I'm one of those users who has been using Vista with no problems ever since Microsoft gave out RTM copies to beta testers. However, as a writer, I've watched the media completely destroy the public opinion of Vista, leading many to stick with Windows XP or to look for alternatives, even before they had tried Vista. Even with SP1 out, many have not bothered trying Vista on recent hardware and therefore could not realize the fact that it really is worthy of being XP's successor. If I had to lay the blame on one party for Vista's poor public opinion, I wouldn't lay it on Microsoft, I wouldn't lay it on hardware companies incapable of producing good drivers, I wouldn't lay it on the fact that XP is so good, I would lay it on the media for blowing things out of proportions.
Yes, the problem is exaggeration (it's in this article's title too, in case you missed it); bloggers and journalists alike use their personal experiences to prove their point in their writing. The blame doesn't solely lie with us, as Vista was by no means perfect, but we did manage to amplify the problems beyond reason. And if the beta is anything to go by, Windows 7 is going to fly. This is, by far, the best beta operating system the software giant has ever released. The media has locked on to this, and is using exaggeration already, before Windows 7 is even ready for prime time. Full Story: What killed Vista will make Windows 7 fly
i had the GreenAV virus and was able to successfully remove it, now my windows defender wont turn on. i get this error message "Security Center cant turn on windows defender. Please try again later". Im running vista ultimate 32bit w/ sp 2.
I just bought a brand new ipod nano and i have been having nothing but problems trying to download my songs to my ipod. everytime i plug the usb cable from my ipod to my computer the computer does not recognize the device. I have gone back and fourth with apple and compaq to try and resolve the problem but i just keep getting the run around. I was told by the rep. at apple to call microsofts and ask them to update usb drive firmware so that the computer will be compatable with the ipod.
A long time ago I installed an evaluation version of Windows Vista on the second partition of my pc, next to my installation of Windows XP (dual boot partition C and L). The evaluation period has long since expired and I am no longer using Vista. However, all the files are still present on my second partition, and every time I start my pc, the boot menu will come up. What do I need to do to completely remove all the files that belong to Windows Vista and make sure that my system boots straight into Windows XP,without stopping for the boot menu?
I used to be able of seeing thumbnails and previews for .wmf files in Windows XP, but never the same in Windows Vista. How to make Windows Vista able to generate previews and thumbnails for these files?
1) I hate the auto refresh feature in Vista much. I always use the list view in Explorer as it is the best way to show hundreds files or more. In the past, the files stays at the end of the list after I move / copy files to a directory untill I press F5. I can select and manipulate these files afterward easily. However, in Vista, the list refresh automatically after file move / copy so that all the files became sorted by name. I usually work with folders containing hundreds or thousands of files and I have a hard time re-selecting or manipulating those files again. Vista is really suck, anybody know of a registry key or other mean that disables the auto refresh feature?
2) In XP or earlier, the total file size and some other useful details are shown at the status bar at the bottom soon after I open a directory with the Windows Explorer. Hey, what's wrong with Vista? Where were those info gone?
I just got a new Dell Inspiron 530 (Intel Core2 Duo processor E8200) on Friday, with Windows Vista Home Premium on it. I spent the weekend setting up the PC and exploring Vista (it's the first time I've used it). Everything was working fine until Tuesday morning, when the automatic updates applied SP1. I left the PC on when I went to work as it was installing update 1 of 3 for SP1. When I got home, the PC said that Windows was unable to start as asked if I wanted it to try to repair itself. It tried that four times and said it could not repair the problem. One of the options it gave me was to restore to a previous point (pre SP1). I tried that option but Vista still won't start. I finally resorted to the last option it gave me, which was restoring to the factory setup as it was delivered to me (which reformats the hard drive). After completing this, Vista did start normally. However it immediately told me it had 14 updates to apply, after which I was back to the same problem of Vista not being able to start.
I made three hardware changes to the PC. I installed a second SATA hard drive, I installed a firewire/USB port card, and I installed an old PCI modem. The only reason for the modem is that we have a security system, and you have to use the modem to connect to it to make any program changes. Vista accepted the second hard drive and firewire card fine. It did need to download drivers for the modem, but then said it installed fine. As a last ditch effort (before being on the phone for hours with Dell), I plan to disconnect the second hard drive and remove the firewire and modem cards. Basically restoring the hardware to the way it left the factory. Then I will try restoring the Dell factory image for Vista and seeing if the SP1 update works. I know I could disable automatic updates so that SP1 does not get applied, but I think that will cause all kinds of future headaches. If this last effort doesn't work, and Dell can't help me out, I'll probably roll back to XP. I really don't want to do that, but I'm not going to put up with an unstable OS either.
