK. This will hide Recycle bin icon.

From Control Panel > Click System and Maintenance > Performance Information and Tools > Score this computer. If any changes are made in hardware you can clilck on Update my score

Run command driverquery, this will display driver installed with their properties.

Run command vsp1cln /quiet, this will clean all SP1 files. Warning: You will no longer able to uninstall SP1 later.

On Windows Vista open Network and Sharing center > Under Sharing and Discovery section, click on arrow beside File Sharing > Select turn on option for file sharing > Click Apply.

On Windows Vista open Network and Sharing center > Under Sharing and Discovery section, click on arrow beside Password protected sharing > click Apply.

Vista is shipped with a snipping tool, which helps user to snip a image. To open navigate Start > Programs > Accessories > Snipping Tool.

Navigate the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SYSTEM > CurrentControlSet > Control > Session Manager > Memory Management. Edit/Create DWORD value, ClearPageFileAtShutdown to 1.

Run command cleanmgr, to recover more disk space by removing unwanted files.

From command prompt, run command net use * \\networksharedpath.
This will map available driver letter with network shared folder. If you want any specific drive letter then replace * with drive letter.

Goto Group Policy Editor > User Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Ctrl+Alt+Del Options. In the details panel, enable the Remove Task Manager policy option. Update group policy or restart your machine.

Goto Group Policy Editor > User Configuration > Administrative Templates > System. Enable Prevent access to registry editing tools policy option.

To create an empty file in Windows, run command copy NUL filename, from command prompt. This will create 0 byte empty file.

Go to Control Panel > Turn Windows features on or off. A new window will appear, select the options you want to install under Internet Information Services.

Windows Vista comes with Mobility Center, designed for laptop users. It gives access all mobile features required to a laptop user. User can open Mobility Center from Control panel or by using hotkey Win+X.
Windows Mobility Center consist of following features:
Brightness
Volume
Battery Status
Wireless Network
External Display
Sync Center
Presentation Settings.

Windows has provided a tool to create share folders. Execute command shrpubw from Run window. A wizard will appear. Follow the wizard to create share folders and set permission for the user to access the shared folder.

Following are commonly used powercfg command lines:
powercfg -list Lists all power schemes in the current user environmet.
powercfg -query [Scheme_GUID] [Sub_GUID] Displays the contents of the specified power scheme.
powercfg -changename GUID name [scheme_description] Modifies the name of a power scheme and, optionally, the scheme description
powercfg -delete GUID Deletes the power scheme with the specified GUID.
powercfg -setactive Scheme_GUID Makes the specified power scheme active on the computer.
powercfg-s Scheme_GUID Makes the specified power scheme active on the computer.
powercfg-lastwake Reports information about the event that woke the computer from the last sleep transition.

To delete hibernate file, run command in Vista with elevated rights, powercfg -H off. This will delete the hibernate file and disable hibernate feature.
To enable hibernate feature run command powercfg -H on.

Go to Run and type compmgmt.msc . Under Storage category select disk management. Partitions created will be listed here. Select the partition which user wants to shrink. Right click on the selected partition and select Shrink Volume option. Enter the amount of space to shrink in MB. To extend a partition, select Extend Volume option instead of Shrink Volume.

Right click on Start menu select Properties. In the start menu tab, select Customize > Customize Start Menu appears. In this window check the Run command option and click OK to close Customize Start Menu window. Click Apply and OK on Taskbar and Start Menu Properties. Run command will now appear in Start menu options for easy access.

To select the disk using diskpart, run command diskpart in command prompt, first list the available disk using diskpart prompt
DISKPART > list This will list available disks.
Now, select the disk by using command
DISKPART > select disk=n where n is number of disk. Eg. select disk=0.

To select the partition using diskpart, run command diskpart in command prompt, first list the available disk using diskpart prompt
DISKPART > list This will list available disks.
Now, select the disk by using command
DISKPART > select disk=n where n is number of disk. eg. select disk=0.
List the partition infomation by using
DISKPART > list partition
After selecting disk, select the partition using following command
DISKPART > select partition=m, where m=partition number. Eg: partition=1

To format the drive using diskpart, follow below instructions on DISKPART prompt
DISKPART > select disk=n, where n is the number of disk selected.
DISKPART > select partition=m where m is partition number selected.
To format the partition run command
FORMAT FS= NTFS QUICK Here File System is NTFS.

To assign the drive letter using diskpart, follow below on DISKPART prompt
DISKPART > select disk=n, where n is the number of disk selected.
Select partition=m where m is partition number selected.
To assign the drive letter run command
ASSIGN Here it will assign the availabel drive letter to partition.

To disable the UAC prompt, using a single command, run the following command in elevated command prompt or through Run
C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /k %windir%\System32\reg.exe ADD HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System /v EnableLUA /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f
You need to manually reboot your Microsoft Windows so that changes may take effect.

To enable the UAC prompt, using a single command, run the following command in elevated command prompt or through Run
C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /k %windir%\System32\reg.exe ADD HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System /v EnableLUA /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
You need to manually reboot your PC so that changes may take effect.