I'd Like Your Comments on Windows Vista

My pc is 10 y/o, still running Windows 98; I see a new pc in my future. (would you believe I can't reboot this one anymore---I have to manually unplug it to reboot!) Anyway, I've heard about all the problems with the Windows Vista system. My best friend bought a new pc when Vista first came out and ended up wiping her hard drive and installing Windows XP instead. The sales people at Best Buy tell me "the problems have been worked out." Yeah, well, as you can see I don't buy a computer very often and I don't want a bunch of problems when I finally break down and replace this old beast I'm using now. I'd love your thoughts/comments/complaints if you're running Vista before I got shell out any money.
Thanks loads.

I'm using Vista-Ultimate. Very happy with it overall. A few minor IE browser lock-ups at first, but that issue seems resolved.

Coming from a completely computer illiterate person married to a computer nerd, not sure how much good my comments will do, but here you go!

My new laptop has Windows Vista. I didn't want it because I'm a creature of habit, but so far, it's working fine. It's ugly, I don't like the aesthetics of it, but functionally is fine. They rearranged some of the old, familiar things of Windows (basic things, like the way you change your desktop) which I am not happy with. Also, mine came with the new office suite, not sure what it's called, but I don't like that, either. Told you I'm a creature of habit! All the top bars and commands are different, and I could use the old ones in my sleep, so that's a HUGE pain. Plus, they are WAY slow (just Office, not Vista).

So really, I have found some annoyances, but I would be willing to get it again. If I had a choice- all the same specs but with XP instead of Vista- I'd probably get XP just because it's not so ugly. But, since you can't get a computer that is as "fancy", or high performance with XP now as you can Vista (so says hubby, but I don't know what he's basing that on), I would buy Vista again.

Now, from hubby's end, he likes Vista. He didn't when it first came out because it was buggy, but now adores it. His company (computer company) gave out some fancy version of Vista as a prize for something, and he fought hard and won it and was SO thrilled!

Hope you enjoy your new computer when you get it, no matter what system you use on it!

PS- I LOVE your butterfly-chasing kitty signature!!

We bought each of my kids laptops for school last summer. They all run on Vista Business, without any problems.

My younger son just laughs at some of the "changes" from XP. They took away the ability to adjust some of the settings (done automatically now) and he is predicting the next verion will allow you to adjust those settings.

I bought a new laptop last year and already everything had Vista on it. I ran on Vista for a while but things kept slowing down. Once in a while, the computer would get so slow that it was unusable. Re-booting didn't help, I just had to wait (sometimes days) until the computer decided to act normally again

I have since switched to Ubuntu Linux and my computer hasn't slowed down since. Ubuntu is a lot easier than most other versions of Linux but it's still different from Windows, so you need a bit of time to get used to it.

To be fair, my version of Vista was probably one of the first one to hit the market and they might have fixed it since, I don't know. What I do know is that it's a very big operating system that will slow down your computer. So your new computer might not end up being much faster than your old one.

As my laptop carked it two months ago, FH bought me a new laptop with vista, I guess it is the latest version. I like it so far, it works fast for me, and i havent had any bad things about it except for the fact, I need a new registration key for: excel, microsoft word, outlook anything related to office.

That is the only thing im peed about, although if i did upgraded it to Vista business i wouldnt have such trouble?

I have Vista home.

Vista should be ok. I think most of the gripes have been from extremely literate people used to XP and how stable it was compared to things like Windows ME.

I think since you're moving from Win 98, you might want to make sure you have a day or two to play around and see how it works.

I haven't really used Vista, but I know I'll be upgraded at some point in the future.

I didn't want it because I'm a creature of habit

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Obviously, I am, too. I mean, a 10 y/o computer?! All I know about Vista is that my girlfriend had a fairly new printer and it wasn't compatible; neither was her digital camera.
I'm computer illiterate, too, so the idea of getting a new machine and not knowing what's going on with it is a little scary. For the past couple of days I've been trying to figure out how to get things out of my old pc and save them for the one I'll be getting someday. Don't have a cd burner on my old machine, so am downloading lots of genealogy stuff onto floppies. 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.
I probably don't have much choice as to which version of Windows I get unless I have a computer built to my specs (like I know anything about it), so I imagine I'll have to get used to Vista.
Thanks for all the responses; at least I know other people are using it and not ripping their hair out.

PS- I LOVE your butterfly-chasing kitty signature!!

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Thank you kindly

Personally, I wouldn't recommend Vista to anyone. IMO, it's the worst operating system ever developed. The only reason I haven't downgraded back to XP is because right now I have about 550 gigabytes of files and applications on my computer and if I downgrade, I have to completely erase the hard drive. My computer is basically state of the art, but since it's running Vista, my 7 year old computer, which is using Windows ME, runs infinitely better.

I'll give you a short list of the problems I've had with Vista.

My computer crashed 37 times while trying to open the start menu.

Since Vista takes up so much RAM, if I ever open more that 3 big programs, at least one of them crashes.

A lot of programs developed before Vista, don't work with Vista.

The new Windows Firewall is terrible. It's too overprotective. It will protect your computer from most things but with some programs, you can't tell the firewall to ignore them. So every time you open it, you have to click either "cancel" or "allow". It's not a really big problem, but after the first 30 minutes with Vista, it becomes a nuisance.

Opening the task manager has become part of my daily routine so i can restart the Explorer.exe application after it crashes. For those of you who don't know what that is, it is basically the foundation for everything you do on the computer. When the Explorer application crashes, all you have left showing is your desktop picture and your cursor. Everything else (including icons and the task bar) is closed.

Other than that, it's mostly a lot of little annoyances that just make your day frustrating.

Originally Posted by TigerOnTheProwl

The only reason I haven't downgraded back to XP is because right now I have about 550 gigabytes of files and applications on my computer and if I downgrade, I have to completely erase the hard drive. My computer is basically state of the art, but since it's running Vista, my 7 year old computer, which is using Windows ME, runs infinitely better.

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You never partitioned that HD? And if not, why don't you just get another HD, copy everything (yes, I know how time consuming that is - but you could have worse to deal with then two HDs that you know are working perfectly. ) If you buy another you'll have even more space, or it could be used as an external backup.

And running Vista on a 7 year old comp sounds like a form of torture....


I have to agree about not recommending it. At least XP has been out long enough that most of the major problems have been dealt with and there's more likely to be drivers. If you get a decent computer, you can always upgrade the OS later. At the very least, on your specs, get a gig or more of ram so that will be possible - or add more ram later.
If you're after a desktop, try looking at sites for custom set ups (a lot of these sites sell parts too - not Dell or anythingy like that). They usually have a basic package that you can cstomize - extra hard drive, extra rom drives, floppy drive, how much ram, what OS, etc. They build and test, though not always install the OS.

...I'm with marie-p though. I hate XP, you couldn't pay me to put Vista on my pc, and when I get my new parts in I'm considering just switching to a nice linux distro -though all my friends gripe about ubuntu so that probably won't be a likely choice. If I do stay with windows for the things I want (Japanese support), then Explorer is going.

TigerOnTheProwl - If you're going to stick with Vista, I suggest you check into alternative file managers and shells. You can save some resources that way and have something more reliable then Explorer.

Originally Posted by strange_wings

You never partitioned that HD? And if not, why don't you just get another HD, copy everything (yes, I know how time consuming that is - but you could have worse to deal with then two HDs that you know are working perfectly.

) If you buy another you'll have even more space, or it could be used as an external backup.

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Yeah I've been looking for an external HD but so far, the biggest one I've found is 300 GBs. So I'd either have to buy 2 of those (which are quite expensive) or one of those and then burn a bunch of data DVDs. Either way it looks like it will both cost a lot and take a lot of time. Maybe I'll be able to wait long enough until USB 3.0 comes out. Since it is supposed to be able to transfer 4.8GBits (600 megabytes) per second it will be really fast.

Originally Posted by strange_wings

And running Vista on a 7 year old comp sounds like a form of torture....

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Oh no my 7 year old comp is still running ME. It would barely have enough RAM to use Vista. And since I already have a new comp, there's no point in upgrading my old one.

Originally Posted by strange_wings

...I'm with marie-p though. I hate XP, you couldn't pay me to put Vista on my pc, and when I get my new parts in I'm considering just switching to a nice linux distro -though all my friends gripe about ubuntu so that probably won't be a likely choice. If I do stay with windows for the things I want (Japanese support), then Explorer is going.

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Yeah I'm tempted to switch to either Linux or Mac. Either one is better than Vista.

Originally Posted by TigerOnTheProwl

Yeah I've been looking for an external HD but so far, the biggest one I've found is 300 GBs. So I'd either have to buy 2 of those (which are quite expensive) or one of those and then burn a bunch of data DVDs.

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What do you mean the largest you've found is 300gbs? There are 750gbs SATA drives out. Get the hard drive of your choice, buy an external enclosure, put it in = external hard drive. Often cheaper than it would be to buy one already put together in a retail box (off a store shelf). If that sounds too difficult, look on sites that sell both and see if they offer the option of putting the hard drive in the enclosure for you. Check newegg and pricewatch, for example, and read the store reviews before buying anything.

As for the old pc running ME, upgrade it to win2k. That's a lot better then ME and was what I've been running on this 8 year old computer.

I don't have the same problem as Tiger on the Prowl, I often have more than three programs open on my new computer with Vista, including photoshop and it is a memory hog. (How much RAM do you have?)

I will admit that had I had the choice and not needed such a quick replacement, I would have kept XP for longer - as said above some of the changes made in Vista are annoying but now I have tweaked the settings a little and know where they have moved stuff it isn't so bad.

It does hate my digital camera, but since my computer has a card reader built in it isn't that much of a big deal to take the card out of the camera and put it in the computer instead.



I bought a 1TB USB/Firewire external drive for $240 CDN from our local Tiger Direct store, they have smaller ones at a much more reasonable price too - but I didn't even look at anything smaller than 500GB.

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.

I bought a new computor 4 months ago it has Windows Vista. I have had no problems.

I'll give you my opinion from another slant. I work in Information Technology and spend a lot of time with the architectural teams that do technology planning for the company. These are the people that do the industry research on what are the best products and where the industry is going.

They looked long and hard at Vista and came to the conclusion that it is not something we will adopt in our company because of its very low acceptance by the public. If it doesn't sell, Microsoft is not going to spend a lot of money keeping it updated. You don't want to put money into a technology that the company isn't going to keep current. It may be a great product right now, but our bet is that it is going to be obsolete in the not distant future.

But realize that any assessment like this is somewhat like looking into a crystal ball.

Originally Posted by Momofmany

But realize that any assessment like this is somewhat like looking into a crystal ball.

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But an interesting one all the same.

I had Vista on my laptop and had no problems. I really liked it as well until i dropped it causing the hard drive to be completly damaged

I've had a new hard drive installed, but the guy who fixed it didn't have Vista so i've got Windows xp back on.

I had to think of this thread today. I was at a teachers' meeting, and the subject of Vista came up. Just about all the teachers want to go back to XP, because they find Vista "too helpful", i.e., annoying.

I keep hearing that, Tricia. Makes me ever more determined to hang on to XP as long as I possibly can -- I'm perfectly capable of making my own decisions and I don't LIKE MicroSoft's "helpfulness" one bit.