I am concerned that Vista is not taking advantage of my RAM. I have searched high and low for an answer, but all I find are posts by people complaining that Vista uses all their RAM, and the obvious responses that Vista _should_ use all their RAM. My problem is that I have a 64-bit system with 8 GB of RAM, and Vista only ever seems to use about 2.5 GB of it. I notice quite slow performance, for example, when I use Firefox with 80 tabs or so, but RAM usage is still relatively low. Of course my pagefile.sys is always an 8 GB file when I check. How can I make Vista use all of my RAM? I should be getting better performance.
I was installing the sp1 update and it was going fine until the restart point when there was an error and it froze, after restarting the computer it just flashes with the blue screen of death and reboots and so the cycle continues. I cant run safe mode or anything, I downloaded the Vista x64 boot disk as i didnt recieve and disk with my computer but when it boots of the disk after loading disk contents it blue screens me again. I know there is nothing wrong with the rest of my hardware as i have put in an old xp harddrive and everything runs fine. I know its not a problem with the boot disk because when i unplug my main hd the boot disk loads up as i presume it should but there is no sign of windows on my 2nd hdd so it cant do anything. I dont mind loosing any data on my main harddrive i just dont know how to re-format it as the boot disk won't work and i have no other vista disk.
My friend just bought an Acer computer with Vista SP1 on it. It came with no literature or CDs. Is there a way he can make a bootable CD with Vista Sp1 on it for emergencies?
This got lost beneath the troll trash so I thought I'd repost.
I have a two year old OEM Vista Premium PC. I just installed a number of updates and when I restarted, the PC looks like Win95. In the Performance section I have it set to Best Apperance with every checkbox checked and those settings are ignored. Checking them one at a time doesn't do anything either. I tried going in via the desktop but found no aero settings. It seems the recent updates reset to the PC to Vista "Basic". I thought these setback problems were dealt with two years ago. (If MS didn't have this ridiculous setback feature, this crap wouldn't happen to legit customers. Idiots!)
I am having trouble with Vista Ultimate (32 bit SP1) and MS Streets & Trips 2008 (S&T). After this week’s automatic up to Vista, S&T will no longer run. Invoking S&T yields this error, Your registry settings for this application were not copied correctly. To correct these settings, run Setup again for this application from the location where you originally installed it.” I did this and that did not correct the problem. I uninstalled and reinstalled S&T and that did not correct the problem. I then turned off “User Account Control” and I can now run S&T. When I turned User Account Control back on the problem returned. Any ideas as to why this is happening and how I can get S&T to run with User Account Control activated? Please note that ALL software on my computer is legitimate, legal and owned by me.
I searched, but couldn't find anything "on point."
I have a USB Logitech mouse. For reasons too lengthy to get into here, I want to hook it up via PS2.
So, I hooked it up with an adaptor. On bootup, the computer appears to recognize the mouse, as PS2 detection is enabled in the BIOS and the mouse's red light comes on.
However, when I get to my login page of Vista, the mouse doesn't work to control the pointer, and the red light is off. Even when I used the keyboard to just hit enter and log in as the "guest," the pointer will not respond when I got to the desktop.
i recently bought a pc system with vista home premium already installed, av got no disks relating to vista with my system. iam planning to upgrade the emory,processor and graphics card but frightened if i do this will i lose vista when i connect the system back up? or how can a make a copy of my vista and put it on a disk??
I have a computer Inspiron 531 w/Microsoft Office (Business) VISTA; trying to learn, but all on my own. Sync? Is that something that would allow me to enter a 'contact' and have it appear in all 3 email programs or will I have to type them in individually into each? $1200 is a 'big' investment for me, on a 'set' income. Tired of getting 'into' something ONLY to find it is a 'sales pitch'. I should NOT have to 'buy' additional programs to make VISTA run...that is something that Microsoft should provide somehow! I'm sure all these 'programs' you 'need to buy' are Microsoft related. Bill Gates doesn't understand that NOT everybody is as 'brilliant' as he...biggest mistake though was 'unleashing' VISTA without more 'kinks' worked out...but $$$ is $$$ and $$$ is "His GOD" - NOT mine!
