A few months ago I bought a new Dell PC with Windows Vista Home Premium installed. I now wish that I hadn’t bought the computer, or that I had bought it with XP instead.
I have had ongoing problems with hardware recognition and installing software.
Firstly, to show that I’m balanced, I will write what is good about Vista:
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Okay, now for some of the problems:
Firstly, the pre-installed Roxio media creator software triggered an error message at startup: “this driver is blocked due to compatibility issues”. Frankly, I don’t know why Dell bothered to install it if they knew this would occur. Fortunately, there is now a fix available.
I tried to install Quark Xpress 7, but it was incompatible with Vista. Again, a fix is now available.
Worst of all, hardware issues slow down my startup by as much as 10 minutes. The Dell mouse and keyboard, which were recognised initially, suddenly caused trouble after being disconnected and reconnected to shift the computer. Vista now searches in vain for the drivers before eventually accepting they’re okay and allowing me to get on with work.
I’ll probably find an answer to this online at some point after an hour or so of searching.
Don’t get me started on Adobe CS3 and it’s installation woes. In this case however, I’m happy to blame Adobe, rather than Microsoft or Dell.
A good point I’ve read on a few forums is that people harangue Linux distros when they can’t install an obscure Bluetooth mouse or something, but generally blame the software/hardware vendor when they have problems with Windows.
I think Microsoft stuffed up big time with Vista. They had months to ensure compatibility. Dell isn’t blameless either. Surely the least to expect is that Dell hardware should work with a Dell PC.
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Michael,
I hear ya brother. I bought a Vista Business equipped Toshiba laptop for my new work, and have had no end of troubles.
My grasp of the inner workings of computers far from matches your own, but, in layman's terms, Windows Vista is a real pain-in-the-arse. Every program, mining-related or otherwise, has had some problem, varying in severity and cause, but generally security-related.
I wish I had listened to the countless people who recommended sticking with XP. As it is, I remain tossing and turning and sweating in the bed of my making.
I'll be in the computer-less Kimberley wilderness soon though. Thank the Lord.
Michael.
Twitter: mgorey
says:
Nice to hear from you Michael, hope it's going well. We're missing your columns at the Miner.
I came so close to dumping Vista and installing XP last weekend, especially after I couldn't get InDesign and Photoshop to install.
I think XP is the best Windows release so far. You never hear anyone complaining that software won't install or that drivers aren't recognised.
Twitter: mgorey
says:
I was so frustrated with Vista that I nearly installed XP instead. I decided though to reinstall Vista. I must say the results to date are very positive.
The first thing I did was install Adobe CS3 and it ran without trouble. I then installed Office 2003 instead of the Vista version, and it's running fine.
Rather than use McAfee anti-virus/firewall, I'm running the freeware Avira Anti-Vir.
The fact everything is now working obviously makes me wonder what triggered the previous problems. I've had no hardware issues either.
Possible culprits include McAfee, Adobe CS2, Macromedia Dreamweaver or Dell. Sorry to cast aspersions but something definitely screwed things up before.
The vista home shocked me yesterday when it could not not see my usb storage. i would think that something as basic as that comes as second nature to vista, but no, and i was shocked. more so becausethe storage device in question simultaneously has hardware that i need to instal. this happens to be an edge-gprs card. i read somewhere that xp was worse when it started out but i find that hard to believe.
If I could have drawn a picture of XP when it came out depicting its growth until now, it would have been of a box with a million holes in it, that from then to this day is so covered in bandaids you would call it finally stable. Just as that occurs, Microsoft decides to start all over again….hello Vista, were back to the box with the million holes all over again…great!
And havent you all heard …. vista to be replaced by Windows 7 by the end of 2009.
Try plugging a memory card reader into a Vista PC and see how long it takes to recognise it, if it does at all. Plug it into an XP machine, and voila, 5 seconds later it’s opened it.
But, I agree with Julia, XP was just as notorious on it’s debut as Vista has been.
Vista will never be as good as Windows XP. The ratio of XP users compared to Vista users is 3 to 1.
My memory sticks no longer work with vista on my laptop but work fine on my desk top pc with windows XP. At one stage vista did not recognise the memory stick then the next time i plugged it in it installed the driver for it now nothing at all is recognised connected to the usb ports so much for plug and play. Yet the usb ports according to vista are operating normally. perhaps someone could advise me please.
vista owners
ring microsoft and demand a refund…bottom line it’s shit iv’e complained a number of times about vista i get new downloads thru microsoft and reset computer and computer won’t start up error screen come’s up most downloads clash with the motherboard(ep45-extreme gigabyte)then you got to start up in safe mode to remove new downloads then restart.Also it’s takes to long to startup about 3-5min’s a lot of older programs won’t load up as it clashes usb problems,nero problems no 7,8,and 9.
demand a refund as i’m going to phone up tomorrow and complain my heart out until i get what i paid for
thanks
peter
mobile 0408972717
Hi peter,Stephen,
I have had Vista for over 3 years.
My current PC is a Toshiba laptop (premium)…so far no probs, since purchase 2008.
However my first experience of Vista (home edn) Acer laptop was not a good one.
Currently my memory sticks seem to work okay, maybe I am better with my second Vista, not sure if I was the problem first time though.
I hope you guys get it sorted. Its not like PCs are a gift, they cost mega bucks, its not grocery shopping huh?
Having a lot of problems with Vista on my Dell laptop..had to format it twice and reinstall Vista..Now on starting the laptop says Missing Operating system..going crazy with this..Installing Ubuntu Linux latest version to see how it works…let’s see..
samir