Network and Sharing center
If you are a hands-on kind of person where it comes to networking, Microsoft has something for you too. All network settings are now grouped under a new location namely the network and sharing center. Here you can not only do the standard TCP/IP settings but can also set options for network discovery, file sharing, public folder sharing, password protected sharing and media sharing. This is probably the most comprehensive setting center, we have seen outside Linux. Virtually every network setting you can think of is present here.

When you combine the new network profiles, with the network and sharing center, well Microsoft is to be commended for making its networking easier and more secure. Please note there are certain other aspects of network we are not mentioning here, such as Remote Desktop Connection which we will be exploring in our feature on Windows Vista Business editions.

Media Center
In the beginning of our review, we have already spoken on how TV and digital media have converged to the desktop level. This had led to Microsoft to introducing Windows Media Center 2005 edition, which enables the PC to become an entertainment hub merging all your digital media, TV and gaming under a single interface. Windows Media Center 2005 was a run-away hit selling millions of copies and giving PC manufacturers a brand new market i.e. HTPCs which are made on powerful processors, slim chassis and pack in tons of storage.

With Vista, Microsoft has decided to do away with a separate Media Center edition, choosing to merge right into the Windows Vista Premium editions namely Home Premium and Vista Ultimate. Like before the media center application runs full-screen. It can be controlled either with a dedicated remote control via a HTPC or a standard keyboard-mouse. It acts as the front-end for your digital media such as your music, videos, photos and DVD playback. Windows Media Center also has support for TV tuners which not only allow you to watch Live TV but allow you to record your favorite show. It also offers advanced options such as Time scaling. This term is what manufacturers popularly refer to as pausing live television. Using this feature you can pause a TV channel and resume it at a later instance. What happens basically is that from the time you have paused the TV, the live feed of the show is being recorded in the background to your HDD. When you resume the TV, it will pick up from where you left off.

The UI of the media center application under Vista is a WIP. The new version adds support for widescreen displays and utilizes a new screen organizational method of displaying its windows contents. Unlike the previous version, the menus and content now scroll horizontally from left to right instead of up and down. The menu overall looks more polished and is very responsive thanks to Vista’s graphical upgrades. The speedy response and well designed interface of the new UI is a welcome change keeping in mind that a lot of PC manufacturers like Lenovo here have started making their own interfaces. These interfaces as compared to Media Center lag a lot and look like they have been designed by people who were asleep when they were conceiving the design.

We will review the full impact of the changes in an upcoming feature when we will assemble a new HTPC for under Rs 50,000.