If you are running Vista, I need your input!!

[Rosemary2205]

I need to buy a new PC and am afraid of Vista because of so much negative press. I use XP professional at work.

If you are using Vista on your PC please advise on how it's working for you. What problems you've had and would you buy it again? Should I spend the xtra money to order an XP computer from Dell? No one in my house is a gamer and I use my PC for just basic functions but want to branch into using it more music and digital pics. I am a computer ignoramous and need something pretty easy to use right out of the box that I can plug a printer or digital camera into and not have to do a lot of work to get it to work.

Any help is appreciated - I am practically paralyzed regarding buying a new PC because of this whole Vista thing.

[Rabrrrrrr]

1. I've had Vista on my laptop for just under a year, and mostly it's just fine.

It's a memory hog, though - I had to up my memory to 2G, and once I did that, it ran much better. And I still need to reboot the computer just about every day, just to reset all the memory that's been lost.

In terms of being able to just plug shit in and have it work - Vista has, for me anyway, worked even better than XP. I've had no problem connecting my camera, external hard drive, thumbdrive, and many different printers.

I had a period of a couple days back in September that the computer had an awful time booting up, and I have no idea why - it finally stopped, and I've had no problem since.

I was kind of annoyed with it at first, and wished I had bought my laptop a few weeks earlier so I could have XP - but I've come to like it just fine, and have had no more problems with it than I did with XP.

But, on the other hand, this laptop replaced my other laptop that was 6 years old and running Windows ME; so I'm also looking at it from the perspective of going from a piece of shit OS to this one.

(The XP I've used is on my desktop).

I am quite happy with Vista, though, overall.

[lizziegrace]

4. I agree with Rabrrrrrr

I've had my laptop with Vista for about a month now. Downloading photos wasn't a problem and I have an old camera. I can hook up my optical mouse and an old keyboard (all USB) without any problems.

I'm grumbling happy with it. (I didn't want to be...)

[Breeze54]

6. You probably have every program booting up at start up too!

Go to MSCONFIG and stop loading all the crap you don't use!

UNCHECK THE CRAP!

Your computer will run faster! ;)

[Rabrrrrrr]

24. I *need* **EVERY** program immediately ready to go, so yes, I load it all.

Every fucking one of 'em. Cuz I ain't gonna wait for some program to load up after I click it.

I'm much too important for that.

:patriot:

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

2. Only a couple inescapable handicaps when using Vista

The first is networking- many find it impossible to merge a Vista machine into an XP network- I've had to downgrade new business machines for two clients specifically due to that one.

The other is memory- if you DO go Vista, make sure you have AT LEAST one gig of memory- go for two if you can.

Some older programs will break in Vista, but there's no real pattern to that. Most "good" brand name printers will have drivers by now, but there's no guarantee as of yet on other add-ons such as scanners, web cams, etc.

Vista is a crap shoot, with emphasis on CRAP.

Have fun.

[Breeze54]

5. All most ALL the drivers for peripherals are available now and that isn't MS problem!

It's the vendors problem!! They're the one's slacking off if you can't get a driver.

[Breeze54]

3. What's the BFD?

All MS does is "improve" on the last release.

So, your XP will now be called VISTA!! SO WHAT?!?

Same thing happened with Win95, Win 98, Win 98 SE, Win ME, Win XP, etc!

They've been doing it for years and every time there's a new release?

We all have to listen to this happy horse shit!

Just get it and learn to deal with it!

Also, STOP USING INTERNET EXPLORER!!!

GET FIREFOX!!!

Then you don't have to worry about being compromised.

[cutlassmama]

34. Good advice. That, and 2 gigs memory. My computer only came with

half a gig. I had to get more so my computer would run decent.

The main problem I've had,besides an old computer game crashing at random times is my Lexmark printer. I FINALLY found some drivers (in Norwegian) to get it to print, but still can't use it as a scanner.

If anyone has drivers or knows how to get it to scan, I'd sure appreciate it.

[Wcross]

7. As long as the computer has 2+ gigs of memory Vista is great.

I love it. All my old peripherals work fine now that there are drivers available. Just to make sure, go to your printer & camera manufacturers web sight to verify they have vista drivers available.

[Deja Q]

20. Agreed. Vista Home Premium on its own uses 700MB of RAM...

not much left for apps, and many laptops often come with only 1GB. :(

Definitely go for 2GB...

