Just about had it with Vista.

[andyofne]

Originally Posted by Ghanzafar

Vista is on the out. Microsoft has extended XP and will add DirectX 10 to the next SP. To get the true benifits of Vista you need the 64 bit but the problem with that is most all hardware venders are not going to waste their time making drivers for a OS that is not in Demand. Vista has alot of issues and only time will tell.
Andy for most TV cards to work they have to be certified. HP has always had issues with Media center all the way back to MCE 2004. I have a nice PCI express TV turner It is true HD ATSC http://www.avermedia.com/. You can get it at tigerdirect or newegg for less than $100.

Not my computer.

But thanks.

I eventually got it working.

Vista has a neat feature where, after you get a serious BSOD it will try to auto repair the problem.

Perhaps it was unique to my situation but...

Vista displayed a screen saying it was going to try to fix the problem.

It never told me what the problem was.

It kept the same screen on for nearly 15 minutes, though at some point the text changes to something like 'Vista is now humping your mother"... er... wait... no it was like "Repairing problem...." or something extremely vague.

Again, it never said what it was fixing.

Finally, it said something like "Sorry, I couldn't fix that would you like to restore the system using a restore point?"

I said no and shut down.

When it rebooted it was working fine again.

Nearly everything I wanted to do to the machine was so different from any previous version of windows that I needed to google just about everything.

I wanted to change the workgroup name so the machine could see other computers on the same network. But you can't simply right click on "my computer" to find the "Computer Name" tab -- because there is no "My computer" and no "Computer name" tab.

You have to hunt through the control panel and dig down a few levels to find an advanced options link.

Virtually everything was 'difficult' that way.

The guy who bought the computer ordered it with MS Office 2007 installed.

I exported his outlook express 6 data from his old machine (A WinXP Home box that had been a Win ME box -- P3 800Mhz, 512MB of PC133 RAM), but the new Office installation didn't have outlook. You now use "Windows Mail" but it kept barking at me about the old OE 6 data.

I finally figured it out after a little googling but it was sort of a PITA.

Then he asked me about his calendar stuff and I couldn't find a calendar attached to Vista's Windows Mail.

There is a calendar though, aptly named "Windows Calendar", but it wasn't obvious and doesn't launch from within "Windows Mail" (so far as I could tell).

All in all, I had figured to spend no more than 2 hours setting up the computer and migrating the old data but in the end I was there for about 6 hours.

Granted, part of the problem I'm facing with this event is the client.

He has an 8 year old HP all in one fax-copier-printer that uses a parrallel port connection. It wasn't even adaquately supported in XP and he somehow figured it would be okay with Vista. Well, the new HP box doesn't even have a parrallel port on it.

Now he wants me to find a print server device that will allow him to continue using the printer. The print server is going to be at least $50 and probably closer to $100.

I told him he could get a brand new HP all-in-one printer for under $100.

He says "But then I'll have this other printer sitting around doing nothing".

This is coming from a guy who makes something like $20K/mo. I just don't get it.

[*XxDADxX*]

Originally Posted by Ghanzafar

Vista is on the out. Microsoft has extended XP and will add DirectX 10 to the next SP. To get the true benifits of Vista you need the 64 bit but the problem with that is most all hardware venders are not going to waste their time making drivers for a OS that is not in Demand. Vista has alot of issues and only time will tell.
Andy for most TV cards to work they have to be certified. HP has always had issues with Media center all the way back to MCE 2004. I have a nice PCI express TV turner It is true HD ATSC http://www.avermedia.com/. You can get it at tigerdirect or newegg for less than $100.

THanks! I will be buying this in the next couple of weeks for the puter in garage.

[ALLT4]

I made the mistake of installing Office 2007, couldn't import my old mail. Don't remeber why, don't care anymore. This version of Office didn't have Front Page per say but some dumbed down web designer, couldn't get Front Page installed after that, just crashes on the install from Office XP, before you say "DUH it's Office XP" what am I supposed to do. Use Office 2003 Front Page which doesn't have the features I want? I truly give up, I haven't gone back yet because I have so much stuff to deal with going back I live with a broken OS. Someday I'll go for it but it'll consume almost a full day to get everything back the way I want it. I haven't been able to update my website since Vista, too tired to figure out how to get Cisco VPN to play nice with Vista's "let nothing through policy" I have to connect to my server through VPN.

I know what you're talking about Andy with all the networking stuff, NOTHING is where it used to be, SUCKS!

I use XP at work and couldn't be happier, why oh why did I need to experiment with new a new OS?

[Lonestar]

Originally Posted by hoser

Might be time for an iMac.

I got me a MAC now. Vista sux!!!!! Wanna be Apple! I Just did 2 labtop configs and that shit is sooooo slow. Blah!!!

I noticed that it's trying to be MAC....nice try.

[Spacedebris]

I speed all day every day working on computer issues ranging from people who cant figure out how to turn on their computer. (yes, i mean that literally, I never would have believed it until I got that call, and I get it at least once a week). To people who have a complete computer meltdown and nearly 75% of all the true OS problems I deal with are all Vista related. From a computer support standpoint, Vista is a nightmare. The problem is, once you have a problem with it, no matter how minor, the hopes of repairing it are near nil. I've rarely run into anyone who is happy with vista, in fact one of my more common calls regarding vista is the call that says..."do you know where we can go to get XP back again?".

[andyofne]

Originally Posted by Spacedebris

I speed all day every day working on computer issues ranging from people who cant figure out how to turn on their computer. (yes, i mean that literally, I never would have believed it until I got that call, and I get it at least once a week). To people who have a complete computer meltdown and nearly 75% of all the true OS problems I deal with are all Vista related. From a computer support standpoint, Vista is a nightmare. The problem is, once you have a problem with it, no matter how minor, the hopes of repairing it are near nil. I've rarely run into anyone who is happy with vista, in fact one of my more common calls regarding vista is the call that says..."do you know where we can go to get XP back again?".

Howdy.

Thankfully, we have no Vista computers in my office.

Unfortunately, we have no Vista computers in my office.

I would like to have ONE so that I could actually learn a bit more about the OS rather than just dismissing it out of hand.

I've worked only a handful of computers running Vista and because it's so unfamiliar and different it is harder to trouble shoot some problems that are easy to ID and fix in Win 2000 / XP.

I do not like Vista.

[ALLT4]

Hey, call me stupid but if I buy a regular Macbook for my Daughter who is starting College in the fall; does it come with drivers for XP for all it's peripherals? Does it run XP as well as any other Laptop with no glitches? Basically for her would it seem just like a PC Laptop? I've only messed around with non-certified hardware and hacked OSX86 Tiger for it. Pretty much that avenue doesn't work because everytime there's an update it bombs your install. I have the money anyway to buy the stuff. I know she wouldn't want Vista on it, I wouldn't want to deal with it.

She want's something white so I'm thinking that fits the ticket and gets her into another avenue of computing. Plus not only that but it's cool.