I'd Like Your Comments on Windows Vista

I just got a new laptop a couple months ago through my BIL who has his own IT business. He wiped Vista off the computer and loaded Windows XP for me before I even got the computer from him so I'm no help to you.

Originally Posted by Yosemite

I just got a new laptop a couple months ago through my BIL who has his own IT business. He wiped Vista off the computer and loaded Windows XP for me before I even got the computer from him so I'm no help to you.

Click to expand...

Hmmm...you may not be able to comment first hand, Linda, but it seems to me your BIL has just commented through you.

Originally Posted by rapunzel47

Hmmm...you may not be able to comment first hand, Linda, but it seems to me your BIL has just commented through you.

Click to expand...

Good point - I hadn't thought of it that way. He's a very bright and innovative young man so I just trust whatever he says. He's the one that has made some bio-diesel and has been running his older Mercedes on it for the past 5+ years.

The biggest gripe among the teachers (which may only apply to the German version, as that's what we use) is that the automatic updates are installed right after you boot up. It's so annoying when you have an entire class at their computers, and have to wait 10 minutes or so until everybody's computer is online at the right site(s). That was the case with Windows 2000, too. XP waits until you want to turn off the computer(s), and then installs the updates.

We did a little poll, and we all use XP at home or on personal notebooks. Several teachers have new notebooks, and have replaced Vista with XP.

It sounds to me as if I'd better try to get XP when & if I replace my old beast. You've all been very helpful, and I appreciate the input. Thanks.

That may be difficult to do as Microsoft has deemed new sales of XP to stop on 6/30. http://www.microsoft.com/windows/pro...xp/future.mspx

Originally Posted by libby74

The only problem is, I'll have to find someone to turn the floppies into cds, cause I'm pretty sure new pcs don't have A drives anymore.

Click to expand...

you can buy an external floppy drive that plugs into a USB port. i have one so i could transfer files from my old Mac Performa to my newer iMac... & now to my new Macbook.

Originally Posted by mews2much

I have Vista on my Sony and like it. Ie messes up no matter system I am using. I prefer my Mac because I never have problems with it.

Click to expand...

we have XP on the PCs at school... but, overall, i much prefer the Mac's OS. doesn't "assume" it knows what you want - instead, it asks you. now, you pay for that - comparatively, i could've gotten a laptop for probably around 1/2 of what i paid, maybe even less.
but i have 2 older Macs that are still running everything i ask them to. they're just internet inept - not up to speed w/how fast everything is nowadays. but for stand-alones, to play games, whatever - they work fine. one is currently in my classroom at school for the kids to play educational games on, & i'll be taking the iMac in next year for the same thing.
i also really, really dislike the so-called "intuitive help" that MS offers. i'd turn it off my work computer if i knew how to. from what little i've worked on Vista, that sort of thing is more intrusive than it is in XP.

That may be difficult to do as Microsoft has deemed new sales of XP to stop on 6/30.

Click to expand...

Wow, do I have good timing! I was at Wal-Mart Sunday morning and came across e-machines, with XP, for $298. I debated with myself for 10 minutes then finally asked a sales person to put one in my cart for me. (don't laugh at the e-machine brand.....that's what my 10 y/o beast is!)
Now on to the task of removing info from the poor old thing and checking into high speed hook-up (yeah, I still use dial-up )
Thanks again for all the input; you all really made this decision a lot easier for me.

Originally Posted by libby74

Now on to the task of removing info from the poor old thing and checking into high speed hook-up (yeah, I still use dial-up

)

Click to expand...

Depending on how much you know about computers and hardware, open up the case and just remove your old harddrive. Open up your new one (yes, this may void your warranty, but most computers have problems after the warranty is already gone anyways), and plug it into the second plug on the ide cable - provided that your rom and hard drive is on separate cables and you have more than one ide hookup. If not, you can unplug the rom drive for a bit and plug it back in when you're done. Look on the hard drive itself for a jumper diagram. Very simple.
Just let your computers cool a bit first or you might burn yourself on the hard drives.
If you did everything right you'll see the second drive and be able to copy from it.

And if you aren't that comfortable with handling hardware - I urge you to learn! It saves money when you can fix it yourself and do your own upgrades.

My first computer that wasn't a family computer was an e-machine and I never had a problem with it like I did with other brand name computers so no laughing here!

I have vista and i like it

Depending on how much you know about computers and hardware, open up the case and just remove your old harddrive.

Click to expand...

You lost me right there! Did I mention that I know nothing about computers? Thanks for the advice, but I don't keep much info on the hard drive anyway---basically just my genealogy software.

Originally Posted by strange_wings

And if you aren't that comfortable with handling hardware - I urge you to learn! It saves money when you can fix it yourself and do your own upgrades.

Click to expand...

I would like to learn but don't know where to start.
Do you know of a site that might be of help to a novice?

Originally Posted by xocats

I would like to learn but don't know where to start.
Do you know of a site that might be of help to a novice?

Click to expand...

I don't know of a good site, sorry. I learned a lot years ago from a channel that we used to have called TechTV. The show Screen Savers was informative and often very funny. ...too bad Comcast sold it to G4, almost everyone was fired, and now it's a channel full of mindless gaming garbage (like how to cheat...).

The rest I just learn from diving in + using a search engine to look things up when I'm stuck. My backup being friends who know more than I do - I don't do programing of any kind for example If you want to learn hardware lookup up things like "how to build a pc" or "building pc + beginner", look up each part listed if you still don't understand. Don't be afraid of opening up your pc's case (understand that I mean desktops here, not laptops) - in fact, if you've owned it for a few months I suggest that you do. Computers can get a lot of dust (and cat hair) in them that can cause parts to overheat.
For software, look up the problem as you go. Tech forums are generally a good place to get a lot of information as well.

