Windows Vista SP2 Not Ready for Prime Time
Time to break out the tinfoil hats, Windows Vista SP 2 beta has been available since December 4th 2008. It doesn’t seem to add anything exciting to this universally acknowledged lame duck of an operating system, so I guess that explains the lack of interest I’m seeing around the web. While Microsoft touts the inclusion of Windows Connect Now for easier configuration of Wi-Fi networks and support for burning Blu-ray discs, these features have been available by automatic updates since July of this year. Take note that if you’ve recently purchased a system with Windows Vista’s Feature Pack for Wireless, it will already have WCN and Bluetooth 2.1 support included.
Vista SP 2 beta has been available for quite some time to system manufacturers, but there were reported issues burning the image to disk, which lead to installation problems.
The public beta seems to have no such problems and comes with a stand-alone installer for those who want to download an ISO image and burn a DVD. It’s a simple matter of creating a system restore point, a single reboot, and allowing about an hour for an unattended installation.
If this service pack includes anything worth having it seems to be associated with software compatibility. Microsoft is reporting fixes for ZoneAlarm and Spy Sweeper as well and improved support for DirectX.
It’s important to note at this point that if you are taking advantage of Automatic Updates with your Vista system, you have been getting non-security updates almost every quarter. These updates included several application comparability fixes and explain why your Vista system might be operating a little smoother than it did initially.
Problems
I found several reports that Windows had trouble finding wireless adapters after the installation of Vista SP2 beta. Because my only Vista install is my laptop, which uses a wireless connection, I decided against giving it a try. Normally I would take one for the team but I know firsthand how hard it is to get a good working installation of Vista.
Should you try it? No, not yet. Wait till it’s out of beta. The predicted release date of April of 2009 is not that far away and most will already have the improvements installed through Automatic Updates. All SP2 offers is some added glitches and besides, who wants to spend half a day fixing Somethin for Nothin?
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For the most part, Vista isnt TOO bad… once I came to realize that no matter HOW much searching I did trying to find a fix for my 5.1 surround sound wasnt going to happen. (driver issue) Also, I was one of the unfortuneate ones who had to read for quite awhile to figure out I needed to disable to my IPV6 protocol in network properties to keep my net from constantly dropping. Of course, 64 bit sucks with freeware..especially for those of us who enjoy programs such as peerguardian for a safer torrent experience. Last but not least, REGARDLESS of what windows says..not being able to defrag hibernation file, page file, etc…sucks. Running the test on PC pitstop after ONE MONTH showed 50% fragmentation in those files. There was of course a noticible difference in speed. It doesnt seem right that a basic maintenance issue could only be solved by 3rd party software..and not what came with my machine. Throw that in with the fact that mine stays steady at 1.27gb of ram usage at standstill…sign me up for Windows 7 or something non-microsoft. Overall, since coming to terms with WHAT Vista is…it isnt too bad. Honestly though, I hope Microsoft does at least a little bit better with windows 7.
“this universally acknowledged lame duck of an operating system”
I really think the author should get off the Vista-bashing bandwagon. Is this person a closet Mac-user?? Looks like the majority of comments are Vista supportive, so I’m not too certain where the above quote finds legitimacy. I, too, am a long-time user of Microsoft operating systems. I have noticed that the majority of Vista complainers are not tech-savvy, don’t pay attention to System Recommendations, and ignore pertinent blogs, tech papers and general advice on the subject. I have NEVER had an issue using Vista Ultimate Edition: I am currently using a dual-boot system consisting of Vista Ultimate 64-bit and XP Professional 64-bit. My favorite? Vista…hands down!
I too have worked on all Windows OS’s, not alot with DOS but I can tell you, the farce created with XP SP3 on my old machine drove me nuts. And got no help whatsoever from HP or Microsoft or AMD. I finally broke my machine trying to fix the fix as they say and had go get a new machine. I have Vista now and I tell you, I like it alot and have had no problems but this machine is an Intel base so I will have no worrys when it comes to SPs’. It’s those poor folks like me who believed in AMD and HP that will really need to worry.
