Windows Vista - suprisingly impressed

quarryman

Just bought a new laptop and got Vista with it as I already have a copy of XP to re-install if i wanted to roll back.

But i don't think I'll bother. So far it seems pretty stable and not as slow and clunky as I'd seen so many people saying.

It also doesn't have a 40 or 50 processes running, as i'd read. More 20 or so.

Not sure about the RAM usage as according to Task Manager there is none free but 1.5GB "cached".

The resource monitor is brilliant, showing hard faults, cpu info and much more info than XP.

Haven't got around to installing any games on it yet, that's where the problems will appear i'm sure

Cabaal

You must be the only one

I've tried it from time to time but I'm not impressed and I'll be staying with XP Pro for now.

It just feels "clunky" to me, maybe it might improve with SP1!

kaimera

Nope, I quite like it as well!

Vista Bus came on the Dell lappy and I was all set to update, create image then stick back on XP Pro; but I like it too much to bother.

I find it very quick [aside from the whole mp3/file transfer thing ], no real issues.

Shame I can't use part of my external hdds for ready boost or what ever that thing is called.

Had major graphic corruption on Scarface, Hitman BM wouldn't start ehh...out of the dozen or so games I've tried thats not bad.

Updated to the nVidia 169.04 drivers and TF2 stopped crashing as well.

The memory usage has been re.jigged from XP and from what I've heard it's not what you'd expect it to be but it's a good thing now!

Very happy thus far.

JohnnyBravo

I love it
Its so Sleek

quarryman

i found an article that explains why Vista "seems" to use up all your RAM:

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000688.html

dackjaniels

I have used as well but don't share your enthusiasm. Although it looks pretty and is fast. I just can't stop hating the fact that it won't stop asking for conformation for everything you do if its the slightest bit technical

quarryman

you can just disable it:

1. Open Control Panel.
2. Under User Account and Family settings click on the "Add or remove user account".
3. Click on one of the user accounts, for example you can use the Guest account.
4. Under the user account click on the "Go to the main User Account page" link.
5. Under "Make changes to your user account" click on the "Change security settings" link.
6. In the "Turn on User Account Control (UAC) to make your computer more secure" click to unselect the "Use User Account Control (UAC) to help protect your computer". Click on the Ok button.
7. You will be prompted to reboot your computer. Do so when ready.

In order to re-enable UAC just select the above checkbox and reboot.

Stephen

I it.

mathias

Im using it since march , it was buggy at first , but now I cant see how anyone would have a problem with it , the vast majority of the problems have been sorted , its no slower for games , ( im running an athlon X 2 4800 with an 8800 GT , 2GB ram ) and in general is smoother than XP in my opinion , I did dump IE7 for firefox , otherwise Im very happy with it.

derby7

I got Vista Premium with my Dell. I find it quite buggy. Things like USB, ie. I have a USB that came with pre-loaded software/bloatware & Vista can't load it at all, My TV tuner software (in compatability mode) crashes the PC intermittantly. But........I tried out virtualisation, VirtualPC & VMWarePlayer and I am now running WinXP & various Linux distributions quite well. Check out Dreamlinux or GeUbuntu, lots of eye-candy !

mathias

I got Vista Premium with my Dell.

From past experience I would say thats more a Dell problem that a Vista one , they fill the pc up with so much crap I have yet to see a Dell that wouldnt benefit from a clean install on arrival , Vista or XP.

dubmick

they'd really want to get SP1 out soon. I've a right pain in the hole with Vista crashing. Certain pages on Firefox, picture viewer and some in some cases my usb wireless adaptor have crashed it.

Raskolnikov

I'm impressed.

It's certainly not as bad as it's made out to be. I think a lot of people are simply not tweaking it correctly.

seanabc

Maybe I'll get used to it. I've been using it since last week with a new lap top and I haven't made my peace with it yet. I was quite happy with XP before that.

quarryman

I think Dell have improved on the pre-installed bloatware. My vostro had very little software installed on it out of the box.

Also, I don't think SP1 is going improve performance a whole lot. More bug and security fixes.

the_syco

quarryman wrote: »

Just bought a new laptop and got Vista with it

<snip>

Haven't got around to installing any games on it yet, that's where the problems will appear i'm sure

Hahahaha. You're f**ked if it only has an intel yoke in it

=-=

As for performance, dunno. You can improve it by clicking Start, Control Panel, click "Classic View", then click Performance and Infomation Tools, and then click Adjust Visual Settings, and finally select "Adjust for Best Perfomance". Suprise suprise, it'll look like XP, as all the usual sh|te (Aero, etc), will be turned off. You'll then notice a nice improvement.

Gonzo

got a new computer myself frm komplett and have vista64 running on it and im very happy with it indeed. I was initially worried before my computer arrived thinking that vista64 was gonna be full of problems and errors as well as slowness but thankfully none of that happened, Vista64 for me installed without a single problem, no driver issues and has been rock solid stable and very fast over the past week. Cant complain at all and love the look and feel of it.

BostonB

I liked, was using it for the last 6 months or so, but had to go back to XP due to a file copying bug which I can't resolve. I'm dual booting, but since I put XP back on, I haven't booted into Vista
once.

mathias

Was that the " Vistas long goodbye " bug?

Yeah , that one gave me a few headaches for a while , but its been fixed for a good while now !!

Heres the description ,

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/05/15/vistas_long_goodbye_continues/

The fix came with those two major packs released about two months ago , sort of a mini service pack. I havnt seen it since , I used to be plagued by it with files from my mini DV , A 1 hour tape coming in at 12GB , after conversion I tried to delete/move and it took ages.