And, good point, drivers are important too. It's more than a sticker; certified drivers are less likely to crash a system. :)

[Hawkeye-X]

43. I just bought a mini-tower that is supposed to have 3G's of RAM

so Vista Premium is not an issue. Although I am sooo tempted to nuke Vista and go XP - but I'll give Vista a test for a day (or two).

Hawkeye-X (whose current CPU is getting slower by the minute due to a nasty malware that, for some reason, won't kill itself no matter how much I try)

Good price for it too - $799 for an Acer Aspire.

[Deja Q]

45. I saw one at the store recently...

Compared to other low-cost PCs, that one's Vista and other performance specs were higher rated. :thumbsup:

[Ivan Sputnik]

8. Big problem with wireless networking

I have no problem linking to my home wireless router with my XP laptop. My Vista PC will not connect to it automatically, except as a "local" connection, which means no Internet. The only way I can get the Vista PC to connect wirelessly is to manually insert the DNS, subgate mask and IP numbers. What a hassle! I have done extensive online research on this problem, and it seems that many, many people are experiencing it. And I've tried every suggested fix I've seen on Microsoft and other online forums (including fiddling with the registry, etc.) The "fixes" sometimes work temporarily, but then it reverts to a useless "local" connection again.

[Breeze54]

10. Call the vendor or MS.

They actually do reply....over and over until the problem is solved. ;)

I didn't pay a dime. ;)

[Alexander]

26. The same thing happens to me. I just unplug my wireless adapter.

I'm getting Internet access off my wireless adapter, which receives the signal from my router, placed in my roommate's room.

It sometimes does this. Sometimes simply unplugging and re-connecting the adapter works, and sometimes I have to reset my roommate's modem and router and then restart my computer.

[Ivan Sputnik]

28. Yeah, I've tried that.

Many times. It was the first thing I tried. This is not a simple problem. But thanks.

[Giant Robot]

9. We got a new desktop for Christmas that has Vista on it

I would echo what Rabrrrrr said, and his caveat as well. Our old computer was old; it had Windows ME on it. So anything is much better than that.

I don't see Vista being a memory pig being a problem, but again perspective as our last computer was dying on us so we got used to the slowness. We have 1G of memory now and its OK. I imagine it should be running faster, but am OK with what it does.

We have a printer and camera that connected just fine to Vista. No problems.

I find its constant asking of permission to load programs and whatnot to be annoying but that is something I can live with.

I find it radically different then ME, but it was fairly easy to figure out with a couple minutes worth of time. I am also not a computer person and just use it for internet access, games, pictures, and word processing.

I had problems connecting to our cable internet service. It would not recognize the connection on its own. I called the cable technical support line and they walked me through the steps to connect and it maybe took 5 minutes and that problem was taken care of.

I had one game that was also fairly old that I felt like re-playing. Wizards and Warriors (yes I am that big of a geek). It does not like Vista and will not load completely.

So there are my experiences with Vista. Overall I like it and have no problems with it. I wouldn't see the need to pay money for a different OS if you did not need to do it. But YMMV.

[Breeze54]

11. You are a smart cookie!

Bravo!

:applause: :applause:

[Giant Robot]

27. I love getting props where I can

Thank you.

Even though I'm not sure what set me apart as being so smart, when others can speak far more intelligently about this than I can.

:pals:

[China_cat]

12. I have found that Vonage won't work with Vista.

And Vonage, after a year and a half of no problems at all, will only send me instructions on how to install and set up the adapter. Which I know how to do, have done and now I have no land line.

This pisses me off no end.

[Bennyboy]

13. I have it

and no problems with it mostly. I only do music and photos and chatting and no big deal....

[ScreamingMeemie]

14. I had really big problems but only because the software I use for

my job (ACI--appraising software) wasn't configured to work with Vista. But, I called the vendor and they walked me though. For most software you have to run it on Vista as an administrator. I did end up having to buy a whole new mapping system though. Geolocater is not compatible. If you have software check the website to see if they have down loadable fixes or instructions. Other than that Vista is fine.

[Xenotime]

15. Get a mac...

They are much better and easier to use.

[Deja Q]

21. And the cost for what is little more than PC hardware with an extra TPM chip,

when Linux is easy to use these days and runs on the same hardware that everyone currently has?

Apple's trapped in a corner; and their insistence on avoiding "clones" and opening up their OS to real PCs did it. (That TPM I mentioned; without it OSX won't load or install.)

