i keep hearing horror stories about this new operating system but I got a new computer a couple of months ago and I’m running vista on it and I actually like it quite a bit. I’m wondering if anyone else is using it and how they feel about it.

Yeah I have it, it's fine. I think it's generally more stable than XP in my experience and definitely more secure, it's a bit bloated and had compatibility issues but it's not that bad.

It's slow to start up and shut down.  Sometimes it seems to freeze up a bit while it thinks.  For an operating system it seems to use up a ton of resources.

My computer hasn't actually crashed yet so I guess that's a good thing :D

I find it o.k. on the whole.  the main problem we've found is that hardware/software we used previously doesn't work with Vista and there is no attempt to make them work.  We've had to buy a new printer, a new digital camera and stop using our HP ipaqs

I don't have it, but after seeing it, makes me want to consider another OS for when I buy my next computer.  :-\\ It's too bad all new computers I've seen come with Vista pre-installed.

It's good... I kinda call it like the Neo-Disney version of the Windows operating system franchise... just think about it.  Windows XP has a similar color scheme and look and feel to MySpace, and Vista looks very Disney... probably the innovative operating system for latter Gen Y and possibly Gen Z.  Windows 98, is good, but it's for the Gen X old fart like you.

My personal opinion... colors are better and looks more "cooler" than XP.  It also has the best movie making software ever after Adobe.  Cons - I hate that Aero turning off when using anything not Windows like and the slow start up and shut down gets annoying.

My personal opinion... colors are better and looks more "cooler" than XP.  It also has the best movie making software ever after Adobe.  Cons - I hate that Aero turning off when using anything not Windows like and the slow start up and shut down gets annoying.

the moviemaker is DA. BOMB. i love that program, i use it all day and all night long.

the moviemaker is DA. BOMB. i love that program, i use it all day and all night long.


I'm obssed with it... needs more features.  Do you know where you can get add ons and plug-ins? 

I'm obssed with it... needs more features.  Do you know where you can get add ons and plug-ins? 
i dont, actually, i'd be worried i'd screw it up if i downloaded a bunch of addons. although... i'd like to be able to control the left-right fade on the audio, mix in multiple audio tracks at once, and record straight into it from my microphone. it would also be cool to have parameters for the effects, so you could control how fast or slow you could fade in or out and so forth. but i'm basically happy with it as it is, on my old computer it didn't run very well (XP) but the vista version seems smooth as silk, i never had it lock up or anything. knock on wood.

Vista seems to run well. It's easy to use and everything works together like you'd hope. It occasionally freezes up, but what do you expect for a windows OS. Anyhow, the first service pack will come out soon, then we'll really see how good it is.

I have it and haven't had any problems. 

I don't seem to have any more problems with it than I had with XP. Of course my philosophy has always been, "To err is human but to really fowl things up takes a computer". (And it doesn't make what OS you are using).



Cat

Even those Mac / PC commercials basically say that Vista is unreliable.  I'm going to wait a long while until all the kinks have been worked out of it

Even those Mac / PC commercials basically say that Vista is unreliable.  I'm going to wait a long while until all the kinks have been worked out of it


Of course they would, they want you to buy a Mac!  :D

Vista seems to run well. It's easy to use and everything works together like you'd hope. It occasionally freezes up, but what do you expect for a windows OS. Anyhow, the first service pack will come out soon, then we'll really see how good it is.


It will come in 2008. SP2 will probably come on in late 2010-early 2011.

Even those Mac / PC commercials basically say that Vista is unreliable.  I'm going to wait a long while until all the kinks have been worked out of it


Because they are actually asking you to buy a MAC, not a PC!!!

Even those Mac / PC commercials basically say that Vista is unreliable.  I'm going to wait a long while until all the kinks have been worked out of it
http://i7.tinypic.com/87nsaqb.jpg

http://i7.tinypic.com/87nsaqb.jpg


;D  Karma

They stole from mac and lynox and it is just a test system a better operating system will come out later its like the system that came out after windows 98. 8)

Because they are actually asking you to buy a MAC, not a PC!!!



No, those ads are actually filled with subliminal messages.  In reality, they want you to worship the devil

My personal opinion... colors are better and looks more "cooler" than XP.  It also has the best movie making software ever after Adobe.  Cons - I hate that Aero turning off when using anything not Windows like and the slow start up and shut down gets annoying.


Are you kidding? When XP first came out the first thing I said when I started to use it was "yuck!" It looks like a child's toy. Horrible. I switch to the classic windows appearance (like Windows 98).

Secondly, it's widely considered by professional and amateur video editors alike that Windows Movie Maker is close the worst video editing software ever. Most professionals use software like Adobe Premier (as you said) and iMovie, which is Mac OS X's stock video editor.

