Make The Most Of Windows Vista

[Guest Reimar]

Last OS Standing: Make the Most of Windows Vista

Now that Windows XP is no longer being sold by Microsoft, PC users will be stuck with Windows Vista. Here's a roundup of PC World's best tips for making Vista easier to use.

It's official: On June 30, Windows XP enjoyed its last day as a readily available consumer operating system. Henceforth, it will be available only under a few marginal circumstances. People who already own XP-powered PCs will continue to receive official Microsoft support until 2014 (if their computers last that long), but the rest of us have seen our Windows options reduced to one: Vista.

Hobbled by slow performance, annoying security features, and wonky support for many existing devices, Vista has earned its bad reputation. But now that it's the only game in town for mainstream PC users, you might as well make the best of it.

PC World's writers and editors have spent countless hours digging through all of Vista's menus and options, tweaking and optimizing its performance. And we've found tons of ways to tame the quirks and foibles of this somewhat-maligned, somewhat-malignant OS. Here's a judicious sampling of what we've found.

Speed Up Windows Vista

Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista may not give your system much extra oomph--but as Contributing Editor Scott Dunn details, there are other ways to increase Vista's speed. Spending a few minutes (or a few dollars) optimizing your Vista PC can pep it up noticeably.

Read the full article at PC-World HERE

[Pattaya46]

It's official: On June 30, Windows XP enjoyed its last day as a readily available consumer operating system.

Hi,

That's not completely right

- Assemblers will continue to sell EOM Xp until the begin of 2009... maybe more.

- Ultra PC (like EeePc, Wind, ...) will continue to use "Windows Xp Live" until end of 2010... or Windows 7.

- Owner of Windows Vista will be able to ask for a "downgrade to Xp" until end of 2010.

And all Windows Xp actually not sold will stay yet long time in Thai shops...

Pattaya46

[Guest Reimar]

It's official: On June 30, Windows XP enjoyed its last day as a readily available consumer operating system.

Hi,

That's not completely right

- Assemblers will continue to sell EOM Xp until the begin of 2009... maybe more.

- Ultra PC (like EeePc, Wind, ...) will continue to use "Windows Xp Live" until end of 2010... or Windows 7.

- Owner of Windows Vista will be able to ask for a "downgrade to Xp" until end of 2010.

And all Windows Xp actually not sold will stay yet long time in Thai shops...

Pattaya46

Maybe it's a kind of definition?! Microsoft is meaning the End User if they tell consumer. Right, you still can buy new computer with XP reinstalled but that is the only way and you can't buy XP out of the shelf right now, legally I mean.

The owner of Vista who able to ask for to downgrade are limited as well and not everybody can do that.

Cheers.

[A_Traveller]

^ Do you mean by that that authorised 'clean' suppliers have been instructed to return unsold inventory to MS?

Regards

[Guest Reimar]

^ Do you mean by that that authorised 'clean' suppliers have been instructed to return unsold inventory to MS?

Regards

Official YES! But who know what will be the reality?! You can still buy original and sealed Windows 98 SE in Thailand!

Cheers.

[webfact]

I will never understand why Microsoft sacrifies the best and most stable OS they ever developed for this crap called Vista.

Doesn't Microsoft realize nobody want Vista? Is this a new attempt to force customers to buy their Vista?

It's well known that companies will not switch to Vista but continue with XP.

Edited July 4, 2008 by webfact

[Guest Reimar]

I will never understand why Microsoft sacrifies the best and most stable OS they ever developed for this crap called Vista.

Doesn't Microsoft realize nobody want Vista? Is this a new attempt to force customers to buy their Vista?

It's well known that companies will not switch to Vista but continue with XP.

That's nothing but business! It's the same: I don't like the Honda accord from today but I want a new one as produces 2000!

So, now how to do?

Manufacturer Companies living from selling their products. If the market is full and everybody has bought the product, the company needs to close down because of lack of customers.

Same is happens with software developer companies. MS has to do that same as Apple need to launch new OS as well.

What is so difficult to understand?

And Vista isn't crap! It's a well working Operating System with a lot advantages. If you're unable to work with it, it's your problem and not MS! I work with Vista since Beta 1 without any problems.