I have a 3 year old Dell Inspiron that came with Windows XP SP2. It worked well (a few glitches now and then, but fixable) THEN came SP3……well, it has RUINED that computer! I even had a tech from Microsoft “take over” my computer to try and uninstall the sp3, but even HE could not do it! He ended up telling me that the update is corrupted, and my ONLY option now is to back up EVERYTHING (which, as you can imagine is a ton) and completely reinstall SP2! In the meantime, when home in August (I live and work in Saudi Arabia) I bought an HP with Vista Home Premium 64 bit. WELL. There have been a few issues that really bug me about THIS one! The main one being that most of my favorite programs WILL NOT WORK ON 64 BIT! I found out if software says Vista compatible and you have 64 bit, it WILL NOT WORK on your OS! I must SAY 64bit compatible! So, got screwed there! The other is that it refuses to run ANY screensavers other than those pre loaded on the machine. Nothing, nada, end of story. I keep getting Windows Internet Explorer Blank Page loading on it’s own. I have to go to task manager to close it all the time. I don’t even USE IE! I use Firefox because IE is junk. Unfortunately, can’t get rid of it, as someone else says, because it would make the whole system unstable! Finally. I just backed up my music files from the Dell (in preparation of wiping it clean to get rid of SP3) I managed to get the files onto the Vista machine, but with a BUNCH of bugs! Though I KNOW the albums have info on the internet (covers, file names, etc) they WILL NOT load onto the Vista no matter WHAT I do! I tried going into Media player and telling it to go get the files. It ended up finding over 50,000 files! I do NOT have that much music! After 18 hours, with only 18 files downloaded, I finally put a halt to it! Unfortunately, I was an idiot, and deleted the music files from the Dell in order to do a seriously needed de-frag (thought I would try that first in case I wouldn’t have to wipe it) So now I have the files on an external drive, but can’t get them to play nice with Vista. Frustrating! Overall, though, I am tempted to find out the cost of the Vista OS (THIRTY-TWO BIT!) and install that on the Dell instead of the XP Sp2, since I have seen “rumors” that XP will no longer be supported in 6 months!
Ok. I have put MY two cents worth in! Anyone out there have any suggestions for me? HOW can I get Vista to work with my files? To RUN MY screensavers? And finally, SHOULD I install Vista, or my back up XP on the Dell?
Thanks for the opportunity to vent!
I have been using Windows Vista for some time and find it quite ok.
The UAC doesn’t bother me that much as I know the OS is telling me that I need to authorize a program.
Ccleaner is a good one for triggering off the UAC but it’s fine I know I have to authorize ccleaner before the program will run.
My biggest problem with Windows Vista is device drivers especially the Vista drivers for my ATI Radeon HD2600XT AGP graphics card.
Doesn’t matter how you install the drivers it still won’t work properly.
When the drivers are installed correctly you go to run Second Life and a pop up message is displayed saying “You don’t have the latest device drivers installed”.
That’s really the only beef I have with Windows Vista I like the way things are organized in Vista a lot better then Windows XP.
I still believe that Windows XP had a lot more life in it, Microsoft could have just added more features to XP rather then waste R&D on developing a new operating system.
I have used Linux but not to the extent that I am proficient in using it ……….. thinking of putting a version of Linux on an old computer and using for a test bed so I can get use to using Linux.
When it first came out I bought a desktop with VISTA installed, but only because I had no options at the time. It worked….. but why should I be forced to pay for the latest O/S and then be required to add RAM because there was not enough originally installed to run the O/S effectively, AND why should I need to turn off most of the VISTA graphics features because they slow down performance, AND why should I have to wait a year and a half to get drivers for a recent model laser printer, AND my main application software does not run in VISTA? VISTA was NOT a good value for…..I still feel stuck with it. And I know that I’m not alone.
If windows Vista is so damn good why has the OS given so many computer know-nothings a very, very bad time for such a very ,very long time. I think there are a lot of Windows ‘ringers’ in this comment bank. Why is the world such a nasty place?
As a web developer (WAMP) I worked from a hp media laptop (dv6000 series) with 2bg of ram and the amd turion 1.89 cpu. I found vista seems to slow down once more processes are up and running, even though my resource monitor did not go over 55% idle.
Although I had many issues with vista, what I found most frustrating was when I go to use ie7 my laptop would freeze up. I could not force it to shutdown and would have to hard reboot the system. Compared to xp, vista is a truely poor and lacking polish.
I went so far as to request from hp a xp cd to install on this laptop and they stated they could not support what I was going to do, but if I wanted to do it then I would have to buy xp and they sent me a email with a list of links for drivers and programs needed for my laptop, but for xp.
Not happy with the answer I got, and after a couple of months, I burned a copy of ubuntu desktop v8.10 and tried, liked and installed it. I have had this linux distro for about a month and have little issue with it not related to my own ignorance of linux. And when I do have issues, answers have been easy to find. So now my WAMP is a LAMP….I have high hopes my laptop will remain functional for some time so can spend time working and less time fustrated.
Bye Windows……So long and thanks for all the BSOFs!
I stopped reading after “universally acknowledged lame duck of an operating system”. It’s downright ignorant to make such a generalization; obviously many users (including me!) see Vista as an awesome OS.
I too like many other posts really enjoy Vista. I used to run it on 2 gigs of RAM and it STILL was as fast as my xp machine. I have since upgraded and am using the 64 bit version and i have no problems. I wish people would just use it and stop complaining because an “expert” said it was terrible when it first came out, because lets face it…all microsoft stuff is terrible when it first comes out.
The problem with Vista and just about any new future OSes that Microsoft pumps out is that they are simply not needed. If they’d just follow Apples lead and build upon what they have already there would be little if anything to gripe about. Eventually Microsoft will get the point that people do not need new OSes with the associated compatibility issues.
