This is the second in a series of articles about Microsoft’s new operating system named Vista. The last article explored the features of the home basic edition of Vista while this article details of the home premium version of Vista. The next article in the series will look at the technical details, options and possible pitfalls to be considered before making the upgrade to Windows Vista.

Features of Windows Vista Home Premium:

Windows Flip and Flip 3D
Windows flip is a jazzed up version of the ALT-TAB command from earlier versions of windows. With Windows flip instead of viewing icons of open applications when hitting ALT-TAB thumbnails of open applications are displayed instead.

Flip 3D is initiated by selecting START-TAB which displays the open windows in a layered three-dimensional view. The open windows can then be navigated by using the arrow keys or the scroll wheel on a mouse.

Better Support for Laptops
Included in Vista is the Windows mobility center, which provides functionality to make managing mobile devices, such as laptops, easier than earlier versions of Windows.

Power Management
Windows Vista includes improved and simplified power management tools and utilities for managing mobile computing devices.

Power Plans
Part of the power management in Vista is the included default power plans that help define the power settings. The three default power plans include balanced, power saver and high performance. The balanced plan is configured to adjust the system so power saving and performance is balanced. The power saver plan helps save power by reducing system performance while the high performance plan maximizes system performance over power saving.

Windows Meeting Space
Windows Meeting Space allows collaboration between Vista users via a wired, wireless or ad-hoc wireless network. Through collaboration, users can work together and share files and presentations via a peer-to-peer network that is quick and easy to setup and configure.

Basic File Backup and Restore
File protection is included in Vista with the File Backup and Restore center. The entire backup procedure can be automated using a simple wizard, which makes protecting data a snap!

New Games!
There are three new fun and exciting games included in Windows Vista to make computing a little more fun and relaxing. The games include Chess Titans, Mahjong Titans and Inkball.

Purchase Windows Vista
This is the Home Premium Upgrade version that allows upgrades from Windows XP or Windows 2000.

MS Vista Home Premium Upgrade