Windows Vista

[Colinm]

you can buy a Dell on line, with XP home or XP Professional. The XP home is at no extra charge.
Its getting difficult to buy XP laptops in stores as they all now seem to be Vista.

[Cassandra]

Thanks Colin, will try them 1st, when I have the dosh! I have the discs for XP Office Professional so easy enough to install if I have the XP operating system to start with.

[El Cid]

Thanks Colin, will try them 1st, when I have the dosh! I have the discs for XP Office Professional so easy enough to install if I have the XP operating system to start with.

I'm not sure I understand what you are saying but Office XP will run happily under Vista.

Sid

[concorde]

Just bought a new Dell with Vista Home Premium, still can't quite get my head around it and need to have an idiot proof tutorial, I have tried Dell who do a free online trial demo, but it went mad and I had to close my computer down to get rid of hundreds of flying screens.

I have also a 30day trial with McAfee which I like, I have bought a new 2008 Security Suite ready to go in and although the trial is not up for nearly a month I would like to install this next week when it arrives.
According to McAfee I will need to uninstall their trial one to install the new one.
This might sound daft but am I safe from virus's etc in the few minutes (I hope) that I am switching over.

Also anyone know of a good Vista forum I can join, tried one in U.S but it is mainly for Vista 64 users and far too techy for me, they all sound like nuclear scientists!

[Cassandra]

Thanks Colin, will try them 1st, when I have the dosh! I have the discs for XP Office Professional so easy enough to install if I have the XP operating system to start with.

I'm not sure I understand what you are saying but Office XP will run happily under Vista.

Sid

I didn't really understand what I was saying either, thought if you had vista you had to have the vista version of word Thanks for putting me right

Of course, I might still be able to pick up a bargain if anyone has any old xp stock left

[masterob]

Generally you only get a virus attack if you open an e-mail that contains such a virus. You are unlikely to be opening e-mails while downloading/installing the new Security Suite so you are safe.

As to a Vista Forum, not sure what exactly you are looking for but, if you go into Windows Vista Start and click on "Help & Support" you have an option there to go into "ask someone". It takes you into a forum that is all about Vista operation and problem solving.

[Alpujarra]

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[concorde]

Thanks for the tips, yes, you are right about Windows updates, I should know better as one of their last ones b*ggered up my old computer and they released a fix but didn't inform anyone, I only found out by asking on a forum. Forgot to do this because I had such a job getting on line initially this time and so I had loads of updates installed automatically.
I prefer to know what they are for but if they say security updates then I am worried about not installing these

I did go onto the help and support and clicked video demo but Windows Media would not play the file, probably McAfee would not let it in.
Can't face sorting this at at the moment.

Much as I love my computer, it can be tiring and very frustrating especially when things aren't working and I'm never sure if it's me or not to blame

[lone]

I have been in computers, before windows was invented, and a hard drive was something you had laid outside your front door.
Windows xp is a stable operating system that has nearly every driver for every peripheral you can think of.
This has not always been the case, (as with every version before). it has taken virtually six years and a million updates(well it seems like it) to get where it is today.

Vista was launched 2 years ago (beta version) and because all manufacturers like cannon, lexmark, hewlet packard, etc had have drivers to be incorporated into thier systems The driver database is 1gb alone.
If your old pc does not have at least 1gb of ddr ram then you may find vista will run rather slow, and if you have norton av running as well, then you may find yourself waiting for an age just for basic pages to load.

Vista will be fine in about another 2 years, when they have had hundreds of updates, and you have either upgraded your pc/laptop with extra ram or bought yourself a new pc that already has a good spec.

I run several programs on my pc most are freeware, The two best are avg free edition, and superantispyware (all one word).
if anyone wants to try these. the link is below.

http://www.superantispyware.com/?tag=GO ... NTISPYWARE

http://free.grisoft.com/doc/2/

If links are not allowed then please delete, and find them in google.

