3 weeks of nightmare of why I won't be using Vista

[stockriderman]

So I installed Vista 3 weeks ago and been using it ever since.You can see my pc spec in my signature. It worked ok when I had nothing installed.
Then I installed MS office 07,photoshop,Premiere and all the little programs like divx,daemon tools,etc. Then it started to slow down.
Now sometimes it locks up for up to 10-15 seconds. I noticed much more hard drive use than with XP. All programs open slower the first time. I don't care about prefetching,since I don't open the same program ever 5 minutes!!! MS Office 07 opens about 5seconds slower than in XP. All programs work more slower. I mean,this is crazy. The whole system reminds me of Windows ME. It was extremely buggy when it came out,making me wait 2 years before switching from 98se. This is the same thing. All I see is idiotic eye candy,designed for kids.
Professional users need speed and this OS DOES NOT deliver it.
During Kaspersky antivirus scan,computer becomes not usable due to extreme HD use.With 2GB of ram,I thought I'll be fine,but This thing uses 1.2GB just from the start up.I am hitting 2GB a lot throughout the day,making the system EXTREMELY slow.
I turned all the specifal effects off,but it doesn't seem to help. I dont know what to do.
I think I am switching back to XP,unless I can find a way to make it run as fast as XP,otherwise this CRAP is worthless
I may switch,when I'll get a quad core CPU with 4+GB of ram. I can't believe people are buying this OS on their slow computers with less than 1GB of ram. Same,I can't belive Microsoft released this crap to public without full test. What makes it more sad,nowdays all computers already come with this VISTA crap preinstalled,forcing you to use it.

On a side note, for some reason,all my downloaded movies look worse as well. I have the same codecs,but just doesn't look as sharp.

 

[BehindEnemyLines]

Try uninstalling Kaspersky and see if that helps. Then grab yourself a trial version of NOD32 if it improves. I installed the Kaspersky Internet Security v6.0.2.614, and it was a huge mistake. My laptop normally boots in about 40 seconds to a fully usable destkop dragged to more than one minutes (not from hibernation), and opening anything was much slower. Think about opening Event Viewer with KIS enabled took 1:30 min:sec. Finally went back to NOD32 and the same Event Viewer takes only about 3 sec. BTW, I have a slow laptop with 768MB RAM and also a Pentium D 805 desktop with 1GB. They are certainly nowhere in your league, but the desktop just fly even with all the craplets (Office 2007 entire suite, Matlab, Labview, Daemon, Divx, photoshop, etc...) installed. Not so much for the laptop though.

Most people have great successes with Vista, some people don't. I am lucky to be in the majority group. Simply put, if you don't like Vista, just go back to XP, wait for SP#, download Linux, or spend some money and get Mac. These kinds of post calling Vista crap or worthless doesn't add much to anything.

 

[pcgeek11]

Sounds like Crappy drivers to me, or crappy software.

I ran Vista on a 2.66 Ghz, with 768 MB Ram, and a mobile M7500 graphics card with 32 MB Ram. No Aero effects but it ran fine just as well as XP.

You must have other issues.

pcgeek11

 

[AnMig]

"These kinds of post calling Vista crap or worthless doesn't add much to anything. "

Its a users experience and may help someone on the fence about vista. Just because its a negative post about vista does not make it worthless. Also if enough people post negative comments about it it may bring attention to a legitimate problem.


my 2 cents

peace

 

[Murasame]

Originally posted by: AnMig
"These kinds of post calling Vista crap or worthless doesn't add much to anything. "

Its a users experience and may help someone on the fence about vista. Just because its a negative post about vista does not make it worthless. Also if enough people post negative comments about it it may bring attention to a legitimate problem.


my 2 cents

peace

I agree with you about the negative feedback actually getting something done. Problem is a lot of negative things I keep reading about vista are not actually problems with vista. Most of them are due to drivers.

