Does anyone actually use Vista on your computer?

[babylonsister]

Xpost from Computer Help...

Help? New computer bought with Vista, and I've read it's painful.

Anyway, old computer died today. DH bought new one with Vista installed. He now wants to install Windows XP, but can't do it w/o uninstalling Vista permanently. Should he be worried, or should he just do it? Does anyone know if he might encounter problems down the road?
He already knows by installing XP it will disable ethernet card which makes no difference because he has a wireless card that has been installed in the new 'puter, and knows that card works with XP.
Any help greatly appreciated!

[seemunkee]

1. Most of the business PCs I've seen ads for have downgrade licenses for XP

I don't know anyone who has gone to Vista.

[babylonsister]

9. He bought XP software through work, so it's legal. But he's not

interested in Vista if he can avoid it.

[TomInTib]

2. I have Vista on one of our laptops.

I have had no trouble with it.

But then again, my computer needs are relatively simple.

DU, emails, music and porn.

[Bluebear]

13. "DU, emails, music and porn."

Indeed. :)

PS I'll add Youtube.

[TomInTib]

I was wondering who would catch that.

I should have known...

Merry Christmas, Bluebear,
Tom

[Bluebear]

26. And back at you, Tom!

:hug:

[babylonsister]

17. Thanks, Tom. He has lots of technical stuff to load so didn't want

to make any rash decisions.

[TomInTib]

24. Seriously, I would be very careful.

I think (no, I know) that if it were up to me, I would have someone who really knew what they are doing look into it.

There is something inherently oily and fishy about this Vista business.

The reason that I went with the Vista-loaded laptop was primarily for the kick-ass music and graphic cards within.

[BlueJazz]

Shouldn't have any problems installing XP.....and you can always get any drivers..

...(that you need) from the laptop Manufacturer's website.

If the XP disk is an old one (used with another laptop/computer) you'll have "Activate" it for yours.

[sandnsea]

3. It should be ok

My husband has done it to a couple computers. Just make sure you have your numbers to put your XP on the new computer. I'm running Vista and I think it makes my computer mudslow. My son runs it and doesn't have any problems at all. I think it makes a difference whether your other programs are compatible or not. I don't think my son has much on his computer and I've got a bunch of stuff on mine. More opportunity for glitches. It still isn't a crash a day the way the old windows were though.

[babylonsister]

15. We have the numbers (he just fought X-mas traffic to buy it).

He has lots of stuff to reinstall from the old computer so figures he should go with what he knows.
Thanks!

[nolies32fouettes]

4. I work at a school with lots of computer classes and the word there is that

Vista sucks.

However, I don't know about permanently uninstalling it. Does it allow you create a backup of the Vista first before you download it?

Also, babylonsister, the Microsoft 2007 is a space hog!!! You didn't mention but did that come with your Vista or are you going to be using the 2003?

[babylonsister]

11. No ability to create a back-up, which is worrisome in case we need it

down the road. As for Microsoft 2007, it's not really an issue. He uses the computer for eBay and forums primarily.

[WillyT]

19. If Vista Is All Set Up And Working...

You might be able to make an image of your hard drive with Norton Ghost.

That way you can save it for a later date if needed.

Then wipe the hard drive and install XP.

Just a thought.

:hi:

[babylonsister]

23. Thanks, Willy T. Never heard of Norton Ghost, but we're going to

look it up now, just in case!

[Greyhound]

58. babylonsister, wait! Stop! Not Norton either.

Norton/Symantec is another of the corporate scum that you must stay far away from. If you let them into your system, it will far more trouble and pain than you want to go through to get rid of them.

OTOH, if they're already in, you have nothing to lose, just don't put anything on your system you want to keep private.

Here's a good resource to learn about maintaining your privacy; http://www.grc.com/default.htm
This is one of the good guys that has been in the business since the beginning. He has quite a few very useful, free, utilities to help secure your windoze box.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

35. Goto NewEgg...

Search up "Acronis True Image". Use that to backup. It's only $29.95, last I looked. Great backup software and easy. Very easy.

[WillyT]

42. Yes... And I've Heard It's Actually Better Than Ghost !!!

Although Ghost has saved my butt many a time in the past.

:shrug:

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

60. You have heard that...

Because it kicks Ghost's ass. Acronis makes an incredible range of products for home, small business and the enterprise.

