List of features removed in Windows Vista

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Windows Vista
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While Windows Vista contains many new features, a number of older technologies, obsolete capabilities and certain programs that were a part of Windows XP are no longer present or changed, resulting in the removal of certain functionality. The following is a list of features which were present in Windows XP but which have been removed in Windows Vista.

Internal changes and application changes

  • Starting with Windows Vista, all Windows applications including GDI and GDI+ applications run in the new Compositing window manager, Desktop Window Manager. The GDI render path is redirected through DWM; however GDI is not hardware-accelerated.[1] But, due to the nature of desktop composition (internal management of moving bitmaps and transparency and anti-aliasing of GDI+ being handled at the DWM core), operations like window moves and resizes can be faster or more responsive because underlying content need not be re-rendered.[2]
  • Since Windows Vista features a rewritten audio stack and does not inherit the Hardware Abstraction Layer for audio that was present under prior versions of Windows, there will be no hardware acceleration of DirectSound and DirectSound3D APIs. DirectSound is emulated entirely in software. As a result, hardware acceleration and 3D spatialization utilizing DirectSound3D is no longer supported. OpenAL is the only hardware accelerated path for 3D positional audio.
  • In Windows XP, essentially, audio would be "broadcast" to all the audio endpoints at once. However, the new audio engine in Windows Vista changes this behaviour. Basically, audio can only be sent to the specific endpoint that the system has set by default, or which the user has configured via the Control Panel setting. Although this new audio behavior provides more flexibility and separate Digital Signal Processing (DSP) capabilities, it is limiting in cases where audio has to be streamed locally or across the network to multiple devices (analog to one and digital to another). [3]
  • Although it is possible to customize the action Windows will take when the hardware Power button is pressed, it is no longer possible to set power options to ask the user every time what action to take upon pressing it. Therefore, selecting a different power action in each case is not possible. [4]
  • Installing Windows Vista on a volume with a FAT32 file system is no longer supported. Windows Vista can only be installed on an NTFS volume. [5] Reading from and writing to FAT and FAT32 volumes is still supported.
  • SerialKeys, an accessibility feature for augmentative communicative devices is no longer supported. [10]
  • Direct3D Retained Mode (D3DRM) has been removed entirely. DirectPlay Voice and DirectPlay's NAT Helper have been removed. [11] Some DirectInput functionality has been removed as well. [12] DirectInput and DirectPlay have been deprecated.
  • In the Windows Vista version of the Backup application, it is not possible to specify what files and folders to back up and what files and folders are to be excluded. Users can only select document categories to back up. Files from a specific path or over the network also cannot be backed up due to this reason. Backup also does not present a list of files that will be backed up. Also, Encrypting File System (EFS) files are skipped over and not backed up. [14] [15]
  • In the Windows Vista implementation of EFS, apparently there is no longer support for the WebDAV protocol. In Windows XP, encrypted files copied from or to WebDAV shares would remain encrypted "on the wire" (which contrasts with the decryption that occurs when copying from or to SMB aka CIFS shares). In Windows Vista, encrypted files copied from or to WebDAV shares would be decrypted "on the wire". This feature was deprecated in favour of "client-side encryption", planned for Windows Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008.
  • The Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) does not support all DOS video modes and therefore DOS-based programs and the command prompt cannot run in full screen mode. [16]
  • The logon screen does not show the number of running programs or unread email messages, when using Fast User Switching.

Features removed from the Windows Shell

  • Menus cannot be set to slide anymore. Only the fade effect is available.
  • The taskbar cannot be dragged to the bottom of the screen to hide it manually.
  • The user interface for advanced file type functionality (such as manually defining a new file extension, defining/editing custom secondary actions for file types, showing extensions only for specific file types, or customizing the icon for file types) has been removed. Windows Vista-compatible applications are expected to use the new Default Programs API which allows per-user file type associations for applications. [17]
  • Some functions [18] and name exports [19] have been removed from shell32.dll, as a consequence winfile.exe no longer works. [20]

Features removed or changed in Windows Explorer

  • The Toolbar button in Explorer to go up one folder from the current folder. This is now accomplished by selecting a folder in the breadcrumbs bar or by pressing together Alt + Up keys.
  • The ability to customize the standard toolbar's layout and buttons.
  • Ability to add a password to a zip file (compressed folder).
  • The Common Tasks pane (renamed 'Favorite Links') and the Details pane can only be removed through the 'Organize' button.
  • Filmstrip view is replaced by the icon view feature which supports multiple sizes, and a new full-screen slideshow mode.
  • The ability to view and edit metadata stored in a file's secondary stream through the "Summary" tab of the file's "Property" dialog.[21]
  • Web Publishing Wizard.
  • Support for enabling a folder for web sharing with Internet Information Services via the Windows Explorer interface.
  • Desktop Cleanup Wizard
  • The "Computer Description" field is no longer shown on the Explorer view of a workgroup

