- Green indicates something about this has improved
- Red indicates something sucks more than it did in XP.
- White indicates either nothing much has changed, or the features are roughly equivalent
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XP
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Vista
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Comments / notes
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UI
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Find windows
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Alt+tab
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Flip and Flip 3D
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Alt-Tab Replacement / taskswitch provides window image preview for XP. Flip / Flip 3D not available in Home Basic or without Aero.
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Icons
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Static icons, image preview tool (limited document support)
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Live Icons and taskbar thumbnails
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Live Icons (scalable, document preview, etc.) not available in Home Basic or without Aero.
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Search
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Search (unindexed)
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Instant Search, Search Folders
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Search Folders: virtual folders containing files matching search criteria
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Shell / window environment
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Luna (XP) and Royale (MCE 2005)
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Aero (“Glass”)
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Full Aero glass not available in Home Basic; may require graphics card upgrade.
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Software
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Backup
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System Restore
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Backup and Restore Center, Previous Versions / ShadowCopy
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Previous Versions / ShadowCopy only available in Business, Enterprise, or Ultimate Edition.
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Browser
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Internet Explorer 7
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Internet Explorer 7
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IE7 must be downloaded separately for XP.
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Calendar
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Nope
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Windows Calendar
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To date, most calendaring in Windows is done in “full” Outlook.
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Contacts
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Outlook Express (no system contacts)
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Windows Contacts
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To date, most contact keeping in Windows is done in Outlook and/or on the domain.
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Email
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Outlook Express
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Windows Mail
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Explorer
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The usual
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Now with content organization
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Not bad, but not incredibly useful, either.
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Faxing and scanning
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XP Scanner and Camera Wizard / fax services
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Windows Fax and Scan
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Business, Enterprise, and Ultimate only.
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Speech recognition
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Windows Speech Recognition
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Windows Speech Recognition
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Tablet and touchscreen
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Only in Tablet PC edition
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Yep
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Not available in Home Basic.
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Transfer
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Files and Settings Transfer Wizard
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Windows Easy Transfer
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Basically the ame thing, but Windows Easy Transfer enables new methods of transfer, including Easy Transfer Cables ( i.e. USB to USB).
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Widgets
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Nope
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Windows Sidebar and Gadgets
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XP has two commonly used, free widgets environments available: Yahoo Widgets (aka Konfabulator), Google Desktop.
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Networking and connectivity
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Networking
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Network Setup Wizard
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Network Center (Network Explorer, Map, Setup, Awareness, Projector)
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Hooray, lots of new superflous network utilities!
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Network projector
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Nope
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Yep
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Remote desktop (host)
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Available in XP Pro, MCE 2005, Tablet
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Available only in Business and Ultimate
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The new targeted equivalent of MCE 2005, Home Premium, loses RDC! Bummer!
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Wireless
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WiFi with WPA 2 support
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WiFi with WPA 2 support
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Vista now has improved WiFi ad-hoc / connection sharing.
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Media
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Media Center interface
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Only in Windows Media Center Edition
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Only in Home Premium or Ultimate Edition
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Media Center Extender
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Only in MCE
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Only in Home Premium or Ultimate Edition
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NTSC and ATSC tuners
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Only in MCE
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Only in Home Premium or Ultimate Edition
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CableCARD / DCT
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Nope
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Only in Home Premium or Ultimate Edition
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Media software
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Windows Media Player 11
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Windows Media Player 11
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DVD authoring
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Nope
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DVD Maker
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Imaging
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Windows Picture and Fax Viewer
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Windows Photo Gallery
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Video
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Windows Movie Maker
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Windows Movie Maker (with HD support)
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Now only in Home Premium and Ultimate. Minus points for taking it out of Home Basic.
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Security
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Antivirus
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Nope
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Nope
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Email filtering
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None in Outlook Express
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Junk and phishing filters in Windows Mail
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Family settings
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Basic user accounts
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Windows Family Safety Settings (with ESRB game support)
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Not available in Business, Enterprise.
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Malware
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Windows Defender and Malicious Software Removal Tool
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Windows Defender and Malicious Software Removal Tool
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Defender must be downloaded separately for XP.
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Network access prevention
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Nope
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Network Access Protection
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Network(ed) security
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Windows Security Center
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Windows Security Center
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Provides firewall, automatic updates, and reminds users to install 3rd party antivirus software.
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Windows Services
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Admin / remote authentication
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Windows Service Hardening
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Gaming
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DirectX 10
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Nope
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Yep
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Xbox Live Anywhere
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Nope
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Yep
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Performance and hardware
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Architecture
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32 and 64-bit support
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32 and 64-bit support
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Auto-defrag
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Nope
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Yep
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The new defrag util is dumbed down and doesn’t show users what’s what with their disk. Bad Microsoft, better defrag > auto defrag.
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Auxiliary display
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Nope
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SideShow
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Not available in Home Basic.
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Drive encryption
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Windows XP Encrypting File System
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EFS and Vista BitLocker
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BitLocker only available in Enterprise and Ultimate
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USB cacheing
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Nope
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Windows ReadyBoost
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Requires 512MB or greater USB drive.
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Optimization
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The usual multitasking
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Windows SuperFetch and Windows ReadyDrive
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Vista claims to improve efficiency of cached data in memory, as well as startup and spin time of hard drives.
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Sync
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ActiveSync
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Windows Sync Center
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Usage profiling
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Basic battery / power profiles
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Mobility Center (network profiles, sync, battery / power, etc.)
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XP can handle some sync / profiling with Microsoft’s SyncToy.
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Business
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Domain support
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XP Pro, MCE 2005
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Vista Business, Enterprise, Ultimate only
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MCE 2005 only by way of hack.
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Integrated IIS
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XP Pro, MCE 2005
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Vista Business, Enterprise, Ultimate
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Offline files and folders
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XP Pro, MCE 2005
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Vista Business, Enterprise, Ultimate
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Presentation mode
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Nope
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Vista Business, Enterprise, Ultimate
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Other
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Upgradeable
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Not without reinstall
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Windows Upgrade Anytime
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Upgrade paths: Basic -> Home Premium or Ultimate; Home Premium and Business -> Ultimate
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