VISTA killing my laptop!!

[unbiased]

Hi All,

I bought ACER7220, thinking it was agood bargain, what with 17" screen, 1440x900 resolution, 1GB ram and dedicated graphics. I didn't bother that I was getting the white elphant called VISTA HOME PREMIUM along with this, thinking that I would be able to install tried and tested and fast WINDOWS XP later on.

My happines at striking a good bargain was ephemeral. When I went on to know my machine better, and various queries later I realized the reason for it's unbelievably low price despite quality hardware and features. It was priced so low because it had to bear the burden of the Latest illegitimate child of MS.

Man! I don't want the eyecandy if it is going to drag my machine to the ground, and I don't want the innumerable pop ups telling about all sorts of problems. I tried to compare this laptop with a respectable 2 GHz processor with my 3 year old desktop with an athlon 1700+ macine and the older macine with XP seemed faster in many applications.

Can anybody tell me where to get the drivers for the hardware of this laptop for XP. I tried the ACER website but they have been bought over by MS to keep lugging this VISTA thingy.

I am going to increase the ram to 2 GB. It will recover some agility but what to do about numerous incompatibilities?

Not hoping much in terms of help,but it seems good after letting out the steam. Just to let others know of the hazards of running vista on an other than special hardware.

 

[lxskllr]

Too bad. Vista runs great on my mid range laptop...

 

[mechBgon]

Despite your rather over-dramatized rant, I'll offer you some advice:

1) yes, 2GB will help, good idea

2) laptop makers are secretly REQUIRED by the U.S. Government to pile a steaming load of useless nannyware onto ALL laptops. Or something. Anyway, go through the Programs & Features in Control Panel and remove as much of it as possible, particularly on a 1GB rig.

3) if you want help with the "numerous incompatibilities" then please be specific about the exact problems you've been having, so people can help

4) if you want to install WinXP and throw away the substantial security benefits of Vista, then start by seeing if the SATA controller can be switched out of AHCI mode into IDE mode, in the motherboard's BIOS. That will probably be a key to your installation success, after which you'd want to install the driver package for your motherboard's chipset (you'll need to look that up for your exact model) and the drivers for your GPU, then see what's left over. Before you embark on that adventure, make sure you have a way back if it doesn't work out (meaning, make sure you have recovery/reimaging discs in hand).

 

[Markbnj]

What mech said. You can tune out most of the annoying Vista-ish security things, and adding more ram will help bigtime. The graphics card is also important if you're running aero, and since you're willing to go back to XP you can always try turning aero off first to see how you like it.

If you're adamant on reverting then I would find out what the specific hardware devices in the system are, and then visit the websites of those OEMs for drivers.

 

[Evander]

install tweakuac to get rid of the nagging popups

under control panel - performance information and tools:
on the visual effects tab click "custom" and uncheck everything except the stuff you want, personally I only have 4 items check (show thumbnails instead of icons, smooth edges of screen fonts, use drop shadows, use visual styles). This should net you performance gains but still keep things pretty enough

and you probably know this already but click start - run - and type "msconfig" and uncheck the startup junk you don't need. Vista includes a program startup manager in the Windows Defender but it seems half assed as it cannot disable some programs from running like adobe reader or java update checkers.

For antivirus, Nod32 is supposed to be very lightweight on your resources, personally I'm using AVG free cuz it's free.

Still won't be as fast as xp or 2000 but maybe good enough. File copying/moving is still slow, and still takes too long to display the contents of whatever is in 'start -> programs ' (I was previously using Win2k on an 800 mhz laptop, now I'm an a dual core 1.7ghz Acer, and still the 800mhz laptop was much faster as displaying items in the Programs tab. Vista icons are prettied up though, my guess is that's the cause)

 

[VinDSL]

Originally posted by: lxskllr
Too bad. Vista runs great on my mid range laptop...

Mine too! SP1 RC runs even greater!!!