[strategery blunder]

5. If I was in your situation, I'd probably upgrade to XP...

Then again, a few months ago, I bought a new computer from Dell, a company that *still* sells XP computers, PRECISELY so I would not find myself in this situation. As I dodged having to work with Vista before actually having to deal with it (my two sticking points were RAM-hogging and Micro$hit DRM), I'm probably not the most qualified person to comment on the subject. :shrug:

Oh, yes, I will also get you some :popcorn: before this turns into an OS flame war. :popcorn:

[babylonsister]

16. I think he's biting the bullet and losing Vista; everything in Best Buy

had Vista only (but he DIDN'T get tasered! :thumbsup: ).

[Nite Owl]

6. Wish I could help you so maybe a kick

Whay not try the Vista and see if it is that bad? Some people like it. And there is a way to have both on the same machine because I just got a new computer and it came with both XP pro and Vista Business(which I haven't touched yet). I think you have to partition the hard drive maybe, something like that.

[babylonsister]

12. DH can't do what he wants to do with Vista because he can't

load the wireless card with Vista, went to Linksys website for latest drivers and still no help. (PS, he's dictating, I'm typing, I don't know what the hell he's talking about!)

[swag]

7. Add more RAM (go to 4 GB if you can), and install

Service Pack 1 when it comes out, suposedly in the next few months.

I wouldn't downgrade if you're going to be out network drivers.

[babylonsister]

20. He has the drivers figured out, he claims. He has a memory stick

he says he can bring to my computer and download the drivers.

[IDemo]

8. Just curious how XP will disable the ethernet card?

[babylonsister]

14. If he installs XP it won't be able to recognize the drivers on the ethernet

card, which he doesn't need anyway.

[IDemo]

25. The drivers aren't on the card, they're on the hard drive.

On XP or most recent Windows systems, they are most likely located in "C:\WINDOWS\system32" (or just "system"). If an XP installation cd doesn't auto-detect the card, you should be able to download the driver using another pc and place it into the above directory.

[babylonsister]

28. See #20. We have my computer to load the drivers and transfer

them. Thanks!

[IDemo]

33. update - that directory is more than likely: "C:\WINDOWS\system32\Drivers"

but XP will install your file in the correct location anyway.

[depakid]

10. Unfortunately, it's on my laptop

and neither I (not anyone else I know) has anything good to say about it.

Thinking about actually "downgrading" back to XP, even though it would be a royal pain to deal with all the drivers.

[durrrty libby]

18. My son's computer died a few weeks ago. I ordered a new one

and they had the option of it coming with XP rather than Vista

My IT son said order it with XP. I remember asking him if he could just switch it

He said no, it would be a big pain and it would cost another $180.00

You can't just swap out stuff anymore. They make it very difficult

It may be better to try to exchange it. Good Luck

[babylonsister]

22. Thanks. There were no 'puters in BB with XP in it. So he's stuck

and in a hurry.

[durrrty libby]

29. I think when researching, I discovered that.I ended up ordering

from Dell because they had the XP option.

I think a specific game card was important too.

Oh dear oh dear it is the end of the world when a computer goes down around here

:eyes: That's why we have an old one for emergencies. I like to take my time when

searching and don't let the hand wringing and whining rattle me:cry:

[nickinSTL]

21. I've got Vista on my home computer

it's a pain. Instead of actually improving security, they changed so that if you ever download anything, or open anything, the stupid thing asks you if you want to do it. Maybe necessary for idiot-proofing, but for non-idiots, it's a freaking pain in the @$$.

I was stupid enough to not have heard about Vista being a problem until I'd already gotten it (new Microsoft product, I should have known better). I was happier with XP. However, Vista hasn't been a major problem, just annoying.

[QC]

32. You can disable the nagging. n/t

[nickinSTL]

36. at some point I'll dig into how to do that...

It annoys me that I have to, though.

[Beelzebud]

62. It's more secure. This is how Linux is too. Actually Linux is even worse in that regard.

But as the poster said, you can disable the Vista nagging.

[laconicsax]

34. I just disabled that part of it

I've been running Vista since January and in the first week, I installed 3rd party firewall and anti-virus software and turned off most of the Windows Defender crap, especially the endless permissions. The annoyances disappeared just like that.

