vista [Archive] - Dirt Rag Forums

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ironspoke

12-15-2007, 02:48 AM

Are there other users of this horrifying operating system out there? I can deal with most everything but the tremendously annoying "auto select" or whatever its called when you leave your pointer over a link and Vista automatically clicks it for you.

Anyone know how to disable this feature?

RickB

12-15-2007, 08:43 AM

I (mistakenly) attempted to become a user of that wretched piece of software, only to have to abort after 30+ hours spent trying to get it to install...

althegud1srtakn

12-15-2007, 11:41 AM

hahaha

i switched to linux about 7 years ago and havn't looked back, one of the best decisions of my life. but no sorry that feature sounds terrible, i didn't even know about it. much less how to disable it

Zinger

12-16-2007, 11:23 AM

Here's a nice review discussing the upgrades from Vista to MS's new and much improved XP: http://dotnet.org.za/codingsanity/archive/2007/12/14/review-windows-xp.aspx

Good work, Microsoft!

RandomDood

12-16-2007, 02:54 PM

Free advice.
Never buy any Microsoft OS until at least, service pack 1.

:D

ironspoke

12-16-2007, 11:46 PM

Oh I shunned all advice when I did this. I was in the market for a new laptop last spring and all Dell products came with it. I was warned by many to not be the first on the Vista train and I said "Nah....they learned their lessons from previous mistakes. This thing has been in Beta forever. They have all the bugs worked out."

Huge mistake. But now I have it and now it is really this one horrifying feature that is a pain.

Its also my last Dell (this was my third from them).

I've heard IBM actually has kept their tech support/ customer service here in the USA. The "call center" from Monkey Dust on Youtube is exactly how I feel whenever I have reason to speak with anyone.

Spatafore

12-17-2007, 10:03 AM

Like RandomDood, I always wait until SP1 for my machines. I did buy my girlfriend a laptop a month ago and it came with it. I use it from time to time, mainly when I am on the couch and it is right next to me. I have already disable several annoying Vista options. One that pissed the heck out of me was the security windows that popped up for almost everything you do. Lets not forget how much of a memory whore Vista is.

Maximum PC magazine has an issue out this month that has some great fixes, tweaks, etc. that makes Vista somewhat tolerable.

ironspoke

12-17-2007, 10:13 AM

I saw that magazine I believe in the store the other day. I will have to buy it. Thanks!

RepublicanSS

12-17-2007, 10:23 AM

My newest laptop I purchased last December had the coupon for the free upload.....I never did it, hell I can't even resize pictures LOL!

tryandgetme

12-17-2007, 03:06 PM

I find it hilarious that Vista's closest competitor isn't linux, isn't mac, isn't BSD, it's Windows XP. I had to mess with vista for one laptop at work...freaking horror story. The print services were failing when I'd install a printer. Wasn't failing with an error message, wasn't failing and telling me what failed, it was just shitting it's pants. The error message was like "I shit my pants" and not any more detailed. Finally gave up and told him to buy a new printer. The printer I gave up on was 6 months older than vista.

Next problem is exactly yours, he was asking how to turn off all the "helpful" features that got in the way. Vista is in no way ready for buisness, and in the home it's only good for a flashy toy. They needed to do another year of thinking about that one before they released it. I bet mac sales went up a bit because of the aftermath...

Jay13

12-17-2007, 03:16 PM

All of my work machines run XP, except my brand new laptop which has Vista (garbage!!!)

I will be wiping it and installing XP shortly...:mad:

Spatafore

12-17-2007, 05:59 PM

They needed to do another year of thinking about that one before they released it.

Hmmm... So maybe it's best to wait for SP2 on this OS?

My major gripe with Vista now is it's finicky networking. Wireless worked at my house, she later sets it up wireless at her house and it stops working at my house for 4 days, then starts working at my house but not at her house, now is working at both. Nothing had been changed on her pc throughout this ordeal. Also, no other PCs had problems on either network.

rockyrider

12-17-2007, 06:40 PM

Maybe Vista is just Microsoft's version of the New Taste of Coke (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Coke), a way to get people to appreciate the Coke Classic of Windows XP. Windows XP Pro is a stable platform since it's really a tarted up interface on Win 2000 Pro.

Of course that Coca Cola switcheroo to the New Taste and return to Coke Classic and subsequent dropping of the new taste was really just a way to switch to high Fructose corn syrup instead of sugar without anyone noticing a change in flavour.