Never mind the computer world equivalent to "It's the economy, stupid". "It's the apps, sucker." The day Adobe ditched Premiere for the Mac I had to stifle a giggle.

Of course, Adobe has also ditched 64-bit Photoshop CS3 and is working on a web-centric version these days too...

[Omphaloskepsis]

22. Lets see...

Extra TPM chip... Got a link? OS X on Intel uses EFI instead of the BIOS. And plenty of people have put OS X on generic PC hardware.

Apple used to have clones.. It almost killed them.

Final Cut Pro was bought from Macromedia. Now an Adobe company. Premiere on Windows doesn't even register in the professional field. And Avid is getting slayed by FCP.

Yes, take a slow app and make it an Ajax app. HAHA.

[ScreamingMeemie]

30. They suck for running appraisal software.

Are too expensive and can't be used in my profession. Unfortunately Mac is not the answer for tons of us.

[Kutjara]

31. Since Macs can run Windows natively...

...and/or under emulation, they can run any software a Windows PC can. They also use better quality components than most PCs and AppleCare is one of the best product support programs in the business. Finally, PC World magazine recently rated the MacBook Pro the fastest laptop...for running Windows.

I have a MacBook Pro that runs both OS X Leopard (for 99.5% of my work) and Windows Vista (for 0.5% of my work and, of course, games). I also run Windows under emulation using "Parallels" for those times when I just need to do one or two things and don't want to bother rebooting the machine into native Windows.

As for being more expensive, you can have a very well equipped MacBook for $1100 or an iMac for $1200 (you can even get a Mac Mini for $600 that will run just about any productivity software very well). These prices are very competitive with equivalently specced PCs.

[ScreamingMeemie]

32. Tried it, booted it back. Basically Mac=Yuck.

Sorry, I haven't been assimilated. Far easier to run software on computers that actually work with it.

[Kutjara]

33. Of course it's a matter of taste which OS you prefer...

...I was simply saying there are no technical reasons not to use Macs, no matter what software you run. Since Macs can run Windows just like any PC, that's not really an obstacle.

[ElboRuum]

38. You know, I'm sure there's a Slashdot forum for this sub-thread.

Well, OK, about a thousand... a day...

[Kutjara]

41. Anywhere the words "Mac" and "PC" are uttered...

...in the same breath, the loyal knights and bannermen of each faction will quickly gather to wage battle in the Eternal War of the OS. It matters not if the discussion be about computers or yak butter, just say those two magic words and the thread will instantly become a sectarian flamefest of biblical proportions. It's one of the few sure bets in this world.

[ElboRuum]

44. Of course, you are correct...

My biggest problem is whether I identify more with an aging, portly guy in a nice business suit, or with a young hipsterish dude with a snide attitude and slovenly haircut and attire. Upon this rests the primary concern which is used to determine your OS of choice, and it is a rough decision to make.

(If it isn't really about this, please forgive me, but when Apple plays the "cooler than thou" card, I think it really says quite a lot more about its perception of its user base than its products do)

[SKKY]

16. I have Vista on my Desktop (The one the spousal unit uses)...

...and Ubuntu Linux on my Laptop. My wife uses both, and she is not, by any stretch of the imagination, anything more than a basic computer user. She uses Linux just fine. My point is that, you should perhaps give Linux (Specifically Ubuntu) a shot. You may surprise yourself. Otherwise, I think you'll be fine with Vista, just make sure you max out the amount of Memory you get. Vista, especially with the Aero graphics engine, is a total and complete resource hog.

[Deja Q]

25. It's strange they can't get Aero to use video card memory instead of main RAM...

:(

[cutlassmama]

35. spousal unit?!?! HAHAHAHAHA....

Gonna have to remember that one!

[GirlinContempt]

17. I use it on one computer

No big deal, it's fine.
Haven't had any problem with networking it to other, older OSes, or with connecting to the internet.

You can also turn off lots of the graphics options if they slow down your computer too much, as well as change the security settings so it doesn't always ask you silly questions, just get someone to help you tweak it a bit.

[TreasonousBastard]

18. Personally, I like XP Pro and..

don't see any reason to go to Vista for some time yet. Not until hardware and software catch up to any advantages Vists might have, which will take a few years. Then, they have to work out the bugs

Pro even worked just fine on an old IBM P-3 with 365Meg of memory. It was plain-vanilla XP Pro, without Media Center, game and software trials, McAffee, AOL, house recovery and help systems, or a lot of other crap vendors like to stick in there to make a few extra bucks. Try not to get any of that stuff if you can avoid it.

