Coping with Vista

[Jack the R]

Post the things that drive you crazy about Vista, and how you fixed/worked around it.

For some reason my language keeps changing to Chinese, which means all my hotkeys activate a character input widget. I set it back to English, now it's switching to Chinese but displaying the English icon in the toolbar.

Anyone else see this one?

[Brendan N]

... how you fixed/worked around it.


Went back to XP, thank you very much.

[Chingwa]

My (brand new!) wireless adapter card (D-Link Dwa552) does not work in Vista at all. I mean what the hell, how can you release a brand new product that doesn't even work with the current system? I can only get online by hooking up a wired connection to my laptop and sharing it's wireless connection with my desktop. BS.

other than that and I had to upgrade my ENTIRE FRIGGIN SYSTEM just to run it, Vista is great. Yeah. It's XP just with some pretty windows.

[Blue]

I think microsoft missed the point. When apple switched from OS 9 to OS X (unix) and made everything obsolete.... OS X was actually faster, more efficient and more secure then OS 9. NOT just better looking.

Like i said, i think microsoft missed the point.

[JARhead]

A lot of things such as scanners printers and so on, dont work with Vista, so you might have to upgrade your whole setup!

Is it really worth the cool looking interface? No.
If you want to have a cool interface go Mac.

XP is fine!

at last I fear we all may have to upgrade to vista in a few years... :bs:

[Diphallia]

My computer crashed with vista (came with it).
So I had to install XP.
That sucks.

But XP had flaws too, so had 98 (guess that you've seen the blue screen of death).
Mac is actually better, it works.

[Brendan N]

at last I fear we all may have to upgrade to vista in a few years... :bs:

XP will suffice for a good many years to come ... there are no major problematic shortcomings, and there's nothing Vista nor OS X has that I'm dying to get my hands on. By the time we need to shift, Vista will be a workable OS. That's sort of the microsoft way of doing things - start out with a piece of shit and work it into something that is very often, by its second or third iteration, the best on the market. Microsoft does an excellent job at sensibly evolving things, and the new service pack (due January I think) should fix up quite a bit of shit.

[Interceptor]

I've had no problem with Vista whatsoever.

[pencilkiller]

I miss the filmstrip option, they took it out in Vista. The large thumbnail icon option didn't really make sense since the large icon not really that much larger anyway.

Where is the top menu...I miss that too. I didn't know I can press ctrl to call it out until I look it up on the net...

I used the classic window interface instead of the fancy one. The scrolling bar in the start menu is hard to use with the laptop.

[Moai]

I had to get a new printer/scanner/copier because the old one wouldn't work with Vista. When I first installed my Wacom to do some digital painting, there would be annoying little pauses at the beginning of each brushstroke. I'd put the stroke down with my pen, but on the screen, the brush would just sit there for a second and then complete the stroke. That was distracting. And when I held the pen down in one place too long, this annoying little "ring" graphic would appear around the cursor on the screen. Usually it would disappear when I lifted the pen, but other times the little ring graphic would stay there, in the middle of the screen, in the way, until it decided to disappear on its own. I suspect that this had something to do with the "tablet PC" stuff that came bundled with Vista, so I went into the control panel and uninstalled everything that mentioned a tablet (besides my own Wacom tablet, of course). That seemed to get rid of the problem.
I also have to ask what exactly was the point of Vista. It doesn't do anything that's astoundingly new, impressive, or useful that XP didn't do. It just has a little sidebar with pictures and calculators on the desktop and asks you for permission whenever a program wants to do something.

[Jack the R]

I'd like to go back to XP, but I'm on a tablet. I haven't messed with tablets before and don't want to screw around with it until I know more about it.

[Kek]

but... Dx 10 taste so good!!! :asslick:

[Brendan N]

but... Dx 10 taste so good!!! :asslick:

dx10 = biggest scam ever.
A bunch of guys hacked the Crysis demo, enabling all the supposedly exclusive dx10 functions under XP and dx9 cards and to top it off - XP still runs it better than Vista.

[Juhani Jokinen]

dx10 = biggest scam ever.
A bunch of guys hacked the Crysis demo, enabling all the supposedly exclusive dx10 functions under XP and dx9 cards and to top it off - XP still runs it better than Vista.


the definition of ironic.