And New Coke happened over 20 years ago (1985) so there's likely a bunch of people that have no awareness that it ever happened, it'll be an irrelevant part of Coke history like when they removed the cocaine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca-Cola#Use_of_stimulants_in_formula).

K-Man

12-17-2007, 06:43 PM

The bad news is that your computer will be off the back in a coupla years anyway. :mad:

The good news is that will be your chance to do it up right and buy an Apple this time (http://store.apple.com/). ;)

ironspoke

12-17-2007, 08:14 PM

rockyrider

12-17-2007, 08:50 PM

I'm running a new Mac with OS X and running Windows XP Pro in Bootcamp and Parallels, so I have both systems available. The Mac hardware is blindingly fast. It also reminds you daily of how geeky Windows is and how friendly Mac is. Network setup for instance. In the Mac OS it just goes out and finds the network and everything on it and says " I found these things do you want to connect to them". As is typical with Windows you have to tell it what to do and how to do it, and then it still argues with you about whether you can or cannot connect to other devices on the network.

1mystk

12-17-2007, 09:22 PM

Zinger

12-17-2007, 09:25 PM

I've been wondering about Macs. Considering I've not worked on an Apple since my college days on one of those little boxes (not sure which model but it may have been their first computer) do you often run into compatabilty issues? I mean if 85% of the computers in this country are windows based, doesnt that mean you are SOL when it comes to software and viewing sites and such? I really dont know. Its probably why I never considered it as an option.

Hasn't been any problem at all for me at work or at home. 99% of the web pages load fine with Safari (the Apple browser), and Firefox takes care of the rest (and is free to download). Word docs and such can be handled with Appleworks (or whatever Apple is calling their word processor/drawing/etc application these days), or you can shell out for the gen-u-wine 'Microsoft Office for OSX' and get 100% compatability.

To me, the real at-work draw for OSX is the unix underpinnings and the ability to get to a text shell to use vi, grep, pipes and all that good stuff. But I'm one of those mutants who still uses computers for numerical work (yeah, fortran baby. Every damn day.).

The other cool thing is that you just plug in camera, USB drives, etc. and the system always recognises them without having to install drivers. I don't know if Windows has gotten any better about that over the years, but it used to be a hassle under that OS. Maybe the best part is the user interface; think of how slick an iPod is, then think of your whole computer being about that easy to use.

The only real downside to OSX is that the game title list is somewhat... slim. My solution there was to just go buy a Wii for the kids.

I have also heard that the bugs and viruses and such are now being created in never before seen numbers because of all of the Macs currently being used. They apparently arent as immune as they used to be.

Not a problem... yet. (knocks on wood) Anyway, unix was developed as a multi-user environment, so it started off reasonably secure, and has only gotten better with development. Windows started as a single-user system piggybacked onto DOS, and had to be continuously patched up into some semblance of security. (Yeah, OK so it got a major re-write ten+ years ago. That helped, and a lot, but it's still not unix.)

rockyrider

12-17-2007, 09:47 PM

Are you running the new OS X Leopard?Yep, just loaded the new OS X updates and it works right away.

I still need Autocad and some other Windows based engineering software, so I am stuck with the Windows side for work purposes. But it is nice having both available.

ironspoke

12-17-2007, 10:01 PM

The ability to run both systems would be kinda cool. Especially if that second system I would have to learn is a Mac as it sounds as if that is the more user friendly system. It defintly crossed my mind this last time around. And I really dont play any games so I wouldnt be concerned with that limitation. For desktop publication and such Mac is the way to go from what I've heard.

K-Man

12-17-2007, 10:31 PM

Every issue of Dirt Rag has been produced on a Mac. :cool:

Nuff said. ;)

north20

12-17-2007, 11:00 PM

Would love to go to a Mac, but the pc/laptops in this house see a fair amount of "multi use". My wife and oldest daughter are regular online gamers -- and I used to be -- and while Mac support exists, too many hiccups during gameplay as of yet with that platform.

All that being said, I built up a new pc about 2 months ago, and Vista certainly did not get the nod as my chosen os ... XP Pro for us.

rockyrider

12-24-2007, 12:53 AM

And the Vista problems just won't stop...

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/12/20/more_vista_copying_problems/

myron

12-24-2007, 08:28 AM

Just got a laptop with Vista, fvcking hate it!!! I may switch to Linux, but found their wireless set up a bit difficult especially for a computer I have to use on several networks.