The XP I have now might be Pro, although it's tough to tell with all the crap added in to this Media Center nonsense. This 3 gigahertz machine with a gig of memry runs no faster than my old IBM. And that's after I unloaded at least two dozen little gifts the vendor added.

Plain vanilla XP Pro is finally a grown-up OS and can't be beat by anything else out there. At least not by much it can't.

[Deja Q]

19. All in all, better than XP.

I especially liked how, when networking peer to peer, I cannot copy files directly from networked sources. (saves on automated hacking attempts too.)

I imagine there are back doors, but for the typical attempts, Vista is much more secure out of the box...

It's not without its problems, and the extra memory requirements still baffle me... DX10, so far, is also grossly overrated, and I wish WinFS was included, and the retail edition is a bit buggier with WGA than the preloaded OEM version on my laptop...

No blue screens, though... and far more stable than XP with any 3rd party skin on it (to change the GUI from the tinker toy garbage to something professional looking).

App compatibility is not bad and anyone who can't find the "compatibility mode" tab to make the app work under Vista is the cause of 90% of people complaining "It won't work under Vista!".

Multimedia is admittedly fluid too... I'm about to dump my set-top DVD player in favor of the PC connected to the TV.

When the day is said and done, I have to say I prefer Vista. Warts and all. Pity, as those are some big-ass warts...

[Kutjara]

23. I'm not a fan of Vista.

It uses up too many resources for what it does, is annoying in the extreme with all its warning messages and "is it ok if I do this? are you sure? really sure?" UAC crap, has flaky wireless support, and runs really slowly on all but the latest hardware.

That said, Service Pack 1 is due out "real soon now" and will "make everything perfect" so who knows? Maybe Vista will be transformed into a shining paragon of an OS instead of a bloated, Disneyfied version of XP. Stranger things have happened. Probably.

[Radical Activist]

29. Works well for me.

I haven't had the problems other people on this thread wrote about.

[EstimatedProphet]

36. Get a lot of RAM

We got a new computer a month or so ago. Came with Vista, and 512 meg RAM to start. It took a half hour to start up. I put in 2 1 gig RAM chips., and it works fine now.

[Orsino]

37. Working well. Fewer troubles than with XP, I think.

I'm sure that a lot of people have had problems, but I haven't noticed any. No system upgrade needed, either.

[UndertheOcean]

39. I am not running Vista , so I will not give you my input

:silly:

[ElboRuum]

40. Vista's OK

I still run XP Pro SP2, but Microsoft's already announced an accelerated end-of-life date for XP (meaning, beyond a certain point, they won't offer support for it). My dad bought a Dell just recently and aside from the rather persistent UAC (security) message boxes (which, I believe, can be shut off if you like), it seems to run fine. Definitely invest in the extra RAM if you can (1GB minimum, 2+GB preferred).

I wouldn't let it stop you... other than the updated look-and-feel and the desktop widgets, the basic system as far as where everything is and what you need to do for common tasks hasn't changed much.

[Richard Steele]

42. Unless money is no object, I'd stick with an XP machine for the time being.

Look, Vista isn't GREAT, but it's not a horror-movie either.

If you can purchase a topnotch box, something with dual 3.2 ghz
chips and 4 gigs of RAM, Vista is just another new OS waiting
to have the bugs worked out via ServicePacs. Same as any other OS.

I think the biggest problem is that all of the DISCOUNT SELLERS
jumped on the Vista-wagon a year too soon, and they are loading
it onto cheap machines that don't have what it takes to run it.
They're shoving it into laptops with 2005-era procesors and 512 mb
of RAM, and that's just asking for trouble.
Hence, millions of unnecessarily BAD Vista-experiences.

I'm a Mac-user, so I prefer that. My Sweetie does tech support for
a computer-heavy office, and I get most of my Vista-info from her.
I think Vista will get its kinks worked out and be a good usable OS
very soon, but it's the biggest & most bloated baby MicroSoft has
ever squeezed out, so it's "birthing pains" are correspondingly large.

If you have assloads of cash and free time, buy a $5000 PC with Vista.
If you'd rather just have something that WORKS 100%, buy an XP box and
take another look at Vista in a year or two.

[datasuspect]

46. get on ms connect

or whatever that developer resource is, and download the Vista SP1 beta.

takes care of lots of laggy shit.