I've looked at it. Turns out that I already have this program. It's called Start --> Control Panel. This program is very.....simpleton. All the stuff like "I use my computer mostly for games", as a means of tweaking system settings is just silly.

It does not encourage user knowledge at all. It's mostly just duplicating a lot of stuff already built into Vista to make it "easy" to find stuff, when the users should really be LEARNING where those features are and adapting to the new OS.

I also really dislike when companies think they know how I want things "skinned", and believe they are better at UI design than Microsoft. The whole program kinda smells like Norton-Utilities-for-Windows-type-crap-ware.

If you really want to make a good product, use STANDARD USER CONTROLS AND INTERFACES THAT MATCH THE (already unfamiliar) NEW VISTA UI. Make is someplace between TweakUI and X-SetupPro....then you'll have yourself a winner.

The online database of process information is a nice feature but there are many programs and websites that do this already.

  

I may come across as a company hack but I disagree with you Jeremy.

Most users aren't power users and don't need to be.  They need their PCs to work.  They want to play a game or send an email or chat with Granny.  The want their PCs to work like a toaster.    I stopped using x-setup because it honestly became too much work to keep up with it.    I'm old, I'd like something easier once in a while.  I'd like to be able to hook my Grandmother up with TweakVista and tell her to pick the "Save memory" profile and have her experience improve.

I think that your argument is coming from the perspective that you had to work really hard to get the knowledge you have and it's not fair that someone else can get it for free.  I feel the same way sometimes.     I think now though that people shouldn't have to know how their car works to drive it.  They should know its functions and it's maintenance, and just drive.  It's the same with PCs.  If TweakVista can improve performance without having to pop the hood and dig around the engine, all the better for us.

As far as the look and feel; standard UI has a lot of value but so does distinguishing your app in some way. Good feedback though.

Things I like so far?  The process database is a good concept.  Not having to run all over the net to find what a good answer has value. I like the news blurbs.  I like the specific recommendations on load.

I'm not too sure that disabling the UAC should be highest on the recommendation list.
Yes, the UAC is annoying, I've disabled it myself. But that's because I'm a poweruser and play around with system settings and such all the time.
But for someone who only uses the computer for internet and office apps, then they won't be affected that much by the UAC.

I agree.  The feature I'd like to see is a way to exclude SOME apps from UAC.  *THAT* would rock.

It's not about that at all. People (generally) know enough about their cars to drive them in relative safety. With computers that is not the case. So many users go on blindly, never even knowing the basics....and that is dangerous to all of us.

Programs like this only create an environment where 3 years down the line, people still dont know where to go to view a process list, check their battery level, or even know where to look for what programs are starting up.

This isnt like a lot of tweak programs where it's really advanced functions, at lot of it is just parts of the control panel re-painted. I don't expect people to learn the registry key they need to edit to hide a drive letter, or change cleartype settings. I prefer a GUI for that kind of stuff too! But watering down the simple stuff, and allowing users to change settings without educating them on what it's actually doing is not a good idea.

I wouldn't say that selecting what services to run is easy. So many rely on each other so it's nice to have an app offer predefined setups.

As long as tools like this don't claim themselves as the ultimate 'security tool' and in reality switch off essential security tasks like making windows update unusable (best example is XP'AntiSpy' which I have seen on many systems bloated with malware afterwards) I am fine with them. As for all tools like these You have to know what You do.

That's OK. They can use TweakVista for all of those.



You should find there are quite a lot of tooltips scattered around the program, most notably on the more informative areas of the Power, Assessment and Services tabs. Ultimately, though, it's not our job to educate users, as much as they might be better computer users if they did spend time learning the whys and hows. It's to help them solve their problems without having to be "educated". That's what they're paying for - they're trading money against time.

Learning how to use Windows better is not good enough, because Windows Vista itself is sorely lacking in many areas. For example, have you tried clicking "Change startup programs" in Control Panel? It doesn't actually let you do it! This is where you or I would mutter "Vista!" and learn about regedit. However, it is where the target users of TweakVista would give up. And that is why the program is useful for them - because they can easily see "hey, here's the things that are running on startup, perhaps if I untick them things will improve". Often they're just trying to get rid of an annoying piece of software that came with some old hardware and does nothing useful for them but break occasionally.

Where Control Panel offers the functionality the user is likely to be looking for, or more advanced functionality that it would be useless to duplicate, we tend to link to it. We cannot replace everything, and we're not trying to. We are trying to hit a few specific targets where we think there is a need for it.

When I installed Vista, on both my system, I didn't activate it until I had made sure the installation worked. So I go to the control panel and click on the activate link... it does nothing! nix! nada! nill! bugger all!
So I have to wait until the remonder pops up the the system notification area.