I also work with OS-X 10.5 x86 on an Intel Machine and that have problems! But I don't blame Apple for that, same as I don't blame Ubuntu or Fedora that they make ME problems! But as I wrote in some other post, I don't look at Wikipedia or other sites for to use that infos for to suggest or to blame a product, I test the product by myself and look for solutions, if needed, even by myself.

And if I talk about my experiences, than i talk about MY experiences and not about the experiences from others. And I doing service for a few thousand computers by my customers in total and MY experiences resulting from that computers as well.

Cheers.

[A_Traveller]

In my view this discussion will run and run until Midori, which if it does follow Singularity's model may well, at least, offer a way out of the dated and increasingly creaky metaphors {and their underlying techniques} used by all OS' presently, Apple included, even after the 'to hades with backward compatibility' move to MacOS X. That however is still after 7 let alone the next few years arguing about Vista.

Regards

PS Work from Beta 1 without problems... That puts you in a minority of 1, since MS themselves had, and expected problems with beta release, that is why they're called betas. By the by the initial alphas were as friendly as a cornered rat.

/edit must type hades...//

Edited July 4, 2008 by A_Traveller

[Steve2UK]

Got to love this - from last Wednesday's Bangkok Post "Database" section:

"According to the analyst house Evans Data fewer than one in 10 developers are writing applications for Microsoft Vista. About 50 per cent are still focused on Windows XP. This will change next year when about a quarter will shift to Vista but for the time being, XP is the place to code".

In the same issue was a Reuters item about Intel (aka "Wintel" because of such close associations with Microsoft) having "no immediate plans to roll out Vista to its employees" - 80,000 globally. But what would they know?

[A_Traveller]

Just to note technically the first is a bit silly, but the second is embarrassing for MS I'd agree.

Regards

[sjaak327]

I will never understand why Microsoft sacrifies the best and most stable OS they ever developed for this crap called Vista.

Doesn't Microsoft realize nobody want Vista? Is this a new attempt to force customers to buy their Vista?

It's well known that companies will not switch to Vista but continue with XP.

Companies don't switch to Vista not because it is crap, but because major companies always need a lot of time to make the switch. Some internal applications don't run on vista, some internal websites don't work with IE7. Microsoft finally moved away from letting programs run under fulll admin authority, this is one of the reasons why some applications fail. Sure there is File system and registry virtualisation, but some old applications are so badly written, that even that doesn't help.

Of course you conveniently forget, or are just ignorant of XP's history of being unsecure. I mean just compare the number of security patches that have been pusblished for XP as compared to the number published for Vista. That might put your comment of XP being the best and most stable into a whole different perspective, and you will quickly learn, that this remark is not true (and I am putting this nicely).

[Guest Reimar]

I will never understand why Microsoft sacrifies the best and most stable OS they ever developed for this crap called Vista.

Doesn't Microsoft realize nobody want Vista? Is this a new attempt to force customers to buy their Vista?

It's well known that companies will not switch to Vista but continue with XP.

Companies don't switch to Vista not because it is crap, but because major companies always need a lot of time to make the switch. Some internal applications don't run on vista, some internal websites don't work with IE7. Microsoft finally moved away from letting programs run under fulll admin authority, this is one of the reasons why some applications fail. Sure there is File system and registry virtualisation, but some old applications are so badly written, that even that doesn't help.

Of course you conveniently forget, or are just ignorant of XP's history of being unsecure. I mean just compare the number of security patches that have been pusblished for XP as compared to the number published for Vista. That might put your comment of XP being the best and most stable into a whole different perspective, and you will quickly learn, that this remark is not true (and I am putting this nicely).

I like that!

Cheers.

[Steve2UK]

I mean just compare the number of security patches that have been pusblished for XP as compared to the number published for Vista.

XP having been around for how long? Vista having been around for how long?

[Guest Reimar]

I mean just compare the number of security patches that have been pusblished for XP as compared to the number published for Vista.

XP having been around for how long? Vista having been around for how long?

Wrong question!

sjaak327 was meaning about the same period on beginning of XP and not the whole time!

Maybe it would really be interesting to compare the first 1 1/2 to 2 years of each OS! I wouldn't wonder if the security patches from XP having an higher amount than Vista!

Cheers.

[sjaak327]

I mean just compare the number of security patches that have been pusblished for XP as compared to the number published for Vista.