Features removed from Internet Explorer 7

  • The ability to customize the toolbar layout is removed. The position of the address bar and the 'command bar' cannot be readjusted.
  • Internet Explorer is no longer integrated with Windows Explorer. This can also be seen in Internet Explorer 7 on Windows XP and Windows Server 2003.
  • Several old and little-used technologies have been removed from Internet Explorer: DirectAnimation support, XBM images, CDF, telnet and view-source protocol handlers and 40-bit SSL ciphers.
  • Image toolbar has been removed. Most of the commands that were on this floating toolbar—Save Picture, E-mail Picture, Set as Background, etc—are now in the context menu that appears when an image is right-clicked.
  • Offline Favorites, a feature that automatically synchronized and stored web pages for later perusal when not online, was removed in favor of using RSS feeds.[22]
  • The maximum size for the "Temporary Internet Files" folder (downloaded files cache) is limited to 1024 MB in Internet Explorer 7. This is also true for versions of Windows other than Windows Vista.

Removed or changed networking functionality & programs

  • A single icon in the notification area (system tray) represents network connectivity through all network adapters, whether wired or wireless and for all different types of connections. It is not possible to set individual connection status icons on the taskbar.
  • Changing the KeepRasConnections registry key to remain connected after logging off from a RAS client is not supported in Windows Vista. [23]
  • The Direct cable connection feature is not supported in Windows Vista. [24]
  • Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) and POP3 servers have been removed from the IIS component in Windows Vista. [25] [13]
  • The Gopher protocol, an old protocol now considered obsolete, is no longer supported.
  • Rarely used protocols such as Bandwidth Allocation Protocol and X.25 support for SLIP have been removed. SLIP connections are automatically upgraded to use PPP.
  • The SPAP, EAP-MD5-CHAP, and MS-CHAP v1 protocols are no longer supported for PPP-based connections, in favor of MS-CHAP v2. [26]
  • Unlike Outlook Express, Windows Mail has no support for HTTP mail via the WebDAV protocol (used by older Hotmail accounts and Yahoo! Mail); the addition of Windows Live Mail is likely to be required for similar functionality and there is a link to this from the Welcome Center. Also, unlike Outlook Express, Windows Mail does not allow users to switch Identities or manage multiple identities within one running instance of the program. Instead, identities are now tied to the user account and to create additional users or identities, a new user account has to be created. [27]
  • NWLink IPX/SPX/NetBIOS Compatible Transport Protocol.
  • rexec, rsh, finger, and some other command-line tools primarily used to communicate with UNIX-based systems have been removed from the default installation. The Subsystem for Unix-based applications (SUA) (previously known as Windows Services for Unix) still provides them as an optional component.
  • Windows Messenger has been removed in favor of a link to Windows Live Messenger on the Welcome Center.
  • The RTC Client API 1.3 is not included in Windows Vista.[28]
  • Support for built-in H.323 Voice Over IP (VOIP) capabilities has been removed. NetMeeting, H.323 and IPConf TSPs, and HyperTerminal all are no longer included. Windows Meeting Space is the replacement for NetMeeting, however, features like microphone support, and ability to set up audio or video conferences, are now removed. [29]
  • Due to unpopularity, IP over 1394 (FireWire networking) support has been removed.[30]
  • Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM).
  • Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) routing protocol component in Routing and Remote Access.
  • Basic firewall in Routing and Remote Access (replaced with Windows Firewall).
  • Static IP filter APIs for Routing and Remote Access (replaced with Windows Filtering Platform APIs).
  • Services for Macintosh, which provided file and print sharing via the now deprecated AppleTalk protocol, has been removed.
  • FrontPage Server Extensions has been dropped and is being replaced with Windows SharePoint Services client support.
  • NetDDE, a technology that allows applications using the DDE transport to transparently exchange data over a network, is no longer supported. [31]
  • The NT LAN Manager Security Support Provider service has been removed in favor of the newer Kerberos authentication protocol.[13]

