Technical features new to Windows Vista
Encyclopedia
Windows Vista
(formerly codenamed Windows "Longhorn") has many significant new features compared with previous Microsoft Windows
versions, covering most aspects of the operating system.
In addition to the new user interface, security capabilities, and developer technologies, several major components of the core operating system were redesigned, most notably the audio, print, display, and networking subsystems; while the results of this work will be visible to software developers, end-users will only see what appear to be evolutionary changes in the user interface.
As part of the redesign of the networking architecture, IPv6
has been incorporated into the operating system, and a number of performance improvements have been introduced, such as TCP window scaling
. Prior versions of Windows typically needed third-party wireless networking software to work properly; this is no longer the case with Windows Vista, as it includes comprehensive wireless networking support.
For graphics, Windows Vista introduces a new as well as major revisions to Direct3D
. The new driver model facilitates the new Desktop Window Manager
, which provides the tearing
-free desktop and special effects that are the cornerstones of Windows Aero. WDDM's current version 1.0 is able to offload rudimentary tasks to the GPU, install drivers without requiring a system reboot and seamlessly recover from rare driver errors due to illegal application behavior.
At the core of the operating system, many improvements have been made to the memory manager, process scheduler, heap manager, and I/O scheduler
. A Kernel Transaction Manager
has been implemented that can be used by data persistence services to enable atomic transactions. The service is being used to give applications the ability to work with the file system and registry using atomic transaction operations.
designed to provide low-latency 32-bit floating point audio, higher-quality digital signal processing, bit-for-bit sample level accuracy, up to 144dB of dynamic range and new audio APIs created by a team including Steve Ball and Larry Osterman.
The new audio stack runs at user level, thus increasing stability. The Windows Vista audio engine is designed to run faster than the Windows XP audio engine, and has tighter requirements on audio buffer position accuracy. Also, the new Universal Audio Architecture
(UAA) model has been introduced, replacing WDM
audio, which allows compliant audio hardware to automatically work under Windows without needing device drivers from the audio hardware vendor.
There are three major APIs in the Windows Vista audio architecture:
, DTS or WMA Pro
over S/PDIF
. WASAPI exclusive mode is similar to kernel streaming in function, but no kernel mode programming is required. In shared mode, audio streams are rendered by the application and optionally applied per-stream audio effects known as Local Effects (LFX) (such as per-session volume control). Then the streams are mixed by the global audio engine, where a set of global audio effects (GFX) may be applied. Finally, they're rendered on the audio device.
The higher level APIs such as the Wavexxx APIs and DirectSound use shared mode, which results in pre-mixed PCM audio that is sent to the driver in a single format (in terms of sample rate, bit depth and channel count). This format is configurable by the end user through Control Panel.
After passing through WASAPI, all host-based audio processing, including custom audio processing, can take place (sample rate conversion, mixing, effects). Host-based processing modules are referred to as Audio Processing Objects, or APOs. All these components operate in user mode. The only portion of this architecture that runs in kernel mode is the audio driver (which contains the Port Class driver, the vendor Miniport driver and the vendor HAL).
The Windows Kernel Mixer (KMixer) is completely gone. There is no direct path from DirectSound to the audio drivers; DirectSound and MME are emulated as Session instances. Since the whole point of DirectSound acceleration is to allow hardware to process unmixed audio content, DirectSound cannot be accelerated in this audio model, and DirectSound3D is not supported at all, which also breaks EAX extensions
. APIs such as ASIO
and OpenAL
are not affected.
For audio professionals, a new WaveRT port driver has been introduced that strives to achieve real-time performance by using the multimedia class scheduler and supports audio applications that reduce the latency of audio streams. As a result, user mode applications can completely govern streams of audio without any code execution in the kernel during runtime. WaveRT allows the user mode application direct access to the internal audio hardware buffers and sample position counters (data in the memory that is mapped to the audio hardware DMA engine). It allows applications to poll the current position in the DMA memory window that the hardware is accessing. WaveRT also supports the notion of a hardware generated clock notification event, similar to the ASIO
API, so that applications need not poll for current position if they don't want to. WaveRT however works only with PCI
, PCI Express
or onboard audio devices; it does not work with USB or FireWire interfaces which are more widespread in the professional audio industry.
All the existing audio APIs have been re-plumbed and emulated to use these APIs internally, all audio goes through these three APIs, so that most applications "just work".
CMSS. Bass Management can be used to redirect the subwoofer signal to the main speakers. If a channel is missing, a feature called Channel Phantoming allows the best use of the speakers that are there, by redirecting the sound of the missing channels through these speakers. Whether you have a multi-channel or stereo sound system in your home theater or living room, Windows Vista also includes the ability to calibrate your speakers for your room. By placing a microphone where you plan to sit and then running a wizard that measures the room response, Windows Vista can automatically set the levels, delay and frequency balance for each channel accordingly for this position. For PCs equipped with stereo headphones, Vista adds the ability to have surround sound using a new feature called Headphone Virtualization, which uses technology based upon a Head-related transfer function
.
Windows Vista also includes the ability to use custom host-based digital signal processing effects as part of the audio device manufacturer-supplied driver's value-added features. These effects are packaged as user-mode System Effect Audio Processing Objects (sAPOs). These sAPOs are also reusable by third-party software.
definition that aims to reduce the need for third-party drivers, and to increase the overall stability and reliability of audio in Windows.
Windows Vista is the first Windows operating system to include fully integrated support for speech recognition
. Under Windows 2000 and XP, Speech Recognition was installed with Office 2003, or was included in Windows XP Tablet PC Edition.
Windows Speech Recognition
allows the user to control his/her machine through voice commands, and enables dictation into many applications. The application has a fairly high recognition accuracy and provides a set of commands that assists in dictation. A brief speech-driven tutorial is included to help familiarize a user with speech recognition commands. Training could also be completed to improve the accuracy of speech recognition.
Windows Vista includes speech recognition for 8 languages at release time: English (U.S. and British), Spanish, German, French, Japanese and Chinese (traditional and simplified). Support for additional languages is planned for post-release.
Speech recognition in Vista utilizes version 5.3 of the Microsoft Speech API (SAPI) and version 8 of the Speech Recognizer.
, but it has been significantly enhanced for Windows Vista (code name Mulan). The old voice, Microsoft Sam, has been replaced with two new, more natural sounding voices of generally greater intelligibility: Anna and Lili, the latter of which is capable of speaking Chinese. The screen-reader Narrator
which uses these voices has also been updated. Microsoft Agent
and other text to speech applications now use the newer SAPI 5 voices.
Print
Windows Vista includes a redesigned print architecture, built around Windows Presentation Foundation
. It provides high-fidelity color printing through improved use of color management
, removes limitations of the current GDI
-based print subsystem, enhances support for printing advanced effects such as gradients, transparencies, etc., and for color laser printer
s through the use of XML Paper Specification
(XPS).
The print subsystem in Windows Vista implements the new XPS print path as well as the legacy GDI print path for legacy support. Windows Vista transparently makes use of the XPS print path for those printers that support it, otherwise using the GDI print path. On documents with intensive graphics, XPS printers are expected to produce much greater quality prints than GDI printers.
In a networked environment with a print server running Windows Vista, documents will be rendered on the client machine, rather than on the server, using a feature known as Client Side Rendering. The rendered intermediate form will just be transferred to the server to be printed without additional processing, making print servers more scalable by offloading rendering computation to clients.
(XPS) as the print spooler
file format, that serves as the page description language
(PDL) for printers. The XPS spooler format is the intended replacement for the Enhanced Metafile
(EMF) format which is the print spooler format in the Graphics Device Interface
(GDI) print path. XPS is an XML
-based (more specifically XAML
-based) color-managed
device
and resolution independent
vector-based
paged document format which encapsulates an exact representation of the actual printed output. XPS documents are packed in a ZIP
container along with text, fonts, raster images, 2D vector graphics
and DRM
information. For printers supporting XPS, this eliminates an intermediate conversion to a printer-specific language, increasing the reliability and fidelity of the printed output. Microsoft claims that major printer vendors are planning to release printers with built-in XPS support and that this will provide better fidelity to the original document.
At the core of the XPS print path is XPSDrv, the XPS-based printer driver which includes the filter pipeline. It contains a set of filters which are print processing modules and an XML-based configuration file to describe how the filters are loaded. Filters receive the spool file data as input, perform document processing, rendering and PDL post-processing, and then output PDL
data for the printer to consume. Filters can perform a single function such as watermarking a page or doing color transformations or they can perform several print processing functions on specific document parts individually or collectively and then convert the spool file to the page description language supported by the printer.
Windows Vista also provides improved color support through the Windows Color System
for higher color precision and dynamic range. It also supports CMYK colorspace and multiple ink systems for higher print fidelity. The print subsystem also has support for named colors
simplifying color definition for images transmitted to printer supporting those colors.
The XPS print path can automatically calibrate color profile settings with those being used by the display subsystem. Conversely, XPS print drivers can express the configurable capabilities of the printer, by virtue of the XPS PrintCapabilities class
, to enable more fine-grained control of print settings, tuned to the individual printing device.
Applications which use the Windows Presentation Foundation
for the display elements can directly print to the XPS print path without the need for image or colorspace conversion. The XPS format used in the spool file, represents advanced graphics effects such as 3D images, glow effects, and gradients as Windows Presentation Foundation primitives, which are processed by the printer drivers without rasterization
, preventing rendering artifacts and reducing computational load. When the legacy GDI Print Path is used, the XPS spool file is used for processing before it is converted to a GDI image to minimize the processing done at raster level.
Windows Vista contains a new networking stack, which brings large improvements in all areas of network-related functionality. It includes a native implementation of IPv6
, as well as complete overhaul of IPv4
. IPv6 is now supported by all networking components, services, and the user interface. In IPv6 mode, Windows Vista can use the Link Local Multicast Name Resolution (LLMNR) protocol to resolve names of local hosts on a network which does not have a DNS server running. The new TCP/IP stack uses a new method to store configuration settings that enables more dynamic control and does not require a computer restart after settings are changed. The new stack is also based on a strong host model and features an infrastructure to enable more modular components that can be dynamically inserted and removed.
The user interface for configuring, troubleshooting and working with network connections has changed significantly from prior versions of Windows as well. Users can make use of the new "Network Center" to see the status of their network connections, and to access every aspect of configuration. The network can be browsed using Network Explorer, which replaces Windows XP's
"My Network Places
". Network Explorer items can be a shared device such as a scanner, or a file share. Network Location Awareness uniquely identifies each network and exposes the network's attributes and connectivity type. Windows Vista graphically presents how different devices are connected over a network in the Network Map view, using the LLTD
protocol. In addition, the Network Map uses LLTD to determine connectivity information and media type (wired or wireless). Any device can implement LLTD to appear on the Network Map with an icon representing the device, allowing users one-click access to the device's user interface. When LLTD is invoked, it provides metadata about the device that contains static or state information, such as the MAC address
, IPv4/IPv6 address, signal strength
etc.
Support for wireless networks
is built into the network stack itself, and does not emulate wired connections, as was the case with previous versions of Windows. This allows implementation of wireless-specific features such as larger frame sizes and optimized error recovery procedures. Windows Vista uses various techniques like Receive Window Auto-scaling, Explicit Congestion Notification
, TCP Chimney offload and Compound TCP to improve networking performance. Quality of Service
(QoS) policies can be used to prioritize network traffic, with traffic shaping
available to all applications, even those that do not explicitly use QoS APIs. Windows Vista includes in-built support for peer-to-peer networks and SMB
2.0. For improved network security, Windows Vista supports for 256-bit and 384-bit Diffie-Hellman (DH) algorithms, as well as for 128-bit, 192-bit and 256-bit Advanced Encryption Standard
(AES) is included in the network stack itself, while integrating IPsec
with Windows Firewall
.
which is an opt-in framework to replace the older Windows Driver Model
. It includes:
. Specifically, it includes .NET Framework 2.0 and .NET Framework 3.0 (previously known as WinFX) but not version 1.0 or 1.1. The .NET Framework is a set of managed code
APIs
that is slated to succeed Win32. The Win32 API is also present in Windows Vista, but does not give direct access to all the new functionality introduced with the .NET Framework
. In addition, .NET Framework is intended to give programmers easier access to the functionality present in Windows itself.
.NET Framework 3.0 includes APIs such as ADO.NET
, ASP.NET
, Windows Forms
, among others, and adds four core frameworks to the .NET Framework:
API for 2D and 3D graphics
, raster
and vector graphics
(XAML), fixed and adaptive documents (XPS
), advanced typography
, animation
(XAML), data binding, audio and video in Windows Vista
. WPF enables richer control, design, and development of the visual aspects of Windows programs. Based on DirectX, it renders all graphics using Direct3D
. Routing the graphics through Direct3D allows Windows to offload graphics tasks to the GPU
, reducing the workload on the computer's CPU
. This capability is used by the Desktop Window Manager
to make the desktop, all windows and all other shell elements into 3D surfaces. WPF applications can be deployed on the desktop or hosted in a web browser (XBAP).
The 3D capabilities in WPF are limited compared to what's available in Direct3D. However, WPF provides tighter integration with other features like user interface
(UI), documents, and media. This makes it possible to have 3D UI, 3D documents, and 3D media. A set of built-in controls is provided as part of WPF, containing items such as button, menu, and list box controls. WPF provides the ability to perform control composition, where a control can contain any other control or layout. WPF also has a built-in set of data services to enable application developers to bind data to the controls. Images are supported using the Windows Imaging Component. For media, WPF supports any audio and video formats which Windows Media Player can play. In addition, WPF supports time-based animation
s, in contrast to the frame-based approach. This delinks the speed of the animation from how slow or fast the system is performing. Text is anti-aliased and rendered using ClearType
.
