This post could also be called, reverting back to Windows XP in the Windows Vista environment!

I finally got tired of trying to work on my Vista computer - as it was slow, and annoyingly questioning everything I did.

So I searched on google for “improve Vista performance” and found some excellent recommendations:

1: Disable indexing.  Use google’s search instead
2: Change performance settings to be based on best performance, not display.  Essentially this takes away all of those GUI intense “perks” of the Vista experience. I do recommend enabling the smooth font edges option.
3: Uninstall any programs that I really don’t need.

Honestly, by doing all of the above I now have a machine that you would think was an XP box, not Vista. For this I say YAAAAAY!  And it is actually responding quickly so I can work on a website design.

So it can be done!

PixelGeek - 27 July 2008 01:08 PM

This post could also be called, reverting back to Windows XP in the Windows Vista environment!

I finally got tired of trying to work on my Vista computer - as it was slow, and annoyingly questioning everything I did.

So I searched on google for “improve Vista performance” and found some excellent recommendations:

1: Disable indexing.  Use google’s search instead
2: Change performance settings to be based on best performance, not display.  Essentially this takes away all of those GUI intense “perks” of the Vista experience. I do recommend enabling the smooth font edges option.
3: Uninstall any programs that I really don’t need.

Honestly, by doing all of the above I now have a machine that you would think was an XP box, not Vista. For this I say YAAAAAY!  And it is actually responding quickly so I can work on a website design.

So it can be done!

The best solution though is Linux!!!  Free, easy and totally customizable.  There is nothing you can’t so with Linux, save for maybe playing mainstream games, but that’s what dual boot is for!

We have a Windows Vista, and i hated it the day we bought it.

The thing is, We shouldn’t have to make that computer go quickly..... the corporation should have. We spent good money on a System of over £400 and it may as well be a Windows 2000, just with a few more gadgets attached to it! hmmph!.  Next time i save up some Moolah, I’ll either go with a Windows XP home, or a Mac. (i’ve never had one and apparently they’re pretty good)

But anyway. Bill Gates should get his facts straight. Vista IS A DISASTER!!!!!

X

Bianca G - 11 August 2008 07:59 PM

We have a Windows Vista, and i hated it the day we bought it.

The thing is, We shouldn’t have to make that computer go quickly..... the corporation should have. We spent good money on a System of over £400 and it may as well be a Windows 2000, just with a few more gadgets attached to it! hmmph!.  Next time i save up some Moolah, I’ll either go with a Windows XP home, or a Mac. (i’ve never had one and apparently they’re pretty good)

But anyway. Bill Gates should get his facts straight. Vista IS A DISASTER!!!!!

X

Bill gates isn’t worried about you but rather your money.  I think that is one of the greatest attributes to Linux and other open source programs, drivers, OS’s ect.  You aren’t paying anyone anything or someone to do something he doesn’t want to do.  It relies heavily on motivation and shared knowledge.  Think Dictatorship vs. Democracy...Whats out lasted the other in the long run, and why?  If you like I can send you some screen shots of just what is possible with Linux, as far as eye candy goes.  It truly is endless and a wonder to use, make the switch and just create a dual boot with XP or Vista for the few things that Linux can’t do, mainly just mainstream games.  If you want to know anything else just ask!

I definitely like Linux (Hardy Heron is really nice), but our main desktop has a dual boot and we end up using Vista most of the time anyway.  Some of my favorite software is Windows-only.  Haven’t had any problems with it at all.  Granted, it was nice to get it free as a student through MSDNAA ;)

Gail Carmichael - 12 August 2008 09:02 AM

I definitely like Linux (Hardy Heron is really nice), but our main desktop has a dual boot and we end up using Vista most of the time anyway.  Some of my favorite software is Windows-only.  Haven’t had any problems with it at all.  Granted, it was nice to get it free as a student through MSDNAA ;)

What programs?  Maybe WINE could solve those problems.  Even Photoshop runs fine with WINE and that’s one of the biggest uses for Windows I have.

Dolamyte - 12 August 2008 03:28 PM

Gail Carmichael - 12 August 2008 09:02 AM

What programs?  Maybe WINE could solve those problems.  Even Photoshop runs fine with WINE and that’s one of the biggest uses for Windows I have.

I often just don’t feel it’s worth the effort.  It’s also a matter of what my colleagues are using - my thesis research involves software they wrote for Windows.  But again, it’s not that I don’t like Linux - I just use what is easiest, and don’t worry about whether others like Windows or whatever.

Gail Carmichael - 12 August 2008 10:58 PM

Dolamyte - 12 August 2008 03:28 PM

Gail Carmichael - 12 August 2008 09:02 AM

What programs?  Maybe WINE could solve those problems.  Even Photoshop runs fine with WINE and that’s one of the biggest uses for Windows I have.

I often just don’t feel it’s worth the effort.  It’s also a matter of what my colleagues are using - my thesis research involves software they wrote for Windows.  But again, it’s not that I don’t like Linux - I just use what is easiest, and don’t worry about whether others like Windows or whatever.

That makes sense, and is part of the reason I have vista for my dual boot.  I haven’t done too much reseach into it since I’m farily confident that it doesn’t exist, but a compiler for linux would solve a lot of use issues for me.  C, C++, C#, Perl, Delfi ect., compilers would be wonderful, at least native to Linux and not need dual boot or some sort of Shell/Interface environment like WINE to write the code in Linux.

