Wow. Vista is even worse than I feared

[Darth Wong]

I'm sure some WinGeek will come along to tell me about all of the "memory architecture improvements" or something, but holy shit, this OS sucks. I just got a Lenovo PC with Vista preinstalled, and it's an absolute piece of shit. It's constantly bugging me to allow or disallow every goddamned thing I do, and doesn't remember previous times I've approved it. Every time I close Firefox, it tells me that it crashed and that it's trying to analyze the problem. When I put in a DVD and then ejected it before WinDVD could start up, the whole goddamned thing locked up.

What is this shit? Is this a typical experience?

[Phantasee]

Have you tried safe mode?

Seriously: have you tried updating all the drivers? It shouldn't be a problem anymore, but you never know. Is it a laptop or desktop?

[Shogoki]

UAC is annoying as hell, yeah, you can disable it though; Here is a list of methods (it's really very simple)

Other than that, i don't know what's wrong with your laptop, Firefox certainly doesn't "crash" when it closes and i've never had problems with DVD's (I use Media Player only, though, with some codecs, i think the ones that come with Klite). It's actually more stable than XP for me, but when it released it indeed was pretty shitty. Maybe you're missing the SP or something? Also, i do disable every piece of useless menu and window eye candy on every OS i use, so my vista looks like windows 2000, maybe, maybe that helps.

[Natorgator]

I've been told that it usually works pretty well once you uninstall all the bloatware that comes with it.

[Dillon]

I'm sure some WinGeek will come along to tell me about all of the "memory architecture improvements" or something, but holy shit, this OS sucks. I just got a Lenovo PC with Vista preinstalled, and it's an absolute piece of shit. It's constantly bugging me to allow or disallow every goddamned thing I do, and doesn't remember previous times I've approved it. Every time I close Firefox, it tells me that it crashed and that it's trying to analyze the problem. When I put in a DVD and then ejected it before WinDVD could start up, the whole goddamned thing locked up.

What is this shit? Is this a typical experience?

I've only used Vista on my ex's laptop, but yeah, I had similar experiences with it. I don't know why the hell they didn't simply include an "always allow this application to open" checkbox when it sends up that irritating fucking window whenever you try to run a program. However, I don't recall having the problem you mentioned when closing firefox.

Be careful though, I don't know if this was a 1 in a million freak accident, but one time when she shut down the computer, it deleted everything she had stored on it and reverted to the state it was in when she got it. It basically formatted and reinstalled the OS without any warning whatsoever. So I'd suggest that if you plan to store any important data on it, that you back it up frequently.

[Ohma]

What is this shit? Is this a typical experience?

Well, it's typical of the family computer here at least. The UAC not being able to keep exceptions on file or whatever thing pisses me off too, since while you can disable it, that apparently breaks other things in Vista.

And I've had it lock up on me (a lot) while I was opening a folder with some documents (or something else highly innocuous) in it.

[Joviwan]

I have no evidence available, so take this as anecdotal, but someone from microsoft whined that the big problem people had with Vista was that the OEM's weren't doing their jobs right and following installation instructions, and loading the OS with all of their typical bloat bullshit and that's why the experience was ruined for everyone and why the OS seemed so broken. I've had people tell me that installing an out-of-the-box copy of Vista whatever made a vast improvement in the experience, as well.

That being said, I've got a bloat-addled Vista install on my ASUS laptop, and aside from having to bungle together my own video drivers and turning off UAC, I haven't had any of the same problems you've encountered.

[Darth Onasi]

What I love about "program has crashed and windows is analysing the problem" is that it never gets results. Never.
So what's the point? It's useless and just takes up time, especially since half the time it will insist on "analyising" no matter how many times I hit cancel.

[apocolypse]

I don't have any problems with Vista analyzing Firefox unless there's an actual crash. I don't know why it's considering it a crash when you're just closing it. Sounds like there's something else at play with that.

[White Haven]

The bad: UAC is poorly designed from a user-interface perspective. It's a good idea, but poorly-implemented. Very occasional odd growing-pain bugs (not reproducable). Oh, and you might need to kill the sidebar, for some reason that's a resource hog on a slower system.

The good: Flawless (or nearly so) compatibility on the 64-bit version, I was a bit hesitant to use it, but I decided to gamble, and I've been very pleased with the results. Aside from OOOOLD stuff that XP also can't run, it's run everything I've asked of it so far, which is a far cry from XP64. Yaay, I can finally break the 3GB cap without screwing myself!

I can, however, easily believe that your problems with crashing apps and lockups are from it being a badly-done OEM install. I've got Vista64 running next to XP32 on my desk (two systems), and I notice very little difference in application or OS stability between the two, and that's saying a lot as high as my uptimes are on both. Basically the only time either is ever restarted for any reason is when an update requires it, and application crashes are usually due to poor app code (Fallout 3 CTDs and the like), when they occur at all. I was a late-adopter, and it WAS shit before SP1 came out for it, but these days, it's a solid OS in my experience. If you've got a REAL disc for it, or can scare up an OEM disc for your flavour of Vista, try a fresh install and see if you have the same problems. It'd be interesting to see the results, since it's on precisely the same hardware. Shitty computers are annoying as hell, but as much as I'm not particularly a fan of Microsoft I'd like to make sure the blame and Wong Vitriol go in the right direction.

[Stark]

Turning off UAC is a pretty bad idea; once you've got your system set up the way you want it (ie, all your software installed and whatnot) you shouldn't get many authorisation requests.

If Vista is nagging you about running software (usually downloaded or unsigned software), in properties you can 'unblock' it so it doesn't consider it a potential security risk anymore. Frankly, it'd be better if it 'learned' that you trusted the software, but oh well. Five years of people complaining that XP wasn't secure = nag screens everywhere.