It doesn’t help that the fine folks at Microsoft try to push the older OSes to the curb and virtually abandon support for them. As a company providing OSes to consumers and businesses they are and should be fully obligated to support them beyond what they deem a full life cycle.
I too have been a MS user since DOS as well as using every other OS. I do tech support for everyday people, most of which is unpaid. I also support Apple systems, Linux, Umbutu etc.. I also am a Beta Tester for MS and other companies. That being said…
I am so sick and tired of hearing people who publish articles and/or have impact on people’s decisions on Operating systems start off their comments with “lame duck,” unworthy or a miriad of other negative comments. This is unfair to not only Vista but also to the clients that may be in need of systems that operate today and in the future.
Vista (in all its incornate versions) wasn’t built on a wim. It needed to be built because technology dictates it. While everyone is complaining about their older programs won’t work in Vista my standard reply is usually along the lines that while you used to that program it can’t do all the tricks that newer versions of the program can accomplish. Native 32 and 64 bit applications built nowadays will not have full functions if used in XP or NT versions versus Vista version.
I also hear people saying how memory limitations placed upon 32 bit systems vs 64 systems were not a problem in previous versions of windows. I beg to differ because the limitation is not in the operating systems, but rather core language and cpu limitations for the core.
I have taught people that are both computer virgins as well as basic knowledge users how to use Vista. If taugtht correctly and see what these clients are using the computer for I rarely have any problems with these clients calling me after instruction, even with the dreaded User Account popups. After the systems are used enough most popups are a thing of the past.
You gotta smile thinking about the people with the older equipment not understanding why 12yo scanner won’t work and its all Vista’s fault. Would you stick a 12yo engine in a new car and expect everything to work? All the connections just aren’t there.
Winsows 7 will be beta testing soon, the funny thing is that some writers who are nay sayers of the Vista systems are praising W7. How silly are they going to look once it turns out the core language for W7 is Vista based?
Problems arise with every new technology. The Mojave experiment showed how the effect of word of mouth distrust can affect perception a product before it is ever given a true test. I try not to give negative opinions about anything unless, I know everything about it. And I hope that most people don’t judge by one problem. Answers are out there for most Vista problems, not asking the right people when the problems first appear can create a logjam effect in anything. Trying to relieve the logjams takes more difficulty and time, but solutions are available. Switching to another OS won’t solve any problems either since you would still be used to doing it one way and all systems have their own way of doing things.
I’ve also been with MS since DOS and upgraded to Vista soon after it came out. I started with Home premium but after a fatal crash (required a clean reinstall) gave that notebook to the wife and bought one with Business (needed more battery anyway).
Definitely worth the price of admission just to get the backup function (ultimate seems like a waste to me).
Not only does it take the fear out of tweaking the registry, but also out of bad installs / uninstalls. Makes trying out new, untested software practically anxiety free.
The only problem I have is a stuttering mouse. It’s intermittent, so it has to be some background program or service starting. I haven’t figured out which one yet.
Oh yea, 2G of memory is a minimum. 4 isn’t bad, but basically just makes the caching function work better and so just cuts program start up time. But, considering how cheep memory is now, why not.
Well here is a negative I’ve had with Vista Home Premium that came with this laptop …[hp]
The Internet explorer updates [all of them from last spring on] after being loaded would not recognize any webpages … so I had to uninstal them … and everything was fine again.
I’m not sure … but I think I uninstalled Service Pack 1 [i seem to remember a message about that] for the reason it included an Internet explorer7 security update that caused the same problem.
I have installed all other security and most optional updates with no problem but I no longer trust any explorer 7 updates.
the other problem I’ve had a couple of times is a locked fragmented screen that needed to be shut off and restarted.
the first time I actually had to get help and had to remove the battery and reboot.
Another problem has being unable to load one of my favorite programs … Music Match jukebox . So I use my old desktop with windows 98 on it to mp3 my records.
I have had so many problems with Vista Home Edition w/Service Pack 1, I am constantly repairing things, instead of using my new laptop 10/08, as I thought I would be able to. Constant freezes in Internet Explorer,
Explorer closes down by itself frequently, and downloads are near impossible. I installed IE8 Beta and my security programs were not able to operate. I had to unstill the new beta to allow security to function. I have been trying to install a wireless connection since purchase, but am unable to.
Unless microsoft starts making an O/S that Baby Boomers can use simply without hassle, Mac will take over and surpass in sales, within the next 2 Years.
to melanied; Excuse me, dearie, I think your slip is showing. Evidently, you work with people (do you call them clients, dear?) born during or before WWII (FYI: VE Day 6/45, VJ Day 8/45). We BBs are not yet even retired let alone disabled to the extent you describe. — DMW, Florida
I’ve been using Vista Ultimate since it was an RC program on a triple boot system with XP Home and Linux Ubuntu and the only problems I’ve really ever had was a sound card driver (replaced the card) and a Microsoft Photo program that wanted to crash (replaced with Adobe)
I really feel that the editors who go off on Vista and knock the operating system are all tying to keep up appearances with their piers and really don’t have much a clue as to what they’re talking about. I am running 3 gigs of ram in my 4 year old home built Vista system, but it is really a terrific system. It’s not as good as XP, it’s far, far better than XP ever thought of being! I have not booted up the XP side of this machine in almost 2 months and usually don’t except to update it every so often and to try and figure out what all these so called tech experts are talking about when they’re saying how much better XP is than Vista. I think a good many of them should find another line of work that wouldn’t tax their little brains so much!