Features removed from other programs

  • The graphical representation and progress indicator of the defragmentation process have been removed from Windows Disk Defragmenter. [32] It is also not possible in the RTM release to manually specify which drives to defragment from the GUI without using the command line defrag.exe utility, but Microsoft has stated that Service Pack 1 will include this capability.[33]
  • Sound Recorder in Windows Vista can no longer open audio files. Moreover, it cannot save in lossless (uncompressed) WAV format when run without using any switches; instead, it saves in lossy 96 kbit/s WMA format. Only the version of Sound Recorder from the N editions of Windows Vista saves audio in WAV format by default. [34] Also, all the basic audio processing features such as format conversion, sample rate conversion, adding echo, reversing the audio, changing volume and playback speed, splitting, inserting and mixing audio have been removed, as has the graphical viewing of the sound wave spectrum. A solution is to copy the program's executable file to Vista from previous versions (95 to XP).
  • Version 6.4 of Windows Media Player (mplayer2.exe) is no longer included. It was also dropped previously from Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 but was present in other Windows XP editions.
  • Support for reading Microsoft Office Word documents (*.DOC) has been removed from WordPad.[35] Microsoft recommends the freely downloadable Word Viewer for viewing these documents.

Removed legacy programs

  • Clipbook Viewer is not included.
  • Object Packager, a legacy tool for packaging non-OLE objects and embedding/linking them inside OLE objects, is not included.
  • Built-in support for *.HLP help format has been removed to discourage software developers from using the obsolete format and encourage use of newer help formats. When starting an application which uses the .hlp format, Windows will display a warning saying .hlp is not supported any more. A downloadable viewer for viewing .hlp files is available from the Microsoft Download Center. [36] [37]
  • Context-sensitive help is not available in Windows Vista as it was dependent on WinHelp.

Other minor changes

  • The Startup Hardware Profiles feature in System Properties has been removed.
  • Links to the Backgammon, Hearts, Reversi, Spades and Checkers games on MSN Gaming Zone have been removed.
  • The Pinball game has been removed.
  • The Windows Classic theme colors (Brick, Eggplant, Rainy Day, Wheat, Pumpkin, etc.) have been removed.

See also

Notes and references

  1. ^ GDI is not hardware accelerated in Windows Vista
  2. ^ WPF - Graphics under the hood
  3. ^ Output of analog and digital audio in Windows Vista and Media Center
  4. ^ "Ask me what to do" no longer a configurable option in each case when user presses power button
  5. ^ Windows Vista can only be installed on an NTFS volume
  6. ^ Migrating from WIA to WPD
  7. ^ Windows Movie Maker no longer supports analog capture or webcam capture
  8. ^ Windows Media DRM FAQs
  9. ^ See Microsoft Windows and the Plug and Play Framework Architecture for a discussion on ISA PnP technology.
  10. ^ Serial Keys support removed.
  11. ^ DirectX FAQs
  12. ^ DirectInput ConfigureDevices in Windows Vista
  13. ^ a b c "Deprecated components in Windows Vista". MSDN. Microsoft.
  14. ^ Windows Vista Backup Chat
  15. ^ EFS and Windows Vista Backup
  16. ^ Some 16-bit DOS-based Programs and the Command Prompt will not run in full-screen mode in Windows Vista
  17. ^ File types tab removed
  18. ^ Shell32 Functions
  19. ^ Shell32 Named Exports
  20. ^ File Manager doesn't run in Vista
  21. ^ MSDN: Property System dead link
  22. ^ "Release Notes for Internet Explorer 7". Microsoft. Retrieved 2007-03-08.
  23. ^ How to keep RAS connections active after logging off in Windows versions prior to Windows Vista
  24. ^ Direct incoming connections over serial, infrared or parallel ports are not supported in Windows Vista
  25. ^ IIS7 Vista and SMTP server. Where is it?
  26. ^ MS-CHAPv1 support dropped
  27. ^ E-mail identities in Windows Mail
  28. ^ RTC Client APIs and Windows Vista
  29. ^ Migrating from NetMeeting
  30. ^ "Discontinued Support for IP over 1394". Microsoft Hardware Database Compatibility. Microsoft. December 8 2004. Retrieved 2006-04-24. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
  31. ^ NetDDE is not present in Windows Vista
  32. ^ Windows Vista Defrag: Dumbed-Down Interface
  33. ^ "Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Beta White Paper". Microsoft. 2007-08-28. Retrieved 2007-09-01.
  34. ^ Sound Recorder in Windows Vista cannot open existing files
  35. ^ Windows Watch: No Word support in Wordpad
  36. ^ Download WinHelp Viewer for Windows Vista
  37. ^ WinHelp and Windows Vista
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