Normally when Vista’s User Account Control (UAC) asks the user for a consent when launching an application that is deemed insecure, the desktop will fade dark while the consent window is shown. While I recommend to always leave UAC turned on, this desktop dimming can get annoying very quickly.
Fortunately this behavior can be disabled so that the consent window is still shown without dimming the whole desktop. To turn this off follow these steps …

1. Go to Start Menu/Control Panel and there double click the Administrative Tools icon.
2. Several new icons will appear. Double click the Local Security Policy icon and a new window with the same name opens.
3. In the left side of the window is an entry named Local Policies, double click it and it will unfold. Some new items will appear under it, click the item named Security Options.
4. In the right side of the window is now a long list of Policy options, scroll down until you find the one named User Account Control: Switch to the secure desktop when prompting for elevation. Double click this item and a properties window will open.
5. In the properties window on the Local Security Setting tab are two options, Enabled and Disabled, click the Disabled option, then click Ok and you are done.

By default Vista adds installed games to the Vista Games Folder when they are started for the first time. However there are many games that are not added automatically. It is possible to drag and drop a shortcut icon of a game onto the Game Window but only the icon is displayed then without any box art or additional information.
There is a workaround to add your own games to the Game Window completely with box art and other infos. This is more of a hack since it is not officially supported and since you have to tamper around in the Registry you should know what you are doing. Also you have to repeat the following steps for every game that you want to add which can be tiresome if you want to add many. Here’s the step-by-step guide to add your games …

1. First to do this you need at least one game installed that was recognized automatically by Vista’s Game Window. In this example I will use the popular role-playing game The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion for this.
2. Vista fetches it’s game information from allgame.com. I recommend to go there and search for the game you want to add. You can find box arts and all the other information there.
3. In this example I’m going to add the racing game FlatOut 2 which currently is not recognized automatically by Vista’s Game Window.
4. Save the box art image somewhere on your harddisk where it is easily accessible. I saved mine in C:UsersAll UsersMicrosoftWindows GameExplorerGamesBoxArt_Custom so that it is accessible for all users. I renamed the image to FlatOut2.jpg.
5. Go to Start Menu, type regedit and press <Enter>. This will open the Registry Editor.
6. In the editor navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE / Software / Microsoft / Windows / CurrentVersion / GAMEUX. There are several long numbers (also called GUIDs) listed under GAMEUX. One of them contains our data for Oblivion, so search through the available keys until you find one that contains the information for Oblivion listed on the right side of the editor. We are going to overwrite the Oblivion information with the info from the game that we want to add. Don’t worry! Oblivion will be added automatically again once you start that game. On the following screenshot you can see the data for Oblivion …
7. Replace all the relevant data with the one of the game you want to add. For example right click on AppExePath, choose Modify… and in the prompt enter the path to your new game. In my case I have to enter C:Program FilesGamesFlatOut2FlatOut2.exe. Leave the ApplicationId like it is. For BoxArt enter the path to where we put the downloaded box art image (C:UsersAll UsersMicrosoftWindowsGameExplorer GamesBoxArt_CustomFlatOut2.jpg in my case). Also change the ConfigApplicationPath to the path folder of your game.
8. Modify Description, DeveloperName, DeveloperUrl, Genre, PublisherName, PublisherUrl, ReleaseCountry, ReleaseDate and Title to your liking (optimally with info from allgame.com).
9. Modify the WMGameId and enter nothing for it so that it is empty. You can close the Registry Editor after that.
10. Browse to the folder C:UsersyourusernameAppDataLocal MicrosoftWindows GameExplorerGamesBoxArt. There are several images in this folder. Find the one that is the Oblivion BoxArt image and replace it with the image that we downloaded for the newly added game. The filename should stay exactly the same so rename the new image to the name of the old one.
11. Now you have to remember the filename which looks something like {CFBD03C8-D6FD-43D1-A54A-546086FA310C}.jpg (the GUID, remember?). Go to the parent folder of the one with the images and you should see folders that are named after their GUIDs. Find the one with the Oblivion GUID (you normally only need to look for the first couple of characters), open it and inside is another folder named PlayTasks and in that another named 0. In the 0 folder is a file called Play.lnk. Delete it and then copy a new link from your new game to this folder and rename it to Play.lnk. You can create a link of your game’s exe easily by right-clicking on the exe and choose Send To/Desktop (create shortcut). Then copy/move the shortcut from the Desktop to the 0 folder.

