Yay, Vista.

[dvandom]

So, my work machine finally got "upgraded" to Vista while I was off in Canada (the process has been going on for months, I'm one of the last holdouts).


In addition to all the reset-all-the-settings stuff I wasted time on yesterday (including lowering the screen resolution because I couldn't find any other option for "make the system font bigger than microscopic") and a few problems unique to our IT guys (i.e. I forgot to triple-check that nothing important was on my C: drive, since they never back that up before wiping your machine for an upgrade...and it turns out that my Firefox bookmarks lived there despite having thought I'd moved them to the O: drive).

Today I ran into two other annoyances, although to be fair, the bigger one isn't Vista's fault.

The big one is that I can't install software anymore. Too many people have blithely stuffed their machines with malware around campus, so anyone moving to Vista loses admin access to their own machine. So I had to get special permission to upgrade my Flash plugins (since the old plug-in was apparently either also on C: or it wasn't Vista-compatible).

The little one is a matter of "changing how things are done for no good reason" in Vista. In XP, it remembers what you last did for "Shut Down". So if you only ever want to log out, you don't need to do anything special, just click Shut Down and hit enter, it remembers you did Log Out last time. Vista, at least in my experience today, doesn't remember this. It returns to Shut Down as the default, so I need to change my habits to avoid shutting down every time I want to just log out. :/

Comments

[jarodrussell.livejournal.com]

Check out http://portableapps.com/ for a solution around your main problem.

[dvandom.livejournal.com]

Although I'd have to get permission to download THAT, too. I have no home PC (I'm a Mac user at home) to install it on.

[jarodrussell.livejournal.com]

There's nothing to install. Let me be more specific...

http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox_portable

Download that (from any computer) to a jump drive, and run it. It shouldn't need any kind of administrative privledges since it doesn't touch anything but memory. (Vista's security crap prevents settings from being saved to the harddrive, but I don't think it'll keep you from running a 3rd party app that doesn't need to touch anything.)

Alternatively, I can show you how to run RealVNC from home, so you can use your desktop from anywhere.

[dvandom.livejournal.com]

I don't have a jump drive bigger than 2G at the moment. :) Anyway, Firefox plugins are just what hit first. The real issue is not being able to install anything without getting case-by-case permission, because too many knot-brains have stuck malware on the network drives.

[jarodrussell.livejournal.com]

Ok.

Edit: Here's one more question, can you lay your hands on a Windows XP disk? If so, there might be a way around Vista is they'll let you install VMWare server on your system. Just run XP in Vista. :)

Or, I can show you how to setup RealVNC on your computer at home and work, so you can just use it during the day.

Or, I'll shut up now. :)

[diosoth.livejournal.com]

The key part to remember is... NO ONE LIKES VISTA! It's turned to to be wholly incompatible with anything previous. PCs are largely gamer platforms, which is why they remain popular, but as it is, running games on Vista is a matter of luck. It only seems a guarantee if the game is actually programmed specifically for Vista.

One reason I never upgraded is because I can't be certain that even 10% of my game collection would operate. I already did the requisite stuff to get old DOS games running in XP- source ports, DOSbox, etc... I am not doing it again.

Vista is actually a dirty word at a local PC repair shop. They hate it.

[dvandom.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, the university is a corporate user and can't afford to drag its heels too much. We delayed adoption quite a bit, but in the end it's go Vista or things get even worse than if we don't go Vista. :/

Home machine's still on Panther, but it's six years old and reaching the end of its ability to benefit from OS upgrades.

[diosoth.livejournal.com]

Sadly, I've found an entirely fresh OS install more reliable than simply upgrading. My attempts to install Service Packs into my old XP Home edition made things worse. I finally managed to buy a second-hand Volume License Kit XP Pro with SP2 integrated CD. Probably pushing legalities, but it is a legit Windows disc that doesn't need a CD key. It'd be the same type your university uses.

As for your bookmarks, those seem to be tied with Windows, even Firefox. I did an OS reinstall last week due to some nasty unknown spyware and lost my Firefox bookmarks in the process. Now, I did a Windows reinstall without a drive format, so most stuff stayed, but the bookmarks... gone.

[vulcanatf.livejournal.com]

I just can't believe they did that to you.

Where I work we still don't have Vista. We may go to it next year but the IT department is actively working at keeping it OUT. We have heard all sorts of nightmare stories about the thing (driver incompatibility anyone?) Even our new laptops are still running XP since we do corporate orders.

I'm really surprised they bit the bullet so to speak and did that. Expect the PC to run slower. I know that Vista is a memory hog (aren't all new OSs memory hogs?) We had one consultant put Vista Ultimate on an older laptop. He then wondered why it didn't work. We had to put XP on it since it just couldn't handle vista.

[diosoth.livejournal.com]

I would say, if the PC is more than a year old, don't bother. Probably a bare minimum 2 gigs of RAM too, 4 gigs if you feel like it.

I run XP Pro fine on 1 gig. But as MapleStory is yet again grinding to a halt in crowded play areas, I may eventually have to upgrade to 2 gigs if I want to keep playing. I was slugging along at 512 Megs, went to 1 gig, and things smoothed out. Now, a few patches later...

Interestingly, Nintendo's USB wireless LAN adaptor for the Wii and DS was put out of production, with the notice from Nintendo that they weren't gonna bother at all with making Vista drivers for it. Not that anyone actually bought the thing to begin with, but still...

[grant-p.livejournal.com]

Now you see why I was so happy when the laptop I won in the research contest was XP Pro. I've also had a lot of good experinces with various Linux stuff but it is NOT something I'd use for the professional environment (now watch the Ubuntu guys flame me...)

For my own private use I have the opinion of 'who cares so long as it works' (I'm writing this from my $10 rescued from trash computer running Puppy 4.0) but it's not the same when you depend on file compatibility.

Interestingly, XP Pro with SP3 refuses to run my legal copy of Word 2003 properly but took OpenOffice without complaint. I have no explanation for this.