PLEASE NOTE>>> IMPORTANT. download these first BEFORE you uninstall your antivirus that you already have........When you have downloaded and ready to install DISCONNECT YOUR INTERNET CONNECTION. Then once installed RECONNECT and update. then run a scan.
If anyone has problems let me know and i will talk you through.
regards lone

[concorde]

Hi lone, I think everyone did forget that XP took ages for things to settle down and hopefully this will be the case with Vista, I do quite like it but it is taking me a while to get used to it, also using Help and Support is a good way of finding out things but it takes time, I wondered where my history button from Xp had gone and found it in the favourites bar!

Also I liked the way the favourites bar could sit happily at the side of the window and I would leave it on, now, it obscures some of my screen so I have to keep it off until needed.

I love looking at specialised forums and usually find others have had similar problems or queries and usually can fix things, but I do steer clear of high techy ones, they are way out of my league

[Beachcomber]

I have had five computers since the early 1990s. Apart from the first two, an Amstrad PCW and an IBM, the rest were all built to my specification by a Spanish computer wizard (and there aren't many of those) which he loaded with the English versions of Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows XP respectively from original English version software which I provided. This seems to be the best solution at least for me.

[El Cid]

Vista will be fine in about another 2 years, when they have had hundreds of updates, and you have either upgraded your pc/laptop with extra ram or bought yourself a new pc that already has a good spec.

For 99.9% of all Vista users, Vista is fine now. There are now only a very small number of attached devices (usually over 5 years old) that do not have Vista drivers and there are very few software compatibility problems.

If you have a PC more than about 2 years old, you may have performance problems if you upgrade but it depends on the PC. I have Vista running on a 5 year old PC for 2 years and it runs fine, albeit not as fast as it does on my 6 month old one, where it really flies.

Any new PC will run Vista OK but I would not recommend spending money on upgrading an existing PC to Vista if you are happy with XP.

Obviously when you move from one OS to another there will be a learning curve and things, initially, will seem different but Vista is much more user friendly than XP in many areas and the built in applications that are not in XP make it a much more complete solution "out of the box".

Sid

[lone]

Hi EL CID
I agree with you, Most people will find vista an excellent tool for using thier computers...... it does what it says on the tin.
I am in the 00.1 percent that still uses Many devices that are not Vista compatable..... or ever will be. unless i upgrade my equipment.

Here are some of the leading Cons about Windows Vista:
* No support for DVD drives lacking firmware region coding
* New monitor needed to view Hi-Definition content
* Vista will encrypt hard drives by Default
* Vista may shorten the life of flash memory (by using it for caching via SuperFetch - only has 10,000 writes: bad idea)
* Vista won't work with many graphics older cards and will remove games developers' ability to cater for older systems
* Drivers have to be signed for x64 versions of Vista.
I also use numerous programs that will not run on vista,
I had a new lappy bought for me for xmas, with vista home premium installed.
I formatted it and reinstalled xp pro but had problems trying to get drivers to work, because all of the hardware was not backward compatable.

TIP> are you on Vista and the Permissions nag screen is driving you silly

then go to Control Panel-type user accounts in the search top R/H/S-click user account icon-select turn user account control ON/OFF - click off reboot as instructed

Not recommended if you have nippers/phantom programme installers under the age of 21 on your PC
regards lone
P.s i have vista lite on an old pc and also vista full on another.

[El Cid]

TIP> are you on Vista and the Permissions nag screen is driving you silly then go to Control Panel-type user accounts in the search top R/H/S-click user account icon-select turn user account control ON/OFF - click off reboot as instructed .

There's a better way - use Tweakuac - that only turns off the annoying bits and leaves the rest of the protection intact. http://www.tweak-uac.com/

Sid

[lone]

Hi EL CID
UAC control is built into vista as part of thier security, Turning this control off is only recommended if you have full control of your pc, a good antivirus and a good firewall, That is why i added, not recommended if you have children or people who downdload dodgy software.
Using UACTWEAK will bring the same results, leaving IE protection intact.
That brings me back to, make sure your antivirus/spyware is up to date.
regards lone