[Skittles]

27. it is an India special

stay far, far away from it - it sucks so badly it's the first MS product to which my company has refused to "upgrade"

[Adsos Letter]

39. Well, Skittles...I purchased a new HP tower with Vista about 5 weeks ago...

and without researching it first, and it really is a pain; glitches and bugs already. :dunce: I suspect you should kick my Vista-running ass...

:D

Edit: forgot the smiley...

[Skittles]

40. same thing happend to my bf

he ended up ditching the damn thing

[Adsos Letter]

41. no famous Skittles ass-kicking?

...damn...

:(

[Skittles]

43. I think

the pc he got came with Vista - then after tons of problems, mostly with comatability with stuff he wanted to transfer on to it, he finally ditched that piece of SHIT Vista.

[Adsos Letter]

45. I hear ya about the compatability thing...

It won't let me install my copy of Office (needs a $320 upgrade) or our HP printer/scanner, which was only about 2 years old.

My disappointment was in the fact that you didn't threaten to kick MY Vista-running ass...

It's almost like a rite of passage.

:D

[Skittles]

52. I WILL KICK YOUR VISTA ASS ADSOSLETTER

THAR YA GO! :hi:

[Adsos Letter]

56. LOL!

My Christmas is complete... :rofl:

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, Skittles.

:hi:

[OhioChick]

48. No Kidding....

"Upgrade" to XP.

[babylonsister]

30. THANK YOU ALL! We're better equipped now with the collective

DU great minds! :hi:

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

31. We found out at work that some time next year we'll be getting new computers with Vista.

I can hardly wait. :sarcasm: My work computer is an old piece of junk that runs Windows NT and it sucks, but it sounds like we'll just be swapping suckage for more suckage.

[Greyhound]

49. OMG, you have no idea...

Vista is not an operating system so much as it's an extortion scheme. Switch to Vista and watch your IT budget explode.

M$ is of the opinion that people are so incredibly stupid that they will ignore the costs, because they've included a new interface and a few toys (gadgets). Maybe they're right.

[IDemo]

57. We'll be "rolling" to Vista also

I've got perfectly functioning dual boot machines (XP/Linux) at home and work.

Not a chance I'll be buying Vista for my own use anytime soon.

[TreasonousBastard]

37. Just do it, as long as...

you back everything up before uninstalling Vista. Just in case... And make sure you got SP2 with it.

I never thought I'd say anything good about Microsoft, but I gotta say that with XP Pro they got it right. It's stable, fast, and actually helps you get work done, instead of get in the way.

This is a laptop you say? Too bad, or you could just pop a clean drive in a desktop and install XP.

[musette_sf]

38. i downgraded from Vista to XP Pro

and lived to tell the tale. new computer, no choice but Vista pre-installed, bought it knowing i would downgrade to XP Pro.

first i made the backup Vista disks, then did a good amount of research on all the devices and drivers that were on the system. found XP drivers for all devices and downloaded to a 4GB stick. (BTW i found a great free utility called Belarc Advisor that will provide this information in much detail. very useful! http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html)

then i bought a new XP Pro license at Fry's and had away. i formatted the boot partition, and kept the ghosted Vista partition as is. just in case. mostly trouble-free, except for the alleged Sound Blaster xTreme Audio sound board upgrade i added to my configuration when i ordered from costco.com. Turns out that the OEM product that HP uses in their "Vista-only" boxes is really using the Sound Blaster Audigy chipset, Audigy being the same chipset they use in their "Vista-only" laptops. i could not get the board to respond to any XP drivers at all. so for $40 i ripped the offending board out and installed a real SX xTreme Audio board. but everything else worked a charm with the XP drivers.

like Tom, i sense something inherently oily and fishy about this Vista business. even on the M$ rah-rah site for Vista, i could not find one good reason why i wanted or needed it in any way. we ran it for awhile on the new system and hated it. i saw a comment in a blog - "this is what happens when you let gamer d00dz run your operating system franchise", that just about summed it up for me.

my verdict: run a system inventory (Belarc is your friend), make sure you have all the XP drivers, and then format c: away.

[Fredda Weinberg]

44. I went to 2000 Pro ... no problem finding drivers

And the cheap PC runs like a charm.