@OP: If you want to know what a difference RAM makes in a Vista lappy - READ MY RANT

Quick fix:

1) Delete all the trialware (as stated above) - took me a whole day on my Toshiba. (Sony is the trialware king - Toshiba a close 2nd)

2) Increase your RAM to a full 4GB (about 80 bones @ Fry's w/MIR)

3) Install a 4GB ReadyBoost Drive - won't do jack on a desktop machine, but works wonders on lappys! (less HD I/O - more battery life)

4) Upgrade to Vista SP1 RC beta. (been available to the public for two weeks)

 

[unbiased]

Sorry guys! I admit I went a little overboard. The frustration of waiting is one of the reasons.

I am greatful to you guys' balanced approch towards such rants as mine. It has brought me suddenly from 'Blame Somebody" to "Solve the Problem" zone.

OK, I will give all 4 GBs of RAM to it,if it supports it.

By numerous incompatibilities I meant that I have Nero 6.6.1which was working sufficintly for me on my XP desktop giving me a whole lot of flexibility. Now VISTA says that this software is not compatible and doesn't run it in express mode which is the default (and easy) mode. Acer supplied writing software is not all that powerful as NERO was.

Other programs include some small Disk and registry cleaning utilities which I found very handy for cleaning of temp files and orphan registry entries. System tweaking software like tuneXP were also very effective in improving the boot up etc. All this is not running in vista.

There are also repeated pop ups telling some thing like ' ----program not starting -----I do not remeber the whole message. I think it started after I disabled some startup progrms from starting by dfault to give more RAM to the desired apps.

There is also some problem which randomly stops MS Excel sheets from opening.

I was not aware of the SP1. may be it will solve the problems.

I tried searching for the WINXP drivers for the hardware of this laptop online but in vain. This caused the frustration more than anything ealse which led to this rant.

I thank you all for your suggessions and advice.

 

[VinDSL]

For burning CDs, I've been using CDBurnerXP - makes bootable CDs too, which is nice for flashing your BIOS.

For cleaning my disk & registry, I'm using CCleaner (aka Crap Cleaner) - works great!

Both are *FREE*, so you got nothing to lose by trying them!

I might also mention, I'm running Microsoft Office 2000 on Vista HP (sans Outlook) and haven't any one problems, even though it isn't officially supported by MS...

 

[Rottie]

I will not going to get rid of Vista on my new notebook but all i did was to get rid of crapware/trailwares and use TuneXP..Now Vista runs snappier.

Top Windows Vista Tweaks from Notebook Review website

 

[bruceb]

Nero 6.6 might not work in Vista .. but try it in XP compatibility mode .. or else you will be
stuck upgrading to bloated Nero 8 ...... You could also use Power ISO or Ultra ISO both
of which are inexpensive and do an excellent job of burning to cd / dvd

Note to the OP ... Acer DOES have all the XP Drivers you want for that model at this link

http://support.acer-euro.com/d.../notebook/tm_7220.html

Grab em while you still can ... also it is the same BIOS 1.15 for XP or Vista

 

[lxskllr]

Originally posted by: VinDSL

Quick fix:

1) Delete all the trialware (as stated above) - took me a whole day on my Toshiba. (Sony is the trialware king - Toshiba a close 2nd)

LMAO :laugh: Yea, I have a Toshiba. It took forever to get all of the crapware uninstalled. I thought it would be easier just removing the software in the normal method. I spent a whole weekend trying to get rid of some of the garbage(F'n Wordperfect installer kept trying to install, even after getting rid of all traces of it :^/. If I want some incompatible third party office software, I'll use Open Office). In hindsight I should have just wiped the drive and started fresh.

 

[nerp]

I highly recommend ditching nero and running away as fast as you can.

I'm still waiting for Nero to release its own operating system.

