new to vista

[Ravenpoe]

So, I finally got my fancy new computer, and along with it have upgraded from xp to Vista 64-bit (with a free upgrade to Win7 when it releases)

So far, I like Vista, but it's different enough to require me to relearn how to use it.

Naturally, I can never leave well enough alone, so I'd like some tips on how to modify vista for better performance/general usability/awesome cool but pointless stuff. I know people here have some favorite mods and tweaks, so spill 'em here.

 

[strawman]

Disable UAC.

Disable the windows search engine (it hogs the HD waaaaaaaaaaay too much).

After that, I found I didn't need to do too much to use it well.

-Adam

 

[YAOMTC]

I tried the Windows 7 RC, but my network card isn't supported yet. So now I'm using Vista Black Edition (look it up if you're curious, I won't link to it) alongside openSUSE until trendNET updates their driver. Then further down the road I'll buy Windows 7 when I can save the money for it.

Anyway, it runs pretty well. I like a lot of the improvements they made from XP, and at the same time I really hate the Windows security alerts I get from disabling UAC and automatic updates. Is there any way to disable the message or security alerts in general?

 

[Rubicon]

http://www.blackviper.com

after you've updated to Vista SP2, check the config guide for that there. i go by the "tweaked" setup, you'll end up disabling a lot of processes you don't need.

 

[Espy]

You have to disable stuff to make Vista work well? That... sucks. Glad I've stuck with XP.

 

[figmentPez]

Disable UAC.

Disable the windows search engine (it hogs the HD waaaaaaaaaaay too much).

I haven't disabled either. I can see why many would want to disable UAC, I do find it annoying when it does pop-up, but I don't feel like it's that often now that I've got my system all set up. To each their own. However, I've never noticed the search hogging my HD, what are the symptoms? The only problem I've noticed is that it doesn't actually index all the locations I tell it to for some reason. I had this file:

and it wouldn't show up in a search, period, despite being in an indexed location. I had to manually search through folders until I found it, and then check advanced properties and tick a box telling the system to index it. I have no idea if there are other files on my system like that, but I have no idea why that specific file would be unindexed while other files in the same folder were.

[hr:19i7dejd][/hr:19i7dejd]

As for Vista tips:

Windows key + 1 - 0 will launch programs in the quicklaunch bar. I like that shortcut a lot.

I also like the way Vista has the programs menu searchable. At first I found it annoying that it didn't expand so I could see all the folders, like in XP. Once I figured out all I had to do was hit the Windows key and then start typing the name of the program I want, I found it to be much quicker. I miss it when I'm using XP.

The address bar in folders is very different than XP, and took me some getting used to. I hated that there was no up button anymore, until I realized that the address bar has some links built in that are better. You can click on any level to go there. Say you're in Computer -> C: -> Program Files (x86) -> Steam -> Steamapps -> you can click on any of the levels to go there. Instead of having to up three times to go to C: you can just hit C:. Or you can hit the arrows to go to any sub-folder. For instance, hitting the arrow after Steam would show you "appcache, backup, bin, config...").

 

[HoboNinja]

You have to disable stuff to make Vista work well? That... sucks. Glad I've stuck with XP.

No it just makes it run better, just like Windows XP tweaks. I used did almost all the stuff from Black Viper's site for my buddies comp the other day when I reformatted it with XP. http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/supertweaks.htm

 

[Rubicon]

You have to disable stuff to make Vista work well? That... sucks. Glad I've stuck with XP.

Hell you need to disable stuff in XP too. Anything after like 2000 came with too many processes enabled by default. I mean, sure I use MSN Messenger but I sure as hell didn't want it as a startup program, for example. Just lots of little things you don't need are enabled even on XP. XP is just better about it than Vista.

 

[doomdragon6]

Vista made me want to murder people.

 

[HoboNinja]

Vista made me want to murder people.

When it first came out it was buggy and I hated it but it is like that with a lot of software. I fucking hated Steam for the first 6 months it was out but now I love it. Vista has grown on me, I still use XP on my machine but when I build my new one later this year if Windows 7 isn't out I am putting Vista on till it is out.

 

[Rubicon]

Vista made me want to murder people.

When it first came out it was buggy and I hated it but it is like that with a lot of software. I smurfing hated Steam for the first 6 months it was out but now I love it. Vista has grown on me, I still use XP on my machine but when I build my new one later this year if Windows 7 isn't out I am putting Vista on till it is out.

Win7 comes out in October, I believe.