Now open your Vista Games Window (Start Menu/Games) and if everything done right your new game should appear in the window. The only information that we cannot change is the ESRB Rating information or at least I haven’t found a way yet to do that. The entry for Oblivion is gone but don’t worry, it will appear again once you start that game. You could use it over and over again to add new games and it will appear everytime again after you start it. I hope this guide wasn’t too confusing but if you still have trouble please use the comment form.

Despite there seems to be no visible option to turn Autologin on in Vista it is still possible to activate it. The feature is a bit hidden and not directly accessible through the Control Panel. If you ever are the only person using your computer there is no purpose in always having to log into your account. Here are the steps to turn on Autologin …

1. Go to Start Menu, type netplwiz and hit <Enter>. A window named User Accounts will appear.
2. There is a checkbox which reads Users must enter a name and password to use this computer, uncheck it and click Ok.
3. A prompt appears asking you for the user name and password of the user who should be automatically logged in. Enter the name and password for an existing user and click Ok.

That’s it! If you entered the user name and password correctly the next time you boot you will be automatically logged in. Keep in mind that this is only recommended if you are the only person who uses your computer or you trust anyone else who uses it. Autologin is not recommended for a work place.

Some people found that the link to rate the Vista Experience Index was gone on their system so they weren’t able to re-measure the Experience Index again after for example hardware changes were made. The following steps show how to repair this. Note that this requires making modifications to the system registry! I recommend to always make a backup of the registry (with regedit) before making any changes to it!

1. Go to Start Menu and type regedit.exe, press <Enter> and the Registry Editor will open.
2. In the editor navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SOFTWARE Policies Microsoft Windows Control Panel Performance Control Panel.
3. In the right pane, look for the value named PerfcplEnabled and delete it, if found.
4. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER SOFTWARE Policies Microsoft Windows Control Panel Performance Control Panel, if found.
   
5. Again delete the value named PerfcplEnabled in the right pane. Then close the Registry Editor.
   

After this the link to rate the Experience Index should appear correctly again.

Why this is turned off by default is beyond me but Microsoft must be thinking this is useful to users. It is not! There are still people who actually don’t know how make the file extensions visible and there are people who don’t even know that filenames normally have an extension. Displaying file extensions has the advantage that you know immediately with what file type you are dealing (that is unless the file extension was set wrong). But if you can see an .exe extension on an unknown file it is a lot more helpful than just counting on the file’s icon. To turn on ‘show file extensions’ follow these simple steps:

1. Go to Start Menu/Control Panel and double click the Folder Options icon
2. Click the View tab and in the Advanced Settings list uncheck the item called Hide extensions for known file types
3. Click Ok and you are finished

The Security Center is one of the most annoying things in Vista. It not only wastes valueful memory but also sits in your taskbar tray all the time. To turn it off and let it’s tray icon disappear follow these steps …

1. Go to Start Menu/Control Panel and double click the Security Center icon.
2. Click the Change the way the Security Center alerts me-link in the left area of the Security Center window.
3. In the window that appears click the Don’t notify me and don’t display the icon (not recommended)-text and close the Security Center window again.
4. In the Start Menu type services.msc and press <Enter>. The services window will open.
5. In the services list locate the service named Security Center, right click it and choose Properties.
6. Set the startup type to disabled then press the Stop button and then press Ok.

After this the Security Center will be turned off permanently without showing a tray icon.

User Account Control is probably the most annoying new ‘feature’ in Windows Vista and while it provides a good protection against unwanted programs it can become bothersome quickly when many applications have to be installed. I recommend to leave UAC turned on unless you have enough reason to turn it off. To turn off UAC follow these steps …

1. Go to Start Menu/Control Panel and click the User Accounts icon.
2. In the window that opens click Turn User Account Control on or off.
3. Uncheck the box next to Use User Account Control (UAC) to help protect your computer.
4. Click Ok. Eventually you have to reboot for the change to take effect.

Quote: “The only reason I can imagine why Microsoft would put its programmers, device vendors, third-party developers, and ultimately its customers, through this much pain is because once this copy protection is entrenched, Microsoft will completely own the distribution channel.”

You see, even after you activate the software it will, according to
the EULA, “from time to time validate the software, update or require
download of the validation feature of the software”. It will once again
“send information about the…version and product key of the software,
and the internet protocol address of the device”.

Here’s where it gets hairy again. If for some reason the software
“phones home” back to Redmond, Washington, and gets or gives the wrong
answer – irrespective of the reason – it will automatically disable
itself. That’s like saying definitively, “I’m sorry Dave, I’m afraid I
can’t do that…”

… So basically add some regular activation annoyances to your almost weekly Windows security updates to keep you from working on the PC!
Read more here … Vista’s EULA product activation worries | The Register

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