WPF uses Extensible Application Markup Language (XAML), which is a variant of XML
, intended for use in developing user interfaces. Using XAML to develop user interfaces also allows for separation of model and view. In XAML, every element maps onto a class in the underlying API, and the attributes are set as properties on the instantiated classes. All elements of WPF may also be coded in a .NET language such as C#. The XAML code is ultimately compiled into a managed assembly in the same way all .NET languages are, which means that the use of XAML for development does not incur a performance cost.
model for distributed computing
, where a server exposes a service via an interface, defined using XML
, to which clients connect. WCF runs in a sandbox and provides the enhanced security model all .NET applications provide.
WCF is capable of using SOAP
for communication between two processes, thereby making WCF based applications interoperable with any other process that communicates via SOAP. When a WCF process communicates with a non-WCF process, XML based encoding is used for the SOAP messages but when it communicates with another WCF process, the SOAP messages are encoded in an optimized binary format, to optimize the communication. Both the encodings conform to the data structure of the SOAP format, called Infoset.
Windows Vista also incorporates Microsoft Message Queuing 4.0
(MSMQ) that supports subqueues, poison messages (messages which continually fail to be processed correctly by the receiver), and transactional receives of messages from a remote queue.
s. This technology is part of .NET Framework
3.0 and therefore targeted primarily for the Windows Vista operating system. The Windows Workflow Foundation
runtime components provide common facilities for running and managing the workflows and can be hosted in any CLR application domain.
Workflows comprise 'activities'. Developers can write their own domain-specific activities and then use them in workflows. Windows Workflow Foundation also provides a set of general-purpose 'activities' that cover several control flow constructs. It also includes a visual workflow designer. The workflow designer can be used within Visual Studio 2005, including integration with the Visual Studio project system and debugger.
Any identity system centers around three entities — the User who is to be identified, an Identity Provider who provides identifying information regarding the User, and Relying Party who uses the identity to authenticate the user. An Identity Provider may be a service like Active Directory
, or even the user who provides an authentication password, or biometric authentication data.
A Relying Party issues a request to an application for an identity, by means of a Policy that states what Claims it needs and what will be the physical representation of the security token. The application then passes on the request to Windows CardSpace, which then contacts a suitable Identity Provider and retrieves the Identity. It then provides the application with the Identity along with information on how to use it.
Windows CardSpace also keeps a track of all Identities used, and represents them as visually identifiable virtual cards, accessible to the user from a centralized location. Whenever an application requests any identity, Windows CardSpace informs the user about which identity is being used and needs confirmation before it provides the requestor with the identity.
Windows CardSpace presents an API that allows any application to use Windows CardSpace to handle authentication tasks. Similarly, the API allows Identity Providers to hook up with Windows CardSpace. To any Relying Party, it appears as a service which provides authentication credentials.
-based APIs to handle audio and video playback that provides DirectX Video Acceleration
2.0 and better resilience to CPU, I/O, and memory stress for glitch-free low-latency playback of audio and video. It also enables high color spaces through the multimedia processing pipeline. DirectShow
and Windows Media SDK
will be gradually deprecated in future versions.
as well as native code. Native code connects to the index catalog by using a Data Source Object retrieved from Windows Vista shell's Indexing Service OLE DB
provider. Managed code use the MSIDXS ADO.NET
provider with the index catalog name. A catalog on a remote machine can also be specified using a UNC path. The criteria for the search is specified using a SQL
-like syntax.
The default catalog is called SystemIndex and it stores all the properties of indexed items with a predefined naming pattern. For example, the name and location of documents in the system is exposed as a table with the column names System. ItemName and System. ItemURL respectively. An SQL query can directly refer these tables and index catalogues and use the MSIDXS provider to run queries against them. The search index can also be used via OLE DB
, using the CollatorDSO provider. However, OLE DB provider is read-only, supporting only SELECT and GROUP ON SQL statements.
The Windows Search API can also be used to convert a search query written using Advanced Query Syntax (or Natural Query Syntax, the natural language version of AQS) to SQL
queries. It exposes a method GenerateSQLFromUserQuery method of the ISearchQueryHelper interface. Searches can also be performed using the search-ms: protocol, which is a pseudo protocol that lets searches be exposed as an URI
. It contains all the operators and search terms specified in AQS. It can refer to saved search folders as well. When such a URI is activated, Windows Search, which is registered as a handler for the protocol, parses the URI to extract the parameters and perform the search.
Kernel (WSK) is a new transport-independent kernel-mode Network Programming Interface (NPI) for that provides TDI
client developers with a sockets-like programming model similar to those supported in user-mode Winsock
. While most of the same sockets
programming concepts exist as in user-mode Winsock such as socket, creation, bind, connect, accept, send and receive, Winsock Kernel is a completely new programming interface with unique characteristics such as asynchronous I/O
that uses IRPs and event callbacks to enhance performance. TDI
is supported in Windows Vista for backward compatibility.
Windows Vista includes a specialized QoS API called qWave (Quality Windows Audio/Video Experience), which is a pre-configured Quality of Service module for time dependent multimedia data, such as audio or video streams. qWave uses different packet priority schemes for real-time flows (such as multimedia packets) and best-effort flows (such as file downloads or e-mails) to ensure that real time data gets as little delays as possible, while providing a high quality channel for other data packets.
Windows Filtering Platform
allows external applications to access and hook into the packet processing pipeline of the networking subsystem.
and a number of newer algorithms that are part of the National Security Agency
(NSA) Suite B. It also integrates with the smart card
subsystem by including a Base CSP
module which encapsulates the smart card API so that developers do not have to write complex CSPs
.
Windows Vista
Windows Vista is an operating system released in several variations developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, and media center PCs...
(formerly codenamed Windows "Longhorn") has many significant new features compared with previous Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
versions, covering most aspects of the operating system.
In addition to the new user interface, security capabilities, and developer technologies, several major components of the core operating system were redesigned, most notably the audio, print, display, and networking subsystems; while the results of this work will be visible to software developers, end-users will only see what appear to be evolutionary changes in the user interface.
As part of the redesign of the networking architecture, IPv6
IPv6
Internet Protocol version 6 is a version of the Internet Protocol . It is designed to succeed the Internet Protocol version 4...
has been incorporated into the operating system, and a number of performance improvements have been introduced, such as TCP window scaling
TCP window scale option
The TCP window scale option is an option to increase the TCP receive window size above its maximum value of 65,535 bytes.This TCP option, along with several others, is defined in IETF RFC 1323 which deals with Long-Fat Networks, or LFN....
. Prior versions of Windows typically needed third-party wireless networking software to work properly; this is no longer the case with Windows Vista, as it includes comprehensive wireless networking support.
For graphics, Windows Vista introduces a new as well as major revisions to Direct3D
Direct3D
Direct3D is part of Microsoft's DirectX application programming interface . Direct3D is available for Microsoft Windows operating systems , and for other platforms through the open source software Wine. It is the base for the graphics API on the Xbox and Xbox 360 console systems...
. The new driver model facilitates the new Desktop Window Manager
Desktop Window Manager
Desktop Window Manager is the window manager in Windows Vista and Windows 7 that enables the Windows Aero graphical user interface and visual theme. The Desktop Window Manager requires video cards supporting DirectX 9.0 and Shader Model 2.0. DWM is not included with Windows Vista Starter edition...
, which provides the tearing
Page tearing
Screen tearing is a visual artifact in video where information from two or more different frames is shown in a display device in a single screen draw....
-free desktop and special effects that are the cornerstones of Windows Aero. WDDM's current version 1.0 is able to offload rudimentary tasks to the GPU, install drivers without requiring a system reboot and seamlessly recover from rare driver errors due to illegal application behavior.
At the core of the operating system, many improvements have been made to the memory manager, process scheduler, heap manager, and I/O scheduler
I/O scheduling
Input/output scheduling is a term used to describe the method computer operating systems decide the order that block I/O operations will be submitted to storage volumes...
. A Kernel Transaction Manager
Kernel Transaction Manager
Kernel Transaction Manager is a component of the Windows operating system kernel in Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 that enables applications to use atomic transactions on resources by making them available as kernel objects...
has been implemented that can be used by data persistence services to enable atomic transactions. The service is being used to give applications the ability to work with the file system and registry using atomic transaction operations.
Audio
Windows Vista features a completely re-written audio stackSolution stack
In computing, a solution stack is a set of software subsystems or components needed to deliver a fully functional solution, e.g. a product or service....
designed to provide low-latency 32-bit floating point audio, higher-quality digital signal processing, bit-for-bit sample level accuracy, up to 144dB of dynamic range and new audio APIs created by a team including Steve Ball and Larry Osterman.
The new audio stack runs at user level, thus increasing stability. The Windows Vista audio engine is designed to run faster than the Windows XP audio engine, and has tighter requirements on audio buffer position accuracy. Also, the new Universal Audio Architecture
Universal Audio Architecture
Universal Audio Architecture is an initiative unveiled in 2002 by Microsoft to standardize the hardware and class driver architecture for audio devices in modern Microsoft Windows operating systems...
(UAA) model has been introduced, replacing WDM
Windows Driver Model
In computing, the Windows Driver Model — also known at one point as the Win32 Driver Model — is a framework for device drivers that was introduced with Windows 98 and Windows 2000 to replace VxD, which was used on older versions of Windows such as Windows 95 and Windows 3.1, as well...
audio, which allows compliant audio hardware to automatically work under Windows without needing device drivers from the audio hardware vendor.
There are three major APIs in the Windows Vista audio architecture:
- Windows Audio Session API – Very low level API for rendering audio, render/capture audio streams, adjust volume etc. This API also provides low latency for audio professionals through WaveRT (wave real-time) port driverDevice driverIn computing, a device driver or software driver is a computer program allowing higher-level computer programs to interact with a hardware device....
. - Multimedia Device API – For enumerating and managing audio endpoints.
- Device Topology API – For discovering the internals of an audio card's topology.
Audio stack architecture
Applications communicate with the audio driver through Sessions, and these Sessions are programmed through the Windows Audio Session API (WASAPI). In general, WASAPI operates in two modes. In exclusive mode (also called DMA mode), unmixed audio streams are rendered directly to the audio adapter and no other application's audio will play and signal processing has no effect. Exclusive mode is useful for applications that demand the least amount of intermediate processing of the audio data or those that want to output compressed audio data such as Dolby DigitalDolby Digital
Dolby Digital is the name for audio compression technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories. It was originally called Dolby Stereo Digital until 1994. Except for Dolby TrueHD, the audio compression is lossy. The first use of Dolby Digital was to provide digital sound in cinemas from 35mm film prints...
, DTS or WMA Pro
Windows Media Audio
Windows Media Audio is an audio data compression technology developed by Microsoft. The name can be used to refer to its audio file format or its audio codecs. It is a proprietary technology that forms part of the Windows Media framework. WMA consists of four distinct codecs...
over S/PDIF
S/PDIF
S/PDIF is a digital audio interconnect used in consumer audio equipment over relatively short distances. The signal is transmitted over either a coaxial cable with RCA connectors or a fiber optic cable with TOSLINK connectors. S/PDIF interconnects components in home theaters and other digital high...
. WASAPI exclusive mode is similar to kernel streaming in function, but no kernel mode programming is required. In shared mode, audio streams are rendered by the application and optionally applied per-stream audio effects known as Local Effects (LFX) (such as per-session volume control). Then the streams are mixed by the global audio engine, where a set of global audio effects (GFX) may be applied. Finally, they're rendered on the audio device.
The higher level APIs such as the Wavexxx APIs and DirectSound use shared mode, which results in pre-mixed PCM audio that is sent to the driver in a single format (in terms of sample rate, bit depth and channel count). This format is configurable by the end user through Control Panel.
After passing through WASAPI, all host-based audio processing, including custom audio processing, can take place (sample rate conversion, mixing, effects). Host-based processing modules are referred to as Audio Processing Objects, or APOs. All these components operate in user mode. The only portion of this architecture that runs in kernel mode is the audio driver (which contains the Port Class driver, the vendor Miniport driver and the vendor HAL).
The Windows Kernel Mixer (KMixer) is completely gone. There is no direct path from DirectSound to the audio drivers; DirectSound and MME are emulated as Session instances. Since the whole point of DirectSound acceleration is to allow hardware to process unmixed audio content, DirectSound cannot be accelerated in this audio model, and DirectSound3D is not supported at all, which also breaks EAX extensions
Environmental audio extensions
The environmental audio extensions are a number of digital signal processing presets for audio, present in Creative Technology's later Sound Blaster sound cards and the Creative NOMAD/Creative ZEN product lines...
. APIs such as ASIO
Audio stream input output
Audio Stream Input/Output is a computer sound card driver protocol for digital audio specified by Steinberg, providing a low-latency and high fidelity interface between a software application and a computer's sound card...
and OpenAL
OpenAL
OpenAL is a cross-platform audio API. It is designed for efficient rendering of multichannel three dimensional positional audio. Its API style and conventions deliberately resemble those of OpenGL.- History :...
are not affected.
Audio performance
Windows Vista also includes a new Multimedia Class Scheduler Service (MMCSS) that allows multimedia applications to register their time-critical processing to run at an elevated thread priority, thus ensuring prioritized access to CPU resources for time-sensitive DSP processing and mixing tasks.For audio professionals, a new WaveRT port driver has been introduced that strives to achieve real-time performance by using the multimedia class scheduler and supports audio applications that reduce the latency of audio streams. As a result, user mode applications can completely govern streams of audio without any code execution in the kernel during runtime. WaveRT allows the user mode application direct access to the internal audio hardware buffers and sample position counters (data in the memory that is mapped to the audio hardware DMA engine). It allows applications to poll the current position in the DMA memory window that the hardware is accessing. WaveRT also supports the notion of a hardware generated clock notification event, similar to the ASIO
Audio stream input output
Audio Stream Input/Output is a computer sound card driver protocol for digital audio specified by Steinberg, providing a low-latency and high fidelity interface between a software application and a computer's sound card...
