LF: Windows Vista Experiences, Pro Or Con

[rockefeller center]

What I mean by "publicly" is, does anywhere on the XP box/disc/manual/whatever does it saw "Windows NT 5.1"? Even in really tiny print?

It should be at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion, CurrentVersion

[rockefeller center]

So it's either move ahead or buy a Mac, I guess.

Or try GNU/Linux sometime.

[rockefeller center]

What I mean by "publicly" is, does anywhere on the XP box/disc/manual/whatever does it saw "Windows NT 5.1"? Even in really tiny print?

It should be at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion, CurrentVersion

http://omploader.org/vMmxvbA/Screenshot.png

[JSngry]

Well I'll be darned!

[rockefeller center]

So it's either move ahead or buy a Mac, I guess.

Or try GNU/Linux sometime.

http://picasaweb.google.com/cschlaeger/Jap...358413061926434

[AllenLowe]

to be more specific I had a new computer on which I was running various audio programs - all two track programs, nothing very CPU intensive - at first Vista worked - for about 20 minutes - then it didn't work; than I couldn't get on the **##$%^&^* internet - than I hired a guy to wipe it clean, put Windows XP on it, reinstall everything, of course -

now everything works fine. I am happy. Vista sucks.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

She wanted me to put a shortcut to a folder onto her desktop the other day and I couldn't find out how to do it!!!!

Dude, this hasn't changed since...I don't know when. 3.x? Right click the folder you want to make the shortcut to and take it from there. If you can do it in XP, you can do it in Vista.

That's what I WAS doing!!!!

MG

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

@MG: there's a small compatibility thingie you can install - that will allow you to read those files (they appear as .docx). Go to the Windowsupdate page and look for it, takes three minutes to do and you'll be able to open word and excel files created with new versions of MS Office.

Thanks Ubu - what about Access? I've been told it won't work with Vista.

MG

[7/4]

Thanks Ubu - what about Access? I've been told it won't work with Vista.

I had it working on Vista, but I wouldn't use Vista anyway.

[spinlps]

The best thing about Vista now is that it (new purchases) includes an upgrade to Windows 7. Now that Win7 is out now though, I'd go straight to it instead. I've been running the RTM version for a few months and its the quickest, most stable MS OS I've used. Plenty of backwards compatibility too with the built in (at least for the Enterprise version) virtualization that allows older programs to run in "XP" mode. No problems so far...

[king ubu]

I have my huge jazz live shows database in access... about five sheets (the rock/blues/soul etc list is growing quickly as well) with probably 7000 entries, and it works without any problems - I have had Vista for about five weeks now and had no major problems (except for the email stuff described above, and some annyoing warning tones, which - funny enough - come up in Access now and then).

If you need help finding the compatibility thingie, let me know - I think I might have the link for it somewhere! But it should be fairly easy to find.

[BruceW]

Wow, you guys have really had some problems. I have XP and plan to keep it as long as I possibly can. I dreaded Vista as I had heard so many bad things about it when it first came out. Then the news of Windows 7 coming out was filled with the same hype. FYI Windows 7 is nothing more than Vista with a few fixes. Microsoft is really embarrassed about Vista and wants to wipe it out as soon as possible. But the trends for the future have been set so they also want to banish XP to oblivion also (a planned way to have everyone on

Vista in some form or another).

Personally I had many problmes lately with XP including the BSOD (and many of them) that I was going crazy because I was not going to switch to Vista under any circumstances. My DVDs would not play because of some Overlay malfunction. Well guess what, my problems were the cause of one single thing; the graphics adapter driver (standard issue). Microsoft would not put out an update for quite awhile. Turns out I went to the Geek Squad and the guy finds an update on the internet and my computer has been running fine ever since. However, he showed me losts of dust in the fans etc. He did not charge me for the service and only charged me for a couple cans of compressed air for me to do the cleaning myself. I'm in the process now.

I will never switch to any form of Vista (including Windows 7) unless my computer just plain stops. I have rwead in the PC magazine and others that an upgrade to Vista or Windows 7 is a very bad thing to do. I will have to upgrade my RAM though.

BruceW

I might add that the PC magazine suggested to go completely new if going to Windows 7.

@MG: there's a small compatibility thingie you can install - that will allow you to read those files (they appear as .docx). Go to the Windowsupdate page and look for it, takes three minutes to do and you'll be able to open word and excel files created with new versions of MS Office.

That Windows update page can always be found on the Microsoft website. Sorry I don't have the exact url at present. But I heard also that it is good news for the problems with Word documents.

Vista. no doubt, is eternally grateful!