 

[Aberforth]

Its a bad idea to blame OS for everything. User intelligence highly matters when you work with a computer. First of all Vista is a new Operating system and one must know how to handle it- check for compatible drivers, software and hardware. Make sure that everything runs right, create a dual boot setup running XP and Vista and try to port each software one by one and see what really causes the problem. You should not say "windows sucks" if your computer slows down for some reason or just blame Windows for causing spyware attacks- you know most of the spyware attacks are caused by stupidity and not by Windows. Till now i don't have a anti-spyware installed and I am perfectly sure my PC is not infected (Although Windows Vista has built in anti-spyware module) By all means get a quad core and 4 GB ram- but you know thats not enough to get your PC running smoothly.

 

[Looney]

Well i don't install divx, doesn't that come with spyware? Daemon tools worked ok for me in beta (or was it alcohol? it was one of the 2), but at release i haven't had to use it yet. Office 2007 works absolutely fine, np whatsoever.

I would recommend instead of divx and daemon tools, just use VLC.

And Vista absolutely runs faster on my laptop than XP did (2gig PM, 2gb ram, 6800Ultra Go, 120gb 5400rpm HDD).

 

[Piuc2020]

Well I'll just say just because you had a bad experience doesn't mean everyone will, I ran Vista on a P4 3.0ghz 1GB 9600SE machine... it was fine (sure the interface was a bit slow at times but application response time, opening time and overall speed was just like XP if not better in many cases) once I upgraded to 2GB and a 6800XT I couldn't be happier with Vista now (and I have tons of stuff installed).

I also installed Vista on my Mac Pro (4GB RAM, 7300GT, 2.66 Xeons)... Vista is a LOT (a very whole LOT) faster than XP on my Mac Pro.

So really I don't doubt you had problems with it but that doesn't mean everyone has had problem with it and Microsoft released buggy software... maybe you installed something that isn't quite Vista compatible and is draggin your whole PC down.

 

[loup garou]

try getting rid of kaspersky. i've yet to find a (free) av product that doesnt slow my vista boxes to a crawl.

 

[SoundTheSurrender]

avg might help, at least it works fine in XP.

 

[Mem]

Originally posted by: Murasame

Originally posted by: AnMig
"These kinds of post calling Vista crap or worthless doesn't add much to anything. "

Its a users experience and may help someone on the fence about vista. Just because its a negative post about vista does not make it worthless. Also if enough people post negative comments about it it may bring attention to a legitimate problem.


my 2 cents

peace

I agree with you about the negative feedback actually getting something done. Problem is a lot of negative things I keep reading about vista are not actually problems with vista. Most of them are due to drivers.

That works both ways,my experience with Vista HP x64 its working great,I have Morrowind installed with expansion packs,Baldurs Gate 1 and 2 with expansion packs, KOTOR,UT2004,UFO afterlight,Steam(TFC ,CS etc..) Oblivion,Vanguard,StarCraft with expansion pack.

32 bit software installed,uTorrent,Firefox 2 including java and flash,Nero 7,CCleaner,Spybot,Spywareblaster,Zip Genius


64 bit software installed ,Avast AV home version free,O&O Defrag 8.6, Mozilla Thunderbird.


I have virtually all drivers except 2(Leadtek USB 2.0 DTV tuner and ColorVision USB SpyderExpress driver) ,FYI I read that Leadtek are working on their Vista driver so I expect that sometime down the road,probably the same for ColorVision(I have the ICM color profile saved on CD so I use that for now).


It could be one of your software is not 100% compatible with Vista,I normally install one at a time and see how it goes before installing a new program.

 

[stockriderman]

By the way,I have VISTA Ultimate. I don't' know what you guys have,maybe other versions act different. I doubt drivers can make an impact on Vista using 1.2GB of ram,within 5 minutes of startup.Computer locks up because it doesn't have any more ram,not because a driver causes it.

 

[Mem]

I doubt drivers can make an impact on Vista using 1.2GB of ram,within 5 minutes of startup.Computer locks up because it doesn't have any more ram,not because a driver causes it.

Vista makes use of extra available ram with Superprefetch,if it is locking up then it is either hardware or software problem,so try uninstalling your software back to the very basics and see if that helps.