API, so that applications need not poll for current position if they don't want to. WaveRT however works only with PCI
Peripheral Component Interconnect
Conventional PCI is a computer bus for attaching hardware devices in a computer...
, PCI Express
PCI Express
PCI Express , officially abbreviated as PCIe, is a computer expansion card standard designed to replace the older PCI, PCI-X, and AGP bus standards...
or onboard audio devices; it does not work with USB or FireWire interfaces which are more widespread in the professional audio industry.
All the existing audio APIs have been re-plumbed and emulated to use these APIs internally, all audio goes through these three APIs, so that most applications "just work".
Audio signal processing
New digital signal processing functionalities such as Room Correction, Bass Management, Loudness Equalization and Speaker Fill have been introduced. Speaker Fill mixes 2-channel content to use all available speakers in a manner similar to Creative'sCreative Technology
Creative Technology Ltd. is a Singapore-based global company headquartered in Jurong East, Singapore. The principal activities of the company and its subsidiaries consist of the design, manufacture and distribution of digitized sound and video boards, computers and related multimedia, and personal...
CMSS. Bass Management can be used to redirect the subwoofer signal to the main speakers. If a channel is missing, a feature called Channel Phantoming allows the best use of the speakers that are there, by redirecting the sound of the missing channels through these speakers. Whether you have a multi-channel or stereo sound system in your home theater or living room, Windows Vista also includes the ability to calibrate your speakers for your room. By placing a microphone where you plan to sit and then running a wizard that measures the room response, Windows Vista can automatically set the levels, delay and frequency balance for each channel accordingly for this position. For PCs equipped with stereo headphones, Vista adds the ability to have surround sound using a new feature called Headphone Virtualization, which uses technology based upon a Head-related transfer function
Head-related transfer function
A head-related transfer function is a response that characterizes how an ear receives a sound from a point in space; a pair of HRTFs for two ears can be used to synthesize a binaural sound that seems to come from a particular point in space. Some consumer home entertainment products designed to...
.
Windows Vista also includes the ability to use custom host-based digital signal processing effects as part of the audio device manufacturer-supplied driver's value-added features. These effects are packaged as user-mode System Effect Audio Processing Objects (sAPOs). These sAPOs are also reusable by third-party software.
Audio devices support
Windows Vista builds on the Universal Audio Architecture, a new class driverClass driver
In computing, a class driver is a type of hardware device driver that can operate a large number of different devices of a broadly similar type....
definition that aims to reduce the need for third-party drivers, and to increase the overall stability and reliability of audio in Windows.
- Support for Intel High Definition AudioIntel High Definition AudioIntel High Definition Audio refers to the specification released by Intel in 2004 for delivering high-definition audio that is capable of playing back more channels at higher quality than previous integrated audio codecs like AC'97...
devices (which replaces Intel's previous AC'97 audio hardware standard) - Extended support for USB audio devicesDigital audioDigital audio is sound reproduction using pulse-code modulation and digital signals. Digital audio systems include analog-to-digital conversion , digital-to-analog conversion , digital storage, processing and transmission components...
:- Built-in decoding of padded AC-3 (Dolby DigitalDolby DigitalDolby Digital is the name for audio compression technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories. It was originally called Dolby Stereo Digital until 1994. Except for Dolby TrueHD, the audio compression is lossy. The first use of Dolby Digital was to provide digital sound in cinemas from 35mm film prints...
), MP3MP3MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
, WMAWindows Media AudioWindows Media Audio is an audio data compression technology developed by Microsoft. The name can be used to refer to its audio file format or its audio codecs. It is a proprietary technology that forms part of the Windows Media framework. WMA consists of four distinct codecs...
and WMA Pro streams and outputting as S/PDIFS/PDIFS/PDIF is a digital audio interconnect used in consumer audio equipment over relatively short distances. The signal is transmitted over either a coaxial cable with RCA connectors or a fiber optic cable with TOSLINK connectors. S/PDIF interconnects components in home theaters and other digital high...
. - Support for MIDI "Elements".
- New support for asynchronous endpoints.
- Built-in decoding of padded AC-3 (Dolby Digital
- IEEE 1394 (aka Firewire) audio support is slated for a future release of Windows Vista, to be implemented as a full class driver, automatically supporting IEEE 1394 AV/C audio devices.
- Support for audio jack sensing which can detect the audio devices that are plugged into the various audio jacks on a device and inform the user about their configuration.
- Endpoint Discovery and Abstraction: Audio devices are expressed in terms of audio endpoints such as microphones, speakers, headphones. For example, each recording input (Microphone, Line in etc.) is treated as a separate device, which allows recording from both at the same time.
Other audio enhancements
- A new set of user interface sounds have been introduced, including a new startup sound created with the help of King CrimsonKing CrimsonKing Crimson are a rock band founded in London, England in 1969. Often categorised as a foundational progressive rock group, the band have incorporated diverse influences and instrumentation during their history...
's Robert FrippRobert FrippRobert Fripp is an English guitarist, composer and record producer. He was ranked 42nd on Rolling Stone magazine's 2003 list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" and #47 on Gibson.com’s "Top 50 Guitarists of All Time". Among rock guitarists, Fripp is a master of crosspicking, a technique...
.
- Windows Vista also allows controlling system-wide volume or volume of individual audio devices and individual applications separately. This feature can be used from the new Volume Control windows or programmatically using the overhauled audio API. Different sounds can be redirected to different audio devices as well.
- Built-in support for microphone arrays to increase the accuracy of the speech recognition feature, lets a user connect multiple microphones to a single system, so that the inputs can be combined into a single, higher-quality source. Microsoft has also included a new high quality voice capture DirectX Media Object (DMO) as part of DirectShowDirectShowDirectShow , codename Quartz, is a multimedia framework and API produced by Microsoft for software developers to perform various operations with media files or streams. It is the replacement for Microsoft's earlier Video for Windows technology...
that allows voice capture applications such as instant messengers and speech recognition applications to apply Acoustic Echo Cancellation and microphone arrayMicrophone arrayA microphone array is any number of microphones operating in tandem. There are many applications:*Systems for extracting voice input from ambient noise *Surround sound and related technologies...
processing to speech signals.
Speech recognition
Speech recognition
Speech recognition converts spoken words to text. The term "voice recognition" is sometimes used to refer to recognition systems that must be trained to a particular speaker—as is the case for most desktop recognition software...
. Under Windows 2000 and XP, Speech Recognition was installed with Office 2003, or was included in Windows XP Tablet PC Edition.
Windows Speech Recognition
Windows Speech Recognition
Windows Speech Recognition is a speech recognition application included in Windows Vista and more recently, Windows 7.-Features:Windows Speech Recognition allows the user to control the computer by giving specific voice commands...
allows the user to control his/her machine through voice commands, and enables dictation into many applications. The application has a fairly high recognition accuracy and provides a set of commands that assists in dictation. A brief speech-driven tutorial is included to help familiarize a user with speech recognition commands. Training could also be completed to improve the accuracy of speech recognition.
Windows Vista includes speech recognition for 8 languages at release time: English (U.S. and British), Spanish, German, French, Japanese and Chinese (traditional and simplified). Support for additional languages is planned for post-release.
Speech recognition in Vista utilizes version 5.3 of the Microsoft Speech API (SAPI) and version 8 of the Speech Recognizer.
Speech synthesis
Speech synthesis was first introduced in Windows with Windows 2000Windows 2000
Windows 2000 is a line of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, business desktops, laptops, and servers. Windows 2000 was released to manufacturing on 15 December 1999 and launched to retail on 17 February 2000. It is the successor to Windows NT 4.0, and is the...
, but it has been significantly enhanced for Windows Vista (code name Mulan). The old voice, Microsoft Sam, has been replaced with two new, more natural sounding voices of generally greater intelligibility: Anna and Lili, the latter of which is capable of speaking Chinese. The screen-reader Narrator
Microsoft Narrator
Narrator is a light-duty screen reader utility included in Microsoft Windows. Narrator reads dialog boxes and window controls in a number of the more basic applications for Windows....
which uses these voices has also been updated. Microsoft Agent
Microsoft Agent
Microsoft Agent is a technology developed by Microsoft which employs animated characters, text-to-speech engines, and speech recognition software to enhance interaction with computer users. Thus it is an example of an embodied agent. It comes preinstalled as part of Microsoft Windows 2000 through...
and other text to speech applications now use the newer SAPI 5 voices.
Windows Presentation Foundation
Developed by Microsoft, the Windows Presentation Foundation is a computer-software graphical subsystem for rendering user interfaces in Windows-based applications. WPF, previously known as "Avalon", was initially released as part of .NET Framework 3.0. Rather than relying on the older GDI...
. It provides high-fidelity color printing through improved use of color management
Color management
In digital imaging systems, color management is the controlled conversion between the color representations of various devices, such as image scanners, digital cameras, monitors, TV screens, film printers, computer printers, offset presses, and corresponding media.The primary goal of color...
, removes limitations of the current GDI
Graphics Device Interface
The Graphics Device Interface is a Microsoft Windows application programming interface and core operating system component responsible for representing graphical objects and transmitting them to output devices such as monitors and printers....
-based print subsystem, enhances support for printing advanced effects such as gradients, transparencies, etc., and for color laser printer
Laser printer
A laser printer is a common type of computer printer that rapidly produces high quality text and graphics on plain paper. As with digital photocopiers and multifunction printers , laser printers employ a xerographic printing process, but differ from analog photocopiers in that the image is produced...
s through the use of XML Paper Specification
XML Paper Specification
Open XML Paper Specification , is an open specification for a page description language and a fixed-document format originally developed by Microsoft as XML Paper Specification that was later standardized by Ecma International as international standard ECMA-388...
(XPS).
The print subsystem in Windows Vista implements the new XPS print path as well as the legacy GDI print path for legacy support. Windows Vista transparently makes use of the XPS print path for those printers that support it, otherwise using the GDI print path. On documents with intensive graphics, XPS printers are expected to produce much greater quality prints than GDI printers.
In a networked environment with a print server running Windows Vista, documents will be rendered on the client machine, rather than on the server, using a feature known as Client Side Rendering. The rendered intermediate form will just be transferred to the server to be printed without additional processing, making print servers more scalable by offloading rendering computation to clients.
XPS print path
The XPS Print Path introduced in Windows Vista supports high quality 16-bit color printing. The XPS print path uses XML Paper SpecificationXML Paper Specification
Open XML Paper Specification , is an open specification for a page description language and a fixed-document format originally developed by Microsoft as XML Paper Specification that was later standardized by Ecma International as international standard ECMA-388...
(XPS) as the print spooler
Spooling
In computer science, spool refers to the process of placing data in a temporary working area for another program to process. The most common use is in writing files on a magnetic tape or disk and entering them in the work queue for another process. Spooling is useful because devices access data at...
file format, that serves as the page description language
Page description language
A page description language is a language that describes the appearance of a printed page in a higher level than an actual output bitmap. An overlapping term is printer control language, but it should not be confused as referring solely to Hewlett-Packard's PCL...
(PDL) for printers. The XPS spooler format is the intended replacement for the Enhanced Metafile
Windows Metafile
Windows Metafile is a graphics file format on Microsoft Windows systems, originally designed in the 1990s. Windows Metafiles are intended to be portable between applications and may contain both vector graphics and bitmap components....
(EMF) format which is the print spooler format in the Graphics Device Interface
Graphics Device Interface
The Graphics Device Interface is a Microsoft Windows application programming interface and core operating system component responsible for representing graphical objects and transmitting them to output devices such as monitors and printers....
(GDI) print path. XPS is an XML
XML
Extensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
-based (more specifically XAML
XAML
Extensible Application Markup Language is a declarative XML-based language created by Microsoft used for initializing structured values and objects. It is available under Microsoft's Open Specification Promise...
-based) color-managed
Color management
In digital imaging systems, color management is the controlled conversion between the color representations of various devices, such as image scanners, digital cameras, monitors, TV screens, film printers, computer printers, offset presses, and corresponding media.The primary goal of color...
device
Device Independence
Device independence is the process of making a software application be able to function on a wide variety of devices regardless of the local hardware on which the software is used.- Desktop computing :...
and resolution independent
Resolution independence
In computing, resolution independence is the concept that elements on a computer screen can be drawn at sizes independent from the pixel grid. This is done so that those with larger screens and more compact screens can still view the UI at the same size....
vector-based
Vector graphics
Vector graphics is the use of geometrical primitives such as points, lines, curves, and shapes or polygon, which are all based on mathematical expressions, to represent images in computer graphics...
paged document format which encapsulates an exact representation of the actual printed output. XPS documents are packed in a ZIP
ZIP (file format)
Zip is a file format used for data compression and archiving. A zip file contains one or more files that have been compressed, to reduce file size, or stored as is...
container along with text, fonts, raster images, 2D vector graphics
Vector graphics
Vector graphics is the use of geometrical primitives such as points, lines, curves, and shapes or polygon, which are all based on mathematical expressions, to represent images in computer graphics...
and DRM
Digital rights management
Digital rights management is a class of access control technologies that are used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals with the intent to limit the use of digital content and devices after sale. DRM is any technology that inhibits uses of digital content that...
information. For printers supporting XPS, this eliminates an intermediate conversion to a printer-specific language, increasing the reliability and fidelity of the printed output. Microsoft claims that major printer vendors are planning to release printers with built-in XPS support and that this will provide better fidelity to the original document.
At the core of the XPS print path is XPSDrv, the XPS-based printer driver which includes the filter pipeline. It contains a set of filters which are print processing modules and an XML-based configuration file to describe how the filters are loaded. Filters receive the spool file data as input, perform document processing, rendering and PDL post-processing, and then output PDL
Page description language
A page description language is a language that describes the appearance of a printed page in a higher level than an actual output bitmap. An overlapping term is printer control language, but it should not be confused as referring solely to Hewlett-Packard's PCL...
data for the printer to consume. Filters can perform a single function such as watermarking a page or doing color transformations or they can perform several print processing functions on specific document parts individually or collectively and then convert the spool file to the page description language supported by the printer.
