And yeah this website is nothing but a Mac add.

And for the person who talked about the hard drive going crazy ALL the time he is not alone mine did too, well until I turned off some indexing, now I just index start menu shortcuts mainly because that is all I search for most of the time, but I did leave restore points and shadow copy mainly because sometimes I accidentally delete something or my computer crashes, cough NVidia’s latest driver corrupted all my other drives so nothing worked cough.

But I really do hope SP1 will fix some of the problems, isn’t that what they are for? And if it doesn’t I may find myself switching to the new Mac OS X Leopard even though I have been a huge Windows user for a long time.

To TheDub

If you are a long time windows user, you should know that computer makers will stick anything on the boxes to say its XP ready or Vista ready, even if its a low end laptop. Its up to the buyer to know that you need a half decent computer, the manufacturers will stick anything on a box for a sale, it was done with 3.0, and everything including Vista. Most of the people who have problems with Vista simply dont take the time to get a decent system that can Vista properly

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2193639,00.asp

I am sorry to say chris because i have watched you since Sceensaver days , and must say you are becoming exactly like what the article describes. Think about some of your most recent articles and being easily “wowed” by certain features of Apples new OS. I am not sure you even used those features before being wowed.

Vista has many features, but you have ignored them. If You find any problems (Many vista users dont have) you magnify them and seem to want to jump on the oh so popular, bash windows bandwagon. Many windows haters have never even used or spent any real time using vista. I like the people that have said “after 30 minutes i knew vista sucked, and so i went to buy mac or went back to XP” ….

Vista has a awesome search, reporting tools, installation was a breeze and media center is also a great, ..the UAC is good for security . even though some people find it intrusive. Apple has something like vistas UAC but on apple its called a “Feature”.
pcmag columnist has a article entitled “I found Vistas wow”
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704,2193575,00.asp
since it was a positive article on a HD def media maker , he was verbally abused by many apple/linux users .

I find Vista is very snappy on my 2 gig system. yes chris i am a power user well maybe not like you but still i dont have any of your issues. I have 4 networked computers in my house 2 are Vista and 2 are XP machine , great for lan parties .

Also my Vista machines have never crashed yet like xp (BSOD). Old hardware and software running great . some games needed to be run under xp compatibility mode. Some new users dont use that mode and just figure that product wont work. I know none of this wont change yours or anybodys thinking but i wanted you and your readers to know there are plenty of Vista users that are very satisfied with their O/S … But seriously you seem to have become more of a spokesperson for apple more than anything else…. Take Care

I cant agree on what you say about Vista. If everyone see that new operating system for the old one prospective it’s clear that Vista loose. But I use it from the CTP and despite some shortcoming in compatiblity and performance the usability advance are a quantum leap. No one mention the new performance reporting tool: you can know what piece of software is taking down perfomance even drivers. Or can someone take the time advantage that you get everytime you search something in you enormous HD, even the Control Panel applets are faster than ever to find. Yes this cost something. You must buy a new machine that score from 4 to 5 in the performance index score of Vista. Can you use google desktop, play a DVD, and record a Live TV Show with Xp? The aswer is no, no way. Can you simply Cancel the opening of a folder when this is big? (I/O cancellation) Vista is just the beginning and we must learn new way to do our task. Same discussion have occurred at the lauch of XP. It’s only a matter of time.

I use Mandriva Linux as my production OS. When I work with her computer, the one thing I find most disappointing is Vista’s security implementation. UAC (User Account Control) is stupid. It does not remember if a program should be allowed. From my limited experience with Vista, it looks more like a third party add on or an afterthought kludged together rather than an integrated component of the OS. In my opinion, the only time a user should see such a ‘feature’ should be the first time an application is run, if one application is launched by another, or if the user did not select to remember the answer for this application (like Zone Alarm). I think I read somewhere that Vista is a ‘complete Windows rewrite’, but it feels more like just another cobble job to me.

