just how bad is Vista?

Frank Fusco

Member
Messages
12,782
Location
Mountain Home, Arkansas
Well, I got my check from the Chinese gub'ment. I need a new 'puter. Actually, my wife needs one desperately. She gets my hand me downs and what she is working with is an ancient cobbled together thing running an AMD450 processor. I believe wind-up rubber bands would be faster. And, yes, we have juiced up the RAM a couple times. My current one is Dell P4 2.2. Not bad but definitely getting to the edge of usefulness for me. (MS Word can take about three minutes just to open)
So, I'm looking at another Dell. The company is giving options of OSs, XP which I now have or Vista. I hear horror stories about Vista and admit those Mac commercials are having an effect.
So, what does the jury say? Is Vista the great evil? Or should I go with it?
I really believe in trying to keep up with the times but XP has been good to me.
 
I have Vista on my Toshiba laptop - I like it. It has some features that are great, some that bug me. File searches are lighting fast, but the file system takes a little getting used to. Overall, I'm pleased.
 
Frank, I have enjoyed my Dell computers for years now, always worked good. I just wish they were selling Mac's cuz that is the way I'll be going next time.

No Vista help here...never even seen it running.

Doug
 
I ordered my new Dell with XP. Compatibility with my older printers and scanners was a must, and from what I could tell, Vista wasn't.

BTW, if you're gonna order XP from Dell, better do it soon. The email I got from them this morning said the 28th will be the last day for factory installed XP.
 
from a mac GUY

i love macs but at home i have a pc and its got xp my thoughts are similar to jim delanys, the stuff you now have runs on XP, the vista machine may not. without difficulty.. i would go for XP. let them fix there vist first you can always upgrade later
 
Frank,
I'm running Vista on my notebook, wife has XP on her PC. All things equal, I were prefer XP on both machines - then I wouldn't need to figure out two ways to do the same thing on each unit. As mentioned, everything works with XP - don't mess with it.:D

We just did a dance with Dell concerning my wife's computer. We had the dreaded blue screen. When we went to do the recovery thing, we found Dell didn't ship the unit with the OS disks - just a piece of cardboard saying we didn't need them.:rolleyes: To their credit, they did send them after a few rounds of emails. So the learning from this episode is - get the disks from the get-go!

FWIW,
Wes
 
I ordered my new Dell with XP. Compatibility with my older printers and scanners was a must, and from what I could tell, Vista wasn't.

BTW, if you're gonna order XP from Dell, better do it soon. The email I got from them this morning said the 28th will be the last day for factory installed XP.

Didn't Dell stop selling XP once already, then change their minds due to the uproar? I bought a 'previously ordered new' instead of building one myself simply because it had XP.
 
Frank,
I'm running Vista on my notebook, wife has XP on her PC. All things equal, I were prefer XP on both machines - then I wouldn't need to figure out two ways to do the same thing on each unit. As mentioned, everything works with XP - don't mess with it.:D

We just did a dance with Dell concerning my wife's computer. We had the dreaded blue screen. When we went to do the recovery thing, we found Dell didn't ship the unit with the OS disks - just a piece of cardboard saying we didn't need them.:rolleyes: To their credit, they did send them after a few rounds of emails. So the learning from this episode is - get the disks from the get-go!

FWIW,
Wes

That is a super important tip. thanks.
 
I have XP on the desktop, vista on a laptop. I dislike Vista. It feels like every time I try to do something it won't let me because it thinks that spreadsheets with macros are too dangerous, or the access app that I wrote myself may be malicious or something else where I have to go through a hoop to do what I want.

I am seriously thinking about ordering another desktop with XP while I still can so I don't have to go to Vista when this one dies!
 
I'm a Mac person, but have Vista Ultimate on my Sony laptop. I liked XP, for a Windows OS, and really have not had problems with Vista. I only use it now for Internet, email and running MS Office, though...
 
Frank,

I've been running Vista for quite a while now. Doorlink runs it too. We're rolling it out in all the labs this summer. There's no reason to wait any more... just go with it, and don't look back.

I knew a lot of people back in the day when windows 95 came out, who said bah, humbug, and stuck with windows 3.11. Then, when 98 came out, they decided to get all new-fangled and moved to....

... windows 95. ;)

Just something about the way human beings are wired, I guess. I suppose it served some kind of evolutionary purpose, back when saber toothed tigers roamed the earth... ;)

Thanks,

Bill
 
Another mac guy here

I use mac at work, and have a mac at home but mostly use my HP laptop for internet, love the freedom of wireless. It has XP Pro and works well. My sons Gateway laptop has vista and he's going to have it switched to XP. he's not crazy about it.

Tom
 
Stay with Xp is my vote

Hi Frank

In my work life nowadays I am a member of a global business institute. All the associates in this network, which spans the globe are discussing this topic on a almost daily basis.

There is an overwhelming belief that Vista just has not cut the mustard this time round. It is not so much the Vista part as much as its compatability with other programs. People that have upgraded have found that software which they have purchased in the past just does not run properly on the new Vista. Yes in some cases they have been able to get upgrades in most cases at a price. But now you have to factor in the cost of new software time and hassle factor to get it all sorted out and tech fees if you are not a techie type. It just aint worth the sweat. Unless you have real need for the Vista from my experience and what I have seen stay with XP.
Just my humble opinion.
 
Frank...thinking more about it, XP would probably be the best choice for you. It's a tried and proven OS, and you won't have the compatibility/driver challenges that occur much more often with Vista. Get the Pro version if you can, and if the cost is not that much more.
 
I use four separate computers a lot...three have XP and one has Vista. Vista does not support the keyboard I prefer, so I only run Vista for the rare occasions when I need to test something on a Vista box.

Frank, since I suspect some of your peripherals are a year or two old, I'd suggest staying with XP, so you can be assured that your printer, scanner, camera, etc. will still run the way you've become accustomed to.
 
I have XP on my computer, never had a problem.
My daughter has vista on her computer, had and still have problems, especially with the internet and telephone.
 
Interesting responses. Feelings on both sides. I have been using XP for a number of years and have found it very stable. I am not anxious to toss my software or peripherals. But, I do believe in trying to stay up with the times. I appreciate the input on both sides of this question. I'm still comparing computers. I'll probably go with a Dell Vostro but will look at the HPs at Wal-Mart and Staples today. Decisions, decisions....:huh:
 
Interesting responses. Feelings on both sides. I have been using XP for a number of years and have found it very stable. I am not anxious to toss my software or peripherals. But, I do believe in trying to stay up with the times. I appreciate the input on both sides of this question. I'm still comparing computers. I'll probably go with a Dell Vostro but will look at the HPs at Wal-Mart and Staples today. Decisions, decisions....:huh:
I have a friend in the computer security business and one thing he was emphatic on was DO NOT BUY THE VOSTRO! He works on a lot of machines and he said that the Vostro had given them more problems and more of them had to be returned to Dell than all the others combined.:eek:

Just my 2 cents.
 
Top