Windows Vista also provides improved color support through the Windows Color System
Windows Color System
Windows Color System is a platform for color management first included with Windows Vista that aims to achieve color consistency across various software and hardware, including cameras, monitors, printers and scanners. Different devices interpret the same colors differently, according to their...
for higher color precision and dynamic range. It also supports CMYK colorspace and multiple ink systems for higher print fidelity. The print subsystem also has support for named colors
Indexed color
In computing, indexed color is a technique to manage digital images' colors in a limited fashion, in order to save computer memory and file storage, while speeding up display refresh and file transfers...
simplifying color definition for images transmitted to printer supporting those colors.
The XPS print path can automatically calibrate color profile settings with those being used by the display subsystem. Conversely, XPS print drivers can express the configurable capabilities of the printer, by virtue of the XPS PrintCapabilities class
Class (computer science)
In object-oriented programming, a class is a construct that is used as a blueprint to create instances of itself – referred to as class instances, class objects, instance objects or simply objects. A class defines constituent members which enable these class instances to have state and behavior...
, to enable more fine-grained control of print settings, tuned to the individual printing device.
Applications which use the Windows Presentation Foundation
Windows Presentation Foundation
Developed by Microsoft, the Windows Presentation Foundation is a computer-software graphical subsystem for rendering user interfaces in Windows-based applications. WPF, previously known as "Avalon", was initially released as part of .NET Framework 3.0. Rather than relying on the older GDI...
for the display elements can directly print to the XPS print path without the need for image or colorspace conversion. The XPS format used in the spool file, represents advanced graphics effects such as 3D images, glow effects, and gradients as Windows Presentation Foundation primitives, which are processed by the printer drivers without rasterization
Rasterisation
Rasterisation is the task of taking an image described in a vector graphics format and converting it into a raster image for output on a video display or printer, or for storage in a bitmap file format....
, preventing rendering artifacts and reducing computational load. When the legacy GDI Print Path is used, the XPS spool file is used for processing before it is converted to a GDI image to minimize the processing done at raster level.
Print schemas
Print schemas provide an XML-based format for expressing and organizing a large set of properties that describe either a job format or print capabilities in a hierarchically structured manner. Print schemas are intended to address the problems associated with internal communication between the components of the print subsystem, and external communication between the print subsystem and applications.Networking
IPv6
Internet Protocol version 6 is a version of the Internet Protocol . It is designed to succeed the Internet Protocol version 4...
, as well as complete overhaul of IPv4
IPv4
Internet Protocol version 4 is the fourth revision in the development of the Internet Protocol and the first version of the protocol to be widely deployed. Together with IPv6, it is at the core of standards-based internetworking methods of the Internet...
. IPv6 is now supported by all networking components, services, and the user interface. In IPv6 mode, Windows Vista can use the Link Local Multicast Name Resolution (LLMNR) protocol to resolve names of local hosts on a network which does not have a DNS server running. The new TCP/IP stack uses a new method to store configuration settings that enables more dynamic control and does not require a computer restart after settings are changed. The new stack is also based on a strong host model and features an infrastructure to enable more modular components that can be dynamically inserted and removed.
The user interface for configuring, troubleshooting and working with network connections has changed significantly from prior versions of Windows as well. Users can make use of the new "Network Center" to see the status of their network connections, and to access every aspect of configuration. The network can be browsed using Network Explorer, which replaces Windows XP's
Windows XP
Windows XP is an operating system produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops and media centers. First released to computer manufacturers on August 24, 2001, it is the second most popular version of Windows, based on installed user base...
"My Network Places
My Network Places
In the Microsoft Windows operating systems, My Network Places is the network browser feature in Windows Explorer from Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows 2000, and Windows Me onwards...
". Network Explorer items can be a shared device such as a scanner, or a file share. Network Location Awareness uniquely identifies each network and exposes the network's attributes and connectivity type. Windows Vista graphically presents how different devices are connected over a network in the Network Map view, using the LLTD
Link Layer Topology Discovery
Link Layer Topology Discovery is a proprietary Link Layer protocol for network topology discovery and quality of service diagnostics. Microsoft developed it as part of the Windows Rally set of technologies...
protocol. In addition, the Network Map uses LLTD to determine connectivity information and media type (wired or wireless). Any device can implement LLTD to appear on the Network Map with an icon representing the device, allowing users one-click access to the device's user interface. When LLTD is invoked, it provides metadata about the device that contains static or state information, such as the MAC address
MAC address
A Media Access Control address is a unique identifier assigned to network interfaces for communications on the physical network segment. MAC addresses are used for numerous network technologies and most IEEE 802 network technologies, including Ethernet...
, IPv4/IPv6 address, signal strength
Signal strength
In telecommunications, particularly in radio, signal strength refers to the magnitude of the electric field at a reference point that is a significant distance from the transmitting antenna. It may also be referred to as received signal level or field strength. Typically, it is expressed in...
etc.
Support for wireless networks
Wireless LAN
A wireless local area network links two or more devices using some wireless distribution method , and usually providing a connection through an access point to the wider internet. This gives users the mobility to move around within a local coverage area and still be connected to the network...
is built into the network stack itself, and does not emulate wired connections, as was the case with previous versions of Windows. This allows implementation of wireless-specific features such as larger frame sizes and optimized error recovery procedures. Windows Vista uses various techniques like Receive Window Auto-scaling, Explicit Congestion Notification
Explicit Congestion Notification
Explicit Congestion Notification is an extension to the Internet Protocol and to the Transmission Control Protocol and is defined in RFC 3168 . ECN allows end-to-end notification of network congestion without dropping packets. ECN is an optional feature that is only used when both endpoints...
, TCP Chimney offload and Compound TCP to improve networking performance. Quality of Service
Quality of service
The quality of service refers to several related aspects of telephony and computer networks that allow the transport of traffic with special requirements...
(QoS) policies can be used to prioritize network traffic, with traffic shaping
Traffic shaping
Traffic shaping is the control of computer network traffic in order to optimize or guarantee performance, improve latency, and/or increase usable bandwidth for some kinds of packets by delaying other kinds of packets that meet certain criteria...
available to all applications, even those that do not explicitly use QoS APIs. Windows Vista includes in-built support for peer-to-peer networks and SMB
Server Message Block
In computer networking, Server Message Block , also known as Common Internet File System operates as an application-layer network protocol mainly used to provide shared access to files, printers, serial ports, and miscellaneous communications between nodes on a network. It also provides an...
2.0. For improved network security, Windows Vista supports for 256-bit and 384-bit Diffie-Hellman (DH) algorithms, as well as for 128-bit, 192-bit and 256-bit Advanced Encryption Standard
Advanced Encryption Standard
Advanced Encryption Standard is a specification for the encryption of electronic data. It has been adopted by the U.S. government and is now used worldwide. It supersedes DES...
(AES) is included in the network stack itself, while integrating IPsec
IPsec
Internet Protocol Security is a protocol suite for securing Internet Protocol communications by authenticating and encrypting each IP packet of a communication session...
with Windows Firewall
Windows Firewall
Windows Firewall is a software component of Microsoft Windows that provides firewalling and packet filtering functions. It was first included in Windows XP and Windows Server 2003...
.
Kernel and core OS changes
- The new Kernel Transaction ManagerKernel Transaction ManagerKernel Transaction Manager is a component of the Windows operating system kernel in Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 that enables applications to use atomic transactions on resources by making them available as kernel objects...
enables atomic transaction operations across different types of objects, most significantly file system and registry operations.
- The memory manager and processes scheduler have been improved. The scheduler was modified to use the cycle counter register of modern processors to keep track of exactly how many CPU cycles a thread has executed, rather than just using an interval-timer interrupt routine. This new CPU cycle-based thread scheduling gives a greater fairness and more deterministic app behavior. Many kernel data structures and algorithms have been rewritten. Lookup algorithms now run in constant time, instead of linear time as with previous versions.
- Windows Vista includes support for condition variables and reader-writer locks.
- Process creation overhead is reduced by significant improvements to DLL address-resolving schemes.
- Windows Vista introduces a Protected Process, which differs from usual processes in the sense that other processes cannot manipulate the state of such a process, nor can threads from other processes be introduced in it. A Protected Process has enhanced access to DRM-functions of Windows Vista. However, currently, only the applications using Protected Video Path can create Protected Processes.
- Thread Pools have been upgraded to support multiple pools per process, as well as to reduce performance overhead using thread recycling. It also includes Cleanup Groups that allow clean up of pending thread-pool requests on process shutdown.
- Threaded DPC http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms795178.aspx, conversely to an ordinary DPC (Deferred Procedure Call), decreases the system latency improving the performance of time-sensitive applications, such as audio or video playback.
- Data Redirection: Also known as data virtualization, this virtualizes the registryWindows registryThe Windows Registry is a hierarchical database that stores configuration settings and options on Microsoft Windows operating systems. It contains settings for low-level operating system components as well as the applications running on the platform: the kernel, device drivers, services, SAM, user...
and certain parts of the file system for applications running in the protected user contextPrinciple of least privilegeIn information security, computer science, and other fields, the principle of least privilege, also known as the principle of minimal privilege or just least privilege, requires that in a particular abstraction layer of a computing environment, every module must be able to access only the...
if User Account ControlUser Account ControlUser Account Control is a technology and security infrastructure introduced with Microsoft's Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 operating systems, with a more relaxed version also present in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2...
is turned on, enabling legacy applications to run in non-administrator accounts. It automatically creates private copies of files that an application can use when it does not have permission to access the original files. This facilitates stronger file security and helps applications not written with the least user access principle in mind to run under stronger restrictions. Registry virtualization isolates write operations that have a global impact to a per-user location. Reads and writes in the HKLM\Software section of the RegistryWindows registryThe Windows Registry is a hierarchical database that stores configuration settings and options on Microsoft Windows operating systems. It contains settings for low-level operating system components as well as the applications running on the platform: the kernel, device drivers, services, SAM, user...
by user-mode applications while running as a standard user, as well as to folders such as "Program Files", are "redirected" to the user's profile. The process of reading and writing on the profile data and not on the application-intended location is completely transparent to the application. - Windows Vista supports the PCI ExpressPCI ExpressPCI Express , officially abbreviated as PCIe, is a computer expansion card standard designed to replace the older PCI, PCI-X, and AGP bus standards...
1.1 specification, including extended configuration space and segmentation. PCI Express registers, including capability registers, are supported, along with save and restore of configuration data. - Native support and generic driver for Advanced Host Controller InterfaceAdvanced Host Controller InterfaceThe Advanced Host Controller Interface is a technical standard defined by Intel that specifies the operation of Serial ATA host bus adapters in a non-implementation-specific manner....
(AHCI) specification for Serial ATASerial ATASerial ATA is a computer bus interface for connecting host bus adapters to mass storage devices such as hard disk drives and optical drives...
drives, SATA Native Command QueuingNative Command QueuingNative Command Queuing is a technology designed to increase performance of SATA hard disks under certain conditions by allowing the individual hard disk to internally optimize the order in which received read and write commands are executed...
and Hot pluggingHot swappingHot swapping and hot plugging are terms used to describe the functions of replacing computer system components without shutting down the system...
. - Full support for the ACPIAdvanced Configuration and Power InterfaceIn computing, the Advanced Configuration and Power Interface specification provides an open standard for device configuration and power management by the operating system....
2.0 specification, and parts of ACPI 3.0. Support for throttling power usage of individual devices has been improved. - Kernel-mode Plug-And-PlayPlug-and-playIn computing, plug and play is a term used to describe the characteristic of a computer bus, or device specification, which facilitates the discovery of a hardware component in a system, without the need for physical device configuration, or user intervention in resolving resource conflicts.Plug...
enhancements include support for PCI multilevel rebalance, partial arbitration of resources to support PCI subtractive bridges, asynchronous device start and enumeration operations to speed system startup, support for setting and retrieving custom properties on a device, an enhanced ejection API to allow the caller to determine if and when a device has been successfully ejected, and diagnostic tracing to facilitate improved reliability. - The startup process for Windows VistaWindows Vista Startup ProcessThe startup process of Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 is different from any previous versions of Windows. For Windows Vista, the boot sector loads the Windows Boot Manager , which first looks for an active partition, then accesses the Boot Configuration...
has changed completely in comparison to earlier versions of Windows. The NTLDRNTLDRNTLDR is the boot loader for all releases of Windows NT operating system up to and including Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. NTLDR is typically run from the primary hard disk drive, but it can also run from portable storage devices such as a CD-ROM, USB flash drive, or floppy disk...
boot loader has been replaced by a more flexible system, with NTLDR's functionality split between two new components: winload.exe and Windows Boot Manager. A notable change is that the Windows Boot Manager is invoked by pressing the space barSpace barthumb|250px|A [[computer keyboard]], Space Bar is on the bottom center of the keyboardThe space bar, spacebar, or space key, is a key on an alphanumeric keyboard in the form of a horizontal bar in the lowermost row, significantly wider than other keys. Its main purpose is to conveniently enter the...
instead of the F8 function keyFunction keyA function key is a key on a computer or terminal keyboard which can be programmed so as to cause an operating system command interpreter or application program to perform certain actions...
. The F8 key still remains assigned for advanced boot options once the Windows Boot Manager menu appears. - On UEFIExtensible Firmware InterfaceThe Unified Extensible Firmware Interface is a specification that defines a software interface between an operating system and platform firmware...
systems, beginning with Windows Vista Service Pack 1, the x64 version of Windows Vista has the ability to boot from a disk with a GUID Partition TableGUID Partition TableIn computer hardware, GUID Partition Table is a standard for the layout of the partition table on a physical hard disk. Although it forms a part of the Extensible Firmware Interface standard , it is also used on some BIOS systems because of the limitations of MBR partition tables, which restrict...