I have Windows Vista installed on my computer on another partition. But I hardly use it. Only for files that can only be used on a Windows OS. I primarily use Mac OS X Leopard. It's so much better IMO. Installing and uninstalling applications ("programs" in Windows) is a lot easier. The Dock and Menu Bar are so much more functional than the Window's start menu and task bar. The Finder completely trumps Explorer. You can do so much more within it. OS X is pretty much the operating system than Windows have been trying to make. Vista is proof of that. Vista is just an ugly, complicated, flawed imitation of OS X.

And if we're talking looks. C'mon. What looks better?

This....
http://www.windowsvistaweblog.com/wp-content/Vistathumb.jpg
Yeh, it's nice. Vista now was previews of your minimized windows like Mac OS X had back in 2000. That's pretty cool. Maybe sometime in the next decade they'll finally catch up to the current version of Mac OS X.

or this....
http://skattertech.com/media/2007/10/apple-os-x-leopard-screenshot.thumbnail.jpg
Absolutely stunning. You have 3D, reflective icons of your most used applications in the dock. So much more visually appealing then the list format in the Window's start menu. You have stacks in your dock so you can quickly access files and folders. The menu bar is always there so you can control certain application even if there are no windows present. Unlike on Windows were you'd have to open up a window to change preferences or open something. How ridiculous is that. You have to open a window to open a window. lol. Wow, I've rambled. This was supposed to be a short comment on what I thought of the above image. Best be on my way...

the moviemaker is DA. BOMB. i love that program, i use it all day and all night long.

I went off MovieMaker big time when I made this video.  The merging of movie clips killed it.. but I didn't find out until after I'd wasted all that time and it failed to build the final video... so I ended up mixing it using a friend's PC and his copy of Adobe Premiere.

On-topic: Vista to me seems like an attempt by Microsoft to make an operating system for which even a P4 2GHz processor isn't quick enough - trying again to get people to buy new computers, just so that they can run Vista.

I went off MovieMaker big time when I made this video.  The merging of movie clips killed it.. but I didn't find out until after I'd wasted all that time and it failed to build the final video... so I ended up mixing it using a friend's PC and his copy of Adobe Premiere.

On-topic: Vista to me seems like an attempt by Microsoft to make an operating system for which even a P4 2GHz processor isn't quick enough - trying again to get people to buy new computers, just so that they can run Vista.
lol. i love "it's small." that's comedy genius right there. is that you? with the lemmy look and the ukelele? those chord changes are mince.

anyway, i got a 2.4 GHz quad core and it seems to run it okay. *furious woodknocks* moviemaker killed my old computer, which was a P4 erm, 1.8 or something, running XP. i had more than one experience like you relate, working on projects and then having the file get corrupted or screwed up before i could do the final build. :( but on the plus side it's pretty intuitive and it comes free with the OS and i already have other software like cakewalk sonar that i have to do all this headscratching to learn how to use, so i appreciate that using moviemaker pretty much requires fifth grader aptitude. i'd love to have more tools, like volume/pan/fade/video effects envelopes and split-at-cursor and split/insert screens but then it'd be all complicated like sonar, so that's the tradeoff i guess.

All I can say is that I was pretty disappointed with Windows Vista. My favorite Windows OSes will always be Windows 95 (For Nostalgia Reasons Only) and Windows XP.

i sorta miss windows 3.1.  :(

http://www.stardock.com/products/windowblinds/skinning/images/1-skin46.gif

back in the day!

i sorta miss windows 3.1.  :(

http://www.stardock.com/products/windowblinds/skinning/images/1-skin46.gif

back in the day!


I could use Windows 3.1 and understand what I was doing.  Once you had to press the 'start' button to switch the computer off I got lost!

i sorta miss windows 3.1.  :(

http://www.stardock.com/products/windowblinds/skinning/images/1-skin46.gif

back in the day!

Windows 3.1 is proof of how Apple was always one step ahead. It's just like Mac OS 7. Windows was just a poor imitation of Macintosh until Windows 95 came out and they added the Start Menu which was something unique and different too what Apple were doing. But lately it looks like Microsoft are just imitating Apple's Macintosh systems again. Vista steals a lot from OS X. Just when I thought they were starting to do their own thing. They'll always be second best to Apple.

i had a mac se-30 way before i even had win 3.1 and yeah, macs to me are better, more stable, easier to use and more intuitive. but now i've got all this windows crud, like accessories and whatnot, and i'm sorta locked in. :(

It's taken me some time to warm up to Vista, but I don't believe it is as horrible as some people suggest. 

