When the new Windows Vista operating system came out, it had its share of complaints and problem points that seem to annoy a lot of its users. Of course every new software product, especially one as big as an operating system, can have its shares of flaws and glitches in the initial stages. Here are some ways to fix some of Vista's most annoying problem areas.

One-Way Firewall

Previous Windows operating systems use a flawed firewall feature that blocks only incoming data and downloads but fail to filter and prevent outbound information from being sent from the PC. This can be pretty serious especially if you never dreamed of having your computer manipulated into sending out personal and private information such as credit card numbers or performing mail spamming.

The release of Vista is said to take care of these firewall concerns. But it seems that something important has been overlooked. The new Vista features a firewall that can monitor and block outbound traffic, but this feature is turned off by default when the operating system is installed. And worse, the designers may have overlooked placing this feature somewhere users can easily find. And it is not located in the Windows Firewall Settings dialog box.

One way to fix this is to actually look for this firewall feature and turn it on. From the toolbar, click Start and then type in "firewall" in the box. Once a menu appears, select "Windows Firewall with Advanced Security". Click on the "Windows firewall properties". Look for the "Outbound Connections" menu on the dialog box and then select "Block" on the first three tabs.

Programs and Features

In the new Vista, the "Add and Remove Programs" feature of previous Windows operating systems have been renamed as "Programs and Features". So far, that is the only change made into it. The same feature can be used to uninstall programs not being used.

But the problem, as with past Windows operating systems, seems that the uninstall feature does not clean up everything that a certain program has installed into the PC. It is like garbage left behind. The only solution for this would be to download a separate uninstall software application more able to clean out everything that an uninstalled program has saved on the PC's hard disk.