. - Windows Vista includes a completely overhauled and rewritten Event logging subsystem, known as Windows Event Log which is XMLXMLExtensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
-based and allows applications to more precisely log events, offers better views, filtering and categorization by criteria, automatic log forwarding, centrally logging and managing events from a single computer and remote access. - Windows Vista includes an overhauled Task SchedulerTask SchedulerTask Scheduler is a component of Microsoft Windows that provides the ability to schedule the launch of programs or scripts at pre-defined times or after specified time intervals. It was first introduced in the Windows 95 Plus! pack as System Agent but was renamed to Task Scheduler in Windows 98...
that uses hierarchical folders of tasks. The Task Scheduler can run programs, send email, or display a message. The Task Scheduler can also now be triggered by an XPathXPathXPath is a language for selecting nodes from an XML document. In addition, XPath may be used to compute values from the content of an XML document...
expression for filtering events from the Windows Event Log, and can respond to a workstation's lock or unlock, and as well as the connection or disconnection to the machine from a Remote Desktop. The Task Scheduler tasks can be scripted in VBScriptVBScriptVBScript is an Active Scripting language developed by Microsoft that is modeled on Visual Basic. It is designed as a “lightweight” language with a fast interpreter for use in a wide variety of Microsoft environments...
, JScriptJScriptJScript is a scripting language based on the ECMAScript standard that is used in Microsoft's Internet Explorer.JScript is implemented as a Windows Script engine. This means that it can be "plugged in" to any application that supports Windows Script, such as Internet Explorer, Active Server Pages,...
, or PowerShellWindows PowerShellWindows PowerShell is Microsoft's task automation framework, consisting of a command-line shell and associated scripting language built on top of, and integrated with the .NET Framework...
. - Restart Manager: The Restart Manager works with Microsoft's update tools and websites to detect processes that have files in use and to gracefully stop and restart services to reduce the number of reboots required after applying updates as far as possible for higher levels of the software stack. Kernel updates, logically, still require the system to be restarted. In addition, the Restart Manager provides a mechanism for applications to stop and then restart programs. Applications that are written specifically to take advantage of the new Restart Manager features using the API can be restarted and restored to the same state and with the same data as before the restart. Using the Application Recovery and Restart APIs in conjunction with the Restart Manager enables applications to control what actions are taken on their behalf by the system when they fail or crash such as recovering unsaved data or documents, restarting the application, and diagnosing and reporting the problem using Windows Error ReportingWindows Error ReportingWindows Error Reporting is a crash reporting technology introduced by Microsoft with Windows XP and included in later Windows versions and Windows Mobile 5.0 and 6.0. Not to be confused with the Dr...
.
- When shutting down or restarting Windows, previous Windows versions either forcibly terminated applications after waiting for few seconds, or allowed applications to entirely cancel shutdown without informing the user. Windows Vista now informs the user in a full-screen interface if there are running applications when exiting Windows or allows continuing with or cancelling the initiated shutdown. The reason registered, if any, for cancelling a shutdown by an application using the new ShutdownBlockReasonCreate API is also displayed.
- Clean service shutdown: Services in Windows Vista have the capability of delaying the system shutdown in order to properly flush data and finish current operations. If the service stops responding, the system terminates it after 3 minutes. Crashes and restart problems are drastically reduced since the Service Control Manager is not terminated by a forced shutdown anymore.
Memory management
- Windows Vista features a Dynamic System Address Space that allocates virtual memory and kernel page tables on-demand. It also supports very large registry sizes.
- Includes enhanced support for Non-Uniform Memory AccessNon-Uniform Memory AccessNon-Uniform Memory Access is a computer memory design used in Multiprocessing, where the memory access time depends on the memory location relative to a processor...
(NUMA) and systems with large memory pages. Windows Vista also exposes APIs for accessing the NUMA features. - Memory pages can be marked as read-only, to prevent data corruption.
- New address mapping scheme called Rotate Virtual Address Descriptors (VAD). It is used for the advanced Video subsystem.
- Swapping in of memory pages and system cache include prefetching and clustering, to improve performance.
- Performance of Address Translation Buffers has been enhanced.
- Heap layout has been modified to provide higher performance on 64-bit and Symmetric multiprocessingSymmetric multiprocessingIn computing, symmetric multiprocessing involves a multiprocessor computer hardware architecture where two or more identical processors are connected to a single shared main memory and are controlled by a single OS instance. Most common multiprocessor systems today use an SMP architecture...
(SMP) systems. The new heap structure is also more scalable and has low management overhead, especially for large heaps. - Windows Vista automatically tunes up the heap layout for improved fragmentation management. The Low Fragmentation Heap (LFH) is enabled by default.
- Lazy initialization of heap initializes only when required, to improve performance.
- The Windows Vista memory manager does not have a 64 kb read-ahead cache limitation unlike previous versions of Windows and can thus improve file system performance dramatically.
File systems
- Transactional NTFSTransactional NTFSTransactional NTFS is a component of Windows Vista and later operating systems. It brings the concept of atomic transactions to the NTFS file system, allowing Windows application developers to write file output routines that are guaranteed either to succeed completely or to fail completely.-...
allows multiple file/folder operations to be treated as a single operation, so that a crash or power failure won't result in half-completed file writes. Transactions can also be extended to multiple machines. - Image Mastering APIImage Mastering APIThe Image Mastering Application Programming Interface, or IMAPI, is a component of Microsoft Windows operating system used for CD and DVD authoring and recording....
(IMAPI v2) enables DVDDVDA DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
burning support for applications, in addition to CD burning. IMAPI v2 supports multiple optical drives, even simultaneously recording to multiple drives, unlike IMAPI in Windows XP which only supported enabling CD recording for one optical drive at a time. Windows DVD Maker can burn DVD-VideoDVD-VideoDVD-Video is a consumer video format used to store digital video on DVD discs, and is currently the dominant consumer video format in Asia, North America, Europe, and Australia. Discs using the DVD-Video specification require a DVD drive and a MPEG-2 decoder...
discs, while Windows Explorer can burn data on DVDs (DVD±RDVD±RDVD±R is not a separate DVD format, but rather is a shorthand term for a DVD drive that can accept both of the common recordable DVD formats . Likewise, DVD±RW handles both common rewritable disc types DVD±R (also DVD+/-R, "DVD plus/dash R", or "DVD plus/minus R") is not a separate DVD format,...
, DVD±R DL, DVD±R RW) in addition to DVD-RAMDVD-RAMDVD-RAM is a disc specification presented in 1996 by the DVD Forum, which specifies rewritable DVD-RAM media and the appropriate DVD writers. DVD-RAM media have been used in computers as well as camcorders and personal video recorders since 1998.-Design:DVD-RAM is one of three competing...
and CDs. Applications using IMAPI v2 can create, and burn disc images. IMAPI v2 is implemented as a DLLDynamic-link libraryDynamic-link library , or DLL, is Microsoft's implementation of the shared library concept in the Microsoft Windows and OS/2 operating systems...
rather than as a serviceWindows ServiceOn Microsoft Windows operating systems, a Windows service is a long-running executable that performs specific functions and which is designed not to require user intervention. Windows services can be configured to start when the operating system is booted and run in the background as long as...
as was the case in Windows XPWindows XPWindows XP is an operating system produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops and media centers. First released to computer manufacturers on August 24, 2001, it is the second most popular version of Windows, based on installed user base...
, and is also scriptable using VBScriptVBScriptVBScript is an Active Scripting language developed by Microsoft that is modeled on Visual Basic. It is designed as a “lightweight” language with a fast interpreter for use in a wide variety of Microsoft environments...
. IMAPI v2 is also available for Windows XP. With the Windows Feature Pack for Storage installed, IMAPI 2.0 supports Recordable Blu-ray Disc (BD-R) and Rewritable Blu-ray Disc (BD-RE) media as well. - Live File SystemLive File SystemLive File System is the term Microsoft uses to describe the packet writing method of creating discs in Windows Vista and later, which allows files to be added incrementally to the media...
: A writable UDFUniversal Disk FormatUniversal Disk Format is an implementation of the specification known as ISO/IEC 13346 and ECMA-167 and is an open vendor-neutral file system for computer data storage for a broad range of media. In practice, it has been most widely used for DVDs and newer optical disc formats, supplanting ISO 9660...
file system. The Windows UDFUniversal Disk FormatUniversal Disk Format is an implementation of the specification known as ISO/IEC 13346 and ECMA-167 and is an open vendor-neutral file system for computer data storage for a broad range of media. In practice, it has been most widely used for DVDs and newer optical disc formats, supplanting ISO 9660...
file system (UDFS) implementation was read-only in OS releases prior to Windows Vista. In Windows Vista, Packet writingMount Rainier (packet writing)Mount Rainier is a format for writable optical discs which provides the packet writing and defect management. Its goal is the replacement of the floppy disk...
(incremental writing) is supported by UDFS, which can now format and write to all mainstream optical media formats (MOMagneto-optical driveA magneto-optical drive is a kind of optical disc drive capable of writing and rewriting data upon a magneto-optical disc. Both 130 mm and 90 mm form factors exist. The technology was introduced commercially in 1985...
, CDR/RW, DVD+R/RW, DVD-R/RW/RAM). Write support is included for UDF format versions up to and including 2.50, with read support up to 2.60. UDF symbolic links, however, are not supported. - Common Log File SystemCommon Log File SystemCommon Log File System is a general-purpose logging subsystem that is accessible to both kernel-mode as well as user-mode applications for building high-performance transaction logs. It was introduced with Windows Server 2003 R2 and included in later Windows OSs. CLFS can be used for both data...
(CLFS) API provides a high-performance, general-purpose log-file subsystem that dedicated user-mode and kernel-mode client applications can use and multiple clients can share to optimize log access and for data and event management. - File encryption support superior to that available in Encrypting File SystemEncrypting File SystemThe Encrypting File System on Microsoft Windows is a feature introduced in version 3.0 of NTFS that provides filesystem-level encryption...
in Windows XP, which will make it easier and more automatic to prevent unauthorized viewing of files on stolen laptops or hard drives. - File System Mini Filters model which are kernel mode non-device drivers, to monitor filesystem activity, have been upgraded in Windows Vista. The Registry filtering model adds support for redirecting calls and modifying parameters and introduces the concept of altitudes for filter registrations.
- Registry notification hooks, introduced in Windows XP, and recently enhanced in Windows Vista, allow software to participate in registry related activities in the system.
- Support of UNIX-style symbolic linksNTFS symbolic linkAn NTFS symbolic link is a filesystem object in the NTFS filesystem that points to another filesystem object. The object being pointed to is called the target. Symbolic links should be transparent to users; the links appear as normal files or directories, and can be acted upon by the user or...
. Previous Windows versions had support for a type of cross-volume reparse pointsNTFS reparse pointAn NTFS reparse point is a type of NTFS file system object. It is available with the NTFS v3.0 found in Windows 2000 or later versions. Reparse points provide a way to extend the NTFS filesystem by adding extra information to the directory entry, so a file system filter can interpret how the...
known as junction pointsNTFS junction pointAn NTFS junction point is a feature of the NTFS file system that provides the ability to create a symbolic link to a directory which then functions as an alias of that directory...
and hardlinkHardlinkHardlink may refer to:* Hard link, Windows or Unix file system pointer* Hardlink , Physical world hyperlink...
s. However, junction points could be created only for directories and stored absolute paths, whereas hardlinks could be created for files but were not cross-volume. NTFS symbolic linkNTFS symbolic linkAn NTFS symbolic link is a filesystem object in the NTFS filesystem that points to another filesystem object. The object being pointed to is called the target. Symbolic links should be transparent to users; the links appear as normal files or directories, and can be acted upon by the user or...
s can be created for any object and are cross-volume, cross-host (work over UNC paths), and store relative paths. However, the cross-host functionality of symbolic links does not work over the network with previous versions of Windows or other operating systems, only with computers running Windows VistaWindows VistaWindows Vista is an operating system released in several variations developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, and media center PCs...
or a later Windows operating system. Symbolic links can be created, modified and deleted using the Mklink utility which is included with Windows Vista. Microsoft has published some developer documentation on symbolic links in the MSDN documentation. In addition, Windows ExplorerWindows ExplorerThis article is about the Windows file system browser. For the similarly named web browser, see Internet ExplorerWindows Explorer is a file manager application that is included with releases of the Microsoft Windows operating system from Windows 95 onwards. It provides a graphical user interface...
is now symbolic link-aware and deleting a symbolic link from Explorer just deletes the link itself and not the target object. Explorer also shows the symbolic link target in the object's properties and shows a shortcut icon overlay on a junction point. - A new tab, "Previous Versions", in the Properties dialog for any file or folder, provides read-only snapshots of files on local or network volumes from an earlier point in time. This feature is based on the Volume Shadow Copy technology.
- A new file-based disk imageDisk imageA disk image is a single file or storage device containing the complete contents and structure representing a data storage medium or device, such as a hard drive, tape drive, floppy disk, CD/DVD/BD, or USB flash drive, although an image of an optical disc may be referred to as an optical disc image...
format called Windows Imaging Format (WIM), which can be mounted as a partition, or booted from. An associated tool called ImageX provides facilities to create and maintain these image files. - Self-healing NTFS: In previous Windows versions, NTFS marked the volume "dirty" upon detecting file-system corruption and CHKDSKCHKDSKCHKDSK is a command on computers running DOS, OS/2 and Microsoft Windows operating systems that displays the file system integrity status of hard disks and floppy disk and can fix logical file system errors. It is similar to the fsck command in Unix.The command is implemented as an executable...
was required to be run by taking the volume "offline". With self-healing NTFS, an NTFS worker thread is spawned in the background which performs a localized fix-up of damaged data structures, with only the corrupted files/folders remaining unavailable without locking out the entire volume. The self-healing behavior can be turned on for a volume with the fsutil repair set C: 1 command where C presents the volume letter. - New /B switch in CHKDSKCHKDSKCHKDSK is a command on computers running DOS, OS/2 and Microsoft Windows operating systems that displays the file system integrity status of hard disks and floppy disk and can fix logical file system errors. It is similar to the fsck command in Unix.The command is implemented as an executable...
for NTFS volumes which clears marked bad sectors on a volume and reevaluates them. - Windows Vista has support for hard disk drives with large physical sector sizesDisk sectorIn computer disk storage, a sector is a subdivision of a track on a magnetic disk or optical disc. Each sector stores a fixed amount of user data. Traditional formatting of these storage media provides space for 512 bytes or 2048 bytes of user-accessible data per sector...