 

[nordloewelabs]

up to version 6.6, Nero was a full-featured and unobtrusive program!
the bloat started at version 7. i have Nero 6.6 installed on 3 diff
computers (two XP Home & one 2K Pro) and have never had any probs
with any of them...and one of these computers is an old Tablet PC.

if Nero 6.6 doesnt work for you, try the freeware below:

- InfraRecorder
- CDBurnerXP
- Microburner

 

[Markbnj]

Originally posted by: lxskllr

Originally posted by: VinDSL

Quick fix:

1) Delete all the trialware (as stated above) - took me a whole day on my Toshiba. (Sony is the trialware king - Toshiba a close 2nd)

LMAO :laugh: Yea, I have a Toshiba. It took forever to get all of the crapware uninstalled. I thought it would be easier just removing the software in the normal method. I spent a whole weekend trying to get rid of some of the garbage(F'n Wordperfect installer kept trying to install, even after getting rid of all traces of it :^/. If I want some incompatible third party office software, I'll use Open Office). In hindsight I should have just wiped the drive and started fresh.

I think it's worth investing in one full retail copy of your OS of choice, so that you have your own disks and unencumbered key. Then you can pretty much do whatever you want to the machine and reinstall any time it's necessary. Pricey, but you only have to do it once per machine, and it only adds an extra $200 or so.

 

[VinDSL]

Originally posted by: lxskllr
LMAO :laugh: Yea, I have a Toshiba. It took forever to get all of the crapware uninstalled...

If I want some incompatible third party office software, I'll use Open Office. In hindsight I should have just wiped the drive and started fresh.

Heh! I love deleting stuff...

I've spent the last 26 hours deleting viruses, worms, trojans, downloaders, dialers, et cetera, off a co-workers XP Pro desktop - no kidding - and I'm not done yet!

Sure, it would be easier to just 'wipe the drive', but what else am I'm gonna do on New Year's Day - watch parades on TV?

I digress:

1) How did this XP Pro machine get so loaded up with malware?

2) Isn't that the whole purpose for Vista - added security?

The 'problem' with Vista, if you will, is all this added security creates a performance hit!

That's what ppl wanted - and that's what they got...

LoL!

Sometimes you need to be careful what you wish for, yes?

 

[lxskllr]

Originally posted by: VinDSL

Originally posted by: lxskllr
LMAO :laugh: Yea, I have a Toshiba. It took forever to get all of the crapware uninstalled...

If I want some incompatible third party office software, I'll use Open Office. In hindsight I should have just wiped the drive and started fresh.

Heh! I love deleting stuff...

I've spent the last 26 hours deleting viruses, worms, trojans, downloaders, dialers, et cetera, off a co-workers XP Pro desktop - no kidding - and I'm not done yet!

Sure, it would be easier to just 'wipe the drive', but what else am I'm gonna do on New Year's Day - watch parades on TV?

I digress:

1) How did this XP Pro machine get so loaded up with malware?

2) Isn't that the whole purpose for Vista - added security?

The 'problem' with Vista, if you will, is all this added security creates a performance hit!

That's what ppl wanted - and that's what they got...

LoL!

Sometimes you need to be careful what you wish for, yes?

oh, I think I need to clarify This was a brand new laptop, and I was trying to get rid of all the trialware garbage off of it. Most I could get rid of by uninstalling through Control Panel, but that damned WordPerfect Office kept coming back and launching a installer. I couldn't find where the hell it was coming from. I went through the startup list, the registry, and even did a manual search of the drive to delete all traces of WordPerfect from my system, and like herpes it came back every startup. I finally used CCleaner to get rid of it. I don't generally like using registry cleaners, but that was my last attempt before a format and reinstall(should have done that in the first place). CCleaner got rid of it for me. I swear that thing was like a virus. If I had the WordPerfect devs in front of me at the end of the first day, I'd have punched them.Luckily the laptop came with a Vista DVD, so I could wipe the recovery partition also, and I have a nice clean copy of Vista I can use in the future.

 

[unbiased]

Thanks for all the suggessions and insight.

One more thing I would like to ask is if anybody has had similar problem like I have running vista-- The problem is:

I have a thumbdrive and two prtable hard drives, which were working fine in XP. By working I mean they were properly recognized, opened and when ejected/stopped, the power would cut off automatically, and a message would display saying that the drive can be now unplugged.