So I have been testing Vista Ultimate 32bit SP1 for a week now to see if Vista is ready for primetime. I almost ironed out all bugs that was holding me back from switching from winxp. All except one. I can't make Vista shut down completely. It seems to turn off, but all fans keep spinning. No matter how long I wait. I'm not a novice computer user so please don't tell me I might have mistaken sleep, hibernate with SHUT DOWN.
How to boot Vista faster? I have Vista Home Premium on Core 2 Duo 2.26GHZ. Also i have 4GB ram. How can I make my Vista boot faster? I followed all the tutorials in this site, but didnt help much. Msconfig tweaks (extra services/programs disabled on startup) Disk Defragment. My boot time is 89 seconds.
i have a quistion... my laptop .came without cd installation .. saw what can i do ? and already i installed sp1 on it .. but i want to make a copy also?
Ubuntu will do the same thing to Vista and Windows 7 (Vista SP3). The hilarious thing is that that Frank, Tweedlee Dee, and the nymshifter, Tweedlee Dum Dum, can't do anything about it but cry in their beer.
Upgraded from 7300se to 8600gts, and now using a DVI connection instead of VGA. Used to be able to play DVDs through Media Centre or WMP11, but now I recieve the error C00D1163 - that "there is a problem with digital copy protection between your DVD drive, decoder, and video card". I have the newest nVidia drivers, newest soundcard drivers. Any ideas - I'm using Vista Home Premium 32bit. Oh and DVDs play fine through PowerDVD or VLC, but I want to be able to use Media Centre because I have a remote - and also out of principal that I can't fix it!
Im upgrading my computer of 5 years within the next 2 weeks. I decided to build a sick machine (Intel i7, DDR3, GTX 280 all the goodies.) With doing so, im going to put 64 bit vista on it. Now as far as my use of the computer, well its simple, gaming. Im usually stuck to the World of Warcraft, FPSs, and RTS. I have no idea what im getting into with vista. With what I'm using the computer for, how should I go about doing stuff on windows to prepare the computer. By this I mean, what drivers do I need, what other software should I install. What do I basically need to make the computer run fine with Vista-64
I'm not even sure if this is where I should post this but I'll give it a go. I purchased a new PC last week with Vista Home Premium on it. I have (for years) used MSN Premium software as my email program. Now, it seems I can't make this my default email program with Vista. I am going nuts! I have spoken to MSN support who tell me to do the same things over and over. I have also spoken to Microsoft support who told me I have to use Outlook or Windows Live mail instead.
It's really hard. I have taught my elderly parents how to use the MSN software and now we have to change - or do we? I've tried the email settings in MSN itself, I've tried associations for programs in Vista and also the default programs. Nothing is working. Surely, one Microsoft program should work with another? We pay for this software so that we can also have sub accounts on our email more storage than the usual hotmail space.
this goings to sound dumb buts dose vista sp1 make its run slower ors is it like every one is on the web tonight? seams to make things running slower n was wonderings if any one else was having this issue?
Want to bring the look of the Windows 7 taskbar and interface to Windows Vista? Thanks to the hard work of a dedicated Vista user, everyone can download a special visual style for Windows Vista that will transform your pc. Â
Before you can install the new visual style the visual style engine must be patched to allow non-Microsoft visual styles. Check out my article on using VistaGlazz to do that...
Does ANYONE out there know anything about importing music with the new Vista? We just bought our Dell from Best Buy and Dell tells us to call BB and BB tells us to call Dell or bring it in... here is whats going on... I want to make a DVD of our kids for my husband. Easy enough... well I want to add music (did it on our old laptop with Windows XP noooo problem!) well NOW... no matter WHAT music cd I RIP to Windows Media Player and try to import the music to the movie I get this message Track -- .wma is protected using digital rights management and cannot be imported.)
How can I make my games run in a window? (For some reason, I prefer to play games in "windowed mode".) In XP you had to add something like "-w" on the shortcut thingy... But it doesn't work on Vista. I know how to do the "Windowed GUI" -thingy, but I think it quite doesn't help me. I even tried it, but the games still run in fullscreen. I have managed to make a few games run in a window, but that is because there was an option for it in the game options. Unfortunately for me, not all games have that kind of options. Or maybe I'm just blind, and I don't find that kind of things from the game options. *shrug*
