Has Vista gotten any better?

[Woochifer]

Thanks Beefy. I did see that one but was staying away from Gateway as they are owned by Acer and I was concerned about quality. Does anyone know anything about Gateway computers?

But you bring up another question from me. The guy at BB told me that the 4gig ram computers ran 64-bit Vista and that 64-bit would cause me even more incompatibility problems with third party software as it will take time for the rest of the world to catch up. Can anyone "confirm or deny" this?

See how I did that?

If you're using this for music production programs, you might want to check to see if those programs can even handle Vista in the first place before checking on 64-bit compatibility. For example, ProTools couldn't run on the latest version of Mac OS X until Digidesign released the update last month. And with Vista, there are still lingering driver compatibility issues.

[Smokey]

Well, you can do it a couple of ways.

1. Go to the "start" button, and then go to the "control panel" section.

2. Go into the add/remove software. Remove anything you don't use. This can take some time, but will be a great start.

3. After that go to "start" then "help and support" then "tools", and on the left side select Disk Defragmenter. Read about it, then click on it. DeFrag your drive. This will put all related files by each other. Speeds things up.

The nuclear option is to just re-install the OS and start virgin clean. Just install stuff you need. Serious pain in the ass, but it really is a last option, not a first option.

These are good suggestions

Also one can disable [unwanted] programs loading at start up by:

Go to Start
click on Run
enter MSCONFIG and ok
Click on Startup

And unchek any programs you do not need. It will prevent programming from running in th back ground. And it also speed up the starting up procedure.

Unfortunately, PC makers cram all that crapware onto their machines because they get paid for that desktop real estate. Probably won't hurt to uninstall those apps, but it could screw up some file type associations and leave a lot of junk entries in the registry (which automatically loads up when you start up your machine).

See above

[Groundbeef]

These are good suggestions

Also one can disable [unwanted] programs loading at start up by:

Go to Start
click on Run
enter MSCONFIG and ok
Click on Startup

And unchek any programs you do not need. It will prevent programming from running in th back ground. And it also speed up the starting up procedure.


See above

I like MSCONFIG as well Smokey, but for the unitiated PC user, most of those choices are difficult to use. Thats why I perfer to send them to actually uninstall unused programs.

MSCONFIG just stops the computer from starting up the program, but it's still there, hogging up disc space.

The problem is for people to decide what they do/don't need in config.

But I use your tip all the time!

[Woochifer]

These are good suggestions

Also one can disable [unwanted] programs loading at start up by:

Go to Start
click on Run
enter MSCONFIG and ok
Click on Startup

And unchek any programs you do not need. It will prevent programming from running in th back ground. And it also speed up the starting up procedure.



See above

My points about junk entries in the registry have nothing to do with running background programs. These are the entries that are left behind AFTER you uninstall an application. They're usually not harmful, but when hundreds upon hundreds of these entries accumulate in the registry, then your system slows down and becomes more prone to random errors.

Granted, a lot of this has to do with poorly written uninstall files that leave unused registry entries and leftover DLL files all over your hard drive. But, it also exposes a fundamental flaw with the Windows architecture, namely its reliance on a single monolithic registry file that intermixes critical system process settings with mundane application preferences. It's a big time security hole because most programs at some point require access to read and modify the registry, and a PC can become unstable or nonfunctional if the registry file gets corrupted.

There's a reason why Unix, Linux, and Mac OS X keep the system processes well separated from what the applications are doing.

[Smokey]

Thanks for info Wooch. That definitely is one of weakness of window systems where alot of junks get left behind. The multimedia programs seem to be worse of bunch in this regard.

Beside using all of window tools available to user to clean the system, as Groundbeef said-nuking the system by re-installing the OS probably would be next logical step to have a clean state. I usually do it semi annually and take about couple of hours (including downloading updates) to be up and running with a virgin system.

[ForeverAutumn]

If you're using this for music production programs, you might want to check to see if those programs can even handle Vista in the first place before checking on 64-bit compatibility. For example, ProTools couldn't run on the latest version of Mac OS X until Digidesign released the update last month. And with Vista, there are still lingering driver compatibility issues.

Good advice Wooch. After a little research last night I found that the device (an EMU 0404) itself has upgraded drivers available on the company website for both Vista 32 and 64. However, for a compatible software update (Cubase) I would have to upgrade to their most recent version at an additional cost of about $200.

If I have to add $200 for a Cubase software upgrade to my overall costs then I suddenly find myself in Apple's price range, so a Mac laptop may not be out of the question. I could use my existing software without having to upgrade.

I think that I'll pay a visit to the music store where I bought the interface and talk to their techy guys to tap into their experiences with Apple and Vista before I make any decisions.

What I find crazy about this whole process is that the more research I do on Windows Vista, the more I feel like Microsoft is actually pushing me away from wanting to buy their product and pushing me into the hands of their competitors. As far as technology goes they may be in the forefront with the most market share, but as marketers they have A LOT to learn. I don't understand their success. When I look at the way that they do business it seems completely illogical.

All of those PC vs. Mac commercials are starting to make sense.

[Woochifer]

Good advice Wooch. After a little research last night I found that the device (an EMU 0404) itself has upgraded drivers available on the company website for both Vista 32 and 64. However, for a compatible software update (Cubase) I would have to upgrade to their most recent version at an additional cost of about $200.

If I have to add $200 for a Cubase software upgrade to my overall costs then I suddenly find myself in Apple's price range, so a Mac laptop may not be out of the question. I could use my existing software without having to upgrade.

I think that I'll pay a visit to the music store where I bought the interface and talk to their techy guys to tap into their experiences with Apple and Vista before I make any decisions.

What I find crazy about this whole process is that the more research I do on Windows Vista, the more I feel like Microsoft is actually pushing me away from wanting to buy their product and pushing me into the hands of their competitors. As far as technology goes they may be in the forefront with the most market share, but as marketers they have A LOT to learn. I don't understand their success. When I look at the way that they do business it seems completely illogical.

All of those PC vs. Mac commercials are starting to make sense.

The issues with MS and Windows are many. First off, MS is a monopoly and they got into that position by lucking into the deal with IBM to provide the OS for the original IBM PC. They were able to build and maintain market share by keeping the code base backwards compatible.

But, backwards compatibility is a double-edged sword. While it allows large numbers of applications to carry over from one Windows update to another, it's also a house of cards because as new features get piled on and the universe of supported devices and applications keeps on expanding, the underlying code architecture is increasingly taxed.

MS's problem is not marketing, but rather trying to maintain a monopoly hold over the market by being all things to all users. Corporate users value backwards compatibility and stability over all else. Consumers are more interested in new and cool. Vista tried the Solomon solution by splitting the difference down the middle, and wound up with something that neither camp was particularly happy with.

Doesn't matter to them though because the volume pricing deals they have with their vendors like Dell, HP, et al, specifically lock them into Windows. Basically, the way it works is that if Dell decides that they want to sell PCs without the OS preinstalled (i.e., give consumers a choice), MS would then charge Dell full price for their Windows licenses, which would put them at a cost disadvantage compared to their competitors. If you want to buy a PC without the OS preinstalled or if you want to buy a Linux machine, you have to jump through a lot more hoops, and that's by design.

For the moment, Apple does virtually no marketing to corporate enterprise clients, which is why they can continually evolve the Mac with minimal concerns over maintaining compatibility with decade-old applications.