I have a question.  Is it worth shelling out $239.00 for Vista Home Premium Edition.  I recently put together a new computer and since it wasn't pre-built I have to buy the operating system.  I have been researching and Vista has so many mixed reviews that I wonder if I would regret buying Vista over XP.  $299 for XP Pro by the way.  So for those of you running Vista, if it weren't already pre-installed would you actually go out and purchase the software at retail price? 

To bad I can't install Mac OSX on a PC system.  ;)

 

Well really the nice thing about Windows is that you can comfortably skip a generation. If you're comfortable enough and don't want to switch then you don't have to. But if you have a few extra bucks and wanted a new shiny Windows, then ya, I would buy it. The only problem I have is not being able to use my printer which is really the fault of Lexmark. I think right now it's the cheap popular way to sound cool by taking swipe at VISTA. Whenever someone is making a remark and it's clearly obvious they're not talking out of experience, I ask them what it is about VISTA they don't like. Then they admit they've only heard it was bad.


If I had XP I would stick with that operating system but I don't have a copy of that either.  The only "original" operating system I have is Win 98 and that is so obsolete that newer motherboards will not load that OS.  I was hoping that Vista would be such a great OS that I wouldn't care that I spent over $200 for the official software.  The computer is mainly my daughters and she wouldn't care either way but I am curious.  I think I will wait a while and see if the bugs get worked out better. 

thanks....

You might want to check this out
http://www.ubuntu.com/products/whatisubuntu
Don't do it. It's no good. At least not yet. It's free for a reason. Remember that.

To bad I can't install Mac OSX on a PC system.   ;)

That's why Mac computers out class everything else. Not only can you run Mac OS X, but you can also run Windows, Linux or whatever all at the same time. If they were any cheaper all other PCs would be obsolete.

That's why Mac computers out class everything else. Not only can you run Mac OS X, but you can also run Windows, Linux or whatever all at the same time. If they were any cheaper all other PCs would be obsolete.


I totally agree.  I couldn't live without my Macbook Pro.  :)  The down side is definitely the cost.  Mac Pro's being the only system that can be upgraded, but cost an insane amount. 

My kid gets a PC because if she does fry a part I won't have to worry because it would be fairly cheap and easy to replace.  But goodness windows operating systems are so expensive and such an ordeal with activation and reinstalling.  Talk about a greedy company. 

With everything there are pros and cons, I suppose.  I prefer a Mac but I still want to have a PC available. 

lol. i love "it's small." that's comedy genius right there. is that you? with the lemmy look and the ukelele? those chord changes are mince.

Yes, that's me.  And thanks :)

Lemmy?  Now there's someone I've not been compared to before...

I've been running Vista since March (2007) with no problems whatsoever.

I finally have Vista running on the new computer, thanks to a sweet person for hooking me up.

Very pretty Operating System, reminds me a lot of a Mac actually.  ;)  But to really experience it without frustration you really do have to have a top of the line computer.  It is a very resource hungry OS.  And boy, does it take up a lot of hard drive space.  I am running the Ultimate version so that may be the reason.  All in all, it seems okay.  But I have to admit I haven't spent much time tinkering with it.

Vista is eye candy but truthfully, my choice for a Windows OS would be Windows 2000. It has no extra frills and has been the most stable for me.  As out dated as it is.  ;)

I have Vista running on a 3.20 GHz dual core, 1MB RAM, 32-bit and have absolutely no problems. (knocks on wood as well) ;)

I don't have slow load times, or freezing problems (other than with IE7) and almost Zero compatibility issues.
I found that when installing my old software, instead of allowing the auto install to run, I go to the .exe file and right click "run as administrator", 9 times out of 10, it will stop and ask if you want to run it in compatible mode if the OS knows it won't work right.

There was one software program I definitely could not get to work though - Norton Internet Security 2007. Even though it said it was Vista compatible, it wouldn't run no matter what I did. Spent almost 5 hours on the phone with Norton as well and they couldn't figure it out! Switched to PC-cillin Internet Security and have had absolutely no problems since!

Hey Hey! Imagine my surprise to find that even on my Vista Home Basic.... I can run animated desktops!
Got the right codecs and even figured out how to turn on Desktop Window Manager even though Microsoft tells you that Home Basic doesn't come with it!! Hahaha!!
Go figure!

Although, now my fan stays on all the time so I don't know if I am going to keep the Dream sequence on the desktop or not ???

Hey Hey! Imagine my surprise to find that even on my Vista Home Basic.... I can run animated desktops!
Got the right codecs and even figured out how to turn on Desktop Window Manager even though Microsoft tells you that Home Basic doesn't come with it!! Hahaha!!
Go figure!