[Gloria]

46. Yes....I have a Media PC and it's great! Love the sidebar, too...

I added a gadget of the London Transport System status monitoring system just for the hell of it....

I just read that it actually has had better security than Apple machines this year...and it's certainly more secure than XP. My mother's computer has XP and I now can appreciate Vista more when I have to go back to XP ...

[Greyhound]

47. No problem at all. Vista is just another attempt by M$ to suck you into a system

that you don't need, will never use, but gives them all kinds of "rights" to extort more $$$ from you.

It is at least another year away from being even remotely useful, and is even more unsecured that their previous crapware. BTW, stay far away from HP computers (really any corporate system-in-a-box), their bloatware uses poorly developed activeX controls that make your system completely vulnerable to any script-kiddie that wants to screw with your life.

[Mutineer]

51. The hysteria over Vista is way overblown

My company switched when it came out. We have 30 plus PC's and we have no problems. We also upgraded to Office 2007 which I love. I got a new laptop 3 weeks ago-it's great. Again no problems. But I sprang for the one with the memory and space necessary to adequately run Vista. If you get the adequate requirements for the system for optimization, you won't have problems. And there are plenty of "tricks" out there on the internets on how to easily optimize your system and "killing" those features on Vista that hog space. Our tech wiz did those tricks for us and our machines hum happily along. I haven't even bothered doing that for my laptop and have had no probs. I really like Vista's features.

[Greyhound]

54. I work with thousands and on a daily basis. My life has become a

living hell since Vista was imposed by the evil empire. I'm sure your 30+ PC's are a much more reliable model for evaluating the performance and reliability than a multi-national supplier with millions of units operating.

Allowing M$ to bully us into adopting this POS will cost us hundreds of millions over the next couple of years and who knows how many customers will not return so that Redmond can spy on it's users and squeeze another few dollars from them.

But please, don't pay any attention to the man behind the curtain, just have another sip of this newest flavor of Kool-Aid.

[nadinbrzezinski]

65. dreamweaver runs in everything but an adequate way

in my vista machine

There have been so many issues that my PERSONAL BOX is a mac.

And at this time will look into getting a second license to dreamweaver, for the mac.

My hubby uses the vista machine for gaming, and I still use it for some things, such as 3D apps, and the manufacturer advises people to keep XP since Vista is a small nightmare

Now if you keep MS apps, and ONLY MS apps, you should be fine

:-)

[livvy]

50. My old computer died, I'm using Vista and having no problems.

The guy that I talked to said the reason Vista is a problem is because the older computers aren't set up for it, or something along those lines. He assured me that my brand, spankin' new 'puter would not have any problems with Vista, and he was right. I have no complaints, so far.

[Breeze54]

53. My old computer burnt out the power supply and now

I have XP on the new one. The older one had Windows ME.

I just need to install a new PWS and I'll have two computers! :P

Good Luck! :hi:

[OhioChick]

55. Vista?

Waiting for service pack 12. :sarcasm:

[Alexander]

59. Yes, I have a brand new PC with Vista and so far don't have any major problems.

The only thing that is slightly annoying is that if I have many programs running at once, the computer gets stuck in "working" mode for about 15 seconds before it is free again. That didn't happen as often with XP.

[Beelzebud]

61. As long as the computer is new, why not use Vista?

I have it on mine, and I have zero issues. It never crashes, and all my apps work just fine.

The only people I don't recommend it to are ones with older machines. If you bought one for Vista, you paid for Vista, so why not use it?

[walldude]

63. Shouldn't have any problems.. just make sure

you have all the device drivers you need on a removable drive before wiping the computer. A poster above mentioned Belarc, it's a great free utility that will tell you the manufacturer of all your devices, you can get drivers from them, you can get XP drivers for the ethernet card as well, might as well have them in case the wireless goes down.. Once you have everything just boot-up with the XP disc and have setup format the hard drive before installing.

[burrowowl]

64. Gee!

The Mac tells you the manufacturer without downloading a freeware. But good to know since we have PCs at the office and getting real system info is a pain.

[JCMach1]

66. Keep VISTA... just wait for SP2

Mostly what is wrong are just annoyances that will hopefully be cleaned-up with SP2...

My biggest pet peeve... the slow-loading USB drivers.