VISTA - reVISTAted

Chip Fossa · From: Monson, MA, USA (deceased)

OK, I've calmed down a bit with Vista. And with encouragement from Wiz, I'm starting a new thread on Vista; For me and anyone else who has it or is thinking about getting it. (which I assume sooner or later we are all gonna hafta)

Just gonna start with a few simple, and maybe trivial (to some) questions. I find that it's little annoying things that bug me. The things in question are the things that (for me) make using the PC more fun and more tolerable. My diminishing eyesight has a lot to do with this.

1.I've "colored" every white block found in ADVANCED APPEARANCE/ITEM and still there are many backgrounds that are WHITE; like Program Files for instance. I hate white backgrounds. It's harsh on my eyes. Am I missing something here? How can I colorize these white backgrounds?

2.TWEAKUI, as far as I know, is not recognized in Vista. I would love to get rid of those 'shortcut arrows' on the desktop icons. How can this be done?

3.When clicking on anything, how can you make the new window pop up quicker than Vista's kind-of-gliss into the next window?

4.Vista now has a "new" version of SLEEP. Is this good or bad to use? On my last PC, I believe HIBERNATION (which I used all the time) may have caused some of my problems.

5.Is there some way to transfer all my settings in the ADMINISTRATOR account over to a STANDARD account,
like all in one fell swoop?

OK - that's it for now. Let's keep this thread going, and see if we can't help one another in trying to figure out Vista; with as little pain as possible.

Chipper

Bo Legg · Posted 26 Feb 2008 6:30 pm

A laptop with vist basic won't play any of my teaching DVDs or movies. It says I you need some kind of decoder that you have to go online and purchase or you can upgrade to a higher version of vist which has that included. The upgrade will cost twice as much as windows xp which I might add has no problem playing any of these DVDs. It seems crooked to me to sell you a laptop with DVD that you can't use just so they can rob you for the upgrade. Do not buy vist basic its like having a striped down trial version of the real vist.

Chip Fossa · From: Monson, MA, USA (deceased)

Bo - this Vista is just awful.

I can't even begin to tell ya, how much crap I've been going thru since I got this new ACER PC.

I spent the entire afternoon trying to install AudigyII, from a CD that those dopes charged me for, $12 and shipping, that the face of it was definitely scratched and not smooth, like a new CD should be.
I tried to clean it off with a vinegar/water solution and dry it up, but it got about up to 36% install and froze up. But it got up to 36% install before I noticed the CD looked messed up.

I had on my HDD, also, downloaded AudigyII pertinent files from their website.

ANYWAY - between both sources, AudigyII is not completely insatlled. It works, but EAX and the Mixer don't. I tried to put them back in, but nothing.

C'MON - I punched the proper keys and all the other stuff to do an install, and got NOTHING.; NOTHING but headaches.

Oh yeah - I went into BIOS and could not find anything that said anything about the installed Realtek OEM sound device; to disable it; in order to install Audigy. So I disabled it in Device Manager, and had such a horrendous time with the CD install, that didn't click, and forced Vista to go to a restore point and put my BRAND F$#%^&* NEW PC back together again. Just like Humpty F*(&*&%^* Dumpty.

I've had this PC now, for at least 2 weeks. And I have not been able to get my SOUND together.

I know it must be me. I'm just too stupid. What was I thinking?

Thanks Bo for your response. I thought for a while that I was the only Vista moron.

Undisclosed sources have cautioned me, that Vista, is a dead bird. MS is going to be coming out with, yet, another SP1 or 2 to correct things; but this OS is by far their Achille's Heel. She ain't gonna fly.

I had to buy this piece of junk, cuz my other PC (WindowsXP) went south.

I hear you can still buy a new PC with XP, but sooner or later, the MS Nazis will force ya into Vista; End of 2800, or beginning of 2900; who knows? it's on the way.

Chipper

Gary Moore · From: Mobile, Alabama, USA

it will not play any dvd or cd ,s can not install no kind of printer its junk vista junk all we have is a pretty comp i would hate to think i had to try to record music with vista junk.

Jack Stoner · From: Kansas City, MO

I have a Dell desktop with Vista Home Premium, EVERYTHING works including the newly installed Sonar 7 DAW Recording software. My Soundblaster Audigy 2ZS sound card works, all the software I had on XP still works in Vista. Th Epson all in one that I originally had on XP has Vista drivers and works with Vista.

I also have a NEW Acer Laptop with Vista Home Premium and EVERYTHING works in it.

The Dell originally came with XP Media Center Edition and was upgraded to Vista Home Premium a year ago. The Dell runs better and faster with Vista than it did with XP. I can't complain about the speed of the new Acer laptop either.

Wiz Feinberg · From: Mid-Michigan, USA

It is a fact that Vista Basic does not contain the "Media Center" photo and Audio-Visual DVD recording and playback software that the Premium and Ultimate versions have. Nor does it support the Aero graphics display of it's bigger brothers. It is not even recommended as a best choice for use on most laptops, because it lacks the Enhanced Windows Mobility Center. I think that a lot of the problems being experienced by our members, and Vista users everywhere are related to them running Vista Basic.
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Wiz Feinberg · From: Mid-Michigan, USA

If you have tried to install a program that ran fine on Windows XP, but falters on Vista, uninstall it, then try to reinstall it using the Program Compatibility Wizard, running the "Setup" file in XP Compatibility Mode. You can read the details about how to "Use an older program with this version of Windows" - here.

This same feature is available to run any already installed application, that develops problems afterward, on Vista.