Really, I don't know WTF is causing some people to have great experiences with it, some horrible ones. I suspect that - again - Vista is not something to install over/on a preexisting OS/configuration. It was definitely introduced too soon. but I don't think that Microsoft is going back(wards) either. So it's either move ahead or buy a Mac, I guess.

Exactly right, do not upgrade from XP or even Vista. You are basically asking for more problems. Go brand new if going to Windows 7.

to be more specific I had a new computer on which I was running various audio programs - all two track programs, nothing very CPU intensive - at first Vista worked - for about 20 minutes - then it didn't work; than I couldn't get on the **##$%^&^* internet - than I hired a guy to wipe it clean, put Windows XP on it, reinstall everything, of course -

now everything works fine. I am happy. Vista sucks.

Let me get this right, you bought a new Vista machine, didn't work and had it wiped clean and XP installed on it???? How much money did you have to spend getting all that done?? When he reinstalled "everything", was that Vista everything on an XP platform or did he reinstall other old XP stuff on the new XP platform. Did you upgrade from XP to Vista and then back to XP?? That is what it sounds like here?? But it is not clear what you did. Help us out please!

I have my huge jazz live shows database in access... about five sheets (the rock/blues/soul etc list is growing quickly as well) with probably 7000 entries, and it works without any problems - I have had Vista for about five weeks now and had no major problems (except for the email stuff described above, and some annyoing warning tones, which - funny enough - come up in Access now and then).

If you need help finding the compatibility thingie, let me know - I think I might have the link for it somewhere! But it should be fairly easy to find.

Is that the Word thingie you are talking about? It would be greatly appreciated.

BruceW

p.s. BTW I'm doing fine on the "no more cancer" thingie but I didn't want to open that cancer thread again since we are all having "Microsoft thingie" problems.

[RDK]

Wow, you guys have really had some problems. I have XP and plan to keep it as long as I possibly can. I dreaded Vista as I had heard so many bad things about it when it first came out. Then the news of Windows 7 coming out was filled with the same hype. FYI Windows 7 is nothing more than Vista with a few fixes. Microsoft is really embarrassed about Vista and wants to wipe it out as soon as possible. But the trends for the future have been set so they also want to banish XP to oblivion also (a planned way to have everyone on

Vista in some form or another).

Personally I had many problmes lately with XP including the BSOD (and many of them) that I was going crazy because I was not going to switch to Vista under any circumstances. My DVDs would not play because of some Overlay malfunction. Well guess what, my problems were the cause of one single thing; the graphics adapter driver (standard issue). Microsoft would not put out an update for quite awhile. Turns out I went to the Geek Squad and the guy finds an update on the internet and my computer has been running fine ever since. However, he showed me losts of dust in the fans etc. He did not charge me for the service and only charged me for a couple cans of compressed air for me to do the cleaning myself. I'm in the process now.

I will never switch to any form of Vista (including Windows 7) unless my computer just plain stops. I have rwead in the PC magazine and others that an upgrade to Vista or Windows 7 is a very bad thing to do. I will have to upgrade my RAM though.

BruceW

Since you've had problems with XP I'm not sure why you're so averse to W7. One of the problems with Vista (at least in the beginning) was it's incompatibility with drivers, but they've since solved that and W7 apparently handles drivers very smoothly. W7 is supposedly much more stable than any previous version of Windows, plus it's far more secure. Either way, it's moot as I'm sure MS will stop supporting XP fairly soon.

[RDK]

p.s. BTW I'm doing fine on the "no more cancer" thingie but I didn't want to open that cancer thread again since we are all having "Microsoft thingie" problems.

We'll excuse that threadcrap.

Great news, Bruce!

[spinlps]

Since you've had problems with XP I'm not sure why you're so averse to W7. One of the problems with Vista (at least in the beginning) was it's incompatibility with drivers, but they've since solved that and W7 apparently handles drivers very smoothly. W7 is supposedly much more stable than any previous version of Windows, plus it's far more secure. Either way, it's moot as I'm sure MS will stop supporting XP fairly soon.

I've been running Win7 for a few months and haven't seen a BSOD or even any lockups. I haven't had any compatiblity problems with consumer programs but have had to upgrade work apps (Oracle, soft phone, etc...). Office, Access, Visio, etc... have run just fine. The only drivers I had to download manually were Lenovo drivers which now have published Win7 drivers.

I love the integrated search function and am looking forward to enterprise virtualization for apps and network connections.

[RDK]

A good, thorough review of W7 with an interesting historical perspective as well...

http://www.winsupersite.com/win7/review.asp

[king ubu]

Here's that thing:

Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats

Brief Description

Open, edit, and save documents, workbooks, and presentations in the file formats new to Microsoft Office Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details...;displayLang=en

I see MS Access isn't mentioned.