[phongn]

I have had very few problems with my Vista install on my laptop and most of those were the inability to get drivers before it was officially released (yes, it is a legal copy).

UAC is annoying when you're first setting up a computer, certainly, because of all the administrative operations you have to do. I haven't really noticed it much afterwards. It does not cache permissions due to the danger of a malicious process hijacking that. Microsoft was also hoping that software developers would finally wise up to their bad habits (and they are legion as part of Microsoft's backwards-compatible-at-all-costs tradition), which itself would greatly reduce UAC prompts.

[Shogoki]

Yeah, the bloatware part is also true, every single new system I've touched with Vista preinstalled comes with the traditional shit ton of useless demo, trails, and those fucking stupid and redundant "driver applications" whose only purpose is to add processing overhead to provide a service Windows does naively (is there really any advantage at all from using a third party wireless network manager and track pad application?).
I haven't tried Lenovo, though, so i don't know if they follow the same practices. A clean reinstall of Vista (or XP) is the first thing i do when i get a new computer after i locate all the drivers.

[Count Chocula]

I have two Vista machines: an older (9 months) HP desk and a newish (3 months) Toshiba laptop. The HP came with all the bloatware installed, and it was a huge pain in the ass to configure right. I bought the Toshiba already prepped to run Vista and not include the trial software and bundled crap. The laptop boots to login in under 20 seconds, and it takes my desktop about 30 seconds, despite the laptop having a mobile processor.

I'd rather have XP, since I loathe Vista's Start menu options with a burning passion, but it's not available.

'Course, this may not be a fair comparison: the desk unit has 3GB RAM and a 32-bit OS, while the laptop has 4GB RAM and a 64-bit OS. I haven't noticed any difference opening Web pages or OpenOffice files, but I haven't tested the laptop with any games yet.

[Stark]

Didn't laptops need those third-party trackpad utilities back in the day? I guess manufacturers are just conservative.

[Count Chocula]

They still do. My 2008 Toshiba has a Synaptics touchpad icon in the system tray.

[Stark]

Yeah, but does it actually NEED it? If Vista has integrated trackpad driver support, then that application is just a waste.

[phongn]

Yeah, but does it actually NEED it? If Vista has integrated trackpad driver support, then that application is just a waste.

The basic drivers that Vista don't do much - you pretty much need the full driver set (either by Synaptics or be the OEM/VAR) to access more sophisticated features.

[Uraniun235]

I'd rather have XP, since I loathe Vista's Start menu options with a burning passion, but it's not available.

Uh, there should be a way to change it to a "classic start menu".

[Zablorg]

I think Vista is pretty workable as soon as you disable the paranoia factor. I don't know how to stop it telling me that it would like to search for solutions to problems, but I would dearly like to because those two things are actually the only things that get in my way at all.

Still, it is a dissapointment that you have to modify an OS to get it passable.

[Darth Onasi]

Turning off UAC is a pretty bad idea; once you've got your system set up the way you want it (ie, all your software installed and whatnot) you shouldn't get many authorisation requests.

If Vista is nagging you about running software (usually downloaded or unsigned software), in properties you can 'unblock' it so it doesn't consider it a potential security risk anymore. Frankly, it'd be better if it 'learned' that you trusted the software, but oh well. Five years of people complaining that XP wasn't secure = nag screens everywhere.

All I realy use my vista laptop is for games which I tend to get mods for, which involves moving files, which activates UAC every. Single. Time. Bah.
I still keep it on though, just in case.

[Dominus Atheos]

Turning off UAC is a pretty bad idea; once you've got your system set up the way you want it (ie, all your software installed and whatnot) you shouldn't get many authorisation requests.

If Vista is nagging you about running software (usually downloaded or unsigned software), in properties you can 'unblock' it so it doesn't consider it a potential security risk anymore. Frankly, it'd be better if it 'learned' that you trusted the software, but oh well. Five years of people complaining that XP wasn't secure = nag screens everywhere.

All I realy use my vista laptop is for games which I tend to get mods for, which involves moving files, which activates UAC every. Single. Time. Bah.
I still keep it on though, just in case.

You can fix that by installing your games to a different directory besides "C:\program files". I use "C:\Games". Or "C:\Other Programs". UAC won't prompt you if you're moving something to one of those directories.

[Darth Onasi]

Turning off UAC is a pretty bad idea; once you've got your system set up the way you want it (ie, all your software installed and whatnot) you shouldn't get many authorisation requests.

If Vista is nagging you about running software (usually downloaded or unsigned software), in properties you can 'unblock' it so it doesn't consider it a potential security risk anymore. Frankly, it'd be better if it 'learned' that you trusted the software, but oh well. Five years of people complaining that XP wasn't secure = nag screens everywhere.

All I realy use my vista laptop is for games which I tend to get mods for, which involves moving files, which activates UAC every. Single. Time. Bah.
I still keep it on though, just in case.

You can fix that by installing your games to a different directory besides "C:\program files". I use "C:\Games". Or "C:\Other Programs". UAC won't prompt you if you're moving something to one of those directories.

.... oh? Jees I'm an idiot, I'll have to try that, thanks.

[phongn]

You can fix that by installing your games to a different directory besides "C:\program files". I use "C:\Games". Or "C:\Other Programs". UAC won't prompt you if you're moving something to one of those directories.

Or you can just alter permissions on the relevant directories instead.

[Dominus Atheos]

You can fix that by installing your games to a different directory besides "C:\program files". I use "C:\Games". Or "C:\Other Programs". UAC won't prompt you if you're moving something to one of those directories.

Or you can just alter permissions on the relevant directories instead.

You and I can do that, but for the average person, this way is easier.