Most of the problems Chip and others are experiencing have to do with the way those programs were written, vis-a-vie where they place system support files and which registry keys they try to write to. Vista does not allow some of the pre-coded paths to be used by these older applications, which causes them to fail. But, if you install them in XP Compatibility Mode, the Vista OS will present them with a sandbox location, which contains writable pseudo Windows paths and a registry branch that looks like the one they were designed to use. Vista then allows those programs to run inside this pseudo XP operating system segment, along with the parts of Vista into which they were allowed to install themselves.

Note, that hardware drivers themselves will have to be Vista Capable or Certified, to install at all. Drivers must control the OS and this can't be done from the sandbox location. If you are trying to install a device, or plug-in card and its drivers are not Vista Certified, you will probably fail to get it to work at all.

This is all in the name of progress. Don't shoot me; I am just the messenger.
_________________
"Wiz" Feinberg, Moderator SGF Computers Forum
Security Consultant
Twitter: @Wizcrafts
Main web pages: Wiztunes Steel Guitar website | Wiz's Security Blog | My Webmaster Services | Wiz's Security Blog

Dave Potter · From: Texas

Jack Stoner · From: Kansas City, MO

Dave, no Vista SP-1. I had thought about installing the "final" Beta release but it was a hassle and didn't. I'll just wait for the full public release now scheduled for next month. Also, what I read the Beta releases will have to be uninstalled before installing the "public" version.

Reports on the Dell users forum is that it really doesn't speed it up.

Dave Potter · From: Texas

John Roche · From: England

SEATTLE - Microsoft Corp. will cut the price of some versions of Windows Vista, the software maker said late Thursday.

The move came a day after court filings revealed internal dissent over which Windows XP computers would be considered capable of running the new operating system — and a feeling on at least one executive's part that the company had "botched" the marketing of computers as "Vista Capable."

Only copies of the year-old operating system that are sold in boxes directly to consumers are affected by the price cuts — not the versions pre-loaded on personal computers. The cuts will range from 20 percent to 48 percent.

The reductions are to coincide with the late March release of Vista Service Pack 1, a collection of security fixes and other improvements.

Microsoft said the new prices will apply to the Home Premium and Ultimate versions of Vista, in both their full editions and the editions that upgrade an older or more basic operating system.

Both versions serve the tiny percentage of users who install an operating system on their own; most people get the latest version of Windows only when they buy a new PC.

Windows Vista's January 2007 launch was plagued by delays. To keep consumers buying PCs in the holiday season of 2006, Microsoft and PC makers promised free Vista upgrades later to shoppers who bought Windows XP computers.

At the launch, Microsoft was widely criticized for offering too many versions of the operating system — including Home Basic, which didn't have the snazzy new signature look called "Aero" — and for setting the price too high for the high-end versions.

Brad Brooks, a corporate vice president for Windows marketing at Microsoft, said in an interview that the company has since tested lower prices and found "product was moving much, much faster."

Brooks said he expects so many customers to buy Vista at the new prices that the price cuts will increase Microsoft's revenue, not subtract from it.

A federal judge recently said consumers could pursue a class action suit against Microsoft for labeling PCs as "Vista Capable," even though many were not powerful enough to run all of Vista's features, including the Aero interface.

Company e-mails produced in court chronicle Microsoft settling on a plan to market a wide range of XP-based PCs as "Vista Capable" after company officials realized in early 2006 that 30 percent or fewer of computers on the market could run the full-fledged version of Vista with Aero.

That realization apparently caused computer makers like Dell Inc. to worry that people would stop buying PCs for almost a year — until Vista launched.

The e-mails also showed Microsoft lowering the bar for "Vista Capable" to protect Intel Corp.'s sales of some widely used chips that weren't powerful enough for the full Vista experience.

Microsoft employee Anantha Kancherla was particularly blunt in his March 2006 response to a question about whether a certain PC configuration would be considered "Vista Capable."

"Based on objective criteria that exist today for "capable," even a piece of junk will qualify," he wrote. "For the sake of Vista customers, it will be a complete tragedy if we allowed it."

According to the e-mails, Jim Allchin, the executive in charge of Windows at the time, wasn't involved in the decision to brand a wide swath of XP computers as "Vista Capable."
Upon learning the details, Allchin wrote, "We really botched this.

Wiz Feinberg · From: Mid-Michigan, USA

Well reported John! Keep 'em coming, along with useful tips on how you, the Windows Vista users, are overcoming it's idiosyncrasies. This is especially important regarding add-on audio devices, since this many of forum's members are into sound recording and mixing.
_________________
"Wiz" Feinberg, Moderator SGF Computers Forum
Security Consultant
Twitter: @Wizcrafts
Main web pages: Wiztunes Steel Guitar website | Wiz's Security Blog | My Webmaster Services | Wiz's Security Blog

John Roche · From: England

I don't use Vista and never will, it's a farce...

John Roche · From: England

What comes as a surprise is that Jack and Wiz who are very intelligence people are praising Vista , they Know that it's a load of cr*p ....

Wiz Feinberg · From: Mid-Michigan, USA

Jack Stoner · From: Kansas City, MO

For my uses, Vista works well. I don't have any hardware or software that will not run in Vista (native mode). I hear the same "it's crap" from those that think XP is in the same category and are still using Win98 or Win2000.

I read that Microsoft will stop selling Windows XP this summer so those that love it should be buying up whatever extra copies they need now.

I've worked in computers since 1962 and when PC's came out and Microsoft becmame the primary operating system for PC's, and when every version that came out, even the old MS-DOS versions, the new versions were always "crap".

Each new version of the Operating System that came out had minimum hardware requirements and was designed to take advantage of new technology (not as many think new technology needed to be developed because the operating system required it).

Dave Potter · From: Texas

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