chrispirillo: RT @bsoler: "This is why pole dancing and weddings don’t mix." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1qDpQYMjqs — 9:54pm
Community member Michael Coombes saw one of my recent videos on Window 7 and he thought it would be prudent to pass along a few more tips and tricks.
This is Dragon’s submission for the HP Magic Giveaway. Feel free to leave comments for this article as you see fit – your feedback is certainly welcomed! If you’d like to submit your own how-to, what-is, or top-five list, you can send it to me. Views and opinions of this writer are not necessarily my own:
Elian emailed me the other day with quite a quandary. He’s from the Netherlands, but this seems to be a universal problem:
One of my friends has a computer with windows vista on it. So today he wanted to install windows XP on it because he couldn’t play older games he wanted to. I’ve done it myself successfully but I installed XP before I installed vista. Now his computer keeps booting XP without the boot manager screen (witch appears on my screen every time I boot my computer up). I think this problem could be solved by editing the boot.ini file. Programs like partition magic have an app witch enables you to make the choice on witch partition you want to boot up. I’d like to know how to solve this problem.
Peter Cochrane from Northern Ireland, U.K., submitted the following email. But instead of giving my response, I thought it would be interesting to hear what you’d suggest…
Hey Chris, been watching / browsing your YouTube channel for about a month now and I gotta say – great! One thing I found particularly funny was the following: I found “the iPhone rant”, then right after the video I happened to click on next was the one where you’re holding your iPhone, pretty funny in light of some stuff you had to say in the rant video! But mostly I find it very informative and much easier to check up on than reading text in a blog or review. Keep up the good work!
The user known as “alpha” emailed me the following excerpt from Tim Anderson’s ITWriting:
The Microsoft Windows Vista OS enables the TCP Window Scaling option by default (previous Windows OSes had this option disabled). The TCP Window Scaling option is described in RFC 1323 (TCP Extensions for High Performance), and allows for the device to advertise a receive window larger than 65 K than TCP originally specified. This is useful in the higher speed networks of today, where more data can be outstanding on the wire before it is acknowledged. This slow performance, or dropped TCP connections is caused by some versions of Cisco IOS® Firewall software not supporting the TCP Window Scaling option. This causes it to have a much smaller TCP window than the endpoints actually have. This causes the Cisco IOS router that runs the IOS Firewall feature set to drop packets that it believes are outside the TCP window, but which really are not.
LordKelvin asks:
Chris, I have been an XP user for some time now, and I am thinking of upgrading to Vista (mostly because it has DirectX10). However, I have also heard rumors that it’s UI stinks, and that it has many issues. What is your opinion on what I should do, and do you know any other way to get DX 10? Thanks for reading.
Bill Weber has been watching the YouTube videos for a while – and he felt compelled to write me about his experiences with Windows Vista:
Thanks for all the fun moments from the Help-a-Thons and providing YouTube fodder for years to come. Some moments are truly memorable, and I don’t just mean those where you are answering questions! *laughs* I’m glad you’re still continuing to help people with their technical issues.
While I’m on the subject, I wanted to comment on Windows Vista. Unfortunately, I bought a new computer instead of building my own, and it had Vista Home Premium installed. After using XP and giving Microsoft enough time (so I thought) to work out the kinks in the new OS, I thought I’d try it. Boy… is it fragile! When faced with a bad program installation or conflicting software issues, it just turned into “Vista Whack-a-Mole.” Solve one problem, three more crop up. I had the infamous “no network – server execution failed” error. This causes a red “X” over the network icon in the system tray, although connecting to the internet proceeds more-or-less normally. Apparently people have been experiencing this issue since February, and attibute it to AOL / AIM software. I use AOL proper, and had few problems with it in XP.
Read more on Solving Vista Problems Sometimes Creates More Problems…
The headline for this post was not written by me, but Scott Graham:
Windows Vista? What more can I say, I personally have had (in the past) a few speed-bumps along the way but not much to “rant” about. Friends and family on the other hand, not so good. Blue screen of death, “do you want to open this, do you want to do that?” it feels like Vista is a letdown and them problems seem to be dominating the consumer’s choice over whether or not to purchase the OS. Only a week before the release of Leopard (OS X) did I receive an email regarding a move from a Window’s power-user to Mac simply because of Windows Vista. Now of course with the release of Leopard I now couldn’t recommend a Mac more but should Windows power-users consider a move to Mac before looking at Windows alternatives?
“TheDub” keeps coming up with suggestions for making Vista snappier. Far be it from me to keep his findings a secret.
I thought I would mention another thing. You will not believe me when I tell you that I have gotten Windows Vista performance similar if not the same or faster than Windows XP. Both on battery and off.
I hate having to correct my visitors. We had a few helpful pointers added to the comment thread for optimizing Windows Vista, but not without a few jabs.