Vista flat out rocks even with Aero running!
I to run Windows Vista Premium.I have found that a dual core cpu and 2GB or more of ram will help vista run better but not less than 1GB.Lot of my fellow driver are using vista. The number one problems I have seen on the Vista system have been with software non-com. At this time I am making a video with Pinnacle Studio Plus 11.1 and surfing the web checking email. Maybe it’s not vista maybe its the owner of the system or maybe the software companies need to work a little harder together.
Thanks Richard
i’ve hade vista since it’s release and the only real problem i’ve had is it’s mermory hog issue. my husband,and daughter both have XP versions and i’ve seen them crash both pc’s and reload everything for some reason or another. i have yet to do that with my vista and it seems real funny that if there are any files they want or need it comes off my vista
now for a crapy OS seems mine seems to be the back bone.
What was that with seniors having a problem..I am over 70 as are my friends, and we all love Vista, and all have gone to Explorer 8. I’ve never had a single problem with Vista, and don’t personally know anyone who does.
It seems so very apparent that the people that complain the most about Vista are the ones that don’t have or don’t use the operating system. Why is that? Could it be some form of conspiracy against Bill Gates? I have used Vista Home Premium and I am now using Vista Ultimate and I have the only complaint I have is that the computer won’t stay stay asleep. But is that really a problem when your computer wants to keep working when you don’t?
I personaly have only had a few minor problems with Vista, because I know how to use a PC. My friends and family members on the other hand are not so PC savvy and they all hate Vista and won’t have anything to do with it.
The biggest problem I have with Vista is that it does not do anything better or faster than XP, hence I don’t understand why Microsoft would expect people to pay exhorbitant prices to upgrade? madness.
I have been using PCs with Microsoft OSs dating back to Windows 95. Currently I have an XP desktop and a Vista notebook with dual processors and 3 GB RAM. I am a CIS student and have found that while I am continually required to install this or that program for school, it is only the Microsoft products I have trouble with on my Vista notebook. In particular, Internet Explorer and Windows Live Messenger won’t always work – and yes, I do have to reboot every couple days at least.
Happy Holidays to Everyone!
I just upgraded to a 64 bit machine and have found Vista x64 to be a joy to use. The need for a faster computer was driven by the need to do video editing and to my surprise the built in Windows Movie Maker does everything I need. I am well on my way to convert 25 years of video tape to DVD. Of all the video products I researched, the Vista MM is the only one which is an actual 64 bit program.
I am an Application Developer / Web Developer. I use and have used Vista x32/x64 as an early adopter since the day it went gold. I have yet to experience anything that remotely resembles failures or even a bsod(blue screen of death) of any sort.
I even have a Intel PC Camera Pro connected to it and it works flawlessly with the built in drivers provided by Vista (both x32/x64).
For the annoyance of UAC – I feel it is absolutely worth the extra annoyance as things are always changing while we become more interconnected with linux, unix, solaris or some such other flavor (insert macs here). These computer minglings tend to cause alot of freedom and distribution which in turn leads to hacks, cracks, malware and other such things that are hell bent on getting something illicitly. I for one prefer the extra added security. Even, though I develop doesn’t preclude me from accidently enabling a piece of arbitrary code leeched to a site.
Additionally, the comments I read about Microsoft releasing an unfinished product is slighly biased and misinformed. A company typically will release a product in a schedule if that schedule is nearing you ditch the parts that are not complete or are causing to many problems, incompatibilities etc. (this happened with 95/98/XP as well, and believe it or not happens on linux, OSX and all the others).
Patches from Microsoft are freely made available and honestly they are usually the ones that identify the problem first-hand by way of news, updates and notifications. A stale product an OS Should never be.
I’d rather they gave me just the pure OS and allow me to expand it the way I want but, I am sure happy they allow for the modifications that they do. This is the failure of my adoption of any other OS as a ‘main’ usage platform.
Essentially, from my perspective the Windows OS Vista – is a platform from which you can do just about anything and are not limited in scope rather, just the technology (hardware) its sitting on is limiting you.
The reason for stability in XP Pro – is that as is tradition when a new OS is released the hardware requirements are generally too low at first and the cost prohibitive for an OEM to create a bundled system that uses those specs. Hence, alot of problems for some while others purchasing more expensive machines do not have a problem…
Vista will run best with a good video card, updated chipset, dual core processor (though, reasonably well with a single core) and a plentiful amount of member 4GB optimizes the OS.