And Bruce, glad to read your PS, too!

[7/4]

Since you've had problems with XP I'm not sure why you're so averse to W7. One of the problems with Vista (at least in the beginning) was it's incompatibility with drivers, but they've since solved that and W7 apparently handles drivers very smoothly. W7 is supposedly much more stable than any previous version of Windows, plus it's far more secure. Either way, it's moot as I'm sure MS will stop supporting XP fairly soon.

No, they didn't!

[BruceW]

Here's that thing:

Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats

Brief Description

Open, edit, and save documents, workbooks, and presentations in the file formats new to Microsoft Office Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details...;displayLang=en

I see MS Access isn't mentioned.

And Bruce, glad to read your PS, too!

Thanks, and thanks for posting the link for everyone.

[AllenLowe]

"Let me get this right, you bought a new Vista machine, didn't work and had it wiped clean and XP installed on it???? How much money did you have to spend getting all that done?? When he reinstalled "everything", was that Vista everything on an XP platform or did he reinstall other old XP stuff on the new XP platform. Did you upgrade from XP to Vista and then back to XP?? That is what it sounds like here?? But it is not clear what you did. Help us out please!"

I bought a new laptop with Vista - my tech guy charged me about $140 - everything was wiped and reinstalled on an XP platform, programs, etc etc.

Now I am happy. (not sure if I answered all your questions) -

[sidewinder]

The best thing about Vista now is that it (new purchases) includes an upgrade to Windows 7. Now that Win7 is out now though, I'd go straight to it instead. I've been running the RTM version for a few months and its the quickest, most stable MS OS I've used. Plenty of backwards compatibility too with the built in (at least for the Enterprise version) virtualization that allows older programs to run in "XP" mode. No problems so far...

I've just bought a new Compaq laptop with Vista on it and they are doing a 'Windows 7 Upgrade' thingie, supposedly a freebie. The postage & package etc. and media costs £21 for UK users though. What a con ! I will have to bite the bullet though. Wonder what they are charging for this 'freebie' in the US?

[spinlps]

The best thing about Vista now is that it (new purchases) includes an upgrade to Windows 7. Now that Win7 is out now though, I'd go straight to it instead. I've been running the RTM version for a few months and its the quickest, most stable MS OS I've used. Plenty of backwards compatibility too with the built in (at least for the Enterprise version) virtualization that allows older programs to run in "XP" mode. No problems so far...

I've just bought a new Compaq laptop with Vista on it and they are doing a 'Windows 7 Upgrade' thingie, supposedly a freebie. The postage & package etc. and media costs £21 for UK users though. What a con ! I will have to bite the bullet though. Wonder what they are charging for this 'freebie' in the US?

Check to see if you can download the install files and burn the install CD yourself.

[RDK]

The best thing about Vista now is that it (new purchases) includes an upgrade to Windows 7. Now that Win7 is out now though, I'd go straight to it instead. I've been running the RTM version for a few months and its the quickest, most stable MS OS I've used. Plenty of backwards compatibility too with the built in (at least for the Enterprise version) virtualization that allows older programs to run in "XP" mode. No problems so far...

I've just bought a new Compaq laptop with Vista on it and they are doing a 'Windows 7 Upgrade' thingie, supposedly a freebie. The postage & package etc. and media costs £21 for UK users though. What a con ! I will have to bite the bullet though. Wonder what they are charging for this 'freebie' in the US?

Free.

[BruceW]

I bought a new laptop with Vista - my tech guy charged me about $140 - everything was wiped and reinstalled on an XP platform, programs, etc etc.

Now I am happy. (not sure if I answered all your questions) -

Yes, you answered all. It just seems strange, but I understand.

BruceW

[sidewinder]

The best thing about Vista now is that it (new purchases) includes an upgrade to Windows 7. Now that Win7 is out now though, I'd go straight to it instead. I've been running the RTM version for a few months and its the quickest, most stable MS OS I've used. Plenty of backwards compatibility too with the built in (at least for the Enterprise version) virtualization that allows older programs to run in "XP" mode. No problems so far...

I've just bought a new Compaq laptop with Vista on it and they are doing a 'Windows 7 Upgrade' thingie, supposedly a freebie. The postage & package etc. and media costs £21 for UK users though. What a con ! I will have to bite the bullet though. Wonder what they are charging for this 'freebie' in the US?

Check to see if you can download the install files and burn the install CD yourself.

Don't think that option is available. Is it in the US?