(> 512 bytes per sector drives) if the drive supports 512-bytes logical sectors / emulation (called Advanced Format/512E). Drives with both 4k logical and 4k physical sectors are not supported. - The NLS casing table in NTFS has been updated so that partitions formatted with Windows Vista will be able to see the proper behavior for the 100+ mappings that have been added to UnicodeUnicodeUnicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems...
but were not added to Windows. - Windows Vista Service Pack 1 and later have built-in support for exFATExFATexFAT is a proprietary, patent-pending file system designed especially for USB flash drives. Developed by Microsoft, it is supported in Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 with update KB955704, Windows Embedded CE 6.0, Windows Vista with Service Pack 1, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, Windows...
.
Drivers
Windows Vista introduces an improved driver model, Windows Driver FoundationWindows Driver Foundation
Windows Driver Foundation is a set of Microsoft tools that aid in the creation of device drivers for Windows 2000 and later versions of Windows....
which is an opt-in framework to replace the older Windows Driver Model
Windows Driver Model
In computing, the Windows Driver Model — also known at one point as the Win32 Driver Model — is a framework for device drivers that was introduced with Windows 98 and Windows 2000 to replace VxD, which was used on older versions of Windows such as Windows 95 and Windows 3.1, as well...
. It includes:
- Windows Display Driver ModelWindows Display Driver ModelWindows Display Driver Model is the graphic driver architecture for video card drivers running Microsoft Windows versions beginning with Windows Vista....
(WDDM), previously referred to as Longhorn Display Driver Model (LDDM), designed for graphics performance and stability. - A new Kernel-Mode Driver Framework, which will also be available for Windows XP and Windows 2000.
- A new user-mode driver model called the User-Mode Driver Framework. In Windows Vista, WDDM display drivers have two components, a kernel mode driver (KMD) that is very streamlined, and a user-mode driver that does most of the intense computations. With this model, most of the code is moved out of kernel mode. The audio subsystem also runs largely in user-mode to prevent impacting negatively on kernel performance and stability. Also, printer drivers in kernel mode are not supported. User-mode drivers are not able to directly access the kernel but use it through a dedicated API. User-mode drivers are supported for devices which plug into a USB or FireWire bus, such as digital cameras, portable media players, PDAs, mobile phones and mass storage devices, as well as "non-hardware" drivers, such as filter drivers and other software-only drivers. This also allows for drivers which would typically require a system reboot (video card drivers, for example) to install or update without needing a reboot of the machine. If the driver requires access to kernel-mode resources, developers can split the driver so that part of it runs in kernel-mode and part of it runs in user-mode. These features are significant because a majority of system crashes can be traced to improperly installed or unstable third-party device drivers. If an error occurs the new framework allows for an immediate restart of the driver and does not impact the system. User-Mode Driver Framework is available for Windows XP and is included in Windows Media Player 11.
- Kernel-mode drivers on 64-bit versions of Windows Vista must be digitally signed; even administrators will not be able to install unsigned kernel-mode drivers. A boot-time option is available to disable this check for a single session of Windows. Installing user-mode drivers will still work without a digital signature.
- Signed drivers are required for usage of PUMA, PAP (Protected Audio Path), and PVP-OPM subsystems.
- Driver packages that are used to install driver software are copied in their entirety into a "Driver Store", which is a repository of driver packages. This ensures that drivers that need to be repaired or reinstalled won't need to ask for source media to get "fresh" files. The Driver Store can also be preloaded with drivers by an OEM or IT administrator to ensure that commonly used devices (e.g. external peripherals shipped with a computer system, corporate printers) can be installed immediately. Adding, removing and viewing drivers from the "Driver Store" is done using PnPUtil.exe A new setting in Device ManagerDevice ManagerThe Device Manager is a Control Panel applet in Microsoft Windows operating systems. It allows users to view and control the hardware attached to the computer. When a piece of hardware is not working, the offending hardware is highlighted for the user to deal with...
allows deleting the drivers from the Driver Store when uninstalling the hardware. - Support for Windows Error ReportingWindows Error ReportingWindows Error Reporting is a crash reporting technology introduced by Microsoft with Windows XP and included in later Windows versions and Windows Mobile 5.0 and 6.0. Not to be confused with the Dr...
; information on an "unknown device" is reported to Microsoft when a driver cannot be found on the system, via Windows Update, or supplied by the user. OEMs can hook into this system to provide information that can be returned to the user, such as a formal statement of non-support of a device for Windows Vista, or a link to a web site with support information, drivers, etc.
Processor Power Management
Windows Vista includes the following changes and enhancements in Processor Power Management (PPM):- Native operating system support for PPM on multiprocessor systems, including systems using processors with multiple logical threads, multiple cores, or multiple physical sockets.
- Support for all ACPI 2.0 and 3.0 processor objects.
- User configurable system cooling policy, minimum and maximum processor states.
- Operating system coordination of performance state transitions between dependent processors.
- Elimination of the processor dynamic throttling policies used in Windows XP and Windows Server 2003.
- More flexible use of the available range of processor performance states through system power policy.
- The static use of any linear throttle state on systems that are not capable of processor performance states.
- Exposure of multiple power policy parameters that original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) may tune to optimize Windows Vista use of PPM features.
- In-box drivers for processors from all leading processor manufacturers.
- A generic processor driver that allows the use of processor-specific controls for performance state transitions.
- An improved C3 entry algorithm, where a failed C3 entry does not cause demotion to C2.
- Removal of support for legacy processor performance state interfaces.
- Removal of support for legacy mobile processor drivers.
System performance
- SuperFetch caches frequently-used applications and documents in memory, and keeps track of when commonly used applications are usually loaded, so that they can be pre-cached and it also prioritizes the programs currently used over background tasks. SuperFetch aims to negate the negative performance effect of having anti-virus or backup software run when the user is not at the computer. Superfetch is able to learn at what time of a given day an application is used and so it can be pre-cached.
- ReadyBoostReadyBoostReadyBoost is a disk cache component of Microsoft Windows, first introduced with Microsoft's Windows Vista in 2006 and bundled with Windows 7 in 2009...
, makes PCs running Windows Vista more responsive by using flash memoryFlash memoryFlash memory is a non-volatile computer storage chip that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. It was developed from EEPROM and must be erased in fairly large blocks before these can be rewritten with new data...
on a USB drive (USB 2.0 only), SD Card, Compact Flash, or other form of flash memory, in order to boost system performance. When such a device is plugged in, the Windows AutoplayAutoPlayAutoPlay, a feature introduced in Windows XP, examines newly discovered removable media and devices and, based on content such as pictures, music or video files, launches an appropriate application to play or display the content. It is closely related to the AutoRun operating system feature...
dialog offers an additional option to use it to speed up the system; an additional "ReadyBoost" tab is added to the drive's properties dialog where the amount of space to be used can be configured.
- ReadyBoot uses an in-RAM cache to optimize the boot processWindows Vista Startup ProcessThe startup process of Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 is different from any previous versions of Windows. For Windows Vista, the boot sector loads the Windows Boot Manager , which first looks for an active partition, then accesses the Boot Configuration...
if the system has 700MB or more memory. The size of the cache depends on the total RAM available, but is large enough to create a reasonable cache and yet allow the system the memory it needs to boot smoothly. ReadyBoot uses the same ReadyBoost service. - ReadyDrive is the name Microsoft has given to its support for hybrid driveHybrid driveA Hybrid Drive, Hybrid Hard Drive , or Hybrid Hard Disk Drive is a type of large-buffer computer hard disk drive. It is different from standard hard drives in that it integrates a cache using non-volatile memory or even a small solid-state drive...
s, a new design of hard drive developed by SamsungSamsungThe Samsung Group is a South Korean multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea...
and Microsoft. Hybrid drives incorporate non-volatile memoryNon-volatile memoryNon-volatile memory, nonvolatile memory, NVM or non-volatile storage, in the most basic sense, is computer memory that can retain the stored information even when not powered. Examples of non-volatile memory include read-only memory, flash memory, ferroelectric RAM, most types of magnetic computer...
into the drive's design, resulting in lower power needs, as the drive's spindles do not need to be activated for every write operation. Windows Vista can also make use of the NVRAM to increase the speed of booting and returning from hibernation.
- Windows Vista features Prioritized I/O which allows developers to set application I/O priorities for read/write disk operations, similar to how currently application processes/threads can be assigned CPU priorities. I/O has been enhanced with I/O asynchronous cancellation and I/O scheduling based on thread priority. Background applications running in low priority I/O do not disturb foreground applications. Applications like Windows Defender, Automatic Disk Defragmenter and Windows Desktop Search (during indexing) already use this feature. Windows Media Player 11 also supports this technology to offer glitch-free multimedia playback.
- The Offline Files feature, which maintains a client side cache of files shared over a network, has been significantly improved. When synchronizing the changes in the cached copy to the remote version, the Bitmap Differential Transfer protocol is used so that only the changed blocks in the cached version are transferred, but when retrieving changes from the remote copy, the entire file is downloaded. are synchronized on a per-share basis and encrypted on a per-user basis and users can force Windows to work in offline mode or online mode or sync manually from the Sync Center. The Sync Center can also report sync errors and resolve sync conflicts. Also, if network connectivity is restored, file handles are redirected to the remote share transparently.
- Delayed service start allows services to start a short while after the system has finished booting and initial busy operations, so that the system boots up faster and performs tasks quicker than before.
- Enable advanced performance option for hard disks: When enabled, the operating system may cache disk writes as well as disk reads. In previous Windows operating systems, only the disk's internal disk caching, if any, was utilised for disk write operations when the disk cache was enabled by the user. Enabling this option causes Windows to make use of its own local cache in addition to this, which speeds up performance, at the expense of a little more risk of data loss during a sudden loss of power.
.NET Framework 3.0
Windows Vista is the first client version of Windows to ship with the .NET Framework.NET Framework
The .NET Framework is a software framework that runs primarily on Microsoft Windows. It includes a large library and supports several programming languages which allows language interoperability...
. Specifically, it includes .NET Framework 2.0 and .NET Framework 3.0 (previously known as WinFX) but not version 1.0 or 1.1. The .NET Framework is a set of managed code
Managed code
Managed code is a term coined by Microsoft to identify computer program code that requires and will only execute under the "management" of a Common Language Runtime virtual machine ....
APIs
Application programming interface
An application programming interface is a source code based specification intended to be used as an interface by software components to communicate with each other...
that is slated to succeed Win32. The Win32 API is also present in Windows Vista, but does not give direct access to all the new functionality introduced with the .NET Framework
.NET Framework
The .NET Framework is a software framework that runs primarily on Microsoft Windows. It includes a large library and supports several programming languages which allows language interoperability...
. In addition, .NET Framework is intended to give programmers easier access to the functionality present in Windows itself.
.NET Framework 3.0 includes APIs such as ADO.NET
ADO.NET
ADO.NET is a set of computer software components that programmers can use to access data and data services. It is a part of the base class library that is included with the Microsoft .NET Framework. It is commonly used by programmers to access and modify data stored in relational database systems,...
, ASP.NET
ASP.NET
ASP.NET is a Web application framework developed and marketed by Microsoft to allow programmers to build dynamic Web sites, Web applications and Web services. It was first released in January 2002 with version 1.0 of the .NET Framework, and is the successor to Microsoft's Active Server Pages ...
, Windows Forms
Windows Forms
Windows Forms is the name given to the graphical application programming interface included as a part of Microsoft .NET Framework, providing access to native Microsoft Windows interface elements by wrapping the extant Windows API in managed code...
, among others, and adds four core frameworks to the .NET Framework:
- Windows Presentation FoundationWindows Presentation FoundationDeveloped by Microsoft, the Windows Presentation Foundation is a computer-software graphical subsystem for rendering user interfaces in Windows-based applications. WPF, previously known as "Avalon", was initially released as part of .NET Framework 3.0. Rather than relying on the older GDI...
(WPF) - Windows Communication FoundationWindows Communication FoundationThe Windows Communication Foundation , previously known as "Indigo", is an application programming interface in the .NET Framework for building connected, service-oriented applications.-The architectures:...
(WCF) - Windows Workflow FoundationWindows Workflow FoundationWindows Workflow Foundation is a Microsoft technology that provides an API, an in-process workflow engine, and a rehostable designer to implement long-running processes as workflows within .NET applications...
(WF) - Windows CardSpaceWindows CardSpaceWindows CardSpace , is Microsoft's now-canceled client software for the Identity Metasystem. CardSpace is an instance of a class of identity client software called an Identity Selector. CardSpace stores references to users' digital identities for them, presenting them to users as visual...
WPF
Windows Presentation Foundation (codenamed Avalon) is the overhaul of the graphical subsystem in Windows and the flagship resolution independentResolution independence
In computing, resolution independence is the concept that elements on a computer screen can be drawn at sizes independent from the pixel grid. This is done so that those with larger screens and more compact screens can still view the UI at the same size....