XP having been around for how long? Vista having been around for how long?

And your point is ?

Even NOW there are more security patches released for XP then for Vista, why, because Vista is much more secure then XP, there is simply no discussion possible to suggest otherwise. Vista has been basically rebuild from the ground up, to ensure it would be much more secure then XP, quite frankly, Microsoft realised that they needed to change the way they program, as it would eventually lead to a massive loss of market share, as many people were not happy with the constant patching that XP needed. XP prior to SP2 was an unsecure OS.

It is nothing short of amazing, to hear the critisim of Vista, and neglecting this simple fact. And yet even though MS has changed the way they program, they didn't forget that there are many windows applications out there, and ensured that the vast majority of them would still run under vista.

What reward did they get in return for this: a lot of whinging by people that mostly either don't know what they are talking about, people that never actually ran the OS or just grab every chance they can get to do a little MS or vista bashing, it becomes very boring, especially because the bashing doesn't make much sense, and most importantly isn't based upon the simple facts.

More funny are the ones that contemplate a move to OSX, even though the OS is great, it is made by a company, that has a well know history of neglecting downwards compatiblity of applications and even hardware

[Guest Reimar]

I mean just compare the number of security patches that have been pusblished for XP as compared to the number published for Vista.

XP having been around for how long? Vista having been around for how long?

And your point is ?

Even NOW there are more security patches released for XP then for Vista, why, because Vista is much more secure then XP, there is simply no discussion possible to suggest otherwise. Vista has been basically rebuild from the ground up, to ensure it would be much more secure then XP, quite frankly, Microsoft realised that they needed to change the way they program, as it would eventually lead to a massive loss of market share, as many people were not happy with the constant patching that XP needed. XP prior to SP2 was an unsecure OS.

It is nothing short of amazing, to hear the critisim of Vista, and neglecting this simple fact. And yet even though MS has changed the way they program, they didn't forget that there are many windows applications out there, and ensured that the vast majority of them would still run under vista.

What reward did they get in return for this: a lot of whinging by people that mostly either don't know what they are talking about, people that never actually ran the OS or just grab every chance they can get to do a little MS or vista bashing, it becomes very boring, especially because the bashing doesn't make much sense, and most importantly isn't based upon the simple facts.

More funny are the ones that contemplate a move to OSX, even though the OS is great, it is made by a company, that has a well know history of neglecting downwards compatiblity of applications and even hardware

Some of the humans have nothing to but to complain without to know what they talking about or without to have them own experiences.

Cheers.

[Plus]

some internal websites don't work with IE7

Have you seen IE8????

None of Thai websites work with it. Some show simply blank screen.

Yet I think IE8 is the most progressive development coming out of MS in the recent memory.

[Guest Reimar]

some internal websites don't work with IE7

Have you seen IE8????

None of Thai websites work with it. Some show simply blank screen.

Yet I think IE8 is the most progressive development coming out of MS in the recent memory.

Have you seen the latest version of Safari for OS-X? didn't work with OS-X 10.5.1 need 10.5.2!

So, what's the deal? Vista works with IE8 and IE7 as well but what you talking about are 3. party Websites which may developed with an outaged tool?!

Vista is more downward compatible the OS-X where the latest Browser software from the same manufacturer isn't work with an 1 step down version of the OS!

That's really a shame!

Cheers.

[JSixpack]

PC World's writers and editors have . . . found tons of ways to tame the quirks and foibles of this somewhat-maligned, somewhat-malignant OS.

Cough. Tons, hardly. Rather, a few, most of which apply about as well to XP. No measurements of speed increase were made, probably because not terribly impressive. None of the comments on Vista following the article was favorable.

Well, me, I'm quite happy w/ my XP, it's tweaked up already & runs and looks great, and I figure I can keep going just fine with it till SP1 for Windows 7 comes out. Compare it to staying w/ Win 98 and skipping uselessness of Millenium till XP arrived . . . .

[sjaak327]

"Have you seen IE8????

None of Thai websites work with it. Some show simply blank screen.

"

Yep, have installed it on one of my pc's, Im not happy with it, but it offers IE7 compatiblity, and those crappy programmed Thai website might even be displayed.