I’ve been watching Windows desktop mindshare slowly slip away over the past few years, and some Windows “home users” simply can’t accept that – they simply won’t. It’s easier to accuse someone else of taking extreme sides than it is to further the discussion in an intelligent manner, or provide valid counterpoints to further support your position.
John Buffam ~ “Chris, I use both Mac and Vista, and I find Vista to be quite fast. I have a dual core middle of the road intel laptop and Vista is just as fast as any version of XP I have tried. The sleep settings work fine and I find it ironic how guys like you and Leo trash Vista, while all the time plicking away on your Macs, biased as can be. Its a Mac ad site just like Leos. The facts are 95% of people at home choose PCs, its time experts realized thats the market”
You’re assuming that we don’t see holes in OS X? You’re also assuming that 95% of “people at home” want to run Windows – or that Windows is the best choice for them. In either instance, you’re wrong. When you rely on polls, statistics, and numbers to prove your point – you’re proving absolutely nothing. At least true experts understand this. “Experts” who ignore the big picture aren’t experts at all.
At least present numbers from the other side, John. Or tell us what we really need to realize. Open your mind before you open your mouth (and yes, there are times when I need to do the same thing).
kiko ~ “Interestingly I just watched the new Leopard promo video – I presume the “narrator” is a typical Mac user – he sure is glad for the new Time Machine cause he had a folder with some stuff he needed and when he went to look it wasn’t there – he “didn’t know what he did” but luckily he can recover it…actually he had that happen to him a few times in the video….and every time he “didn’t know what he did” but it wasn’t there….are we beginning to find some “operative words” here??????…and wow how about “spaces” ! …uh I think linux had virtual desktops years ago and so did pc’s…but what? – you can move stuff between them? – wow! – oh yeah that how they worked in those days…this is what I believe is called “advertising” which came soon after the first Gutenburg press…( which was closely follewed by the first salesmen…)…”
Sometimes, it’s not about the features – and hardcore technologists often forget that. Do yourselves a favor: don’t forget that. :) You could argue that one operating system copies another, and at one level you’d probably be 100% correct. But that’s no longer an interesting argument, gang. It’s a given. What’s more interesting to discuss is which operating system does what feature better than the other – and sometimes that boils down to raw truth (as opposed to personal preference).
mark64 ~ “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’”
Actually, no… if you bothered to read the article you recommended, you’d quickly see that I’m not an apologist. You’re also incorrect in assuming that I haven’t seen the features in person.
I have most certainly NOT ignored the features in Vista – but “this” isn’t just about features, if you haven’t figured it out already. Moreover, you can’t bash Windows – you can only CMD it. ;)
I’m not a Windows hater, and I resent that you would label me as such. It was my love for Windows that drove my passion – and that passion for it has almost disappeared. If I hated Windows, why would I bother writing about it? If you take my public issues with Windows as hatred, then you’re not understanding why I’m bringing them up publicly in the first place.
If you don’t share why you’re disappointed in something, how in HELL do you expect they’re ever going to get fixed?! Would you be so quick to label either John Gruber or Paul Kafasis Mac haters?!
Pfeh.
Steve A ~ “I’m really beginning to tire of all of this crap you keep spouting about Vista. You have to be doing something wrong to have so many problems. I agree it wasn’t rock steady before the main consumer launch, but now it’s more than ready for a production/work environment. I’ve seen a massive boost in speed of programs on my machine over XP. Photoshop now loads in less than two seconds, and that’s with hundreds of extra fonts. Show me that on XP or OSX.”
Ugh. Okay. Seriously. Take off your rose-tinted glasses, Steve:
I suppose they’re we’re all doing something wrong?
My problem with recommending Windows Vista is that many of its features are considered bugs by a good portion of the community. Doesn’t that say it all? No, this isn’t Windows bashing – it’s the bare-faced truth. Here’s TheDub’s legitimate experience, as emailed to me earlier today:
Ya know, I’ve gotta be doing something wrong. Windows Vista can’t be this bad. Can it? Seriously, I’m not trying to pull punches when I point out radical design flaws and blatant usability oversights.
Chris | Live Tech Support | Video Help | Add to iTunes
http://live.pirillo.com/ – A few friends joined me live to discuss their opinions and thoughts about Windows Vista. We discuss issues, as well as what we each feel should be done to improve.
Chris | Live Tech Support | Video Help | Add to iTunes
http://live.pirillo.com/ – I decided to give Vista another go, and reinstalled it on my computer, along with SP1. Being a fresh install, I had to go through and set everything up the way I had it before, including the way Vista logs me in.
I thought I would have been fine with installing the first Windows Vista SP1 beta last night (after having been invited and accepted into the feedback program). Guess what?
Everything seemed fine after the first three installer-induced reboots, but then I came to see a black screen of… nothing but my mouse cursor. No matter what I tried, I could not move past this snag.
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