In vista may a time I get a message that the drive can not be stopped because it is in use even though there are no files/ folders open. Some time it will take pity and give message that the drive can now be safety disconnected, even though the power is not cut off. It seems some driver problem but in XP such problem never occured.

 

[VinDSL]

Originally posted by: unbiased
I have a thumbdrive and two prtable hard drives, which were working fine in XP. By working I mean they were properly recognized, opened and when ejected/stopped, the power would cut off automatically, and a message would display saying that the drive can be now unplugged.

Not sure what you mean by "ejected/stopped"...

I always use the "Safely Remove Hardware" button on the 'Quick Launch' bar.

Works fine, as long as I'm not browsing the drive with Explorer or whatever.

I do this with 2000/XP/Vista and it works fine 99% of the time...

 

[JustaGeek]

Originally posted by: unbiased
Thanks for all the suggessions and insight.

One more thing I would like to ask is if anybody has had similar problem like I have running vista-- The problem is:

I have a thumbdrive and two prtable hard drives, which were working fine in XP. By working I mean they were properly recognized, opened and when ejected/stopped, the power would cut off automatically, and a message would display saying that the drive can be now unplugged.

In vista may a time I get a message that the drive can not be stopped because it is in use even though there are no files/ folders open. Some time it will take pity and give message that the drive can now be safety disconnected, even though the power is not cut off. It seems some driver problem but in XP such problem never occured.

If there are no files/folders open, don't worry about it.

Just turn off the external HD/unplug the USB drive.

I would get these messages with either XP or Vista, and nothing bad ever happened to a drive.

It might be related to the Indexing Service or System Restore.

 

[wiin]

Set you Vista to run like a racing car:

My Computer--->Properties--->Advanced tab--->Settings in Performance--->check Adjust For Best Performace under Visual Effects

Originally posted by: unbiased
Hi All,

I bought ACER7220, thinking it was agood bargain, what with 17" screen, 1440x900 resolution, 1GB ram and dedicated graphics. I didn't bother that I was getting the white elphant called VISTA HOME PREMIUM along with this, thinking that I would be able to install tried and tested and fast WINDOWS XP later on.

My happines at striking a good bargain was ephemeral. When I went on to know my machine better, and various queries later I realized the reason for it's unbelievably low price despite quality hardware and features. It was priced so low because it had to bear the burden of the Latest illegitimate child of MS.

Man! I don't want the eyecandy if it is going to drag my machine to the ground, and I don't want the innumerable pop ups telling about all sorts of problems. I tried to compare this laptop with a respectable 2 GHz processor with my 3 year old desktop with an athlon 1700+ macine and the older macine with XP seemed faster in many applications.

Can anybody tell me where to get the drivers for the hardware of this laptop for XP. I tried the ACER website but they have been bought over by MS to keep lugging this VISTA thingy.

I am going to increase the ram to 2 GB. It will recover some agility but what to do about numerous incompatibilities?

Not hoping much in terms of help,but it seems good after letting out the steam. Just to let others know of the hazards of running vista on an other than special hardware.

 

[BD2003]

You dont need more than 1gb. What you NEED to do is to get rid of all the crap trialware, and stop using bloatware like nero.

 

[JackBurton]

LOL, you got an Acer.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
4) if you want to install WinXP and throw away the substantial security benefits of Vista, then start by seeing if the SATA controller can be switched out of AHCI mode into IDE mode, in the motherboard's BIOS. That will probably be a key to your installation success

That's an important point. Many new systems have their BIOS set to AHCI by default, and on some, you cannot change it.

Which leads me to wonder - is there a vendor that offers a driver for AHCI SATA drives, that is generic enough to run on any chipset? That could be a godsend to people looking to install XP on newer laptops.

 

[SunnyD]

Originally posted by: Evander
install tweakuac to get rid of the nagging popups

:roll:

Why the hell would you install an app to do what you can do the same thing with a few mouseclicks?

Start->Control Panel->User Accounts and Family Safety->User Accounts->Turn User Account Control on or off

For that matter, why the hell would you turn this feature OFF in the first place? I assume you enjoy spyware?

 

[Oxaqata]

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