Windows Ultimate Extras

Windows Ultimate Extras are a family of optional Windows Vista components intended to improve the experience of users using the Ultimate SKU of the operating system.

History
Windows Ultimate Extras were introduced in Windows Vista. They were announced as a set of addons planned to delight consumers who purchased the Ultimate edition of the operating system, which was the most expensive. They are also often referred as a replacement of Microsoft Plus!, a product family with extra features for consumer Windows releases from Windows 95 to Windows XP. They were distributed through Windows Update, which would identify in this SKU as "Windows Update with Ultimate Extras", and a dedicated Control Panel applet was placed under it to describe Ultimate Extras as "cutting-edge programs, innovative services, and unique publications", and included two links to start downloading Extras from Windows Update and visit the official Ultimate Extras website. The Welcome Center and Start menu also included additional links to make the service more discoverable from them.

Criticism
Reactions to Windows Ultimate Extras were mixed. While Microsoft was praised for their inclusion as exclusive enhancements for those who got the most expensive edition of Vista, update delivery delays, lack of transparency in other Extras' development, and perceived lack of quality of those delivered were some of their most criticized aspects. In January 2007, Microsoft announced various Ultimate Extras, but only a few were finally delivered. When Vista's Service Pack 1 was released, the description in the Control Panel applet was changed from a list of benefits delivered with Extras to a single statement that mentioned they were intended to "extend Windows features or just make using your computer more fun", which was another reason for later criticizing as it was believed Microsoft had done this to avoid fulfilling previously announced expectations. It was also speculated that the development team in charge of the Ultimate Extras had been quietly disbanded.

Discontinuation and removal from Windows Update
With the release of Windows 7, Windows Ultimate Extras were discontinued, something that was already reflected since early builds of its development available in the Ultimate SKU where the Control Panel applet and Welcome Center entries were no longer present. When attempting to upgrade to Windows 7 from a copy of Windows Vista Ultimate with Ultimate Extras installed, Setup would generate a compatibility report mentioning about their discontinuation and that they would be removed during the upgrade.

Although other Vista Ultimate machines were still able to download and install released Extras from Windows Update for several more years, the ability to do this was removed with the discontinuation of the SHA-1 Windows Update endpoint in July 2020, meaning that Windows versions older than Windows 7 would no longer be able to download and install updates from the platform as usual, and searching for updates would now return an error code. However, a package of Vista's Premium Games, was uploaded to the Internet Archive on 11 November 2019, 8 months before the SHA-1 discontinuation, that also included Hold'Em and Tinker, which were released as Ultimate Extras, while the required files for all Extras were stored on a Windows Vista Update Repository that contains all updates for the OS in both architectures.

BitLocker Drive Preparation Tool
BitLocker Drive Preparation Tool is an application designed to prepare the computer's hard disk drive to be encrypted with BitLocker. It was one of the earliest Ultimate Extras to be released, starting its rollout in late January 2007 in order to coincide with the general availability of Windows Vista.

Unlike standard BitLocker Drive Encryption, this tool creates an  drive (referred to as "new active drive") from currently free space on the system drive and moves Windows boot files to it. However, this new active drive is mentioned to not be protected by standard BitLocker. Additionally, the tool scans the system drive and, if necessary, runs the Disk Defragmenter application to defragment and optimize it before moving the files.

Secure Online Key Backup
Secure Online Key Backup is a Control Panel applet designed to be a complement of both the standard BitLocker Drive Encryption system and the Drive Preparation Tool Extra. When released to Windows Update, it was coupled with the latter under a single download option named "BitLocker and EFS enhancements", although both Extras were distributed in their own cabinet files.

The applet provides options to create backups of BitLocker recovery passwords and EFS recovery certificates in the Windows Marketplace Digital Locker, allowing them to be retrieved from any other computer connected to the Internet whenever they are needed.

In August 2009, Digital Locker was shut down, rendering both options in the applet unusable. While the applet can still be installed from its respective cabinet file and display its content properly, the saving options now take to broken pages.

Hold'Em
Hold'Em is a poker card game developed by Mobicore for Microsoft similar to Texas hold'em. It was planned to be one of the inbox Premium Games in the Home Premium and Ultimate editions of Vista but was pulled from the final release set due to its gambling theme. Instead, it was distributed as an Ultimate Extra on 29 January 2007, one day before Vista's general release.