Dolamyte - 13 August 2008 12:30 AM

That makes sense, and is part of the reason I have vista for my dual boot.  I haven’t done too much reseach into it since I’m farily confident that it doesn’t exist, but a compiler for linux would solve a lot of use issues for me.  C, C++, C#, Perl, Delfi ect., compilers would be wonderful, at least native to Linux and not need dual boot or some sort of Shell/Interface environment like WINE to write the code in Linux.

For C# on Linux (and Mac) you can use Mono, developed by the Mono Project.  It is pretty cool.

Well thank you very much!!  I’ve never heard of Mono, is it native to Linux and supported by the Linux community?

Dolamyte - 13 August 2008 03:49 PM

Well thank you very much!!  I’ve never heard of Mono, is it native to Linux and supported by the Linux community?

Here is the link: http://www.mono-project.com/Main_Page They are open source and provide an alternative to Microsoft for C# development.

Ok, keep seeing everyone saying Linux. I am currently running Vista Ultimate, no major problems yet. Machine is quick, responsive, faster than XP systems running same software. You just have to know your hardware. If your running Vista on 512MB of RAM single core processor, your going to run slow. I currently have 4GB of RAM, dual core at 1.667 Ghz. No complaints. I run Visual Studio 2008, SQL Server and out run my professors XP running same software. I operate in full Aero, still no complaints. In all honesty it took two or three weeks to adjust.

I will admit Vista is a hungry OS, but I have resources to spare. I haven’t hit that ‘Windows is critically low on memory’. Being in the IT field I hear the Vista complaint alot. I look at the hardware and it’s not enough to run XP to my liking. I guess it just depends on the person. I plan on using my laptop until it dies, if it happend to be a Vista problem would probably revert. But don’t see it happening anytime soon.

Anyone running Vista, Open your start menu, In the search text box type MSINFO32 and read your specs. I your machine isn’t recognizing two logical processors, and in my opinion 2GB of RAM, you should ‘try’ a revert to XP. But I have also heard problems about the revert. That hardware is “Vista Ready” is made for Vista, but never tried a revert myself. :coolsmile:

Oh God I totally agree Vista is horrendous! I bought a new laptop last year with Vista thinking it was going to be fantastic to use as I was aware a lot of usability research had gone into developing it. Well as a usability specialist myself, I was shocked at how bad it was. Just trying to find files and shut the thing down was complicated and hidden. And it just asked for updates and warned me about things ALL the time! I persevered but I couldn’t get used to it and eventually bought a macbook and haven’t looked back since. I’m now an Apple convert thanks to Microsoft’s poor usability.

PixelGeek - 27 July 2008 01:08 PM

This post could also be called, reverting back to Windows XP in the Windows Vista environment!

I finally got tired of trying to work on my Vista computer - as it was slow, and annoyingly questioning everything I did ... *snip* ... and it is actually responding quickly so I can work on a website design.

Here is where I tell you to buy a Mac.

You get the benefits of a Unix based operating system, but even easier to use than Windows. If you are going to put the effort into downgrading to Windows XP, I think that is the cosmos sending you a sign that it’s time to ditch that frankenstein OS for good.

Honestly, anyone in the tech community who is willfully choosing to run Windows is either ignorant or a sadomasochist. The OS is riddled with security holes, has no aesthetic, and is a patchwork quilt of every previous MS OS that has come before it, up to and including DOS. MS is an underperforming, fragmented company struggling to find its soul again after the heydays of the late 90s. Abandon ship, abandon ship!

Linux is fine, if you really have tinker time available to you. Part of my switch to Mac was that I got tired of compiling new kernels just to burn a movie DVD for grandma, or having to install hundreds of GNOME packages just to fix some dumb GUI bug. And forget having sleep/wake work on a laptop. Eventually, as you get older, your available “tinker time” goes down and you divert it to areas like “things I have to get done before I get fired”.

The Mac also has a rich vein of 3rd party apps for web development that conform very much to the Mac look & feel. Do some Googling: TextMate, Coda, CSSEdit. Safari/WebKit is the browser from the future (google: css animations, transformations, and transitions). Not to mention you can run all your Adobe stuff on there too. Oh, and you can dual boot. Oh, and Vmware and Parallels give you Windows-in-a-window if you really must.

Blah blah blah. I could go on.

Sorry folks, but there are some very very very very big errors that have been posted here. For instance, stating that mono is an alternative to C# dev is just WRONG. Mono is an open source implementation of the Common Language Infrastructure, which means that it’s not just restricted to running C# code. In a general sense, it’s capable of running .net bytecode, which is the format to which sources written in C#, VB.net etc… are often eventually translated to by a compiler.

Secondly, if you’re dependent of running Windows applications, it’s not necessary to dual boot. You could also have something called a virtual machine which you can run on the host OS, allowing you to run windows in a virtual machine on Mac OS X for example, or linux.

Regarding compilers for linux, ever heard of GCC? Probably the most powerful piece of compiler technology out there. As for compiling to different platforms, there are several factors that play a key role here. For starters, if you write your sources in C or C++ for example, it is important that you’ve written it in a portable manner. This means that you for example, do not perform API calls that aren’t supported by all platforms (which often is the case for system calls). There are a lot of toolkits out there to help you write portable code, including widget toolkits like wxWidgets to handle UI stuff as well.

Like interlocutor, I could go on, but the best thing for you to do is:
a) Get a computer science degree
b) Get a computer science guy

Hugs ‘n kisses,
class Her
include Observer
end