Speaking of OSes, is it typically ok to change an OS on a laptop? i.e., I have Vista on my machine now, and I'd like to get Win7 when it comes out but I don't wanna fuck up any specific manufacturer driver related components that might not work if I use Win7 and not the config for the machine they currently have.

 

[Ravenpoe]

Vista made me want to murder people.

When it first came out it was buggy and I hated it but it is like that with a lot of software. I fucking hated Steam for the first 6 months it was out but now I love it. Vista has grown on me, I still use XP on my machine but when I build my new one later this year if Windows 7 isn't out I am putting Vista on till it is out.

Microsoft has a pretty sweet deal right now where if you purchase Vista, you can get a free upgrade coupon to windows 7 when it releases.

That's what I did.

 

[Espy]

Microsoft has a pretty sweet deal right now where if you purchase Vista, you can get a free upgrade coupon to windows 7 when it releases.

Upgrade to which version of Windows 7?
Windows 7 Home Basic Edition?
Windows 7 Home Special Edition?
Windows 7 Business Edition?
Windows 7 Business Prime Ultimate Edition?
Windows 7 MediaCenter Edition?
Windows 7 Home and MediaCenter Special Edition?
Maybe Windows 7 Ultimate Edition?
Or the extra awesome Windows 7 Supreme Ultimate Extra Pepperoni Edition?
:heythere:

 

[Ravenpoe]

Microsoft has a pretty sweet deal right now where if you purchase Vista, you can get a free upgrade coupon to windows 7 when it releases.

Upgrade to which version of Windows 7?
Windows 7 Home Basic Edition?
Windows 7 Home Special Edition?
Windows 7 Business Edition?
Windows 7 Business Prime Ultimate Edition?
Windows 7 MediaCenter Edition?
Windows 7 Home and MediaCenter Special Edition?
Maybe Windows 7 Ultimate Edition?
Or the extra awesome Windows 7 Supreme Ultimate Extra Pepperoni Edition?
:heythere:

I know this is a joke heythere but I'm going to answer anyway.

It's an upgrade to the equivalent of what you bought. I bought Vista Home Premium 64bit, so the upgrade is for Win 7 Home Premium 64bit.

 

[Icarus]

Vista made me want to murder people.

When it first came out it was buggy and I hated it but it is like that with a lot of software. I smurfing hated Steam for the first 6 months it was out but now I love it. Vista has grown on me, I still use XP on my machine but when I build my new one later this year if Windows 7 isn't out I am putting Vista on till it is out.

The drivers were buggy. Vista itself was quite polished actually except for a few bugs. THE main cause for Vista complaints are

a) UAC
b) poor initial drivers
c) hardware not made for Vista

b) and c) were unavoidable with a 64 bit version (32bit Vista didn't have half the problems at first) but a) was the major reason older software didn't properly work. Programs would often install important files in system folders and UAC blocks programs that want to do this. Say a game wants to install gamefile.dll in SYSTEM32, Vista would go "oh no you don't, you don't have the right permission to do that" (and new programs ask for permission). If you know what you're doing, turn UAC off and about 90% of compatibility issues will be solved.

And some tweaks I made:
- I turn "indexing" off too - Indexing kicks in when the PC is idle but this also means while watching a movie. I haven't used it since before SP1, but back then even index drivers often had trouble finding specific files. If I turned off indexing, it took longer but it *did* find the file. Once this occurred a few times, I turned it off. I bought a little program called "Effective File Search" anyway to do my searches - it's very handy.

- the side dock got thrown out after a week. As cool as it may be to have gadgets/widgets in theory, it's just a gimmick. I didn't really care for it on Macs, and I don't care for it on PCs. It's nice it's there for people who want to use it, but since it's only visible when all windows are closed, it becomes pointless.

- I applied a certain fix for what, for me, was the most serious bug in VIsta:
http://forums.mydigitallife.info/showthread.php?t=871

Says it all when this is the worst bug in Vista, doesn't it . It stops Vista from resetting the folder types when you add new files.

Say you got a game folder which happens to contain images (screenshots). Vista will go "hey! It's a picture folder!". No, I don't WANT it as picture folder so I set it back to "data folder". In the game, I take a new screenshot and go back to the game folder only to realise Vista has turned it back to a picture folder! This is because Vista uses a dynamic system which, in theory, would be a good idea (drop pics in an empty folder and it will change from data to picture folder) but in practice, it's wrong for Vista to change the folder type AFTER you have manually selected it to be a data folder. And yes, this fix works perfectly and removed the only annoying I had.