"not responding"

WunSpeedWunder

12-24-2007, 08:38 AM

Yeah Myrons ,been getting a shyteload of that "not responding " crap lately ,been thinking semi-seriously about getting an I-Book -I think that's what Carlito calls it,ya know ,the Apple laptop thingy.This microsoft windows shit is starting to piss me off,like every time I visit the fat guy and fvck with his Mac ,lookin at pics and stuff it's so fast n easy makes a fella think hard about changin teams:rolleyes:

real_ss_budgie

12-24-2007, 09:42 AM

yah yah "fat chat", wacky images, stickers and all of the other chumpy budgie produce is created on a mac..dont ask me what it runs i dont really know or give a toss i just run amok on the thing.

ironspoke

12-25-2007, 11:49 PM

And the Vista problems just won't stop...

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/12/20/more_vista_copying_problems/

This is just insane stuff. How could it have come to this? I find it hard to believe that Microsoft DOESNT employ some of the sharpest techies in the world. Why in the hell didnt some of them see this coming?

I should have opted for XP. That is a stable, reliable platform that MS will most certainly be supporting for the next decade. When I first decided to go with the Vista I just assumed that this is the way of the future and any bugs will be corrected and we will move on from here. Now here we are, 10 months after it debuted and the problems are still not fixed.

rockyrider

12-26-2007, 12:59 AM

I suspect that Microsoft has some of the best programmers, I'll bet none of them have studied computational complexity (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computational_complexity_theory). When things get get extremely complex sometimes they become too complex to troubleshoot, and sometimes the way a system will behave becomes unpredictable.

This is just insane stuff. How could it have come to this? I find it hard to believe that Microsoft DOESNT employ some of the sharpest techies in the world. Why in the hell didnt some of them see this coming?

I should have opted for XP. That is a stable, reliable platform that MS will most certainly be supporting for the next decade. When I first decided to go with the Vista I just assumed that this is the way of the future and any bugs will be corrected and we will move on from here. Now here we are, 10 months after it debuted and the problems are still not fixed.

tryandgetme

12-27-2007, 03:03 PM

no no, no making excuses for them. there are lots of other companies that make super complex things, and with a proper compartmentalized design where the number of features can be completely scalable and not have any more problems than with only a few features. Cray is a good example.

rockyrider

12-27-2007, 04:30 PM

I ain't no Microsoft apologist. :p :D They might have lots of individual savvy programmers but they obviously manage them like someone herding cats or trying to steer a Ford truck with the independent I-beam axle in a straight line. Both fruitless exercises. Douglas Copland's Microserfs just doesn't seem like fiction.

Spatafore

12-28-2007, 09:09 AM

Cray is a good example.

Didn't they make Deep Blue?

tryandgetme

12-28-2007, 11:13 AM

Didn't they make Deep Blue?

that was IBM. I love to look at old computers like that and compare it with current technology. 11.38 gigaflops, but of course that was special purpose hardware and software (it'd be useless at anything else). it did classify as a supercomputer though.

RandomDood

12-28-2007, 08:56 PM

I still have a Commodore 64, but don't have any discs to run in it. They are perishable. :(
Had a TRS-80 at one point as well.
Man we've come a long way.
:D

rockyrider

01-10-2008, 01:17 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAF0X3af7nk

eatindirt

01-10-2008, 01:28 PM

Just got a laptop with Vista, fvcking hate it!!! I may switch to Linux, but found their wireless set up a bit difficult especially for a computer I have to use on several networks.

"not responding"

What Linux distro did you try Myron? I have been running only Linux for 7 or 8 years now and it's the way to go. Ubuntu is pretty good at auto-detecting things and the wireless should work well.

ironspoke

01-10-2008, 02:13 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAF0X3af7nk

Good stuff. Its amazing what a few Benjamins in the bank will do for your speed dial.

tryandgetme

01-10-2008, 03:15 PM

What Linux distro did you try Myron? I have been running only Linux for 7 or 8 years now and it's the way to go. Ubuntu is pretty good at auto-detecting things and the wireless should work well.

and if wireless doesn't work, you probably just need to install the restricted modules, then it'll work without any more magic

rockyrider

01-13-2008, 10:50 AM

OK, not Vista so much as Excel, but I just came across a function in Excel that confirms my suspicions about accountants and accounting. I was trying to see if they have any built in function to generate a year long calendar for Gant charts (one would expect that would be a very common spreadsheet function).

They DO have a function that calculates the number of days between two calendar dates based on a 360 day year. A 360 day year. 12 x 30 day months. OK, assume spherical cows...

How can accountants be pedantically picky about pennies and still be prepared to write off 5 or 6 calendar days in a year? :rolleyes: :confused: