Just used Windows Vista for the first time... by deepgirl187

TALK STORY

Just used Windows Vista for the first time...

POSTED BY: DEEPGIRL187
UPDATED: Tuesday, September 4, 2007 11:18
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VIEWED: 3364
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Saturday, September 1, 2007 1:55 PM

...and throughly hated it. I couldn't even do simple things (not to mention legal) like listen to AOL Radio or play games on Yahoo!Games or Gamehouse.com. I'm offically of the opinion that Microsoft will get me to use Vista when they pry XP from my cold, dead fingers.

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"But I neeeeed tacos! I need them or I will explode! That happens to me sometimes."

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Saturday, September 1, 2007 2:07 PM

FINN MAC CUMHAL

First set it Windows XP theme. It'll take twice as long to figure it out if you have to learn a whole environment along with the new quirks of the OS. Then give yourself permissions on all the files that you commonly access, otherwise Vista won't let you exercise your admin privileges.

And finally, cringe if you don’t have a powerful system.

If you have XP, hold onto it, for a little while anyway.

Nihil est incertius vulgo, nihil obscurius voluntate hominum, nihil fallacius ratione tota comitiorum.

Nothing is more unpredictable than the mob, nothing more obscure than public opinion, nothing more deceptive than the whole political system.

-- Cicero

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Saturday, September 1, 2007 2:26 PM

SIMONWHO

It's so awful, isn't it? Microsoft forcing it to be sold with new systems is the biggest boost to Linux imaginable.

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Monday, September 3, 2007 3:29 AM

ROXYFREEFALL

Woman, you are completely off your nut.

I just got a new laptop recently and I thought, even with all the bad things that were said 'bout Vista, that I would try it anyways, I mean how bad could it be... it's the worst friggin' thing to deal with ever!! I tried to hook up my digital cam (the cam is brand new, btw) and it didn't recognize it. Even when I installed the software it didn't work properly. WTF?? I'm wicked sick of it asking me every 5 secs if I want to allow a program, ugh!! I'm also getting really annoyed that I can't find anything on it, it's extremely difficult to figure out where all the different programs and applications are. The thing that pretty much set me over the edge was the transfer from another computer on the network... you can't! I just wanted to get everything from my old laptop to my new and I ended up having to get a portable flashdrive and doing it that way. I've had it, it's driving me up a wall! I'm very happy I saved my XP disk cause it's getting loaded. I'm just extrememly annoyed that Microsoft would put out such utter crap. If it had a couple bugs ok fine, but this is crazy! *grumble, grumble, grumble*

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http://www.myspace.com/roxy_freefall
http://roxyfreefall.deviantart.com

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Monday, September 3, 2007 5:52 AM

WASHNWEAR

Morning, all! I feel your pain...at least in a metephorical, Clinton-esque way. I haven't been a PC user for a couple of years - and have NO EXPERIENCE OF VISTA whatsoever - but I dealt with XP and its quirks (apparently minor, compared to Vista) for several years...and Windows '98 before that (shudder)... Anyway, here are 3 links to a site that helped me iron out some of what was buggin' me in XP (these are specifically for Vista):

http://www.blackviper.com/Articles/OS/InstallVista/installvista1.htm

http://www.blackviper.com/WinVista/servicecfg.htm

http://www.blackviper.com/WinVista/supertweaks.htm

Administration/permissions issues, for example, are discussed. I followed a good deal of his advice on configuration and tweaking of XP - some of it helped, some of it I couldn't tell any obvious difference...but as far as I could tell none of it hurt or otherwise compromised XP's performance.

I am nobody's idea of a computer whiz, and I don't know for gospel fact that there isn't better advice available (googling "Vista tweaks", for instance, should yield I-don't-know-how-many alternatives), but in my limited experience this guy's legit and knows his stuff. I mean, it's the Black Viper, right? It's not like he calls himself the Half-Blood Prince or something...

"[Computers are] like having a compact, silicon version of Gary Busey on your desk –
you never know what's going to happen." – Bill Maher

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Monday, September 3, 2007 6:10 AM

EVILDINOSAUR

yea, vista's the biggest piece of crap ever, I'm keeping XP thank ya very much

"Haha, mine is an evil laugh."

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Monday, September 3, 2007 6:25 AM

FINN MAC CUMHAL

The single worst version of Windows of all time was Me, so I’ve been told. I, and I think most people, missed it, because it was so awful, unless you happened to buy a computer in that one year that it was released you probably never used it.

XP and 95, in spite of numerous criticisms, were actually pretty good operating systems (particularly after being patched), though they both had their problems, not the least of which was security issues. Security is one of those features about operating systems that you never know about, until it’s too late, as such most people don’t really appreciate the security necessary. This is probably why security has lagged behind other features such as functionality, performance and visual content. Both 95 and XP were security nightmares, which probably had a lot to do with the increase in viruses, identity theft and whatnot in the last 10 years. Vista actually goes a long way to correcting those problems, and finally makes Windows comparable to Unix/Linix systems in terms of security. So Vista might not turn out so bad, but wait until after the Service Pack is released to upgrade.

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Monday, September 3, 2007 6:39 AM

JRC

I've been using Mac OS X since it came out several years ago. OS 9 and X are completely different animals. OS X was essentially a beta back then, and there were some growing pains, unavailable drivers, compatibility problems with old software, but in a couple of years, most of these problems were taken care of. Apple still included OS 9 with all copies of X so that if we needed the old software, it was still there, running alongside X. In essence, using two operating systems on one computer at the same time. From what I understand of Vista (very little), it's not that much different from XP or NT. But it's still relatively new. So, growing pains are expected, but I've heard sooo many complaints from Windows users, even one guy saying he would never switch from XP. I would guess that Windows will, eventually, become more stable/user-friendly, eventually.

Everyone dies alone.

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Monday, September 3, 2007 6:45 AM

WASHNWEAR

Quote:
Originally posted by Finn mac Cumhal:
The single worst version of Windows of all time was Me, so I’ve been told. I, and I think most people, missed it, because it was so awful, unless you happened to buy a computer in that one year that it was released...

Yeah, I know that guy...he's still an out-patient at St. Mungo's...

It was all buggy like that when we got here!

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Monday, September 3, 2007 6:56 AM

FINN MAC CUMHAL

I think I hate Office 2007 far more then Windows Vista. I have four computers - two with XP the older version of Office and two with Vista and the new Office 2007. I need to figure out how I can contact Microsoft and get them to let me use my new Office 2007 license to install my Office XP on all my computers. I'm not sure how to do that, but as long as I own the license, what does it matter what version I install?

Anyway, I hate Office 2007.

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Monday, September 3, 2007 7:35 AM

CRUITHNE3753

Well I'm still on 2000 Pro. Can't even be arsed with XP.

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Monday, September 3, 2007 2:30 PM

STEGASAURUS

A word of caution to those who hate Vista to the point of downgrading their new systems to Windows XP: You can, and probably will void your warranty in regards to manufacturer support. They will not assist end users who have downgraded their operating systems until the original out-of-box OS has been reinstalled. That means that if you run into an issue (be it drivers or otherwise) they will require you to wipe your hard drive and reimage to Vista before they will assist.

And as a side note, Microsoft will only support Windows XP until about 2008 (2010 if you are a business/gov't entity).

Just a cautionary note, wanted to share.

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Monday, September 3, 2007 3:15 PM

SERGEANTX

Hmmm

I've been running Vista on both my laptop and desktop for a couple of months now with very little trouble. It's true that they've not taken pains to keep it as backwards compatible as in the past, but that's allowed theme to improve stuff. Anyway, I like it.

SergeantX

"Dream a little dream or you can live a little dream. I'd rather live it, cause dreamers always chase but never get it." Aesop Rock

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Monday, September 3, 2007 3:16 PM

NEWOLDBROWNCOAT

Ancient computer guru say: " You can always tell the pioneers-- they're the guys out in front of the burning cabin with the arrows thru their shirts."
Vista's been out for what, almost a year? gotta be some fixes, service packs, upgrades, patches, whatever out there. Gotta be a version 2 coming?