API for 2D and 3D graphics
Computer graphics
Computer graphics are graphics created using computers and, more generally, the representation and manipulation of image data by a computer with help from specialized software and hardware....
, raster
Raster graphics
In computer graphics, a raster graphics image, or bitmap, is a data structure representing a generally rectangular grid of pixels, or points of color, viewable via a monitor, paper, or other display medium...
and vector graphics
Vector graphics
Vector graphics is the use of geometrical primitives such as points, lines, curves, and shapes or polygon, which are all based on mathematical expressions, to represent images in computer graphics...
(XAML), fixed and adaptive documents (XPS
XML Paper Specification
Open XML Paper Specification , is an open specification for a page description language and a fixed-document format originally developed by Microsoft as XML Paper Specification that was later standardized by Ecma International as international standard ECMA-388...
), advanced typography
Typography
Typography is the art and technique of arranging type in order to make language visible. The arrangement of type involves the selection of typefaces, point size, line length, leading , adjusting the spaces between groups of letters and adjusting the space between pairs of letters...
, animation
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
(XAML), data binding, audio and video in Windows Vista
Windows Vista
Windows Vista is an operating system released in several variations developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, and media center PCs...
. WPF enables richer control, design, and development of the visual aspects of Windows programs. Based on DirectX, it renders all graphics using Direct3D
Direct3D
Direct3D is part of Microsoft's DirectX application programming interface . Direct3D is available for Microsoft Windows operating systems , and for other platforms through the open source software Wine. It is the base for the graphics API on the Xbox and Xbox 360 console systems...
. Routing the graphics through Direct3D allows Windows to offload graphics tasks to the GPU
Graphics processing unit
A graphics processing unit or GPU is a specialized circuit designed to rapidly manipulate and alter memory in such a way so as to accelerate the building of images in a frame buffer intended for output to a display...
, reducing the workload on the computer's CPU
Central processing unit
The central processing unit is the portion of a computer system that carries out the instructions of a computer program, to perform the basic arithmetical, logical, and input/output operations of the system. The CPU plays a role somewhat analogous to the brain in the computer. The term has been in...
. This capability is used by the Desktop Window Manager
Desktop Window Manager
Desktop Window Manager is the window manager in Windows Vista and Windows 7 that enables the Windows Aero graphical user interface and visual theme. The Desktop Window Manager requires video cards supporting DirectX 9.0 and Shader Model 2.0. DWM is not included with Windows Vista Starter edition...
to make the desktop, all windows and all other shell elements into 3D surfaces. WPF applications can be deployed on the desktop or hosted in a web browser (XBAP).
The 3D capabilities in WPF are limited compared to what's available in Direct3D. However, WPF provides tighter integration with other features like user interface
User interface
The user interface, in the industrial design field of human–machine interaction, is the space where interaction between humans and machines occurs. The goal of interaction between a human and a machine at the user interface is effective operation and control of the machine, and feedback from the...
(UI), documents, and media. This makes it possible to have 3D UI, 3D documents, and 3D media. A set of built-in controls is provided as part of WPF, containing items such as button, menu, and list box controls. WPF provides the ability to perform control composition, where a control can contain any other control or layout. WPF also has a built-in set of data services to enable application developers to bind data to the controls. Images are supported using the Windows Imaging Component. For media, WPF supports any audio and video formats which Windows Media Player can play. In addition, WPF supports time-based animation
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
s, in contrast to the frame-based approach. This delinks the speed of the animation from how slow or fast the system is performing. Text is anti-aliased and rendered using ClearType
ClearType
ClearType is a trademark for Microsoft's implementation of subpixel rendering technology. ClearType attempts to improve the appearance of text on certain types of computer display screens by sacrificing color fidelity for additional intensity variation. This trade-off is asserted to work well on...
.
WPF uses Extensible Application Markup Language (XAML), which is a variant of XML
Extensible Markup Language
Extensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
, intended for use in developing user interfaces. Using XAML to develop user interfaces also allows for separation of model and view. In XAML, every element maps onto a class in the underlying API, and the attributes are set as properties on the instantiated classes. All elements of WPF may also be coded in a .NET language such as C#. The XAML code is ultimately compiled into a managed assembly in the same way all .NET languages are, which means that the use of XAML for development does not incur a performance cost.
WCF
Windows Communication Foundation (codenamed Indigo) is a new communication subsystem to enable applications, in one machine or across multiple machines connected by a network, to communicate. WCF programming model unifies Web Services, .NET Remoting, Distributed Transactions, and Message Queues into a single Service-oriented architectureService-oriented architecture
In software engineering, a Service-Oriented Architecture is a set of principles and methodologies for designing and developing software in the form of interoperable services. These services are well-defined business functionalities that are built as software components that can be reused for...
model for distributed computing
Distributed computing
Distributed computing is a field of computer science that studies distributed systems. A distributed system consists of multiple autonomous computers that communicate through a computer network. The computers interact with each other in order to achieve a common goal...
, where a server exposes a service via an interface, defined using XML
XML
Extensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
, to which clients connect. WCF runs in a sandbox and provides the enhanced security model all .NET applications provide.
WCF is capable of using SOAP
SOAP
SOAP, originally defined as Simple Object Access Protocol, is a protocol specification for exchanging structured information in the implementation of Web Services in computer networks...
for communication between two processes, thereby making WCF based applications interoperable with any other process that communicates via SOAP. When a WCF process communicates with a non-WCF process, XML based encoding is used for the SOAP messages but when it communicates with another WCF process, the SOAP messages are encoded in an optimized binary format, to optimize the communication. Both the encodings conform to the data structure of the SOAP format, called Infoset.
Windows Vista also incorporates Microsoft Message Queuing 4.0
Microsoft Message Queuing
Microsoft Message Queuing or MSMQ is a Message Queue implementation developed by Microsoft and deployed in its Windows Server operating systems since Windows NT 4 and Windows 95. The latest Windows 7 also includes this component...
(MSMQ) that supports subqueues, poison messages (messages which continually fail to be processed correctly by the receiver), and transactional receives of messages from a remote queue.
WF
Windows Workflow Foundation is a Microsoft technology for defining, executing and managing workflowWorkflow
A workflow consists of a sequence of connected steps. It is a depiction of a sequence of operations, declared as work of a person, a group of persons, an organization of staff, or one or more simple or complex mechanisms. Workflow may be seen as any abstraction of real work...
s. This technology is part of .NET Framework
.NET Framework
The .NET Framework is a software framework that runs primarily on Microsoft Windows. It includes a large library and supports several programming languages which allows language interoperability...
3.0 and therefore targeted primarily for the Windows Vista operating system. The Windows Workflow Foundation
Windows Workflow Foundation
Windows Workflow Foundation is a Microsoft technology that provides an API, an in-process workflow engine, and a rehostable designer to implement long-running processes as workflows within .NET applications...
runtime components provide common facilities for running and managing the workflows and can be hosted in any CLR application domain.
Workflows comprise 'activities'. Developers can write their own domain-specific activities and then use them in workflows. Windows Workflow Foundation also provides a set of general-purpose 'activities' that cover several control flow constructs. It also includes a visual workflow designer. The workflow designer can be used within Visual Studio 2005, including integration with the Visual Studio project system and debugger.
Windows CardSpace
Windows CardSpace (codenamed InfoCard), a part of .NET Framework 3.0, is an implementation of Identity Metasystem, which centralizes acquiring, usage and management of digital identity. A digital identity is represented as logical Security Tokens, that comprise of one or more Claims, which provide information about different aspects of the identity, such as name, address etc.Any identity system centers around three entities — the User who is to be identified, an Identity Provider who provides identifying information regarding the User, and Relying Party who uses the identity to authenticate the user. An Identity Provider may be a service like Active Directory
Active Directory
Active Directory is a directory service created by Microsoft for Windows domain networks. It is included in most Windows Server operating systems. Server computers on which Active Directory is running are called domain controllers....
, or even the user who provides an authentication password, or biometric authentication data.
A Relying Party issues a request to an application for an identity, by means of a Policy that states what Claims it needs and what will be the physical representation of the security token. The application then passes on the request to Windows CardSpace, which then contacts a suitable Identity Provider and retrieves the Identity. It then provides the application with the Identity along with information on how to use it.
Windows CardSpace also keeps a track of all Identities used, and represents them as visually identifiable virtual cards, accessible to the user from a centralized location. Whenever an application requests any identity, Windows CardSpace informs the user about which identity is being used and needs confirmation before it provides the requestor with the identity.
Windows CardSpace presents an API that allows any application to use Windows CardSpace to handle authentication tasks. Similarly, the API allows Identity Providers to hook up with Windows CardSpace. To any Relying Party, it appears as a service which provides authentication credentials.
Other .NET Framework APIs
- Microsoft UI AutomationMicrosoft UI AutomationMicrosoft UI Automation is an Application Programming Interface for User Interface accessibility that is designed to help Assistive Technology products interact with standard and custom UI elements of an application as well as to access, identify, and manipulate an application's UI elements...
(UIA) is a managed code API replacing Microsoft Active AccessibilityMicrosoft Active AccessibilityMicrosoft Active Accessibility is an Application Programming Interface for user interface accessibility. MSAA was introduced as a platform add-on to Microsoft Windows 95 in 1997...
to drive user interfaces. UIA is designed to serve both assistive technology and test-automation requirements.
- .NET Framework 3.0 also includes a managed codeManaged codeManaged code is a term coined by Microsoft to identify computer program code that requires and will only execute under the "management" of a Common Language Runtime virtual machine ....
speech API which has similar functionality to SAPI 5 but is suitable to be used by managed code applications.
Media Foundation
Media Foundation is a set of COMComponent Object Model
Component Object Model is a binary-interface standard for software componentry introduced by Microsoft in 1993. It is used to enable interprocess communication and dynamic object creation in a large range of programming languages...
-based APIs to handle audio and video playback that provides DirectX Video Acceleration
DXVA
DirectX Video Acceleration is a Microsoft API specification for the Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 platforms that allows video decoding to be hardware accelerated. The pipeline allows certain CPU-intensive operations such as iDCT, motion compensation and deinterlacing to be offloaded to the GPU...
2.0 and better resilience to CPU, I/O, and memory stress for glitch-free low-latency playback of audio and video. It also enables high color spaces through the multimedia processing pipeline. DirectShow
DirectShow
DirectShow , codename Quartz, is a multimedia framework and API produced by Microsoft for software developers to perform various operations with media files or streams. It is the replacement for Microsoft's earlier Video for Windows technology...
and Windows Media SDK
Windows Media
Windows Media is a multimedia framework for media creation and distribution for Microsoft Windows. It consists of a software development kit with several application programming interfaces and a number of prebuilt technologies, and is the replacement of NetShow technologies.The Windows Media SDK...
will be gradually deprecated in future versions.
Search
The Windows Vista Instant Search index can also be accessed programmatically using both managed.NET Framework
The .NET Framework is a software framework that runs primarily on Microsoft Windows. It includes a large library and supports several programming languages which allows language interoperability...
as well as native code. Native code connects to the index catalog by using a Data Source Object retrieved from Windows Vista shell's Indexing Service OLE DB
OLE DB
OLE DB is an API designed by Microsoft for accessing data from a variety of sources in an uniform manner. It is a set of interfaces implemented using the Component Object Model ; it is otherwise unrelated to OLE...
provider. Managed code use the MSIDXS ADO.NET
ADO.NET
ADO.NET is a set of computer software components that programmers can use to access data and data services. It is a part of the base class library that is included with the Microsoft .NET Framework. It is commonly used by programmers to access and modify data stored in relational database systems,...
provider with the index catalog name. A catalog on a remote machine can also be specified using a UNC path. The criteria for the search is specified using a SQL
SQL
SQL is a programming language designed for managing data in relational database management systems ....
-like syntax.
The default catalog is called SystemIndex and it stores all the properties of indexed items with a predefined naming pattern. For example, the name and location of documents in the system is exposed as a table with the column names System. ItemName and System. ItemURL respectively. An SQL query can directly refer these tables and index catalogues and use the MSIDXS provider to run queries against them. The search index can also be used via OLE DB
OLE DB
OLE DB is an API designed by Microsoft for accessing data from a variety of sources in an uniform manner. It is a set of interfaces implemented using the Component Object Model ; it is otherwise unrelated to OLE...
, using the CollatorDSO provider. However, OLE DB provider is read-only, supporting only SELECT and GROUP ON SQL statements.
The Windows Search API can also be used to convert a search query written using Advanced Query Syntax (or Natural Query Syntax, the natural language version of AQS) to SQL
SQL
SQL is a programming language designed for managing data in relational database management systems ....
queries. It exposes a method GenerateSQLFromUserQuery method of the ISearchQueryHelper interface. Searches can also be performed using the search-ms: protocol, which is a pseudo protocol that lets searches be exposed as an URI
Úri
Úriis a village and commune in the comitatus of Pest in Hungary....
. It contains all the operators and search terms specified in AQS. It can refer to saved search folders as well. When such a URI is activated, Windows Search, which is registered as a handler for the protocol, parses the URI to extract the parameters and perform the search.
Networking
WinsockWinsock
In computing, the Windows Sockets API , which was later shortened to Winsock, is a technical specification that defines how Windows network software should access network services, especially TCP/IP. It defines a standard interface between a Windows TCP/IP client application and the underlying...
Kernel (WSK) is a new transport-independent kernel-mode Network Programming Interface (NPI) for that provides TDI
Transport Dispatch Interface
The Transport Driver Interface or TDI is the protocol understood by the upper edge of the Transport layer of the Microsoft Windows kernel network stack.Transport Providers are implementations of network protocols such as TCP/IP, NetBIOS, and AppleTalk....
client developers with a sockets-like programming model similar to those supported in user-mode Winsock
Winsock
In computing, the Windows Sockets API , which was later shortened to Winsock, is a technical specification that defines how Windows network software should access network services, especially TCP/IP. It defines a standard interface between a Windows TCP/IP client application and the underlying...