Things that always help. Get stuff out of your start up that doesn't need to be there. Know what's running, what should be in your processes and what shouldn't be - easy way to spot a virus or trojan running. If you're in XP, turn off or set unnecessary services to manual start - look it up.

Originally Posted by strange_wings

Don't be afraid of opening up your pc's case (understand that I mean desktops here, not laptops) - in fact, if you've owned it for a few months I suggest that you do. Computers can get a lot of dust (and cat hair) in them that can cause parts to overheat.

Click to expand...

Last week I open my computer case for the first time in over 2 years and got a fur storm.
It is amazing how much cat fur and dust can accumulate insite the case.

Thanks for the tips.

Well, this is after-the-fact, but I just noticed this thread and I thought that I would add my experiences with Vista:

I am in IT also, and the two main computers that I have at home both have Vista Home Premium. One of them was purchased in February last year, right after Vista came out, and the other was purchased last November.

Most of Vista's "helpful" features can be turned off or set to lesser levels of helpfulness, things can be forced into permission, and lots of settings for colors, navigation, and setup can be modified. I have had absolutely ZERO issues with Vista, once I got the settings modified to my liking. I have had no compatibility issues - every program that I want to run will work with Vista. My printer is fine, my camera is fine, my scanner is fine - everything! I can even run Diablo 2 on my Vista PC.

I have mine set to prompt me before shutting down to install updates, instead of when I boot. I think that the Windows Vista desktop is attractive, particularly when you modify the colors, the transparency, and the fades. Maybe I will take a screenshot of some desktops sometime.

Anyway, I like Vista and I would not trade it for XP. I have more than enough RAM and processing power and it works like a charm. My computer has never frozen, and only starts to slow down after being on for 3-5 days.

So there's my opinion!

Originally Posted by zorana_dragonky

My computer has never frozen, and only starts to slow down after being on for 3-5 days.

Click to expand...

IMO, that's ridiculous. If there's nothing physically wrong with your computer it should handle being on non stop for 3-5 months with no slow down.

I have found with slow downs after a few days it is usually that programmes are not shut down properly leaving processes running in the background

Originally Posted by strange_wings

IMO, that's ridiculous. If there's nothing physically wrong with your computer it should handle being on non stop for 3-5 months with no slow down.

Click to expand...

It's not at all ridiculous. it's mostly dependant on what applications are running.

The O/S can be as stable as possible, but the stability of your computer is only as good as the weakest program on your PC.

There's a plethora of crappy, lazy and incompetent programmers out there. usually the problems you'll find are on smaller, non-mainstream applications and the issue is memory leaks. Reboots will resolve that. Resident memory is usually the problem. once you load your RAM up and your PC is using it all it has to use the pagefile on your system. Meaning instead of putting data into ram which is instant access, it has to store it on your hard drive, which takes an eternity compared to using it in RAM.

As for recommending Vista, absolutely. Most of the nay-sayers come from one of two categories.

1. They are trying to run a new O/S on an old system with insufficient hardware, or outdated components.

There's no reason to put vista on an old PC. it was written with the current level of hardware out there. Most people will tell you that it uses too much RAM. it does use a lot, but remember, it uses RAM more like Linux does. Just because it shows 'in use' doesn't mean it's actually used. It can be alocated. Linux will take 100% of your RAM after it's been running awhile. it just uses what it needs. There's no sense in having any spare ram floating around, the system might as well take it and allocate it as needed.

So if you want vista, spend a few hundred bucks and buy a new PC. you can get a damn file PC right now from Dell even at Walmart with a 4 processer (single CPU quad core) Intel for less than 900 bucks and that includes a 19 or 20 inch monitor.

2. They're heavy into games.

Most of the gaming bugs are being worked out, but if I was a serious gamer like I was years ago, I'd stick to XP right now.

Additional groups

I. using Vista 32. There is NO sense in upgrading to Vista 32. That's the main reason to upgrade is to get into a 64 bit environment. The ONLY reason to upgrade from XP to Vista 32 would be to see the pretty colors and animations (which are very nice actually).

II. Followers. This covers a very large portion of users. They really don't know what they're talking about, but to live like sheep they do what they see other people doing. It's normal. A bit naive but normal. A lot of times the people that know the least about something are by far the ones screaming the loudest about it


So, if you have a pretty current machine and want it to look nice, Vista 32 is there. But remember, it's not going to out perform XP. It's just going to look nicer.

For those that complain about RAM, it's SO cheap right now there's almost no excuse not to upgrade yours. I recommend the following:

Vista 32 - minimum of 2GB. For best performance, use 4. You'll only really get 3.xx depending on the chipset, motherboard etc, but anything over 2GB in 32 bit vista is great! Don't go over 4, Vista 32 can't use any more.

Vista 63 - Minimum of 2GB but I would really recommend at least 4. Upgrading from 2 to 4 GB of RAM, even good ram, is less than 140 bucks right now. I have EPP RAM which is expensive and it only cost me 110 to upgrade to an additional 2GB.

Originally Posted by fastnoc

It's not at all ridiculous. it's mostly dependant on what applications are running.

Click to expand...

Maybe if you're running 95. You should only have restart if a major change has taken place (or if you must, after installing something) - in fact that's sort of the point with any of the unix-like OS's. Could you imagine if servers had t be restart every 3-5 days? We'd have no internet.

And I do agree - if you're running poorly written drivers, poorly written apps, and using a rushed out OS - of course there's going to be problems.