IE8 by the way does support the acid2 test, something that cannot be said of IE7, also it is supposed to adher much more to webstandards then IE7, that's probably why you have such troubles with Thai website in the first place

"I can keep going just fine with it till SP1 for Windows 7 comes out. Compare it to staying w/ Win 98 and skipping uselessness of Millenium till XP arrived . . . . "

Take one guess on which codebase Windows 7 will be based on (for a fair great percentage, taking into consideration the time frame), yep you guessed it, Vista

I do not hope you are actually one of those people who compare ME to Vista, as apart from the bashing, there are no similarties, ME was Win98 with a few added features, It marked the end of the separtion between the core business OS line (Winnt 4, Windows 2000) and the Win3,win95,win98 consumer line. XP as such is based upon Windows 2000 not Millenium.

Vista is based upon Xp, with a fair deal of the OS completely rewritten, and I for one thank Microsoft for doing so, in fact, they should really have taken it one step further. But of course then the whinging would be even more profound. Without a doubt they will do so with Windows 7, so I guess Microsoft can easily prepare for the massive whinging that will follow, as much more then is now the case with Vista, all those poorly written programmes will be rendered absolutely useless. It might also be the end of 32 bit computing.

[Plus]

I think you got me wrong on IE8 - I think it's really really great. In one click you can ask it to render pages in ie5, ie7 or ie8 mode via web development panel, native built in, not a plugin like Firebug. I won't be switching from Opera, and Firebug is still my development tool of choice, but I really enjoy getting staff right on ie8, too.

I hope Thai "webmasters" get a clue and start coding their pages properly, the <deleted> are still afraid of CSS and javascript and still rely on Frontpage/Dreamweaver tables. Their ignorance is appalling. So far they got away with it because IE was meant for idiots. Not anymore.

If it was for me, I'd replace the "emulate ie7" with "ingore webmaster's stupidity".

[A_Traveller]

Before accusing those posting of not knowing of what they speak, given decades of experience including relevant to this discussion consulting to some household names, and having had access to builds of pre alpha technical elements of OS' may I respectfully point out that this 'built from the ground up' is untrue. It was the goal, and indeed prior to 2003 part of the Singularity project was to look at this very approach. However, once the reality set in, it was clear that such an approach would not deliver {without huge resource} a workable {in terms of business accountability and deliverable product} OS within guidelines. There were also considerable 'political' issues within MS at that time and during this process which contributed to the state of affairs.

Therefore there was a bifurcation, with Singularity {and now Midori} taking one approach and what was now become Vista taking a more pragmatic line. By and large the critical elements were the unbundling of key driver elements {which created problems since MS didn't help the driver deliverers as much as they should have} from within the OS itself, and ironically a major retrenchment of the internet ubiquity strategy, thereby removing IE from within the system as well, leading to the much trumpeted 'sandbox' approach for applications.

By adding an enforced administration account, the security level of the system could be raised. This is not in and of itself a bad thing, but one of the reasons for minimal discussion about 7 and even less about Midori is to try and establish what can be delivered, or preferably be in the position of pulling the curtain closed. Key personal in the Midori project are amongst the most senior in MS {both technically and commercially} and it is to be hoped that the vaunted, but now forgotten, elements that were due to become Vista, may in one form or another, become part of the upcoming programs.

Vista can be more secure, XP can be managed in a manner which make it similarly secure. Comparing then and now is specious since there was a level of naivety which is now long gone. Even today progams such as vlc player are shown to have vulnerabilities {new version due shortly} and that is the environment we have to work in. Ultimately MS' error was to provide a system which offered remarkably little for a considerable cost {probable upgrades et al} leaving it faced with the marketplace that took the view that XP was still viable and that there was no compelling need to upgrade.

As an aside, one thing will be interesting to see is how far Fiji moves the game plan forward.

But please no more complete rebuilds, just not true, sorry, Vista was and is a step forward, but not, to plagiarise, 'a giant leap'. The comparison of Vista to ME is not a technical one, as anyone reading these posts would be all too aware, but a commercial one, which does highlight the 'hill to climb' when a revised OS is released. Curiously enough I take the view that if MS had continued with Singularity and had issued XP+SP3 and aimed to release Midori subsequently they would have received plaudits for so doing, but this process would not match the one non technical critical, Sir William's schedule, after all it was he who hit the reset button on delivery and therefore technical freezes for Vista.