-Juhani

[FactorZero]

My computer crashed with Vista while playing DVDs. Internet connection wouldn't work or would be really slow. Worst problem I had: It wouldn't let me install any new programs because their certificates weren't authorized...even though I was logged in as an admin, and I downloaded the certificates, it still wouldn't let me install anything. These are programs off the official microsoft website too. My computer wouldn't open PDF's because I didn't have the lastest Adobe Acrobat version and when I downloaded it, it wouldn't let me install. After much searching and not finding the solution, I went back to XP. XP is way faster and more stable, it just doesn't have the glam of Vista.

[Jasper_]

I found XP to be a much faster OS. I just got a new computer that had Vista, but I did a dual boot with Xp so I could compare the two of them. Xp starts up way faster, and applications like photoshop and painter run much better with high res pictures and huge complex brushes. Downloads and installing things were also way too much of a hassle with Vista, what with all the asking for permission and stuff. I think I'm going to keep Vista on my comp anyway, incase I need it later for some games or apps or whatever, but I'm mostly going to use Xp.

[Jabo]

I'll have it in a week along with my new rig. But I also have a copy of XP Pro SP2 around if there's trouble.

Nice article about why DX10 is nothing else but a big joke with a hat. (http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=176533)

[mr. Point]

I've had no problems. Works fine.
The first service pack for vista should be released during the first quarter of next year, so things might get better.

[alice_]

Limited printer and scanner functionality and using the WACOM is a pain! Also, 4 times as much RAM as my old XP machine and photoshop lags more. Ugh.

A few days ago I realised I could reduce the the width of the giant window borders, which made me happy. Now I can actually see what I'm working on.

I'm waiting on that service pack (glad to hear its coming soon!) and if things don't improve I'm installing XP.

[Juhani Jokinen]

I'll have it in a week along with my new rig. But I also have a copy of XP Pro SP2 around if there's trouble.

Nice article about why DX10 is nothing else but a big joke with a hat. (http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=176533)

There's a few problems in that plan though- We all know how nice fellow microsoft is and they haven't really made downgrading to xp too easy. For instance the graphics card that you have in your new rig doesn't necessarily support XP ( my brother had that problem ). So if you have the state of the art graphics card I recommend checking if it supports XP as well.

0,02€

-Juhani

[ODISAP]

RUN ( the RUN thing in XP and older, which you type whatever you want to run)

I havent seen it in Vista

[JonZ_]

Went back to XP, thank you very much.


same.

[JonZ_]

RUN ( the RUN thing in XP and older, which you type whatever you want to run)

I havent seen it in Vista


You have to activate it, in the right-click start menu properties... something like this. But it there.

[M.C.Barrett]

First thing I did when we got Vista at work was turn off every little bull**** doodad that they invented after Win2K. That done, with my intuitive classic windows interface, I was able to find my way around to install my tablet drivers. This is where things got ugly. Even with the most recent, supposedly vista-okeydokey version of the drivers, I discovered that reversing the mouse buttons in the windows mouse settings (being an obligate southpaw) also reversed the tablet pen button/tip inputs. If I wanted to use anything other than the infamously horrid Wacom mouse, the tablet would be useless. Given the nature of my work, this was an untenable solution. I eventually resorted to buying a programmable mouse with its own configuration software to switch the buttons. I still can't right-click with the pen buttons though, which is a bit of a pain in the ass. Other than that fiasco, Vista seems to run fine, aside from the appreciably-more-than-occasional bout of severe lag when using photoshop. There's a good chance microsoft has lost me as a customer for future hardware setups. I may very well go Mac after my personal machine bites the dust.

[0kelvin]

RUN ( the RUN thing in XP and older, which you type whatever you want to run)

I havent seen it in Vista

The search bar at the bottom of the start menu works as Run as well. Just type it in like you would if it was Run.

The scrollbar in the start menu sucks. Other than that I like the new look, but that bit bugs me and I haven't figured out if I can make just that part work like it used to in XP.

Vista is very insecure. Not security-wise, it just comes off as having no self-confidence. "You want to do what? Uh, I'm gonna have to check with my supervisor. Oh, you're my supervisor? Okay, so are you sure you want me to do this? Am I allowed to do that? Well, if you say so."



Eric

[h2rra]

The first few months my tv card didn't work until they released the drivers. I also can't use my HP scanner, but I think it's noones fault because it's like 10 years old.

What I really like is the search bar at start, brilliant :D

What pisses me off are problems with Photoshop cs3 and intuos3 drivers. Sometimes the clipboard stops working in ps, then sometimes the application starts without pressure sensitivity. Once in a while the tablet just stops working and tells me to reboot computer - like wtf? And painting just feels tad laggy, especially with bigger brushes. And I can't allocate more than 1.2 out of 2 gigs of ram to photoshop without getting major lag.

