Some more about Windows Vista(Functions given)

System utilities



While the desktop utility category discussed above includes tools that are visual in nature and affect the day-to-day use of the PC, system utilities are generally more technical in nature and used only occasionally. That said, some of these tools can be lifesavers, which makes me wonder, yet again, why users of other Vista versions can't get their hands on Ultimate Extras.

Windows BitLocker Drive Preparation Tool



As I noted in my epic review of Windows Vista, Windows BitLocker--which provides full-disk drive encryption and security functionality--is a hugely useful feature. There's just one problem: You have to manually configure your hard drive's partitions at install time or you can't use it. Why Microsoft doesn't include an automatic disk partitioning feature with Vista for this purpose is beyond me.



Well, it turns out that Microsoft agrees. The Windows BitLocker Drive Preparation Tool is the exact utility I was asking for: It provides a way to automatically resize your existing system partition and add a new partition of the exact size required by BitLocker. And it will do so without requiring you to wipe out your Vista install and start over from scratch. Halleluiah.



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Secure Online Key Backup



A second system utility, Secure Online Key Backup (SOKB), also provides additional useful functionality for BitLocker. More specifically, it lets you backup BitLocker's recovery password--as well as your recovery certificate for the Encrypting File System, or EFS, if you're using that feature as well--at a secure Microsoft Web site called Digital Locker.



This is basic backup stuff, essentially, but given the importance of backing up these passwords and certificates--if you need them and lose them, you might not be able to access data stored on a drive that's been encrypted with either BitLocker or EFS--this is a handy feature. It also makes BitLocker more approachable to individuals.



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Multimedia



In keeping with the fun theme, the Ultimate Extras also include at least one utility that will appeal to digital media enthusiasts. And this one looks like a doozy.

GroupShot



Revealed during the Bill Gates keynote at the 2007 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), GroupShot is, perhaps, the ultimate ... ah, Ultimate Extra. It's got everything an Extra should have: Backed by Microsoft Research technologies, GroupShot is both fun and useful.



So what is it? Let's see how Microsoft's Justin Hutchinson described GroupShot during the Gates keynote, during which he demonstrated the application. "Now my problem with photos is not necessarily technology, it's not that I can edit them, and organize them, or share them, I can't take a picture to save my life," he said. "I'm always cutting people's heads off, or I'm catching people, like in this case, with their eyes closed. So here I have two pictures. In this one her eyes are closed, in this one his eyes are closed. What I want to do is put both of these pictures together into one good picture. So GroupShot is going to let me do that. I simply select here, take the good part of this picture, I go back here and take the good part of this picture. Now GroupShot didn't fix these pictures, it created the picture I wish I would have taken. Pretty cool."



It's worth nothing that, at this point, the audience broke out into one of the few instances of spontaneous and real applause that occurred during the entire keynote. GroupShot, you see, just looks excellent.



By the way, you can download GroupShot now from Microsoft Research, whether you have Windows Vista or not.



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Final thoughts



At this early stage, the Windows Ultimate Extras aren't exactly a slam dunk: I don't see anything absolutely essential here, though the BitLocker Drive Preparation Tool is certainly useful and GroupShot is, of course, a winner. We'll see if anything more compelling turns up over time. Until then, I'll withhold a final score.