Although, now my fan stays on all the time so I don't know if I am going to keep the Dream sequence on the desktop or not ???
aw man, that fan thing makes me crazy. maybe because i was having a problem for a while where the fan would come on and then the computer would just suddenly shut down.  ::) grr.

i've been having lots of compatibility problems, i now only buy software if it explicitly says it runs on vista. kinda a pain.

aw man, that fan thing makes me crazy. maybe because i was having a problem for a while where the fan would come on and then the computer would just suddenly shut down.  ::) grr.

i've been having lots of compatibility problems, i now only buy software if it explicitly says it runs on vista. kinda a pain.


The fan - I went and bought a secondary fan that just hooks into one of the PCI slots. It runs all the time but it is a lot quieter than the main one - now the main one barely runs, unless of course I am using a java program or a flash program. ;)

Compatibility - I don't have much of an issue with that. The only thing I have had to run backwards so far was my original logitech wireless keyboard and mouse. That's gone now though since I upgraded.

What I do Mike, is anytime I install something new, I don't use the autorun option, I go to the .exe file and right click then "run as administrator". If there are any compatibility issues, at the end of the install windows will tell me I need a patch or whatever - but 9 times out of 10, I have no problems. *knocks on wood*
If I download programs, I always save them to the desktop and run as admin, that way everything is always checked before the program runs. I don't know if this will help you any, but I know it works for me. ;)

I was going to upgrade from Home Basic to Premium - Hubby has premium on his laptop and I thought it was awesome.... only difference - Premium lets you use the glass interface of Aero, Basic doesn't.  ::) No big deal to me so I am definitely keeping my Basic. (Runs pretty much identical to XP anyway, except for the few name changes in control panel and such)

8)

I am running Vista Ultimate and recently installed the 64 bit version just to see if there was a difference from the 32 bit, popped in an extra gig of ram (3 total now) just before the new install.  Now Vista runs so much better and smoother.  What a difference.  I was having trouble installing SP1 on the 32 bit but no problems with the 64 bit version.  I ended up putting in a second hard drive because Vista Ultimate takes up so much space....and because I dual boot two operating systems. 

I am running Vista Ultimate and recently installed the 64 bit version just to see if there was a difference from the 32 bit, popped in an extra gig of ram (3 total now) just before the new install.  Now Vista runs so much better and smoother.  What a difference.  I was having trouble installing SP1 on the 32 bit but no problems with the 64 bit version.  I ended up putting in a second hard drive because Vista Ultimate takes up so much space....and because I dual boot two operating systems. 


dag, look at HAL9000 over here!  :P i wish my computer was like that.

dag, look at HAL9000 over here!

I'm sorry, Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that

Vista Explained!
http://blip.tv/file/340692/

Vista Explained!
http://blip.tv/file/340692/


Funny!!!!    ;D

i sorta miss windows 3.1.  :(

http://www.stardock.com/products/windowblinds/skinning/images/1-skin46.gif

back in the day!


AAAUGH!!!  I remember that!  Actually that was somewhat easier.....I also remember being able to run the computer in "MS-DOS" mode  lol

PC Vs MAC
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxOIebkmrqs
I agree with the "Bloated" one.My XP is a 2000 vers & it took 198 upgrades for it.So anyone using "Vista" good luck!.Good thing Microsoft doesn't Make cars...Could you imagine how many people would have been killed off!
Goes to show Just how Arrorant Microsoft is that it releases a new unproven version without taking the time to see the "BUGS" out of it!.....You'ld think they would hire "Hackers" to foolproof the final version before releasing it!
But like that sign said."If You Make A Machine Idiotproof..Only Idiots Will Use It"
I found a free download for 2008 XP free...But theres been no post for a keygen yet!
I buy the yearly Norton & use firefox as "explorer" is a walking hack disaster!
If I ever come across a real bed webpage I just clik firefox off & restart the page & its like "Nothing" ever happened!.Firefox" is great...Explorer" is MANIC!
When I get the next computer I'm going apple for the Music & combined with a PCI input to the big screen I can watch movies from www.ovguide.com  .....Add in a wireless key board & the Big Screen can double as a computer moniter!.All from the comfort of the Lazyboy!
Apple should drop their prices!

Apple should drop their prices!



Agreed!  I would love a Macpro but they cost $2000+.  $2000 being the very low end.  8-P

But on the plus side, now that Apple has started using Intel processors it is possible to build a tower using cheaper PC parts and configure it to run the mac OS.  It will be more or a challenge but doable.  Is it legal, that I am not sure.  But if you are adventurous it would be something to consider.  If I had the extra cash it would be fun to try.

AAAUGH!!!  I remember that!  Actually that was somewhat easier.....I also remember being able to run the computer in "MS-DOS" mode  lol
dos shell. :P

http://www.sunflowerhead.com/msimages/DosShell.png

from around 1991 or thenabouts. just looking at that picture makes me wanna scream, i hated dos shell. win 3.1 was pretty cool though.