Also run a memory test,Vista has one built in as you probably know ,select it before it boots up,or use Memtest86

 

[Markbnj]

Originally posted by: stockriderman
By the way,I have VISTA Ultimate. I don't' know what you guys have,maybe other versions act different. I doubt drivers can make an impact on Vista using 1.2GB of ram,within 5 minutes of startup.Computer locks up because it doesn't have any more ram,not because a driver causes it.

What is your free ram when it exhibits the slow downs? Vista can't run out of memory, in the way you seem to be implying. If it exhausts free ram due to stuff you're running then it will start heavily paging to/from disk. Also, superfetch doesn't work as you implied in your op, since it doesn't just enhance one program that you use "every five minutes." It optimizes the cache for frequently accessed files from disk, over a longer period of time.

I don't doubt you had a bad experience, and if I had to guess at the reason I would say it is a combination of things already mentioned: the video issues are probably immaturity of the video drivers; the performance issues a combination of installing a lot of stuff that was developed for XP and may or may not be optimized for Vista, and immaturity in some parts of the OS as well.

Ultimately this is Vista's issue, though. Doesn't really matter what the explanation is. But like all new operating systems it will get significant tune-ups over the next couple of years. At the moment I will continue dual booting.

 

[stockriderman]

One more thing. EVERY time I try to open a folder,it shows a green,moving(kinda download-like) bar at the top,which is,I suppose is looking for the files. I see nothing in the folder for about 3-5 seconds. It's insane. I use some of them frequently,but it still happens.

 

[InlineFive]

Originally posted by: stockriderman
One more thing. EVERY time I try to open a folder,it shows a green,moving(kinda download-like) bar at the top,which is,I suppose is looking for the files. I see nothing in the folder for about 3-5 seconds. It's insane. I use some of them frequently,but it still happens.

This would also be Kaspersky getting in the way, have you uninstalled it yet?

 

[mechBgon]

Interesting. My rig is pretty similar, a 3800+ X2, 2GB PC3200, Asus A8N-E, 6600 vanilla, booting from a 250GB SATA drive with 16MB cache, using Kaspersky Antivirus 6.0.2.614, and it seems just fine. Opening folders doesn't result in long delays, and it doesn't use crazy amounts of RAM. It's not quite as perky as my WinXP Pro, but I think that might be due to my XP Pro being installed on a 15k SCSI drive rather than a SATA drive. Viper v. Caravan :evil:

I wonder if drivers are part of your issue. Did you stick with the drivers Vista comes with, or did you install other drivers? I'm using Vista's out-of-the-box drivers here.

 

[MmmSkyscraper]

Originally posted by: InlineFive
This would also be Kaspersky getting in the way, have you uninstalled it yet?

No, it's better to sit on your hands for 3 weeks then moan about the OS before trying anything remotely sensible.

 

[zig3695]

dont forget just stupid people too. if these guys that are crying about how bad vista is only had any idea what it was like when win98 or xp came out they wouldnt be bitchin. vista is by far, without a doubt the most complete os microsoft has ever released. im honestly amazed how much things do work right out of the retail box with no updates. i can even play my star-force protected game TOCA 3 and it runs just as good as xp. im still waiting for nvidia to release color controls for the 3d apps, but for now its not a big deal having to game with the brightness a little too high.

 

[zig3695]

Originally posted by: stockriderman
One more thing. EVERY time I try to open a folder,it shows a green,moving(kinda download-like) bar at the top,which is,I suppose is looking for the files. I see nothing in the folder for about 3-5 seconds. It's insane. I use some of them frequently,but it still happens.

try clearing out your mapped network drives if you have any. otherwise its something becuase vista should not do that. my folders open up much much MUCH quicker then a clean-installed xp would. compare vista to a loaded-up bogged down xp and its just a plain joke. vista does NOT load up and get slow like xp did, it simply doesnt happen by itself- its some other program or driver causing conflict.

