Who needs Vista??

[slackerinabox]

So I gave Vista Ultimate a spin for a week (Dell sent me an "express upgrade") and loved the way it looked but hated how sluggish things were.

Vista was a huge memory hog and used 80% of my resources IDLE. I'm guessing Aero has a huge system overhead. So i reinstalled XP and installed some add-ons that installed my favorite vista features - Flip 3D, sidebar, and the general look. The end result is that I got a very similar look (there's an actual vista theme but I like the one I used better) all while being MUCH faster.

Some pics:
Desktop with sidebar
Flip 3D
With all of these addons running, cpu and memory use is still SO much less than Vista

 

[foghorn67]

where did you get that stuff, looks nice.

 

[Pepsi90919]

that's nice

 

[Ktulu]

Where did you get the sidebar?

 

[slackerinabox]

Originally posted by: foghorn67
where did you get that stuff, looks nice.

1. Windows Blinds + whatever vista skin you'd like (deviantart has many snazzy ones)
2. Topdesk for flip3D
3. Sidebar - got it off of a torrent site, looks like a hacked version of the real deal
4. HSLAB prefetch manager fora "superfetch" add-on of sorts.

 

[Heller]

links to downloads please

 

[GrantMeThePower]

doesn't windows blinds cost money, though?

 

[slackerinabox]

Originally posted by: Heller
links to downloads please

Sorry, did this all at 5 in the morning after vista pissed me off one last time (installed applications disappeared, had no idea what was going on - reinstalled acrobat 3 times, tried to print a study guide and just gave up, frustrated). Google helped me - i searched for "superfetch xp", "flip3d xp", and the sidebar i stumbled on on a torrent site.

I'd dig up the links links but they were on my Vista install, which is gladly gone now.

 

[Aimster]

Originally posted by: GrantMeThePower
doesn't windows blinds cost money, though?

your morals are high I see

 

[slackerinabox]

Originally posted by: GrantMeThePower
doesn't windows blinds cost money, though?

I'm still on a trial but $30 is a better deal than whatever vista costs. And my system is much more responsive since I'm not using "aero"

 

[slackerinabox]

The flip3d thing is free - topdesk costs $15 but there's a competitive freeware program out there. Topdesk has a 30 day trial.

 

[Kaido]

Yeah, I'm not really sold on Vista. I will be getting a Mac before I upgrade to Vista

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: freedomsbeat212
The flip3d thing is free - topdesk costs $15 but there's a competitive freeware program out there. Topdesk has a 30 day trial.

I laughed when I saw that feature in Vista...I had remembered using Flip3D years and years ago.

 

[TuffGuy]

That wallpaper's cool. If you don't mind, do you have a link for it?

 

[jpeyton]

Aero has little overhead. If it was sluggish, that's because your GPU wasn't up to snuff.

Vista uses 800MB of RAM at idle with nothing running; so you are correct it's using 80% of your resources if you're only running 1GB of RAM.

 

[Number1]

Wrong Forum!

Go away.

 

[wetcat007]

No one needs vista, I made the switch a while ago. To Ubuntu+Beryl.

 

[slackerinabox]

Originally posted by: Kaido
Yeah, I'm not really sold on Vista. I will be getting a Mac before I upgrade to Vista

I understand the game that is every new version of Windows - they bog down system resources so damn much that users feel compelled to upgrade, making hardware manufacturers very happy as well.

I guess if I installed twice the ram and upgraded video cards things would be faster.. but downgrading the OS worked much better and cost less.

I like OS-X, Apple os' historically INCREASE performance per upgrade, which is odd for us PC folks to understand I'd get a mac laptop but I still prefer PCs for their desktops.

 

[slackerinabox]

Originally posted by: Number1
Wrong Forum!

Go away.

Sorry, no one reads the other forum. I thought I'd save some people some money and frustration - all of the apps mentioned are available as demos so people can give this a whirl if they're getting the vista itch and, who knows, maybe save some money. So sorry I offended you!

 

[slackerinabox]

Originally posted by: TuffGuy
That wallpaper's cool. If you don't mind, do you have a link for it?

Enjoy

 

[TuffGuy]

Originally posted by: freedomsbeat212

Originally posted by: TuffGuy
That wallpaper's cool. If you don't mind, do you have a link for it?

Enjoy

Thanks!

:beer:

 

[Dacalo]

I installed Vista on a 4400+ with 1GB RAM and 7800GTX, and it didn't feel sluggish. I wasn't happy with it due to crappy Creative driver (sound would work OK for a while, and then all this static would show up). I will keep XP for a while.

 

[slackerinabox]

Originally posted by: Dacalo
I installed Vista on a 4400+ with 1GB RAM and 7800GTX, and it didn't feel sluggish. I wasn't happy with it due to crappy Creative driver (sound would work OK for a while, and then all this static would show up). I will keep XP for a while.

Mine felt very sluggish but I admit that I have ADD and like to multitask. If I was on one task things would be ok but I have the tendency to browse, open windows media player, pop open a game and then get bored and want to watch a divx movie. The 8-10 second lag launching programs drove me crazy.

Also, I did have staticy audio on Quicktime files, have no idea why.

 

[XZeroII]

Originally posted by: jpeyton
Aero has little overhead. If it was sluggish, that's because your GPU wasn't up to snuff.

Vista uses 800MB of RAM at idle with nothing running; so you are correct it's using 80% of your resources if you're only running 1GB of RAM.

I installed it on a laptop at work with 1gb of RAM and it ran kinda slow at first, but after a week of using it, it started to fly. It also uses much less memory now than it did when I first installed. I've been running it for over a month now and it runs pretty well. It allocates your memory more liberally when you have lots of extra, so don't think that by using 800mb to boot that it really needs that much. It will release some of that if necessary.

 

[91TTZ]

Originally posted by: freedomsbeat212


Vista was a huge memory hog and used 80% of my resources IDLE.

You know that's by design, right? Whereas XP tried to keep as much resources free as possible, Vista tries to utilize as much as possible.