Vista Utilities Makes Configuring Windows Vista Easier
Windows Vista is easily one of the most hated products that Microsoft has ever released. It is also the most bloated which means that it has the most features (or so Microsoft likes to call them) which nobody ever gets to use.
Now, contrary to what most people think, I actually believe that Microsoft must have given at least some thought to building all these supposedly great features into Windows Vista. Then, why is it that no one is using them?
I don’t know about the others, but I’ll tell you my reason. I don’t use half of these features because Microsoft has made them too damn hard to find! I find easier to configure and use my favorite Linux distribution than use Windows Vista.
But even I have to use Vista at times. It doesn’t matter that I can never make it work the way I want to, that the most useful tools are almost always hidden away in a menu thirty clicks away.
And that is the biggest reason why I really like Vista Utilities. It collects main Windows Vista features in one place.
Windows Vista Utilities is a free tool which provides the user with direct and easy access to all Windows Vista utilities and tools. That is what the description says and the software doesn’t disappoint.
The sidebar neatly categorizes the type of tools available under each button. Click on any button in the sidebar and you can access all the tools available under that category in the window pane.
As you can see, there are a ton of options and possibly every utility bundled with Windows Vista has a place in one of the categories. Here is a screenshot of showing contents of ‘Security’ category
Vista Utilities not only saves you time but also makes the Control Panel redundant, which has always been a mess anyway. I’ve always found the Control Panel difficult to navigate and have stopped using it altogether now.
Vista Utilities can be launched at startup and told to sit in the sidebar until needed. Once in the sidebar, a simple right-click brings up a menu giving you easy access to all the great tools, and saves the user the burden of switching applications.
I agree this isn’t one of those tools that you’ll use everyday, but it really does a good job of presenting all the options that a user has and you’ll be thankful that it’s there, the day you need to use it.
Are there any other must-have tools that you guys use to spice up your Vista experience? Share with us your favourite time-savers in the comments.
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Link wasnt working when I tried, Softpedia states its 32bit only! can anyone confirm? Thanks
When I download VistaUtilities, I get an Avast alert saying it contains a Trojan. (Win32-Agent-AAYR [Tri]).
What’s up with that?
Hi, Bob - it may be a false-positive. Prior to downloading VistaUtilities, I ran 2 system scans (NOD32 and MalwareBytes’ Anti-Malware), which found no problems. I downloaded the file, scanned the file itself, installed & opened VistaUtilities, and then ran the same 2 scans, and at no time did either find any problems.
If you’re concerned enough, you could contact the developer, and/or submit the file to Avast (if they allow that sort of thing).
I tested it as well, seems clean.
Also McAfee douns a trojan. See: http://us.mcafee.com/virusInfo/default.asp?id=description&virus_k=141693
I downloaded it again and it went through fine. Could it be the hosting server? I used the download link on the smartpcutilities.bravehost.com which downloads from spuupdateserver.fusedtree.com. Is this a relialable server? Could it be inserting trojans occasionally?
I downloaded the file from both the author’s site & from Softpedia, and ran local scans of each. Both NOD32 & Malwarebytes found no problems with either file.
I submitted each file to 2 different online multi-scan sites ( virusscan.jotti.org and virustotal.com ), and scanned each file. I found the exact same results for each of the two files at Jotti, and the exact same results for each of the two files at VirusTotal, and the MD5 is the same for each, so I think it’s safe to assume you’re getting the exact same file from each of the 2 download locations.
At Jotti, the results were mixed: Most scans found no problem, but others did (5/20). Again, though, it could be false-positives. (Screen shot of results: http://img354.imageshack.us/img354/4297/vistautilitiesscanbo6.png )
The VirusTotal results were mixed, too: 10/36 flagged the file. (Results page: http://www.virustotal.com/analisis/126ad8aef2a7cf2e6fe254c07ad99f68 )
HOWEVER, those 2 sites use some of the same malware scanners, but some of the same scanners had different results… On Jotti.org, Avast, AVG, and Panda found no problem, but on VirusTotal.com, Avast, AVG, and Panda found a problem.
I have a lot of confidence in NOD32 and MalwareBytes, so I’m not concerned. However, I’d be interested in what the author (or an independent party) has to say.
Scott, thanks a lot for the info. We have emailed the developer as well, let’s see if he can explain us this.
@scott: thanks for the info and trying out the software. I used avg and macafee on the utility and that cleared the way for me. Let’s see what the developer has to say on this. For now, it definitely looks like a false positive that you’re getting.
Hello,
My name is Ahmed Osama and I am the developer of Vista Utilities
Vista Utilities 1.2.2.47 is 100% CLEAN, which means it does not contain any form of malware, including spyware, viruses, trojans and backdoors.
Note: Some antivirus and antispyware programs flag … as being infected/malware, although the application is perfectly safe and does not pose a threat to your system. This is called a ‘false positive’. The term false positive is used when antivirus software wrongly classifies an innocuous ( inoffensive ) file as a virus. The incorrect detection may be due to heuristics or to an incorrect virus signature in a database. [Similar problems can occur with antitrojan or antispyware software.]
For more information go to this link
http://www.softpedia.com/progClean/Vista-Utilities-Clean-106849.html
Why Some antivirus and antispyware tell you that Vista Utilities contains trojans ?
During the installation process of Vista Utilities it copies Microsoft DOS Commands files to the MS DOS Commands directory, those files are:
VCompare.exe
VConvert.exe
VGetMAC.exe
VIcacls.exe
VIpconfig.exe
VMakecab.exe
VNbtstat.exe
VNet.exe
VNetstat.exe
VPing.exe
VProtection.exe
VRoute.exe
VTracert.exe
Vista Utilities uses those files as MS DOS utilities not as trojans, just open any of this files and a MS DOS window will open that contains some help about specific Microsoft DOS command.
Some antivirus and antispyware programs mark those files as trojans, but it’s truly false positive.
[THIS COMMENT WAS REMOVED BY ONE OF THE MODERATORS]
Reason: Irrelevant and Offensive
Even Kaspersky AV 2009 reports it as trojan.
Softpedia.com says it’s false positive
Now guys, any further information available? I use a free AV-Program so i can not use individual customer service of an AV-Company. Did someone get a comment of an antivirus company to these “false positives”.
@AllsoJack: The developer of Vista utilities, Ahmed Osama, has posted a comment explaining why AV software think this is a trojan. This is most definitely a false positive.