Microsoft also includes a couple of ways that Vista can track down and install drivers, or make drivers install compatibly with Vista. So far, these additional features haven't worked for me. They may work better once the operating system is shipped. Bottom line: Microsoft is making a concerted effort to make this hassle a better experience.

Vista makes it easier to rename files by smartly selecting only the first part of the filename by default.

B. Though very minor, this one is a real annoyance saver. In Vista, when you go to rename a file in any container object (such as a folder window or a File Open dialog), and you attempt to rename that file by any method, Vista no longer highlights the entire filename by default. It highlights only the characters before the period and file extension. Think of the thousands, maybe tens of thousands of filenames you've changed in Windows. Probably 95 percent of the time, you didn't want to change the extension at all. But you ended up either carefully selecting just the first part of the filename or selecting it all and just retyping the extension. You always knew there was a better way, but it's so insignificant as to be not even worth complaining about. You just endure stuff like that. It's amazing to me how much a little change like this makes you grin, though. Because it's noticeably easier to name files.

14. Revised namespace

The names for well-known Windows objects, like Windows XP's My Computer and My Documents, have lost their sugar-coated possessives. They're now simply "Computer" and "Documents." That's the way I like it. But that's just a minor aspect of the changes to the "shell namespace" in Windows Vista. When you dig a little deeper, you'll find more profound change.