For the buck, I have found nothing better and am pleased with the software.
I have two laptops one xp and one vista, same exact laptop. I have to say xp is way better for some of the external devices you attach, way to many driver issues with vista. Just a simple example, I purchased a GPS for my car, and wanted to load updates to it. Well can’t be done in Vista, had to pull out laptop with xp. That is just one of many..
Vista is just like any other OS – as soon as you start building your proverbial house of cards with 3rd party software, it will eventually get screwed up.
Think a Mac will solve all your problems? You will have a harder time getting support for even more obscure problems and you will pay through the nose for it! My schools are full of them and they cost them an arm and leg to support compared to XP or 2000 PCs. People are so eager to pick on Microsoft, the one company that drove down prices and pushed the limits of our computers and shaped the internet. They are not a monopoly, just that good!
I have not had any problems with Vista – only with HP, Norton, DLink and even Pitstop 2.0!!
I first got a taste of Vista back in 2006/2007. I bought a computer that was released just months before Vista was, so HP offered me a free copy of the newest Microsoft and swore that the laptop I had just bought was going to work beautifully with it. I get my copy of Vista and install it while on deployment in 2007. The laptop HATED the new operating system. the 2 gigs of RAM that came with the laptop could not keep up with the OS, but that has been an underlying problem with Windows operating systesm since 95. The program problems that followed my “upgrade” where numerous and very frustrating, the most prevalent and aggrevating of which was the inability of iTunes and Vista to keep running. Once I removed all those programs that did not like running on Vista, the computer worked just fine. Then came the first Service Pack release from Microsoft, a month after installing my computer stopped working entirely. Of course Vista was not happy with just killing my laptop, it also took out my Terabyte portable hard drive. So I was without a laptop for a few months, not that big of a deal I still had two HP PCs that are running XP and a nice little Mac Mini that runs OS Leopard (the favorite of all of my little toys). I have just recently bought myself a new HP laptop, came with Vista pre-installed. After nearly 2 hours of dealing with the “experts” at Best Buy, I finally got home and got to work cleaning up all the pre-installed “features” that make Vista a typical Microsoft product. Since then, I have thoroughly enjoyed my new toy. The OS seems to be fairly stable, my dual core processors are not overtaxed, and now that Apple and Microsoft got their act together and have a version of iTunes that will work on a PC with Vista, eveything is just peachy keen. Am I surprised that Microsoft is releasing a brand new Operating System not even five years after coming out with Vista? No, and I won’t be surprised when Microsoft 7 looks even more like Mac OS X. I am expecting it.
Vista was a horror story when it first arrived on the market. Those folks who have had good luck are in the minority. However, since SP1′s arrival the system’s program compatibility is better.
Due to my service, I run both XP Pro and Vista Business on one machine, separate HD’s. Nice to navigate into one drive from the other when I need to find clean files for clients.
I am plugging a program I have installed in the past month called Advanced Care. Wowzers! That program optimized Vista and made it run like a bat-of-hell. It’s true. Give it a try and see if Vista FLIES for you!
Vista really is over-kill in so many areas. Admittedly, the Areo is nice looking but I only got wowed the first time I saw it. Since then I run Vista on Windows Classic theme, which was a major speed-up factor with 4Gbs RAM and an AMD Duo 5000 processor.
I like Vista now that I have it complete stream lined, all unnecessary software removed, all processes and services disabled that do not need to run in my particular scenario.
Vista was a nightmare and unless one has the perseverance to dig deep as an Advanced User or is an IT professional, Vista should be left alone until Windows 7 arrives. XP Pro is fast, stable and compatible and whether it XP or Vista I recommend sticking with 32bit. Mine flies and so will yours if you can tune it up.
Happy Holidays!
Lee
It’s all sour grapes and paranoia. Vista is stable, and does not crash anywhere near as much as XP, I have 32 and 64 bit versions running on laptops, desktops and even 8 core servers, all work perfectly. I also run MAC’s with Leopard and Tiger, Vista blows them all away. Yes you need RAM but Vista uses it properly. That’s all I can say.
Vista rocks.
What people expect is that an OS is not faulty. Vista is less than shit – period. There is no negative ball rolling here. It is what it is. Shonky Seppo shit.
I was a Vista Beta tester for 1 whole year and it was the longest year of my life! Couldn’t wait to be back on my XP pro. Yes, I turned off all eye candy user resrictions and alot of other tweaks but still with 4gb ram it was a very big resource hog. I’m used to running 6-7 apps at a time and vista just don’t cut it. Maybe it’s all different now but im scared to load it. Just my .02 cents
people forget that videocard comes into play vista needs a decent one to work correctly people just stop buying [profane] machines with intergrated graphics and you should be ok 4 gig dont mean squat if your graphics is a crappy intel x3100 get like 2 gigs of ram and a hell even an 8400gs is better then nothing and you shoud be fine i have a 9800gtz 74 gig raptor(10k rpm harddrive) and a terabyte secondary with 2 gigs or ram on a single core athlon 64 3500+ vista runs like a champ its even faster than xp in all cases to me alot of my programs dont run as good as that did on xp though but its nothing new if u guys hate vista that much go get ripped off and buy a mac
I bought Vista about a year ago along with a Dell Vostro laptop – dual core cpu and 2GB memory. My experience was as follows:
-Initally the system was very buggy and crashed frequently. A significant portion of the problem seemed to be in the Nvidia integrated video driver.
