Vista Blows

[rxblitzrx]

Originally posted by: VivienM
VLC works fine for me... I get video, sound out of my X-Fi (with the beta drivers), etc.

Are you running 64-bit Vista by any chance?

No, I was using the 32bit Ultimate Edition RTM

 

[VivienM]

That's odd... I'm watching a movie on VLC 0.8.6a on 32-bit Vista Ultimate RTM.

I like Vista... well, except for the fact that 97.64 from NVIDIA's site causes BSODs galore, but with 97.64 from MS, it seems to be stable.

 

[rxblitzrx]

Yeah, I'll try the retail version around mid march when I have spring break. Hopefully by then all the major companies will have dependable driver support. I'm also a little miffed that Kaspersky doesn't have a working version for Vista yet.

I could never get nVidia drivers to work properly on Vista. Even the Jan. 5 release of ForceWare never installed properly. It would install but then in Device Manger it showed that the Video Card was still using the Microsoft Drivers (and I had no Nvidia Control Center).

Overall, I'm just too frustrated with Vista right now. XP does everything I need and I know where everything is. It took me forever just to figure out where the ClearType setting was in Vista.

 

[mechBgon]

I'm also a little miffed that Kaspersky doesn't have a working version for Vista yet.

Actually they do, you can download it from here.

 

[rxblitzrx]

Originally posted by: mechBgon

I'm also a little miffed that Kaspersky doesn't have a working version for Vista yet.

Actually they do, you can download it from here.

oh SWEET. It's about time they picked up the ball. Still, I'm gonna wait it out for a couple months. Still need:

* nVidia drivers
* Sound Blaster drivers
* Clear Type Tuner
* AIM 5.9 Support (doubt this one)
* RivaTuner Support


March will be my month.

 

[cockeyed]

I don't agree that "Vista Blows." I installed Home Premium Upgrade and had some driver and software problems, so I restored my XP image. However, I re-installed Vista in another partion for dual boot.

As some others have said, I think the main problem right now is some software incompatibility and driver support. I'm finding out that Vista has a lot of nice features built into it and IMO, it appears to be a winner.

I would suggest installing Vista as dual boot before wiping XP, to test your drivers and software. Make an image of the Vista partition that can be easily restored when something goes wrong. In the mean time, you'll be gaining Vista knowledge while still being able to use your current system.

When I get my SW and driver issues solved, I'll be ready to switch to Vista full time!

 

[VivienM]

Originally posted by: cockeyed
I'm finding out that Vista has a lot of nice features built into it and IMO, it appears to be a winner.

The problem is that those "nice features" seem to mostly be subtle.

Things I've noticed so far:
- you can now see your transfer speed when copying files
- when you're scrolling up/down a directory tree, Vista will automagically scroll up/right so you can see the folder names
- the new Solitaire is a major improvement

Oh, and the memory management seems notably improved too, which was my big pet peeve with XP... Vista feels a lot more responsive, too.

 

[cockeyed]

The things I like so far: great "eye candy", gadgets, photo gallery, built-in email, system maintenance tools, system test tools, create & size partions, windows defender, ease of use, firewall, nice games, all built into the OS. I'm sure I'll find more.

The thing I dislike the most so far, is the nagging "Windows needs your permission" pop-up window. I'll try to find a way to turn it off.

 

[VivienM]

You can turn UAC off from the "User Accounts" control panel...

Where are the system test tools? I don't think I've found those yet...

 

[MrUniq]

I am dual booting both and Vista runs about 80% of what I have....it's pretty good with drivers. I ditched my creative card b/c I never liked their drivers anyway...and now the card halfway functions w/ Vista. I'm enjoying it though, I plan on using it daily unless otherwise.

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: VivienM
You can turn UAC off from the "User Accounts" control panel...

You can cut the seatbelts out of your new car, too. I mean heck, cars back in the 1940s didn't have them. They must be useless. Anyway, my car has airbags, so seatbelts must be obsolete... right?

...well?




bsobel recently recommended the Microsoft fingerprint reader as a good solution to UAC security prompts. Before you get fed up at actually having a secure OS that won't just let malware authors run anything they can figure out an exploit to launch, even when you log on as an Admin, maybe try a fingerprint reader I've got one, just waiting for Vista to arrive and then maybe I'll post a little report & how-to.

 

[aidanjm]

now is the perfect time for you to install a linux distro. I'd recommend Kubuntu. All the benefits of ubuntu, with the excellent KDE desktop environment. Kubuntu supports more of my hardware than does Vista.

 

[Mem]

I find my Vista x64 very solid,only bug problem I had was with Creative labs Audigy 4 beta driver,I had to disable CTHELP.exe on startup via msconfig(don't need it anyway) since that was causing memory error crashes on shutdown and when you try to restart.


UAC can be annoying at first but I've got used to it now, so not a problem any more.
The few games I have tried like M&M 8,Oblivion,Steam(CS,DoD,TFC etc..)Morrowind,UT2004 all work ok.

Vista x64 HP is fast and snappy in use,memory management is superior to XP,no real reason for me to go back to XP.

 

[MrUniq]

I loved Vista x54...it felt snappier than the x86 version on my first system. Only problem is app compatibility and there was no driver for my IDE card..very disapointed in Promise.

 

[cockeyed]

Originally posted by: VivienM
You can turn UAC off from the "User Accounts" control panel...

Where are the system test tools? I don't think I've found those yet...

Control Panel > Additional options > System Maintenance (left menu) > Performance info & tools > Advanced tools (left menu)

There is also a system memory test program somewhere, but I can't recall where I saw it. I'm guessing that it's similiar to a popular DOS based mem test program since it needs to do a restart if I remember correctly.

I like that I can add a new partion to the HDD if needed and also be able to re-size current partions. I haven't tried it yet, but it looks like a nice feature. I'm not sure though if a partion can be deleted.