Admittedly, I am a bit biased, so make your own decisions about my observations. I have used Linux since about 1998, and it has been my primary production OS for the past couple of years. I started with Windows and Linux in a dual boot configuration until a few years ago when I realized that I seldom used Windows except when I booted to it to do updates on the first of each month. At that point, I removed Windows from my hard drive and installed it in a Virtual Machine under Linux where it resides to this day. I run it to do updates each month, but the only other times I run it are when friends or associates using Windows call in need of help.

If you experience with Vista is similar to that of my wife, congratulations! If not, you have my sympathy,

Doing something wrong?! I have been using Windows since Windows 3.0! I am in college for Computer Information Systems. I simply wondered if he knew of some tweaks. TURNS OUT I solved my performance issues before chris even wrote this blog. The culprit was exactly what he guessed. Windows Search. While it works great on my desktop back at home with a 500GB SATA HD it was a horrible performance decrease on my 160gb 5400RPM Laptop hard drive. I DID NOT install Vista just for the eye candy I like every portion of the operating system. I do think its a step forward for microsoft with a few bugs that need to be worked out. I have been running it on my laptop for a few weeks now after leaving XP. Do I regret it?

Yes and No. XP was (after disabling Windows Search) a little bit faster then Vista is. However that is to be expected since I bought a ‘lower end’ laptop for college since the chances of it getting broke, stolen, etc is a lot higher here on campus compared to a professional career or just home use. I have a desktop for back at home. I don’t miss XP really. I love how vista handles the users files compared to Windows XP. No more MY documents and MY computer and instead of all my folders (Downloads, Music, Video, Pictures, ETC) thrown into a huge mess in one folder it is now laid out nicely in one folder.. TheDub. I also like Vista’s start menu over Windows XP’s no more menus that pop out. So much easier to use on a touchpad compared to the expanding menus. I also love Aero. Yes this is eye candy not important but it looks professional and nice in my opinion and it makes Windows XP look … well boring. Downfall of Aero? Performance while on battery which scales down my cpu and gpu is horrible Power Management does not automatically accommodate for usage. If it was on High Performance when I unplugged it I have to manually change the power scheme or all my hardware stays on full blast sucking down battery.

I am NOT having Vista issues anymore. I am confused why my system was stamped with Windows Vista though… Its only a low level AMD Turion 64 x2 at 1.6ghz. Not super fast and until I tweaked it a little it had some performance issues. Look at what companies put vista on. Intel Celerons at 1.4ghz with 4200RPM HD’s, extremely low level graphics, and only 512mb RAM!?!?! Its no wonder so many people on the internet complain endlessly about vista being unbearably slow. If my system with 2gb of ram and a 5400rpm drive lagged with Windows Search enabled imagine those systems.

I don’t think it is as much the operating systems fault as originally thought. Windows XP needs to be licensed in the years to come for those 300 dollar laptops you see at best buy. I have removed windows vista on many dorm mates computers because they bought the SUPER CHEAP computer that should never have seen vista. PERIOD Home Basic is NOT a Low End System Operating System. Windows XP is PERIOD. Vista and XP almost can’t compare there they are just aimed at two different markets. Vista is the future and uses more resources while XP is the perfectly acceptable Operating System that should be used for the super low end 300 dollar budget laptops.

Seriously… what are the companies thinking… Vista on 512mb RAM!? Windows XP sometimes slows down if you’re a power user and do a lot of things at once… Something in this area seriously has to be done…

TheDub

Is the desktop search releated to indexing? I know it was a problem for some folks in XP, and as I was mucking around Vista I noticed a checkbox to disable indexing. Most likely that’s what the dude’s hard drive is doing in its spare time. Of course, the downside is searches may take longer, or maybe not. There are performance monitors in Vista that ought to show you what programs are doing what’s thrashing your disk and hogging CPU cycles, etc. Check the help menus in Vista for hints on where to find it.

Truth be told, Vista needs a service pack or two, and bad. Oh, I’ve heard that turning off the UAC stuff tends to speed things up too.