They will probably release service pack 3 on the day they stop selling xp

Another reason not to use vista
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/200...drm-stinks.html

Has Windows Vista's UAC feature failed Microsoft?

Article: zdnet.com.au

..."Experts agree that Microsoft's Windows Vista is relatively well-protected, but its security features — such as User Account Control (UAC) — have been highlighted by security experts as one reason why the operating system is far less popular than its predecessor, Windows XP.

According to Scott Charney, vice president of Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing Group, UAC was designed to give users more control over the applications they run and help them make better security decisions by providing them with more information.

However, the main problem with Vista's UAC, according to Charney, is that it prompts the user far too often.

"Clearly there has to be work done on UAC user prompts, where users get prompts at times they don't necessarily expect it — and it's not intuitive. The challenge is — as with many of these things when we try to give users control — if you give people too many prompts in too many situations, they view it as an impediment," Charney told ZDNet.com.au yesterday at the AusCERT security conference on the Gold"...

Vista compatibility: What? When? Where?

News Source: http//www.microsoft-watch.com

..."Oh, yeah, and the Windows Vista Compatibility Center is one of the big announcements from Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference in Houston. Isn't this the kind of thing you do before an operating system ships? Release compatibility tools for real, not in beta?

I planned to write about what's in the beta. But I went to the Windows Vista Compatibility Center and all I got was this lousy screenshot (see below). That sounds like a T-Shirt slogan, doesn't it? There's nothing there. Poof. Pure vaporware."...

View: Vista Compatibility Center Website

Been using Vista more lately.

Less actually.

Using it now.

I love Vista....... oh wait no I don't.

Just giving it a chance. Most likely will switch back to ubuntu, but who knows.

We have 8 Vista machines that the clients use but our offices have XP.

We don't have any Vista machines on our network at the office yet. It's coming though. We have 4 computers that need replaced pretty badly. Going to try to get the boss to replace them with Vista Business models, but who knows what will happen with that. He hates Vista more than most.

Personally, I can take it or leave it at this point. It works, but XP works better.

Some things are easier, some harder. One thing I noticed is that Vista really loves to take up space. I had partitioned about twenty five gigabytes for it and after two days of usage/updating, that wasn't enough anymore. That was with system restore turned off. The worse thing about it is probably UAC. There is an intelligent way of doing what it tries to do, such as many Linux distros, and then there is how Vista does it. Probably going to offload whatever data I want to save and format it and install something else to this partition tonight.

Thats what I was going to do. Unfortunately I installed it on a 500GB hddr. I don't have a spare to back up my data to right now. Nor can I afford one. I've stored so much data on that drive that I'm down to 146GB free. So Vista still lives on my other drive, I finally booted into it this morning. It's been long enough that I forgot why I stopped using it.

As for the UAC, I found a way to kick that in the butt. Can't remember which thread I posted it in, but there's a link here somewhere. You can either turn it off completely, or turn down the alerting level.

Here's the post: http://www.forum.haroldandrews.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/198443/Jbone#Post198443

Article: http://vista.blorge.com/2008/02/25/how-to-fix-three-broken-features-of-vista/

Well, I purchased Windows Vista yesterday, and here is my review so far..

I should have known from the start something bad was going to happen, when I couldn't get the *cursing* box open!!

M$ tech article on how to open the box

Even after reading that article several times, I still had trouble getting the dang thing open, but soon discovered why I was having so much trouble with it. they put transparent tape around both sides, which apparently people with eagle eyes didn't notice, that should have been my first tip that things weren't going to go well.. I was *THIS* close to taking it outside in the shed with a hammer and drill...lol

I have Vista on my laptop, so I knew how it was going to look and behave, but this installation turned out much differently then my laptop installation. First off, I put the CD in my DVD-ROM drive, booted up the PC, put in my CD key, to discover the CD key I purchased will only work within an already running OS, for it told me so as soon as I typed in the CD key, and since I had already FDISK'd my hard drive, I had to install XP just to install Vista in the first place..

So I installed XP, booted up XP, put in the Vista CD, and began the install process. I was pretty pissed by this time since the Windows anytime upgrade thingy only works between certain versions of Vista.. YOu can only anytime upgrade between basic to premium, or premium to ultimate, but you CAN'T anytime upgrade from an upgrade version of Vista home premium, to the full version of Vista Home Premium, which that alone almost made me walk back to walmart to take the dang thing back to the store, for I wanted a version to perform a CLEAN install, even if it prompted me for the CD...but noo they won't let you do that no more..

Once I got Vista installed, it seemed to run ok. Its a little slower the XP, but not by a whole lot. Some things are actually faster, like my internet connection is about 2x the speed of what it was in XP for some reason, not real sure why.

