Windows Vista:

Top features for accountants

Thomas G. Stephens, Jr., CPA, CITP

So your IT department gave you the go-ahead to upgrade to Windows Vista.  And now that the task is completed, you’re trying to determine – other than the nice new user interface – what it is about Vista that’s actually going to make you and your team more productive.  The short answer is “plenty”!

For accounting and finance professionals, Vista offers a large number of features designed to increase your productivity.   Though not intended to be a complete listing, some of the more significant features accounting and finance professionals are likely to utilize include: BitLocker drive encryption, Windows Defender, Windows Firewall, Internet Explorer 7, Instant Search, Meeting Center, ReadyBoost, Complete PC Backup and Restore, and Windows Fax and Scan.  Some of these features enhance security, some enhance performance, and some enhance overall productivity.  Regardless of how they are classified, all of these new features are sure to enhance productivity and increase the return on your investment in Vista.

Computers are often lost or stolen, placing confidential data residing on them at risk.  Without some form of protection, thieves use such data to steal identities, commit fraud, and, in general, wreak havoc on their victims. Compounding this problem is the fact that laptop computer usage continues to rise, thereby increasing the likelihood that a computer will be lost or stolen.

Vista’s Ultimate and Enterprise editions include BitLocker Drive Encryption, a tool that provides protection to data files and operating system files on a computer.  When BitLocker encrypts a volume, it protects data from unauthorized access in the event of a physical attack. Thus, if a computer is lost or stolen, BitLocker reduces the risk of compromised data.

Spyware represents a tremendous threat to all computer users.  When spyware infects a computer, it can compromise confidential information and reduce the overall performance of a computer to a point where the computer becomes almost unusable.  To combat this problem, Vista automatically installs and enables Windows Defender, an anti-spyware application designed to reduce the likelihood that spyware will infect your computer.  Windows Defender provides real-time protection against spyware by alerting users when spyware or potentially unwanted software attempts to install itself or run automatically on a computer.  Further, Windows Defender scans a computer on a scheduled basis and works with Windows Update to receive the latest definitions files automatically.

If you are thinking Windows Firewall is not new, you are right; it has been protecting computers for years and Windows XP Service Pack 2 enabled it by default.  However, Vista enhances Windows Firewall by expanding its ability to protect your computer from attack by a hacker or malicious software.  Two of the more significant enhancements include the ability to control outbound traffic and increased configuration options from the Microsoft Management Console (MMC).  Prior to Vista, the Windows Firewall blocked only inbound traffic to a computer and could not block outbound traffic.  Thus, the Windows Firewall was not useful in blocking traffic to sites that a company prohibited in its computer-security or acceptable-use policies.  With outbound-traffic monitoring, Windows firewall is a useful tool in enforcing a company’s security policy.  In addition, by accessing the Windows Firewall with Advanced Security settings in the MMC, users can obtain very granular control over specific settings in the Windows Firewall, including creating separate firewall profiles for different types of network connections.

The improvements made to Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) enhance both security and productivity.  For example, the new Tabbed Browsing feature is sure to increase productivity by allowing users to have multiple sites open and available for browsing simultaneously.  Coupled with Quick Tabs, users will be able to access and view web sites with efficiency not available previously in Internet Explorer.  On the security side, the Phishing Filter helps to protect users from web sites that “phish” for data.  In addition, IE7’s Protected Mode helps to protect users from inadvertently downloading and installing potentially malicious code from the web.

Many accounting and finance professionals have been using desktop search tools such as Copernic, Yahoo!, and Google to speed up the process of finding information stored on their computers.  Now Vista’s Search tool incorporates desktop search features directly into the operating system. Not only can users employ Search to find data files, but Search can launch applications as well.  Further, users can save Searches, enabling quick and easy future recall.

For accounting and finance professionals working in collaborative environments, Windows Meeting Space provides a powerful tool for sharing programs and applications in a peer-to-peer environment.  With Meeting Space, users can set up a meeting and invite others to connect to the meeting via a wireless network.  Once connected, meeting participants can share files, programs, and even peripheral devices such as network projectors. Further, because Meeting Space encrypts all communications, only authenticated and authorized users have the ability to see the shared data in the meeting. 

It is no secret that Vista operates best when there is plenty of random access memory (RAM) available.  In fact, at K2 Enterprises, we recommend a minimum of 1GB of available RAM and strongly suggest at least 2GB of available RAM to achieve best performance with Vista.  Windows ReadyBoost provides Vista users with a means of utilizing available storage space in external devices such as USB drives as a substitute for on-board RAM.  With ReadyBoost, when you connect a compatible device to the computer, some or all of that device’s memory may be used to supplement the amount of available RAM. Vista users – particularly those using Vista on laptops – who are constrained by their hardware as to how much RAM can be added to their systems will find that taking advantage of ReadyBoost will improve the overall speed and performance of the system.

Moving beyond traditional backups, Windows Complete PC Backup and Restore provides a utility that allows users to create a complete image of a hard disk.  This image includes copies of program files, computer settings, and data files.  Thus, in the event of a hard-disk failure, restoring the image with Complete PC Backup and Restore places the computer back into operation much more quickly than re-installing program files and then restoring data files from traditional backups.

With Windows Fax and Scan, users can scan documents, send faxes, receive faxes, and forward received faxes to other users – all directly from within Vista.  Fax and Scan replaces the Fax Console available in previous versions of Windows.  You can use Fax and Scan to work with either text-based documents or pictures. 

Vista’s long-awaited release to the public occurred on January 30 of this year.  Since that time, many accounting and finance professionals have been examining Microsoft’s newest operating system to determine what benefits an upgrade to Vista provides.  The nine features mentioned here are just the start; in addition, other features such as User Access Control, improved networking capabilities, the Mobility Center, and, yes, the Aero interface are sure to boost security and productivity while enhancing the overall computing experience.  Whether you have upgraded to Vista or not, be sure to check out the features described in this article to determine how you can become more productive with Microsoft’s newest operating system.