-Over the course of the year, the crashes decreased, as I did the multiple driver updates that had become available. By late in 2008, system crashes were down to one or two a week (I’m a heavy user).
-UAC was a nightmare, and I got rid of it.
-Changing the desktop appearance to the “performance” setting, i. e. like xp, did help.
-Operations across the network, like printing to a printer attached to another computer, were incredibly slow. The polar ice-cap would melt while waiting for .pdf to print.
-I also used Microsoft “One-Care” for a period of time during the year. That was a nightmare, since updates in One Care and Vista had the effect of making it impossible to see other devices on my wireless network. One Care was rightfully put out it’s misery by Microsoft late this year.
In the end, I decided to get rid of Vista, and installed a copy of XP that I owned. The experience is great. Although I miss the high definition graphics, the sstem is much faster – no more long waits for actions on remote devices on my wireless network, and significantly greater stability.
All in all, my conclusion is that Vista is a product that isn’t suitable for lower end computers on the market today. While I’m sure that more powerful CPU’s with fast graphics cars having lots of memory can effectively use the system, Microsoft hurt itself by providing unrealistic hardware requirements that many existing computers simply don’t meet.
Having been in a somewhat service desk type of operation, My observations are this:
#1 75% of the troubles are self inflicted
#2 75% or higher can’t even use the correct names for the software/hardware they are describing. And the problem descriptions are even harder to decipher.
I truly believe computers are not able to put themselves in trouble, it requires lots of help
by unwitting computer USERS!!!
I can’t speak as to Vista, I do not use it, and I have little or no trouble with XP-PRO.
It does everything that is needed in our operation, so see no need to change at this time. Like one person’s comment said “If it’s not broke don’t fix it”
Well here is my two cents worth, I am a builder and 59 years old still playing games and tweaking, with many of my built hot machines out there tweaked to the point of being “great home machines” for gaming and whatever you can throw at it. I have done beta testing and have for years (since the 80′s). I tested and moved to Vista Ultimate on all my own machines 4 in the house, and all machines I have built for clients and dont understand what all the hubub is about. People are afraid to embrace change, and Vista has plenty of that, mostly in my opinion good. Sure there were driver problems but compared to the original “Windows” before 98 remember back then, we have come miles from the start of the race. If properly installed on a properly preped and built machine with maybe a little extra memory.
My Vista machines using Intel processors have for the most part been…well not always rock solid, and an occasional crash but stay up 24/7 and keep running as long as typical housekeeping and updating is done as necessary on any operating system. I found that Microsoft software seems to like Vist fine and very few serious problems happen with proper planning. IE7 could use a few high school kids input added to it to spruce it up and make it shine, but Microsoft thinks their experience doesnt count even if half of their users fall in this category with a box of old games they try to shove down its throat. Windows 7 I feel should be a major SP2 or 3 not a whole reinvented wheel and not charged for to current Vista users. If you have problems with Vista you might seek out local help and get rid of some of your software you use once every 2 years and stay on top of tips from places like pcpitstop and others they do have some really good ideas to keep you up and stable. If you have really just had it with Vista I suggest you save up for a new machine that will let you enjoy its features, that I am sure will be the basis of Windows 7 when released. I am not trying to preach the word of “Gates” but they tried and did a fair to good job with Vista and when used on a level playing ground you will find it quite nice, without the bsod’s and the like. So quit complaining talk to some people and try again from the start and dont install it and then the same day install 15 old games in it and you might find “hey this isn’t so bad” especially in light of what we have had to work with in the past.
Microjunk OS all bite when it comes to software issues. I might not have done a lot of DOS, but I do build my own computers. Getting windows anything to cooperate with installed hardware and it’s corresponding software is a royal pain in the butt. Add to that internet explorer 7.0 has major issues, as does windows media player upgrade. I use Firefox 3.0 for internet browsing and keep internet explorer 6.0 only due to it’s relation with windows explorer. I will stick with XP Pro until windows get all the issues with it prodigal son ironed out.
Reading the zillions of comments slamming shogan’s report, and praising Bill Gates’s latest profitable scam (Vista), I had to wonder how many of those people work for Microsoft!
As I have to upgrade soon, the only bit of info that made me happy was the one about the availability of new hardware without installed O/S. At the moment, I am running XP Home SP 2 (on 500 RAM and 80GB drive!), but use freeware for everything else (Mozilla, etc.); have not had a single crash requiring reinstalling XP for three years. But my new computer will have a Linux-based O/S – and Bill and his minions can go and [imagine rest]!
