Opinions on Vista?

[Vyper]

What is UAC and how do you disable it? I ask because I just got a laptop with Vista on it.


I tried installing my legally purchased copy of XP Pro on it but it tells me it can't find any hard drives to install to. What the heck?

[Lowlander]

UAC is there to control what a user can do. It's to prevent drive by infections by not giving certain permissions. Unfortunately it also affects regular software in some cases.

As for the Windows XP issue. I assume that you have a SATA harddrive installed. If this is the case you probably need to change the drive's settings in the BIOS which is something I wouldn't advice unless you are familiar with computers.

[Vyper]

Cool. Thanks for the links and I do know enough about computers to change bios settings without getting into trouble. Very informative answer you gave. Thanks again.

[Blake]

I started using Vista on my new PC a couple of months ago.
It runs just as well as XP if not better, and part of that is because I vLited my copy of Ultimate.

I have never had a BSOD caused by Vista itself, only from me screwing around with overclocking and installing wrong drivers even though Vista warned me not to.

MediaMonkey does have some problems with it though.
-When you have transparency enabled and programs maximized, the taskbar will become opaque. This does not happen with MediaMonkey when it is maximized and there are no other programs maximized and the taskbar stays transparent. This can be fixed by putting MM into non-skinned mode.
-When you have transparency enabled and the micro/taskbar player showing, the taskbar becomes opaque even if there is no maximized programs.
-If the MM window open and maximized as well as other programs, if you right click on the taskbar and select either 'Cascade Windows', 'Show Windows Stacked', or 'Show Windows Side by Side' then the MM windows still thinks it is maximized. This can be fixed be putting MM into non-skinned mode.

Apart from those few things my overall experience with Vista has been brilliant.

[Full_Circle]

Thanks to everyone on the board for their comments on the topic. I'd heard so many horror stories about the OS when it was first released, but now I feel much more confident about upgrading to a new PC with Vista. As long as the monkey is still functional on it (apart from the few bugs Blake mentioned above), I'll be a happy camper

[BrendanJ]

I also have windows vista: Home premium and I hate it, windows explorer is always playing up and its a new laptop, I have windows XP on the other laptop and much prefer that, i don't have any problems with that, I'm thinking about trying Linux on the laptop with vista.

[paulmt]

I have just completed a lengthy change over from XP to Vista Ultimate and so far I am very happy with Vista; it is faster and slicker than XP and the UAC or any of the security features haven't bothered me to much, I just worked my way though each resolving issues that annoyed me or caused problems.
I haven't turned UAC off but I have give administrator rights to all the programmes I run regularily and have found some work-a-rounds for other appications where UAC jumped in uninvited.
I feel the single most important requirement with Vista is grunt! If you don't have a reasonably high level of hardware stay with XP. As can be seen from my signature, I have late model hardware and find Vista runs very well with this.
I'm still using MediaMonkey 2 which has not caused any problems with Vista so far and scripts were ok once I sorted ActiveX out.

So I would recommend Vista as an improvement over XP and a logical progression if you have the hardware to support it!

[moonmoon]

cool~I'll check the link.Very informative indeed!

[botijo]

Another one here with Vista Home Premium x64. Although I would say I am one of the strangest people using Windows, as the software I usually run is not the stock software:

Total Commander instead of Windows Explorer
MediaMonkey, The KMPlayer instead of Windows Media Player
Opera Browser instead of Internet Explorer
No Office software installed (although I own MS Office 2003!)
ESET Nod32 as Antivirus
No firewall (router as firewall)
No chat programs (use web versions instead)
IrfanView, Picasa instead of whatever-is-called-that-Windows-has
Windows Live Mail does the job for me
Garmin MapSource works perfectly

For those programs, I can live with UAC, as they do not do strange things but MediaMonkey, which I installed outside Program Files. I play lots of games, and only found a problem with "Beyond Good and Evil", where it tries to install 32bit protection drivers, fails, and erases the game from the harddisk. I always wondered why consoles have the option to have the game run from the disc, while PCs not.

[sayad]

are you like crazy , how can you ccompare vista with xp , they are two different generations , it is like vista is the only os in thee world which is succh indetailed with graphics and also soo much into thee perfection of software writing that there is just no room for error.

[emalvick]

I've been using Vista 64 for a couple of months, and I haven't had any issues. In fact, the past 2 months are probably the longest I've ever gone without having a crash.

As far as UAC goes, I've left it on because one of my database programs (strangely enough non-MS) won't run correctly without it. I haven't even elevated MM to administrative rights, and I've only had to run it as an administrator whenever I install a new script.

The only other issue I've had is with the 64 bit version and the fact that I've actually found a small handful of programs that won't work with it (e.g. my AV program, a couple of Math/Engineering related programs, another photo-processing program). In most cases, I've found alternative programs that do work or newer versions of those programs that work. Still, I do find it annoying that some software that could benefit from 64 bits haven't upgraded at all, but that is beyond this topic.

MM runs well, and I've only had problems when I forget to run as an administrator when installing a new script.

[VERONICAS]

I have to admit, Vista is not that bad -after sp1 though. It has gotten ALOT better. I hardly use it now though. I have migrated over to Linux flavors. Slax, Ubuntu 64. I would recommend switching over to Ubuntu for beginners and then working your way to Slax. It only took a few hours to get the hang of Linux and now I do not see myself EVER going back to Winoes again as a regular OS. It makes a cameo every once in a while, but that is only if said program won't run in Wine. Oh, my updates are done, time to get back to play.

[sayad]

OH , i mean like , how did you ever prefer linux to be the regular os , after using vista , i even forgot that there is any xp there , and you still get back to linux ?
You might have your personal reasons , but you see , vista is the best.

----------------------------------------------
San Diego Home Insurance