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General discussion

Does anyone Recommend Vista?

Sep 5, 2007 6:13AM PDT

I lost my XP CD and really need a reinstall. I have a custom made PC and it says I have no hard disk. I know I have to put something onto floppy, but this is all to confusing. I've looked up sites and asked question, but I still cannot do it.

I heard that Vista recognises the hard disks (I think that's right), so I won't have the problem.

However, some technicians said they don't like vista. They said it's c***. I cannot remember their reasons, but I was hoping someone with a high technical level could please give me their opinion? Thank you very much.

Discussion is locked

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It really depends...
Sep 5, 2007 8:05AM PDT

I've been running Vista since the early beta cycle, and while I prefer it over XP there are issues to be addressed. (SP1 is due out the first quarter next year and should address a lot of these.) However, the extra power it takes to run Vista combined with some older peripherals, hardware, and software not being supported has turned a lot of people away. Thus, your satisfaction with Vista really depends on your exact configuration.

As to the hard drives, some systems require that you supply SATA drivers during installation, while others can install Windows (XP and Vista) without such a hassle. Vista does try to reduce the annoyance, but there are no guarantees, especially if the hard drive is going South. Thus, I cast my vote in support of Vista but acknowledge it may not be what you're looking for...the ultimate decision is yours.

John

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I've read that too...
Sep 7, 2007 6:45PM PDT

It seems a lot of the problems I've read about involve hardware configurations.

I have about 5 minutes experience with Vista (fooled around with a display laptop at Best Buy last week) and am expecting my new AMD 5600+ system to arrive any day. The 2GB RAM and 8600GT video card shouldn't give me too much trouble running the new OS.

After I've fooled around with it and checked out all the new bells and whistles I'll post my thoughts.

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Depends
Sep 7, 2007 4:39AM PDT

First, Vista is better with Sata drivers. But it really seems to be how new your Motherboard is. The newer motherboards and vista (and I think xp) can realize a Sata drive is connected with out additional drivers. But only the new motherboards can do this. So getting Vista won?t necessarily fix this problem.

About getting Vista, it really depends on how well it will run on your machine. (how old is your computer). I also tried the beta Vista on my old Pentium 4 computer. But it ran slow and froze a lot. In building my new machine I made sure it would run vista for the future. So my computer runs vista fine and I enjoy all the new futures, but I still go into XP majority of the time.
Would I recommend Vista as the ONLY operating system on your machine, probably not! I would recommend Vista if you computer can handle it, and if you have a fall back OS.

Did you wipe your OS from your computer or what exactly happen? A copy of Xp Pro is cheaper then most vista additions. What kind motherboard do you have, that?s what drivers you need? Did you have XP installed on a SATA drive before and lost it or what?

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In good conscience...
Sep 7, 2007 6:37AM PDT

I cannot recommend Vista. After 7 months it still has all kinds of bugs and malfunctions. It came factory loaded on a new system designed for Vista. My conclusion is Vista is still not ready for prime time... sorry to say I have little confidence it will ever meet expectations.

Just my opinion and 2 cents!

Glenn

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I'll have to write no.
Sep 7, 2007 6:43AM PDT

Your custom PC may be nightmarish on Vista since you can't install XP due to that common SATA drive issue. The problem is if you can't solve that smallish driver issue the Vista driver issue is only going to be worse.

Microsoft still thinks you are a master of OS installs.

Bob

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Vista Not For Me
Sep 7, 2007 4:53PM PDT

When Vista first came out and I was having problems with my computer, I asked a good friend, that was also a computer technician, about putting Vista on my computer and he said "No Way". There were to many problems with Vista. I would be far better off to stay with XP until something else came along. Vista was a problem.

So I share that with you. I have stayed with XP. I upgraded my computer with XP and am very happy with no new problems.

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Im using Vista
Sep 11, 2007 6:43PM PDT

I have Vista on my laptop and my desktop, the memory managment is alot better than XP its more stable boots about the same faster on a desktop, but the onething I hate is the compatability but it is getting better.

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I would
Sep 18, 2007 1:26PM PDT

Vista is a new OS and it will take some more time to bring it up to speed. If your good with computers I'd certainly say, give it a whirl. If not, don't. Wait til after the release of SP1.

I believe most of the driver problems that were plaguing Vista at release are nearly fixed but there still are software compatibility problems. This is not a Vista problem this is a third party vendor problem. They weren't ready at the release of Vista and many aren't ready now. But you can run Vista as if it were XP Pro SP2 or NT 2000 or 98, 95 OSs. For these offending programs, See, "Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit" to ID these programs.

Slow start ups can be improved by "delaying" some of the services at boot. I'm not totally certain but I believe that delaying services wasn't available in XP. This maybe a new service.

Disable the UAC if your the only user on your computer or if you trust those that do use it. This may not be advisable if you have children around that might tinker with settings or if it's an "at work" machine. It can be disabled from "user accounts" in "control panel". This feature was a bad idea for home users without children and a time waster but it can be disabled.

I only have one problem with Vista. My Windows toolbar crashes from time to time but this is minor.

If this sounds like to much to get involved with then don't use Vista, yet. In time Vista will be fine. Sure Vista has problems but what computer doesn't? Besides if you decide not to use Vista then I'll be way out ahead of you.(grin)

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Does anyone Recommend Vista?
Sep 19, 2007 3:40AM PDT

DO NOT TOUCH vista WITH ANYONE'S BARGE POLE. A THOUROUGHLY SUBSTANDARD PIECE OF GARBAGE.

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Vista
Sep 19, 2007 4:13PM PDT

Ah the subtle easy life. Windows Vista ey. What an amazing piece of technology that rivals windows with the usability and program ability much like that of the rest of the operating systems and wow how every other OS is flawed compared. See its function ability make it better than anything else and not just for complete morons to use and does not remove major objects in order to make it idiot proof. Of wait I meant Linux and XP. Well yes vista has function ability the same as a vet high on meth in the middle of a war zone. Which is pretty damn idiot proof. In fact its the most idiot proof which stops anyone being able to use the pile of crap.

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yeah
Sep 19, 2007 4:20PM PDT

Newly built and recomended for vista built why not ?
Vista seems to run smoothly on new pc and even much better if Higher ram are fitted in it.