 

[wiin]

Originally posted by: stockriderman
So I installed Vista 3 weeks ago and been using it ever since.You can see my pc spec in my signature. It worked ok when I had nothing installed.
Then I installed MS office 07,photoshop,Premiere and all the little programs like divx,daemon tools,etc. Then it started to slow down.
Now sometimes it locks up for up to 10-15 seconds. I noticed much more hard drive use than with XP. All programs open slower the first time. I don't care about prefetching,since I don't open the same program ever 5 minutes!!! MS Office 07 opens about 5seconds slower than in XP. All programs work more slower. I mean,this is crazy. The whole system reminds me of Windows ME. It was extremely buggy when it came out,making me wait 2 years before switching from 98se. This is the same thing. All I see is idiotic eye candy,designed for kids.
Professional users need speed and this OS DOES NOT deliver it.
During Kaspersky antivirus scan,computer becomes not usable due to extreme HD use.With 2GB of ram,I thought I'll be fine,but This thing uses 1.2GB just from the start up.I am hitting 2GB a lot throughout the day,making the system EXTREMELY slow.
I turned all the specifal effects off,but it doesn't seem to help. I dont know what to do.
I think I am switching back to XP,unless I can find a way to make it run as fast as XP,otherwise this CRAP is worthless
I may switch,when I'll get a quad core CPU with 4+GB of ram. I can't believe people are buying this OS on their slow computers with less than 1GB of ram. Same,I can't belive Microsoft released this crap to public without full test. What makes it more sad,nowdays all computers already come with this VISTA crap preinstalled,forcing you to use it.

On a side note, for some reason,all my downloaded movies look worse as well. I have the same codecs,but just doesn't look as sharp.

Since you won't be using it, let me help you forget your bad experience with Vista.Give it to me. I will give it a good home. I assure you, I will not abuse it.

 

[stockriderman]

Originally posted by: InlineFive

Originally posted by: stockriderman
One more thing. EVERY time I try to open a folder,it shows a green,moving(kinda download-like) bar at the top,which is,I suppose is looking for the files. I see nothing in the folder for about 3-5 seconds. It's insane. I use some of them frequently,but it still happens.

This would also be Kaspersky getting in the way, have you uninstalled it yet?

YES,I just uninstalled it and downloaded NOD32 as people suggested.
Kaspersky freed up some RAM and I noticed a slight improvement in all program startups.Now,at startup,it only uses 900MB of RAM.
Still not as good as XP(kasperksy worked great there). Folder start up times improved at least by half and I don't see the green seek bar at the top of the windows yet.Hopefully I'll never see it again...
Still performance is not up to what I had. Maybe it's just my XP. I spent a lot of time tweaking it with selective start up programs and such.
Photoshop,Premiere,WinRAR are not running as fast.
I did a few tests and Vista is about 15-20% slower.

My XP would be ready to be worked on in 25 seconds from the time I push the start button. Vista is ready only in 1 minute. I still hear occasional noise of hard drive. I assume some of it goes to the system restore.

 

[Cadaver]

One solid week of using Vista Ultimate (x86) without a single problem, except for one program I need for work (stupid ActiveX-based application that hooks in to IE6 and doesn't yet work with IE7). I keep a small XP install on a separate drive for this app.

 

[Mem]

I have virtually all drivers except 2(Leadtek USB 2.0 DTV tuner and ColorVision USB SpyderExpress driver) ,FYI I read that Leadtek are working on their Vista driver so I expect that sometime down the road,probably the same for ColorVision(I have the ICM color profile saved on CD so I use that for now).

My lucky day ColorVision have released new calibration/driver software for Vista/x64 today, so I can now use my ColorVision Spyder2Express .

 

[stockriderman]

Originally posted by: Mem

I have virtually all drivers except 2(Leadtek USB 2.0 DTV tuner and ColorVision USB SpyderExpress driver) ,FYI I read that Leadtek are working on their Vista driver so I expect that sometime down the road,probably the same for ColorVision(I have the ICM color profile saved on CD so I use that for now).

My lucky day ColorVision have released new calibration/driver software for Vista/x64 today, so I can now use my ColorVision Spyder2Express .

Thanks,good info. I've yet to install this one.