The big news for IT pros is the new set of deployment tools and technologies that Microsoft has created for Windows Vista. In the past, deploying Windows to multiple desktops was a time-consuming and complex chore that require a hodgepodge of tools from not only Microsoft, but usually a few third-party vendors as well.

• Modularized Windows Vista begins with a core OS that contains 95% of the functionality, and all the other editions are created by adding the appropriate modules to that core. This includes not only OS features such as Media Player and games, but also language packs.

• Windows Imaging (WIM) This is a new file-based imaging file format that enables you to create images for deployment. WIM files can contain images for multiple SKUs, so you can deploy any edition of Vista, for any computer type, in any language, customized in any way you want, using just a single file.

• System Image Manager This new GUI and command-line tool enables you to create a custom Vista deployment.

• XML answer file The customizations and settings created by Setup Manager are stored in a single XML file, usually called unattend.xml.

• XImage This command-line tool enables you to capture volume to image files, mount image files to folders for offline editing of the image, and perform other image-based tasks.

Support professionals always want a more stable Windows to make their lives easier. Vista innovations such as I/O Cancellation, Service Recovery, and the Startup Repair Tool should help keep users up and running, and the extra security offered by User Account Control, Windows Defender, and Windows Service Hardening should keep users out of trouble. However, it's also good to know that diagnostic tools such as the Reliability Monitor, Disk Diagnostics, and Network Diagnostics should ease tech support when problems crop up.

However, if there's one technology that has the potential to turn IT engineers into corporate stars, it's probably Transactional NTFS and the previous versions of files that it creates. There probably isn't a support desk pro who hasn't been yelled at because an employee has lost all of his or her work due to a program crash. By restoring a recent version of that work with just a few mouse clicks, there will be kudos and glory for all.