In case you have your own experiences you would like to share, or have some additional tips and tricks, we invite you to post your ideas on our support forum, or share them with us via e-mail here.

Networking and Internet access problems

The network environment in Windows Vista was completely rewritten and includes several new protocols, making Vista quite a bit different than Windows XP from a network point of view, and is something interesting to study. One important difference is the Teredo protocol is included in Windows Vista and is enabled by default. Some technical information on this new protocol is available from Microsoft here. If you are experiencing problems connecting your network with Vista we suggest you review your network connections. You should be able to do this by clicking once on the network icon in the tray, choose Network and Sharing Center, and then click into the Manage Network Connections link when the window comes up. Often connection problems can be resolved by deleting your network connections and rebooting, allowing Vista to recognize them correctly. Make sure to note the technical information listed in the network connection dialog before deleting anything, in case you need it later.

The firewall in Windows Vista is much more powerful than it looks at first glance.  An interesting article on this subject can be found here. Keep in mind that when your firewall is running any program that needs to communicate over the Internet, such as browsers, FTP clients, installation programs and anti-spyware programs will require permission to gain access to the Internet when you run them. Technical information from Microsoft on how to turn your firewall on and off can be found here. Other information from Microsoft on the Windows Vista firewall can be found here.

General compatibility problems

If you are continually running into problems with your favorite applications or FS addons you can try running Windows Vista in Windows XP Compatibility Mode. To configure the compatibility mode for an application (.exe), right click the executable and click the Properties option, select the Compatibility tab and select the “Run This Program in Compatibility Mode option”. From the drop-down list, choose the operating system you ran before upgrading to Vista. If necessary, select the option to run the program as an administrator. Then click OK.

There is no definitive way to tell how Flight Simulator will run in XP Compatibility Mode on your system, but it is one option you have open to you.

Windows Vista Security

Many operating systems like Linux have operated under a security model where even administrative users don't get full access to certain features unless they provide an logon before performing any task that might harm the system. In Windows Vista, Microsoft is moving to this kind of security model. The feature is called User Account Protection (UAP) and it prevents even administrative users from performing potentially dangerous tasks without first providing security credentials, so that they don’t make a mistake that could compromise the software environment. This can, however, make even ordinary tasks cumbersome and frustrating. Therefore, you may need to give programs like installers and FS addon utilities permission to run the first time, where before it was simply a matter of running a file. Note that depending on your system settings you may need administrative privileges to give permission for programs to run.

Technical information from Microsoft on the Vista security system can be found here. 

Troubleshooting

If you have programs that simply won’t run on Windows Vista you should first make sure that the Windows login you are using has administrative privileges. If you do not have full privileges Windows may not allow you to permit the program to run. If your program runs but you encounter phantom or intermittent problems try disabling UAP and Windows Defender (built in Vista anti-spyware).

If problems still persist try disabling some of the services running in Windows Vista. Often software that is running within your software environment, even operating system software, can interfere with normal every day use. A good resource for how to do this can be found here. If you still encounter problems you will need to contact the software vendor. If you are having a general problem with many software titles you likely have a problem in your entire Windows setup. Note that you will run into more of these type of problems when running Vista in 64-bit mode.

We hope you have found this information useful. Again, we welcome your comments and suggestions.

The FSD design team.