Introduction

The long-anticipated successor to Windows XP is just now making its debut to the world. Windows Vista has spent the last five years in development and has undergone many feature additions, deletions, and changes. Vista features a heavily altered core, and to many users, it will look and feel entirely different. The fact is that Vista is still built on the now mature and robust Windows NT kernel. Vista is intended to improve reliability, security, and manageability. It also was designed to provide an improved user experience.

The reliability factor has long been an issue to most Windows users, and as sys admins we all have stories of failed systems and frequent BSODs. As sys admins we also understand that a truly effective operating system (OS) doesn t need to be rebooted, or rebuilt on a regular basis; an effective OS provides a great user experience and wide application support, as well as a stable base on which to run those applications. The Windows NT kernel and its iterations, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows 2003, have focused on improving the reliability of the OS with each release and with each service pack. Windows Vista again takes a much-needed step forward in reliability Microsoft has built the code for Vista on top of Windows Server 2003 Service Pack (SP) 1. This design not only helps with reliability but also brings with it all the security improvements brought about by the Windows 2003 Server line of operating systems.

The recent focus...