If anyone has suggestions please tell me. I think I should install xp to compare these to OS on this comp. :)

[Ellingsworth]

and how you fixed/worked around it.

I switched to Linux Ubuntu, best decision of my life. :)

[Diphallia]

h2rra, switch back to XP and install Google desktop search.

[JonZ_]

The first few months my tv card didn't work until they released the drivers. I also can't use my HP scanner, but I think it's noones fault because it's like 10 years old.

What I really like is the search bar at start, brilliant :D

What pisses me off are problems with Photoshop cs3 and intuos3 drivers. Sometimes the clipboard stops working in ps, then sometimes the application starts without pressure sensitivity. Once in a while the tablet just stops working and tells me to reboot computer - like wtf? And painting just feels tad laggy, especially with bigger brushes. And I can't allocate more than 1.2 out of 2 gigs of ram to photoshop without getting major lag.

If anyone has suggestions please tell me. I think I should install xp to compare these to OS on this comp. :)


It not a OS problem. It Photoshop and/or Wacom itself. I have XP and I have the same problems.

For the clipboard problem, I think there is a register fix for it, can't tell you for sure it work:

http://microsoft.blognewschannel.com/archives/2007/09/05/how-to-fix-the-photoshop-clipboard/

and don't install any toolbar/search bloatcrap... please.

[Jack the R]

I switched to Linux Ubuntu, best decision of my life. :)

Are you running Photoshop under WINE? How is that working?

I'm thinking a lightweight version of Linux would be great, at least for me, since I don't have a good solution for adding a 2nd hard drive to my tablet.

GIMP 2.4 is pretty awesome though - if they'd make it easier to load and organize brushes, I'd probably switch and never look back. I really like GIMP's interface better than Pshop's, for working on the tablet pc.

Edit____

Uh oh, Photoshop just crashed. I never had Pshop crashes in XP. And it's locked up the machine.

Vista has got to go!

[Ellingsworth]

Are you running Photoshop under WINE? How is that working?

I'm thinking a lightweight version of Linux would be great, at least for me, since I don't have a good solution for adding a 2nd hard drive to my tablet.

GIMP 2.4 is pretty awesome though - if they'd make it easier to load and organize brushes, I'd probably switch and never look back. I really like GIMP's interface better than Pshop's, for working on the tablet pc.

Edit____

Uh oh, Photoshop just crashed. I never had Pshop crashes in XP. And it's locked up the machine.

Vista has got to go!

I was hoping to try out CS2 under WINE this summer once I can get a job and afford to purchase it. I'm only seven-teen, no big bucks yet, but I heard CS2 runs very stable under it, except for a few problems/issues. So far the user interface is beautiful when customized to your liking, it comes with tons of updates and good open-source programs.

Preview of Ubuntu. Yeah, it has Mac icons, SO WHAT, I like them. :P

252515



I love gimp, too. I also tried out the Linux distribution Fedora (http://fedoraproject.org/), it was a little more hands on than Ubuntu. I enjoy Ubuntu because it's a lot easier for someone like myself who isn't very tech savvy. It runs very, very fast and is very stable. Only problem is not having the ability to use all your applications and games. Before switching to Linux I was dual booting to Fedora's boot screen and running Vista and Fedora alongside each other, after a while I started loving it so much I wiped my entire drive and just installed Ubuntu as my main OS.

Good luck with what ever you do, if I had XP, I would definitely run a Linux distribution alongside of it, I love XP, was disappointed with Vista and ended up leaving for Linux, see ya! :)

Here's some stuff you might find useful if you ever need to switch.

DBAN - Hardrive Eraser (http://www.download.com/Darik-s-Boot-and-Nuke/3000-2092_4-10165154.html?tag=lst-1)

Ubuntu - Linux OS (http://www.ubuntu.com/)

Fedora - Linux OS (http://fedoraproject.org/)

WINE information (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wine_(software))

EDIT:

IMG Burn - Free burning program for burning the ISO to a DVD-R (http://www.imgburn.com/)

[Professor Az]

I've had no problem with Vista whatsoever.

Ditto, and more of the same.

[Jack the R]

Thanks Ellingsworth, that helps!

[JonZ_]

252515


Man I wish they have more wallpaper of this genre, I totally like it.