Unlike other Premium Games which are ESRB-rated as "E" (Everyone) in Games Explorer, Hold'Em has a rating of "T" (Teen) and is tagged with "Simulated Gambling". It is also mentioned that a Windows Experience Index of at least 2.0 is required for optimal performance.

Windows DreamScene
Windows DreamScene is a feature that allows videos and other animations to be displayed as desktop wallpapers. It was announced as a preview on 13 February 2007 and, after several months of testing, the final release was made available on 25 September. It installed two entries: one on the Desktop Background Control Panel named "Windows DreamScene Content" where multiple videos could be chosen to be displayed, and another in the desktop right click menu to play or pause the selected video.

Built-in DreamScene content was distributed in five cabinet files:

DreamScene relies on Desktop Window Manager and requires the Windows Aero theme to be in use before selecting a video. It also has a behavior in which, if the chosen video is playing, it stops when a window is maximized. If DreamScene is installed on a laptop and it starts running on battery power, the video will always stop, regardless of the status of the focused window. This is to reduce negative effects of the video always playing on the background in battery life.
 * The first file installs DreamScene to the operating system and includes a single video, which is an animated version of the default Vista wallpaper.
 * Files 2-4 are the DreamScene Content Packs 1, 3, and 4, which include a total of ten additional videos.
 * The fifth file contains the Content Pack Favorites, and consists of three more videos, the first of them being an animated version of the Start wallpaper.

Due to DreamScene's popularity, third-party applications were developed for subsequent Windows versions following the announcement of the Extras family discontinuation with the same functionality as the original.

Tinker
Tinker is a puzzle game developed by Fuel Industries for Microsoft, first released as an Ultimate Extra to Windows Update on 23 September 2008. It consists of a robot that users control to navigate through mazes with obstacles. Tinker contains eighty levels: sixty for gameplays and other twenty for the tutorial, but it also features a level editor where users can create their own maps and control the robot in them.

The game's playing field is a square board with a checkerboard pattern. Each level gives the robot a limited number of moves it can make before it runs out of energy, so the player must guide it to the goal marker, which is a swirling red and white circle reminiscent from a peppermint candy, before running out of moves. Any action the robot makes counts as a move, so players must carefully plan their actions through a stage so as not to waste moves. Players can replenish the robot's energy by collecting batteries and thus extend the possible number of moves they are allowed to make. Players can earn an achievement star for a level by completing the course on or under par for time, energy, and cog collection, should any cogs exist on that level. Six soundtracks stored within the game's files are also used by the game and are randomly played for each try on a level.

On 15 December 2009, Tinker was released to the Games for Windows – Live platform, becoming available to more Windows PCs running Windows XP, other Windows Vista editions. This version contains 160 levels including the tutorial and 15 Gamerscore achievements, but doesn't support the map editor from the Ultimate Extras release and requires a Windows Live ID.

Start and Strand wallpapers
Two wallpapers were also made available to Windows Vista Ultimate users, named Start and Strands. The first consists of a dark background with a large version of the Vista orb on the bottom right side with multiple white glares coming from it, and the second is based on the retail packaging design of Vista Ultimate CDs. Both wallpapers were released in standard and widescreen versions, though they weren't considered by Microsoft as Ultimate Extras.

Although many websites store both wallpapers nowadays, the original cabinets through which they were first distributed were not archived.

Sound schemes
Two sound schemes were made available on 22 April 2008, named Ultimate Extras Glass and Ultimate Extras Pearl. They are similar to the default Vista sound scheme and, unlike other Extras, they are installed through executables rather than cabinet files. An accompanying sound scheme for Tinker was also released on the same day as the game and is installed along with it.

Proposed extras
Additional extras were also proposed, including a podcast creation app, a game performance optimization utility, custom themes, exclusive access to online content and services, Windows Movie Maker effects and transitions, Windows DVD Maker templates, digital publications, and the Group Shot photo manipulation application developed by Microsoft Research, although they were never released. While a preview of GroupShot was once made available for download through the Microsoft Research website, it was taken down after some time with an official statement of "the beta period having expired".