Get Ready for Vista: Upgrade Is Powerful but Will Take Time to Master
2007; American Institute of Certified Public Accountants; Volume: 203; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
0021-8448
Autores Tópico(s)Business Process Modeling and Analysis
ResumoGet ready, accountants! Like it or not, your basic Microsoft computer tools--from the operating system to all the workaday applications--will soon be history. Replacing them will be the recently introduced Vista operating system and Office 2007, which includes, among other things, Word, Excel, Access, Outlook and PowerPoint. The upgrade is not just cosmetic. Vista's look and feel is much different from the Windows version it's replacing, and its underlying structure has been completely redesigned, making it more powerful, faster, safer and unfortunately--at least until users get used to it--more difficult to use. Microsoft has extended support for the XP version through 2014--but it will charge users for that support after April 2009. This means some 845 million users worldwide will either have to upgrade to Vista or eventually work with an unsupported application. In many ways Vista and the Office 2007 tools resemble the Microsoft products you're currently using, but in many other ways they're significantly different--both visually and functionally. Visually they are quite beautiful, even resembling the appearance of Apple's OS X operating system. But the beauty is not just skin deep: Behind it are brains that can significantly support accountants in more and better ways than Windows XP and Office 2003. I wrote this article on a computer loaded with Vista and Office 2007, and to my delight--and relief--once I got familiar with some of the new processes I found they worked much better than the former versions on the same machine. This article describes many, but not all, of the new features and focuses on those that clearly benefit CPAs. VISTA'S POWER One major productivity gain you'll spot almost instantly is Vista's desktop search capability. With just a few typed-in clues, it locates every matching file, folder, program or e-mail in your computer. The feature is accessible from anywhere on the computer--even when you're in Internet Explorer. Its speed and agility exceed the current leading third-party desktop search tools, Google Desktop and Copernic. For example, I wanted to locate any mention of my JofA editor, Stanley Zarowin. As I was typing the first letters of his name, zar, Vista snapped into action, and even before I finished typing, every mention of his name in my computer was displayed for instant access (see screenshot below). [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] If you seek a software application on your computer, it will not only locate it instantly, it will even launch it when found. Quick Switches. Although Vista continues to use the Alt+Tab command to switch between applications, tapping those keys now also produces a thumbnail view of each application with a glimpse of the open file. Additionally, if you hover the cursor over an icon in the taskbar, you can get a larger view of the underlying file, making it easier to work with multiple files in the same application. Alternatively, pressing the Windows Key+Tab produces an array of all the thumbnails of open applications, which is the most obvious example of Vista's new Aero interface features (see screenshot). [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Improved Security. After years of embarrassment over its leaky security, Microsoft focused on building better protection into Vista. For example, if you try to install a program or adjust a PC-wide setting, the User Account Control pops up and demands your password. While the pop-up may annoy you, it's an effective security tool. Microsoft also added Windows Defender, which includes malware and spyware protection. In addition, it included System Service Hardening, a feature designed to protect system files and provide new barriers to viruses. However, as good as these protections are, you still need antivirus software. Another key security feature accountants will appreciate is BitLocker, an encryption tool that encodes either selected files or your whole drive. …
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