All fixed now though.

BostonB

No its the "I'm Vista and I'm going to copy your files where I think they should go, not where you pasted them" . Also "I'm Vista, and I don't do move files. I merge files. A bit randomly, and I might leave a few behind. But hey aren't I pretty". But also the random "what the heck is it doing now" pauses are annoying.

Soundman

BostonB wrote: »

No its the "I'm Vista and I'm going to copy your files where I think they should go, not where you pasted them" . Also "I'm Vista, and I don't do move files. I merge files. A bit randomly, and I might leave a few behind. But hey aren't I pretty". But also the random "what the heck is it doing now" pauses are annoying.

Can't say I have seen any of those. Either before or after I tweaked my version. Are you running an Upgrade version of Vista or is it a preloaded version that came with a computer?

Dont be at yourself

I use it on my work laptop, and I find it almost exactly the same as XP, save for more pop-up prompts.

Max OS X is much better, though Leopard was a similarly underwhelming update.

Soundman

NekkidBibleMan wrote: »

I use it on my work laptop, and I find it almost exactly the same as XP, save for more pop-up prompts.

Just turn off UAC as Quarryman posted on the previous page.

1. Open Control Panel.
2. Under User Account and Family settings click on the "Add or remove user account".
3. Click on one of the user accounts, for example you can use the Guest account.
4. Under the user account click on the "Go to the main User Account page" link.
5. Under "Make changes to your user account" click on the "Change security settings" link.
6. In the "Turn on User Account Control (UAC) to make your computer more secure" click to unselect the "Use User Account Control (UAC) to help protect your computer". Click on the Ok button.
7. You will be prompted to reboot your computer. Do so when ready.

In order to re-enable UAC just select the above checkbox and reboot.

Dont be at yourself

Sadly, I don't have the authority to do so. In a way it's good though - it's a Japanese language version, so I've plenty of incentive to practice my kanji!

BostonB

Soundman wrote: »

Can't say I have seen any of those. Either before or after I tweaked my version. Are you running an Upgrade version of Vista or is it a preloaded version that came with a computer?

Preloaded that I've reinstalled twice.

If you have a directory full of sub folders, a MP3 library or digital photos for example. If you cut and paste it, or cut and move it over another folder, perhaps a copy on an external drive, does it move all the files and folders from the source folder? mine leaves behind random files and empty folders all the time. (Note I have full admin rights and permissions). It actually reported quite a bit on the web. but finding it is difficult as its drowned out with all the other issues with files and folders in Vista. Mainly security related. I've given up at this point as I don't have time to keep looking for a solution. Does the same thing on a nother Vista machine we have at work. I don't have a test rig at the moment or I'd try yet another fresh install.

dwaned

dubmick wrote: »

they'd really want to get SP1 out soon. I've a right pain in the hole with Vista crashing. Certain pages on Firefox, picture viewer and some in some cases my usb wireless adaptor have crashed it.

Sounds like your using my machine!!! Sick of it, even considering giving Linux a shot!

Soundman

BostonB wrote: »

Preloaded that I've reinstalled twice.

If you have a directory full of sub folders, a MP3 library or digital photos for example. If you cut and paste it, or cut and move it over another folder, perhaps a copy on an external drive, does it move all the files and folders from the source folder? mine leaves behind random files and empty folders all the time. (Note I have full admin rights and permissions). It actually reported quite a bit on the web. but finding it is difficult as its drowned out with all the other issues with files and folders in Vista. Mainly security related. I've given up at this point as I don't have time to keep looking for a solution. Does the same thing on a nother Vista machine we have at work. I don't have a test rig at the moment or I'd try yet another fresh install.

Running Vista Business here. Preloaded on a Lenovo N200 laptop. Had to re-install it once as it was a botched install initially from Lenovo. Had issues with Wireless and Windows games not working. I have had no problem with copying or cutting and pasting files or folders from one directory to another, even from laptop to external hard drives, USB keys or MP3 players.

Stephen

The only issue i have with it is that it goes bananas if you're accessing files over network shares and they become unavailable unexpectedly.

conor2007

how many firewalls and spyware-adware and virus scanners have you

dont touch registry

:rolleyes:

David Michael

Having bought a couple of new Dual 2 Core lappies and desk tops with Vista Business etc on them I found them to wizz along/load up much faster as an Xp Pro machine.

I will be sticking with Vista though as it is going to be around and everyone is gonna have to get used to it some time.

Discovering the alternative use of the ALT key was a blessing

astrofool

BostonB wrote: »

Preloaded that I've reinstalled twice.

If you have a directory full of sub folders, a MP3 library or digital photos for example. If you cut and paste it, or cut and move it over another folder, perhaps a copy on an external drive, does it move all the files and folders from the source folder? mine leaves behind random files and empty folders all the time. (Note I have full admin rights and permissions). It actually reported quite a bit on the web. but finding it is difficult as its drowned out with all the other issues with files and folders in Vista. Mainly security related. I've given up at this point as I don't have time to keep looking for a solution. Does the same thing on a nother Vista machine we have at work. I don't have a test rig at the moment or I'd try yet another fresh install.

Been doing that a bit recently myself (syncing photo's between PC's) and haven't hit any of the problems you describe. I usually use the replace option and tick "apply to all items". What sorts of random files does it leave behind? Are you doing all this through explorer?

Vista's big problem, as with Office 2007, is people are too used to the winXP/95 user interface, so the effort is in re-training people to deal with Vista. Had this been the interface from the start, all would be merry.