Regards

[meadish_sweetball]

Unfortunately work requirements will force me to upgrade at least one computer to Vista soon. I am quite happy with XP at the moment and would not switch unless I had to.

For my fun and games computer I am considering one of the more user-friendly versions of Linux.

[Steve2UK]

I mean just compare the number of security patches that have been pusblished for XP as compared to the number published for Vista.

XP having been around for how long? Vista having been around for how long?

Wrong question!

sjaak327 was meaning about the same period on beginning of XP and not the whole time!

Maybe it would really be interesting to compare the first 1 1/2 to 2 years of each OS! I wouldn't wonder if the security patches from XP having an higher amount than Vista!

Cheers.

Forgive me for not being psychic.........

[Guest Reimar]

Vista wasn't wrote and build from scratch. That's something what's simply impossible.

The Myth of the Complete Overhaul - Some want Windows Vista to be written from scratch, arguing that Microsoft needs to flush down Windows XP, and all past Windows versions, and start over. Such a scenario is argued to be the sole solution to save Microsoft. And at the same time this is impossible. Windows Vista is not be built from scratch because it simply wasn't possible. Windows Vista had serious problems when it came down to application and hardware incompatibility and lack of driver support. But that wasn't Microsoft but the lack of cooperation of hard- and software manufacturers.

Now imagine a brand new and shiny Windows Vista, with no connection to any previous versions of Windows. Nothing would work. Nothing! Not your programs, not your hardware, nothing. The truth is that neither Microsoft, nor the environment of hardware and software developers depending on the Windows as a platform, and not even end users can afford, or are ready to deal with a complete overhaul.

Even the next version of Windows: Windows 7 will NOT an brand new shiny Windows!

Cheers.

[sjaak327]

"Vista wasn't wrote and build from scratch'

I did not claim that either

I did claim:

"Vista is based upon Xp, with a fair deal of the OS completely rewritten"

Maybe I should have said, that that fair deal mainly concerned the way the OS deals with permissions, so in other words the security side of things. This does also include Vista's driver model, which differs from Xp's and is one of the reasons why for insance many sound drivers didn't work in Vista.

But I do believe that the backwards compatibility that Microsoft offers is at the same time their biggest weakness or bottleneck. Of course with Microsoft's installed base, it would be very difficult to sacrifice some of that backward compatibility, but I do believe that we might see more of that in future Windows versions, and I for one think that in the end, that is only a good thing, as it will increase security and stability of the system.

[Guest Reimar]

"Vista wasn't wrote and build from scratch'

I did not claim that either

I did claim:

"Vista is based upon Xp, with a fair deal of the OS completely rewritten"

I haven't mean that or want to point to you! And the OS war partly, in many way, new written but not total!

But never mind I do believe that you understand very well what I was talking about!

Cheers.

[b19bry]

"What is so difficult to understand?"

>>>>That's a bit rich coming from you Reimar, having started several threads on Vista before, and receiving many responses from many many dissastisfied Vista user's which you've then chosen to ignore or attempted (unsuccessfully) to find reasons to invalidate their thinking !

"And Vista isn't crap! It's a well working Operating System with a lot advantages. If you're unable to work with it, it's your problem and not MS! I work with Vista since Beta 1 without any problems."

>>>>Why are you so defensive of Vista ? The perception of a lot of Vista user's is not good (putting it kindly) and many (like myself) have official vendor system's 'out of the box' that perform poorly and constantly hang. That's is unhappily my and many others problem, and sure, MS won't give a dam_n but it won't make me and many others a Vista fan.

As a matter of interest, do you tell your customers "If you're unable to work with it it's your problem" re Vista ?

[SebD]

This may be of interest:

http://www.informationweek.com/news/window...cleID=197000165

[A_Traveller]

'basically build (sic) from the ground up' was the original grammatically incorrect statement, and as noted was and is in error. Further, the almost hysterical comment that a entirely new OS could not support programs and platforms is just naive and foolish, with or without exclamation points, though does point to a lack of understanding as to how an OS/HAL/Chip Set interrogative system functions. But there again assembler is not a language many understand these days.

Regards

PS Re the above [support to 2014] there is a thread on this running already.

Edited July 6, 2008 by A_Traveller