If not, fall back on the other ancient computer guru saying of wisdom: "Run what you got 'till the wheels fall off."

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Tuesday, September 4, 2007 5:19 AM

PDCHARLES

What happened? He see your face?

Once you get the UAC disabled, it isn't too bad. (WashnWear's third link above tells u how to disable that) This will get rid most of the nasty prompting for everything you do. Just be aware why it is there before you turn it off. After that, it is a matter of locating all the administrative functions. Most of the dialogs are the same it is just finding them. (Control panel, admin tools, etc., just takes poking around) You have to turn on "Network Discovery" to use mapped drives, see a network, etc.

Also, Vista, by default, hides the “run” option that was usually in the start bar. To enable it follow this:
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/enable-run-command-on-win
dows-vista-start-menu/

I had it early on to be the guinea pig for our dev shop. I had to install a hot fix a while ago to alleviate a UI problem with Explorer. Now, it seems the biggest issue I have is speed. Things like using windows explorer and getting to VPNs takes a while to load. Luckily, I haven’t had any trouble installing printers, software, or any external devices. Most of these troubles are a result of the UAC.

I know Dell makes you get Vista except for a limited number of laptop and desktop models where u can still get XP. (as of two weeks ago as a reseller) We are not allowing any of our clients upgrade to vista until the first SP is released. I would suggest the same for home users.

So, until the majority of industries I dev. and maintain software for go open source, I’ll plug away with Microsoft while the checks are still coming in.

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Tuesday, September 4, 2007 5:46 AM

HOBBLEIT

I hate Vista when I first got it. Now I'm starting to get used to it.

However I cannot get used to the new Microsoft Office programme. I hate it.

******************************

Now with letters after my name.
http://www.myspace.com/muddy_waters

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Tuesday, September 4, 2007 9:08 AM

CALIFORNIAKAYLEE

One of my projects this past weekend was to remove Vista from my new Dell laptop and replace it with XP. The major issue I ran into is that a lot of new machines that ship with Vista have a more advanced Serial ATA (SATA) harddrive than XP can recognize. So if you try to install XP without changing anything, you'll get an error along the lines of "it appears that you do not have a harddrive installed on this computer." There are a couple of ways to fix this, one really easy, and one more difficult but yields more speed in XP. I used this tutorial to figure out how to do the latter: http://www.davidreedonline.com/wordpress/2007/08/03/installing-windows
-xp-on-the-dell-inspiron-1420 (I do expect that Dell won't take my customer service calls now, but I don't really care -- I've built my last two or three desktop computers by hand, networked my house myself (no help from hubby, heh), and hacked my wireless router, so I'm fairly confident of being able to handle any issues with the XP install.)

I think I could have eventually gotten used to the UI of Vista, but ATM it's so incredibly slow, and there are very few drivers out for games and such. I read over the weekend that MS is going to be releasing a Service Pack for Vista early next year (along with SP3 for XP -- so much for not supporting it anymore), and that, along with being out for several years, might make Vista more usable. MS can say that they're going to stop supporting XP all they want, but as someone who has worked in software development, they need to recognize one very simple concept: independent software development is what has made Windows so popular, and very few projects slated for 2008 or 2009 release have been developed with Vista in mind. They need to give it a few years to allow software developers to catch up. And they need to fix the problems with Vista -- no one wants an operating system that runs slower than the previous generation.

Btw, I'm extremely happy with the fresh XP install. From that webpage I linked above, I was able to find out all kinds of cool tricks to do with nLite, so I customized my install quite a bit. It runs sooooo fast now, it's awesome. All I need to do now is remap the Dell media keys to control Media Player, and I'll be all set.

~CK

You can't take the sky from me...

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Tuesday, September 4, 2007 11:18 AM

GOLDENBOY

I've had Vista for a while on my desktop computer. Ended up getting Business edition free from the university of arizona (enrolled engineers get some nice perks I guess). Anyway, with that said, if I hadn't gotten it that way, I probably wouldn't go out and buy it - not at least until service pack 1 comes out, which I think is slated for the first quarter of 2008. Vista is nice once you get used to it, but first generation items always have their bugs (*cough* iphone *cough*)

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