There are 35+ "Vista Wish" posts for July 2007, but this site may fail to display them all, so here are permalinks to these.  All attempt to offer solutions beyond complaints and motivations for attention.

Imperatives
All licensees should get fully-functional DVDs - OEM crippleware must die
Interactive file system repair - "Kill, bury, deny" just is not good enough

Bug fixes
NTFS.SYS crash locks out almost all tools - only BING and some DOS tools work
Safe Boot Alternate Shell is editable - unprotected, ?ambiguous user context
Activation false-positives - bug-hunt, tools and documentation needed
Ambiguity when properties are overlaid - meta-bug class, three examples given
Shell folder namespace duplication - happens easily, messy and risky to clean up
WinPE's Convert silently does nothing - leaves as FAT32; Vista image runs, but...
Folder views; remembered vs. content-selected - fixing which wins, better control
Shadow copy; 4 bugs/wishes - XP vs. Vista, hidden user data, copy bug, no control

Ease of Use
Save Settings Everywhere - breaking the tech/user skills barrier
Window Resize Everywhere - use the Win3.x feature set, Luke
One Button Safety - on-the-fly opt-in to reduced rights and safer UI
Usage Scenario Themes - more than just "eye candy"

Safety and security
Windows Explorer Safe List View - (pre-)selectable safer and faster UI
Safe option when discovering new storage - reduce malware and corruption risks
Block SMTP from non-designated code - best chance to kill spam transmission
Safer ADS handling - kill this dangerous hidden code opportunity
Safer file type handling - a major "safety gap" between expectation and risk

Bad defaults
Auto-restart on system errors - especially pointless before boot completes
RPC failures should not be hardwired to restart PC - UI control is greyed out

New features
User controlled New Account prototype - else account feature may be unusable
Dead bloat should be relocatable - new shell folder for "must-keep, seldom-used"
Custom shell folders and behaviors - for power users and value-add setup
Voice and fax telephony - need to receive both types of messages

Enhancements
Less per-item overhead for shell file operations - rich or slow; (pre-)choose
Pre-empt actions for shell file operations - helps mitigate slow bulk file operations
Clearer logging of ChkDsk and AutoChk - discoverability of crucial information
SFP input from ChkDsk, AutoChk, antivirus - catch more code corruption
Per-application folder redirection - taming bad application's hard-coded data paths
Defrag needs a UI and documentation - watching the man behind the curtain

WinPE as maintenance OS
Design review for better safety on sick PCs - changing the "PE" mindset
RunScanner functionality needed - transparent redirection to installation's registry
Some useful tools don't work - and a single fix may help all of them to work
64-bit hosting of 32-bit programs - broaden the maintenance toolset for Vista64
32-bit hosting of 16-bit programs - some useful "DOS" antivirus scanners out there

I'm glad I had reason to snap these into focus, and hope they may make a difference.

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