Here are key changes in Office, Windows

Some of the major changes in Windows Vista and Office 2007:

Vista:

Improved graphics. Desktop windows and icons are visually richer, an attempt by Microsoft to make computer use more intuitive and free-flowing. A desktop “sidebar” grabs data from the Internet to deliver customizable information at a glance.

Better search. Finding things on the PC has been a chore in Windows without an add-on program from the likes of Google. Vista makes search faster, more prominent and powerful, letting you hunt for desktop files and data in applications at once.

Stronger security. Windows traditionally lets programs running on the desktop access information stored all over the PC. Malicious hackers said “Thank you very much.” Vista essentially seals off the core of the operating system, known as the kernel, theoretically reducing the damage a rogue program can cause. Vista includes some basic antivirus protections out of the box. It also lets corporate computer managers disable a PC’s USB port, preventing workers from slipping data out on portable drives.

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Smarter use of resources. Vista can take advantage of portable flash drives to put frequently used applications in a sort of holding pattern there, making it much quicker to launch those programs and putting less strain on the juice-sucking hard drive.

Office:

A new user interface. Microsoft scrapped long-used menus in the Office programs, regrouping them in a “ribbon” atop the screen that is designed to make it easier to find all the software’s capabilities.

Improved methods of collaboration. Word makes it smoother to circulate documents to colleagues for review. Excel enables spreadsheets to be shared in a format that is interactive like traditional Excel files but hides secret, often valuable formulas used to calculate data. Outlook has new ways for incorporating scheduling and to-do lists in e-mail.

More visual stimulation. Excel, for example, offers new ways of color-coding data for at-a-glance presentations. E-mails and other items in Outlook can be tagged with an array of colors to better categorize and manage information.

A new file format. Office documents now will be saved in the XML format, which will make it easier to search their contents and transfer them to other applications.