I have also been around before DOS was introduced. I think that, to my dismay, generally most people now have not been afforded the advantages I have. I started out writing in machine code and then came along the “Interperter” & “Assembler”! All interpeters, and Windows is just another one, have their pluses and minuses. After you have been around a while, you not only loose your hair, but also become less tolerant of imperfection.
I remember that Microsoft, and Windows, was founded on a dispute. A difference of opinion. Steve Jobes and Bill Gates spurned an idea in a California garage. The personal computer. They also started off in machine code with one distinct difference. They wanted an OS that was “User Friendly”. The culmination of this is that most OS’s are NOT user friendly. Steve wanted Icon’s, and Bill didn’t. The result? A split. One formed Microsoft, and the other Macintosh. A “Number Cruncher” and a “Graphics Engine”. Each is tailored to two very different market sectors. The Mac is great as a “Graphics Engine”. Hence, the graphic arts and printing industry loves it. Throw in the photography sector as a gift. The PC is great for Word Processing, Spreadsheets and statistical “Number Crunching”. A Mac it is not! And a Mac isn’t a PC!
The Mac seems to be not addressed by viruses and spyware. The PC is. And, since most Mac applications are written by Apple, software compatibility issues are virtually non existent.
I personally, find that I have settled down to two OS’s. QNX, written by Quantum Software Systems in Canada, and reluctantly Microsoft Windows XP Pro (SP2). I am a computer consultant and find that the “IT” tag on a name applies to many who are “A Jack of all Trades, and A Master of None”. A very small percentage really know what they are doing, proficiently.
Vista? It’s “An Accident Looking for a Place to Happen”! You might as well throw money at a wall and expect it to stick. It won’t! It needs an extra GIG of memory to load and operate. Hooray for those selling memory. It’s slow, and I have a problem with messages that show me no progress other than a spinning disk. Telling me that the operation will either take several minutes, or several hours. It always takes hours! It may have evolved for Marketing purposes. I say “If it Ain’t Broke, don’t try to Fix It”. Sure XP lacks Vista’s features. I’ll suffer the loss in exchange for stability. SP1, SP2 or whatever ….. they are only “Band Aids” for a wound that doesn’t want to be healed. Maybe that’s why Microsoft’s fix is Windows 7. Or is this just another “Band Aid” and learning curve.
I had a lot of problems with directx 10 initally on my new gamer but it now seems to be stable after a wipe/install of 64 bit home premium. I am running 8 gigs of 4-4-4-12 ram and it is much faster than my old 4 gig xp machinr.
I started with DOS 1.0. Used a TRS-80 before that.
I have Vista Premium running on a Core 2 Duo with 4 GB memory.
Vista runs fine. Best user interface of all the various Microsoft Operating Systems that I have used. With 4 GB it is reasonably fast.
For those having problems:
1. turn off the uac (user acceptance controls) in control panels–> users. The best time to do this is immediately after you get Vista. If you do it later, you will have to fix the locations for your Outlook mail file. With UAC on, the mail file is stored in a weird location and Outlook is told that it is in c:program files. Vista with UAC does not like to have any program data there. Google this problem and fix it.
2. Put in lots of memory. The more the faster Vista runs.
3. The user interface has changed. Accept that and get over it. The new ui is mostly better. Set control panel to the classic view that you are using now. You did that when you went to Win XP and have since forgotten that you didn’t like the way XP organized the control panel.
4. Don’t install sp betas. The reason it says “beta” is that it has not yet been fully tested with all possible driver and hardware configurations. If you play with fire, you will get burned. But, that is your fault. Don’t complain.
5. Don’t listen to the blogger “shogan”‘s warning about sp2 beta. He has not tried it. A writer is responsible to test something before analyzing it. That is his job. He doesn’t know anything about sp2 that you don’t know. It is a beta. Don’t put a beta on a system that you depend on. That is all that he should have said based on what he knows.
Hi
I have been a BIG Windows fan since 3.2, and now have Vista Ultimate SP2 (Beta) in stalled, I basically never have problems that were not of my own making.
Cheers
Daniel
Sounds like the same old song. I’m an old DOS user, Favorite program was DOSSHELL, And Ive noticed a repeating pattern here. When the OS first arrives, some bugs need to be worked out, some hardware needs to be updated and some old software won’t be compatible … hmmmm sounds like the release of 98 , 98SE, ME, 2000, NT ETC …. I just don’t adopt an OS till it has a few SPs under it’s belt and I don’t insist on using that 6 year old, no longer supported updated FAVorite wizbang, program that I just can’t live without. This ain’t rocket science people. Oh ….. wait … maybe it is . That might explain why I saw a family sitting on the floor in Wallyworld comparing the computers. Being the computer literate and semi- nice guy I am I asked if I could help. WHile explaining what they needed I asked a few pointed questions and found out that the family didn’t have seperate logons for the parents and the kids, did NOT understand the importance of having ACTIVE security programs and dowloaded content willy nilly from anywhere they found it …. anywhere. Hmmm …. there old (3 month old) computer quit working and no one , including support, can get it out of it’s boot loop.