My biggest complaint with Vista right now, is my Sound drivers.
I have an Asus A8V-VM motherboard with onboard sound, and its included high definition audio driver basically doesn't work with the motherboard hardware, so basically I have no sound

I went on the Asus website, and there are no Vista drivers, at all, not even for similar mobo models...so that ticked me off too.. Asus is one of the leading motherboard manufacturers in existence and M$ doesn't have decient sound drivers for it? what the heck??!!

otherwise I've been happy with it so far for the most part. Unfortunately the only bad thing, I have MS Office 2003, but I'm sure it doesn't function under Vista, so I have no office program now. I was thinking about purchasing an Office 2007 License from school, for $70 I think it is for the professional version, which is an excellent price, just not sure if I want to spend the money for it right now.

but so far all my games work and stuff. It is annoying to be prompted for the administrative account all the dang time. I know you can disable the prompting, or UAC control altogether, but the problem with that, is the Vista security alert icon stays in your taskbar telling you UAC has been turned off, and annoys you every so often to turn it back on again, so they still annoy you with it even when you do have UAC disabled... but I guess a little red icon is better then being prompted constantly. hehe

another minor annoyance I have, is the sidebar. I remember on my laptop I could exit the Windows Sidebar while still keeping the gadgets on my desktop, but in this version I can't seem to figure out how to do that? On my laptop, if I exit the sidebar, the gadgets remain placed on my desktop, but in this version, the gadgets disappear when I exit the sidebar, so that annoyed me first thing.

oh and another minor thing that annoys me, when you unplug your Ethernet cable to reset your modem (I have to every so often otherwise comcast looses connection after awhile) well actually I just unplug the router, push the button on the back to reset the modem, then plug the router back in again. In XP, it would just say "a network cable is unplugged" and then when everything is plugged in again it would redetect the network and start working again.....but in Vista....when you do that...you basically have to restart your computer otherwise you won't have internet at all anymore until you do.... in other words, wired Ethernet isn't plug and play like it is in XP, which is kinda a step back in technology if you ask me *shrugs* about the only nice thing about it, is its built in IPv6 support, but who uses IPv6 yet? nobody I know...so its just a waste really... Even if comcast did support IPv6, which I think it does, the linksys router doesn't, so its really a waste of memory to keep ipv6 running if you ask me..

lastly, it took me a while to find stuff.. add/remove programs, for instance, is now under "programs and features" which would have been the LAST place I thought to look. Programs and features makes me think of upgrades to add, not uninstalling software, so I don't like the fact that everything is so different now.

I was going to suggest neooffice but that's mac only. I'm sure if I googled I could find free office alternatives for windows. If you want to keep Vista go buy a cheap sound card that has vista drivers. They sound better than the integrated crap anyhow. I don't think comcast is supporting IPv6 right now.

With all your vision problems you should have just gotten a mac. Yes they are more expensive initially but the fact you don't have the down time fixing viruses and the cost of antivirus software they pay for themselves in the long run.Antivirus software running in the background also slows a system. Besides there is a ton of free software for macs. And they have better accessibility options for people with vision problems and you don't need a manual to open the Leopard DVD.

yeah I know, and I agree with you, my sister and brother inlaw have been trying to convince me to get a mac too.

I'm not against the idea...Its just that I can't afford one.

I built this machine for probably $200 or so, and my laptop was only $300 at wally world...

otherwise I'd go with a Mac...yeah...I just don't have the $1,500 it costs for one..I just don't have it

About the only way I could, would be to apply for a Visa or MasterCard, and even then I can't because I have this zero credit score. I was able to get one of those student visa cards from CapitalOne, which was great for awhile, except there was only a $300 limit on it, a $30 a month fee just for having it, a 20% interest rate, and other such expenses that I basically had to get rid of it.

despite that, and being able to finally get a cellphone contract in my name now, I still can't get a credit card a sears card, they wouldn't even give me a Victoria secrets card (don't ask) lol!! I was really surprised CapitalOne gave me one, but none of that improved my credit score any, but thank goodness it didn't ruin it either.

how I pay for stuff online, is I use paypal with my debit card, otherwise I wouldn't be able to do that even. I've never felt comfortable giving my debit card online because its linked directly to my checking account without any fraud protection. even giving it to paypal made me nervous, but figured it was better then nothing.

so yeah as much as I'd like one....I can't get one

If you need an office type program like neooffice try open office at http://www.openoffice.org/

White and Nerdy= the cost of the laptop along with the cost of vista and the parts for your computer build you could have bought a mac mini.

You should be able to go to your bank and apply for a credit card that is limited credit if you already have a debit card W&N.

I did it as I did not like using my debit card to pay online either. And you should be able to pay that card off online using your bank web account as well.