. While most of the same sockets
Internet socket
In computer networking, an Internet socket or network socket is an endpoint of a bidirectional inter-process communication flow across an Internet Protocol-based computer network, such as the Internet....
programming concepts exist as in user-mode Winsock such as socket, creation, bind, connect, accept, send and receive, Winsock Kernel is a completely new programming interface with unique characteristics such as asynchronous I/O
Asynchronous I/O
Asynchronous I/O, or non-blocking I/O, is a form of input/output processing that permits other processing to continue before the transmission has finished....
that uses IRPs and event callbacks to enhance performance. TDI
Transport Dispatch Interface
The Transport Driver Interface or TDI is the protocol understood by the upper edge of the Transport layer of the Microsoft Windows kernel network stack.Transport Providers are implementations of network protocols such as TCP/IP, NetBIOS, and AppleTalk....
is supported in Windows Vista for backward compatibility.
Windows Vista includes a specialized QoS API called qWave (Quality Windows Audio/Video Experience), which is a pre-configured Quality of Service module for time dependent multimedia data, such as audio or video streams. qWave uses different packet priority schemes for real-time flows (such as multimedia packets) and best-effort flows (such as file downloads or e-mails) to ensure that real time data gets as little delays as possible, while providing a high quality channel for other data packets.
Windows Filtering Platform
Windows Filtering Platform
Windows Filtering Platform is a set of system services and an application programming interface introduced with Windows Vista that allows applications to tie into the packet processing and filtering pipeline of the new network stack. It provides features such as integrated communication and it can...
allows external applications to access and hook into the packet processing pipeline of the networking subsystem.
Cryptography
Windows Vista features an update to the Microsoft Crypto API known as Cryptography API: Next Generation (CNG). CNG is an extensible, user mode and kernel mode API that includes support for Elliptic curve cryptographyElliptic curve cryptography
Elliptic curve cryptography is an approach to public-key cryptography based on the algebraic structure of elliptic curves over finite fields. The use of elliptic curves in cryptography was suggested independently by Neal Koblitz and Victor S...
and a number of newer algorithms that are part of the National Security Agency
National Security Agency
The National Security Agency/Central Security Service is a cryptologic intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the collection and analysis of foreign communications and foreign signals intelligence, as well as protecting U.S...
(NSA) Suite B. It also integrates with the smart card
Smart card
A smart card, chip card, or integrated circuit card , is any pocket-sized card with embedded integrated circuits. A smart card or microprocessor cards contain volatile memory and microprocessor components. The card is made of plastic, generally polyvinyl chloride, but sometimes acrylonitrile...
subsystem by including a Base CSP
Cryptographic Service Provider
In Microsoft Windows, a Cryptographic Service Provider is a software library that implements the Microsoft CryptoAPI . CSPs implement encoding and decoding functions, which computer application programs may use, for example, to implement strong user authentication or for secure email. CSPs are...
module which encapsulates the smart card API so that developers do not have to write complex CSPs
Cryptographic Service Provider
In Microsoft Windows, a Cryptographic Service Provider is a software library that implements the Microsoft CryptoAPI . CSPs implement encoding and decoding functions, which computer application programs may use, for example, to implement strong user authentication or for secure email. CSPs are...
.
Other features and changes
- Support for UnicodeUnicodeUnicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems...
5.0
- A number of new fontsComputer fontA computer font is an electronic data file containing a set of glyphs, characters, or symbols such as dingbats. Although the term font first referred to a set of metal type sorts in one style and size, since the 1990s it is generally used to refer to a scalable set of digital shapes that may be...
:- Latin fonts: CalibriCalibriCalibri is a humanist sans-serif typeface family under the Microsoft ClearType Font Collection.In Microsoft Office 2007, it replaced Times New Roman as the default typeface in Word and replaced Arial as the default in PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, and WordPad...
, CambriaCambria (typeface)Cambria is part of the suite of fonts that comes with Microsoft Windows Vista, Windows 7, Microsoft Office 2007, Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac and Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac, specifically designed for on-screen reading and to be aesthetically pleasing when printed at small sizes. It is a...
, CandaraCandaraCandara is a humanist sans-serif typeface, which is bundled with Microsoft Windows Vista and Windows 7. Candara’s verticals show both entasis and ekstasis on opposite sides of stems, high-branching arcades in the lowercase, large apertures in all open forms, and unique ogee curves on diagonals.The...
, ConsolasConsolasConsolas is a monospaced typeface, designed by Lucas de Groot. It is a part of a new suite of fonts that take advantage of Microsoft's ClearType font rendering technology. It comes with Microsoft's Windows Vista, Windows 7, Microsoft Office 2007 and Microsoft Visual Studio 2010, and is available...
(monotype), ConstantiaConstantia (typeface)Constantia is part of the suite of typefaces that come with Microsoft Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Office 2007. The development began in 2003....
, and CorbelCorbel (typeface)Corbel is a sans-serif typeface designed by Jeremy Tankard for Microsoft and released in 2005. It is a part of the new suite of fonts that come with Microsoft Windows Vista developed to take advantage of ClearType to improve the reading experience in Windows Vista and Office 2007.Corbel is designed...
. Segoe UISegoe UISegoe is a Humanist typeface family that is best known for its usage by Microsoft. The company uses Segoe in their online and printed marketing materials, including recent logos for a number of products...
, previously used in Windows XP Media Center EditionWindows XP Media Center EditionWindows XP Media Center Edition is a version of the Windows XP operating system designed to serve as a home-entertainment hub. The last version, Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005, was released in October 2004.-Versions:...
, is also included, despite licensing issues with Linotype. - MeiryoMeiryois a Japanese sans-serif gothic typeface. Microsoft bundled Meiryo with Office Mac 2008 as part of the standard install, and it replaces MS Gothic as the default system font for Vista on Japanese systems....
, supporting the new and modified characters of the JIS X 0213:2004 standard - Non-Latin fonts: Microsoft JhengHeiMicrosoft JhengHeiMicrosoft JhengHei is a sans-serif typeface included in Windows Vista and later and Microsoft Office 2007. It follows the Standard Form of National Characters prescribed by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of China and is intended to be used in Traditional Chinese language environments...
(Chinese Traditional), Microsoft YaHeiMicrosoft YaHeiMicrosoft YaHei is a sans-serif gothic typeface created by Founder Electronics and Monotype under commission from Microsoft. Hinting for the font was undertaken by Monotype Imaging....
(Chinese Simplified), Majalla UI (Arabic), Gisha (Hebrew), Leelawadee (Thai) and Malgun Gothic (Korean). - Support for AdobeAdobe SystemsAdobe Systems Incorporated is an American computer software company founded in 1982 and headquartered in San Jose, California, United States...
CFF/Type2 fonts, which provides support for contextual and discretionary ligaturesLigature (typography)In writing and typography, a ligature occurs where two or more graphemes are joined as a single glyph. Ligatures usually replace consecutive characters sharing common components and are part of a more general class of glyphs called "contextual forms", where the specific shape of a letter depends on...
.
- Latin fonts: Calibri
- When accessing files with the ANSIAnsiAnsi is a village in Kaarma Parish, Saare County, on the island of Saaremaa, Estonia....
character set, if the total path length is more than the maximum allowed 260 characters, Windows Vista automatically uses the alternate short names (which has a 8.3 limit) to shorten the total path length. In UnicodeUnicodeUnicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems...
mode, this is not done as the maximum allowed length is 32,000. - The long "Documents and Settings" folder is now just "Users", although a symbolic link called "Documents and Settings" is kept for compatibility. The paths of several special folders under the user profile have changed.
- New support for infraredInfraredInfrared light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength longer than that of visible light, measured from the nominal edge of visible red light at 0.74 micrometres , and extending conventionally to 300 µm...
receivers and Bluetooth 2.0 wireless standards; devices supporting these can transfer files and sync data wirelessly to a Windows Vista computer with no additional software. - A non-administrator user can share only the folders under his user profile. In addition, all users have a Public folder which is shared, though an administrator can override this.
- Network Projection is used to detect and use network-connected projectors. It can be used to display a presentation, or share a presentation with the machine which hosts the projector. Users can do this over a network so multiple sources can be connected at different times without having to keep moving the sources or projectors around. The network projector can be connected to the network via wireless or cable (LAN) technology to make it even more flexible. Users can not only connect to the network projector remotely but can also remotely configure it.
- New monitor configuration APIs make it possible to adjust the monitor's display area, save and restore display settings, calibrate color and use vendor-specific monitor features. Overall too, Windows Vista is designed to be more resolution-independent than its predecessors, with a particular focus on higher resolutions and high DPIDots per inchDots per inch is a measure of spatial printing or video dot density, in particular the number of individual dots that can be placed in a line within the span of 1 inch . The DPI value tends to correlate with image resolution, but is related only indirectly.- DPI measurement in monitor...
displaysComputer displayA monitor or display is an electronic visual display for computers. The monitor comprises the display device, circuitry, and an enclosure...
http://blogs.msdn.com/greg_schechter/archive/2006/09/14/753467.aspx. Windows Presentation FoundationWindows Presentation FoundationDeveloped by Microsoft, the Windows Presentation Foundation is a computer-software graphical subsystem for rendering user interfaces in Windows-based applications. WPF, previously known as "Avalon", was initially released as part of .NET Framework 3.0. Rather than relying on the older GDI...
and WPF applications are fully resolution-independentResolution independenceIn computing, resolution independence is the concept that elements on a computer screen can be drawn at sizes independent from the pixel grid. This is done so that those with larger screens and more compact screens can still view the UI at the same size....
. Also, Transient Multimon Manager, a new feature that uses the monitor's EDID enables automatic detection, setup and proper configuration of additional or multiple displays as they are attached and removed, on the fly. The settings are saved on a per-display basis when possible, so that users can move among multiple displays with no manual configuration. - Windows Vista includes a WSDWeb Services for DevicesWeb Services for Devices or Web Services on Devices , is a Microsoft API to simplify programming connections to web service enabled devices, such as Printers, Scanners and File Shares. Such devices conform to the Devices Profile for Web Services...
-WIAWindows Image AcquisitionWindows Image Acquisition is a Microsoft driver model and application programming interface for Microsoft Windows Me and later Windows operating systems that enables graphics software to communicate with imaging hardware such as scanners, digital cameras and Digital Video-equipment...
class driverClass driverIn computing, a class driver is a type of hardware device driver that can operate a large number of different devices of a broadly similar type....
that enables all devices compliant with Microsoft's Web Services for Scanner (WS-Scan) protocol to work with WIA without any additional driver or software. - The Fax service and model are fully account-based. Fax-aware applications such as Windows Fax and ScanWindows Fax and ScanWindows Fax and Scan is an integrated faxing and scanning application included in some versions of the Windows Vista operating system and all versions of Windows 7. Windows XP includes Fax Console instead.-Features:...
can send multiple documents in a single fax submission. The Fax Service API generates TIFF files for each document and merges them into a single TIFF file. Users can right-click a document in Windows Explorer and select Send to Fax Recipient. - Windows Vista introduces the 'Assistance Platform' based on MAMLMicrosoft Assistance Markup LanguageMicrosoft Assistance Markup Language is an XML-based markup language developed by the Microsoft User Assistance Platform team to provide user assistance for the Microsoft Windows Vista operating system. It is somewhat of a departure from all previous types of user assistance for Windows operating...
. Help and Support is intended to be more meaningful and clear. Guided Help, or Active Content Wizard is an automated tutorial and self-help system available with the release of Windows Vista where a series of animated steps show users how to complete a particular task. It highlights only the options and the parts of screen that are relevant to the task and darkening the rest of the screen. A separate file format is used for ACW help files. The guided help SDK got replaced in Windows 7 with the Windows Troubleshooting Platform. - All standard text editing controls and all versions of the 'RichEdit' control now support the Text Services FrameworkText Services FrameworkThe Text Services Framework , is a COM framework and API in Windows XP and later Windows operating systems that supports advanced text input and text processing. The Text Services Framework is designed to offer advanced language and word processing features to applications...
. Also, all Tablet/Ink API applications and all HTML applications which use Internet Explorer's Trident layout engineTrident (layout engine)Trident is the name of the layout engine for the Microsoft Windows version of Internet Explorer.It was first introduced with the release of Internet Explorer version 4.0 in October 1997; it has been steadily upgraded and remains in use today...
support the Text Services Framework. - Windows Data Access Components (Windows DAC) replace MDAC 2.81Microsoft Data Access ComponentsMicrosoft Data Access Components is a framework of interrelated Microsoft technologies that allows programmers a uniform and comprehensive way of developing applications that can access almost any data store. Its components include: ActiveX Data Objects , OLE DB, and Open Database Connectivity...
which shipped with Windows XP Service Pack 2. - DFS Replication, the successor to File Replication ServiceFile Replication ServiceFile Replication Service is a Microsoft Windows Server service for distributing shared files and Group Policy Objects. It replaced the Lan Manager Replication service , and has been partially replaced by Distributed File System Replication...
, is a state-based replication engine for file replication among DFS sharesDistributed File System (Microsoft)Distributed File System is a set of client and server services that allow an organization using Microsoft Windows servers to organize many distributed SMB file shares into a distributed file system...
, which supports replication scheduling and bandwidth throttling. It uses Remote Differential Compression to detect and replicate only the change to files, rather than replicating entire files, if changed. DFS-R is also included with Windows Server 2003 R2. - As with Windows XP Professional x64 EditionWindows XP Professional x64 EditionMicrosoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition released on April 25, 2005 is an edition of Windows XP for x86-64 personal computers. It is designed to use the expanded 64-bit memory address space provided by the x86-64 architecture....
, in Windows Vista x64, old 16-bit Windows programs are not supported. If 16-bit software needs to be run in 64-bit Windows Vista, virtualization can be used for running a 32-bit operating system.