Seems to me most of the problems associated with bad computer experiences come from bad computer habits and lack of experience , training and or education. Most computers and or new software come with instructions and or tutorials …. Ah, that’s right “We don’t need no stinkin instructions” Seems to be the current motto … Don’t learn HOW to use or work something ” Just do it” And gripe when is doest work. Sorry for the rant, but the stupidification, my word, of society has been annoying me for quite some time, and I see no end in sight for this “Just do it, figure it out later” Mentality.
I have had BSOD issues.The Nvida Drivers are causing lots of issues. I also had to deal with the more than 2 gig issue on Vista by downloading a patch.I had an in-com issue that I think fried 1 motherboard,(while trying to use a software in windows to update some bios settings).My advice is, if you don,t have more than 1 computer, stay away from Vista for now.IF you are a gamer and can spend a lot of time getting your computer up and running smoothly than go for it, (you need it for dx10).
I just can’t figure out why so many websites slam vista. I’m a late starter. I didn’t get into computers till win 95. With ever new release of a OS you have some issues that first year or so. Most are fixed by service pack 1. Remember ME, now that was a lame duck.
My only complaint about Vista is IE7. It’s so bad I turned to firefox. But other than that I a happy with vista.
@Mark:
Yes I’m sure I’m talking about XP. My desktop came new with XP installed, not too long after XP came out. For the most part it is stable, but Vista has been way more stable than XP ever was for me. As for reloading XP on my machine, most of the time it’s been because of an update from MS that got boogered up and there was no way to roll back. Even the much touted System restore was a failure. Shrug, it happens. As for my PCs at work, they are used to run the equipment we use, and must interface with other computers that do the actual driving of the machines. Conflicts happen. Sometimes it’s the fault of the motion control computer, sometimes XP forgets where the Network connection with the other computer is and has to be rebooted.
@Ron Graves: For a lot of people in a lot of environments, XP is great. I love it, at least on my desktop… but not enough to downgrade my notebook from Vista. Since SP2 I’ve not had to reload XP, and for the most part I only have to reboot or turn off my old cranky desktop when it gets tired and asthmatic. On the other hand, my fiancee has to take her XP box back to the shop at least once a year because XP has developed some nasty glitches that just can’t be worked out of the system–most times due to an update that gets hung up or fried as far as we can tell. It’s still a good OS, and one I would recommend, but yes, it still has issues at times.
@all: as has been mentioned above, this same lot of whining and moaning (about the exact same issues) was prevalent when XP first came out. I know, i was using 98se at the time and looking to see what XP was all about. One of my friends was a tester for MS and received one of the first RTM copies to come out. He had a crap load of trouble getting it to install, it didn’t work with any of the software he used in his store, and other than “eye candy” seemed to offer nothing over 98se. (sound familiar?)
Now that vista has hit the stage, XP is gold and Vista get it’s time in the spot light as The crappy new OS by MS.
one last thing, in regards to UAC and it’s prompts. Go search for Tweak UAC. this will allow you to put it into silent mode which suppresses the annoying everyday nags by Vista but still lets the really critical ones through.
I originally had slowness and crashing on my Dell Inspiron laptop that came with Vista and made such a fuss they kindly sent me an XP CD.
I did a clean install with XP and all worked great except that the old XP bug with Office reared it’s ugly head – the one where you click on a link to a program and it loads just fine but click on a link to a data file and it take around two minutes to load.
In the end I took the bull by the horns and went back to my Vista CD and “upgraded” the computer. However this time Vista just flew and is still flying. Overall I prefer Vista to XP for various reasons including the security ones.
Maybe a lot of Vista complaints were the result of badly implemented OEM versions – all I know is the next Dell I bought which was a desktop has worked fantastically out of the box.
Now tell me this – why does XP work faster, amnd with lower resources, on my laptop when in an emulator under Ubuntu Linux than in it’s native state ?
I bought a new Acer laptop with VISTA home basic. I have been told that the premium versions work better, but have not yet tried that. My main complaint is the slowness of VISTA. Secondly is the lack of drivers for so many things I want to run.
I uploaded the SP2 the other day, and now the video is not present. The mouse pointer shows, on startup you get a blue screen with not enough time to read more than 1 or 2 lines, something about USB ports being not less or equal, then it goes blank on you. Safe mode does the same thing. Hopefully I will get it figured out soon.
I, too, installed Vista Home Premium the day it was released. I bought it as an upgrade and had some difficulty with the install, but an engineer in Redmond spent a lot of time on the phone with me to get the issue resolved. Kudos to him. After that…smooth sailing. I really like this OS.
I have been putting off installing vista sp1 on a hp desktop
32bit w/vista home premium because of warnings from pcpitstop. have all the problems been resolved and is it safe to instal sp1?
Also is it safe to instal sp3 on my gateway desktop w/xp pro?