Tech Vista

windows XP with support for the computer illiterate person...


im not a pro on it...but the general theory is "if i knew nothing about computers, how would i use an operating system"

example would be changing the desktop...its right click > personalize not properties. and in personalize you have all these user friendly names and options to use.

Vista works pretty nice for me. I think its a little bit over "user friendly" making it more difficult to use.

I learned it runs like crap if you install all the updates.

So my advice to you if it runs slow or crappy reinstall a fresh copy and go to settings and go into windows updates or whatever and chang it to install only important updates.

i live vista, i like 7 even better.. although its beta

Vista is a resources hog. I've never seen such an OS that sucks up that much resources to run. Unless you have your computer built properly, it could be slow due to Vista. I agree with CorollasBest. Nuke it, install XP, and then switch over to Windows 7 later.

Buy a computer with half decent hardware, do a fresh install of vista without any of OEM bloatware, and you're good to go. I love vista on my laptop, people hate it because vista is a big change over xp and people don't like change.

Lappy:
Vista Home Premium x64
C2D 2.2ghz 4mb cache
250gb hdd (soon to be 7200rpm )
4gb ram
nvidia GeForce 8600m GT 256mb

Runs great. Only beef is many software companies don't want to support 64 bit, but you shouldn't have any problems with a 32 bit version.

7 is great... i was just thinking of making a thread about it too... Vista is good, if you have all the hardware resources to back you up...

I suggest waiting if you can for 7. Apparently, windows 7 is vista but with lower hardware requirements. I believe they are aiming to run 7 in a 1ghz comp with 256 ram. I run XP on that setup and am already going nuts...

@ mayur

if you are having problems with 64 bit os, you can always Virtual machine a 32 bit to run whatever programs on it...

I disagree,kinda.. you're not loading an OS on an old computer. if you are buying a computer now, as long as you dont buy some cheap piece of crap, the computer will run perfectly fine. If you don't want it to be so resource hungry, turn off the areo function and the gadget functions as well as a few other functions to make it more like vista basic and the computer will fly. Also don't put any anti-virus programs in because that is usually the main culprit that will slow down anyone's computer. If you must have one, I would recommend AVG if you want free or microsoft live. I haven't had a chance to mess with mcafee yet but norton, trend micro, kaspersky (SP?), panda, and other programs have slowed down the computer quite significantly.

As long as you have a dual core processor with minimum of 3gb of ram and a hard drive running at 5400rpm, you will be fine. Recommended configuration is core2 P7000 series or AMD black series, 4gb memory, hard drive at 7200 and decent video card even if its integrated.

Basically I agree with Mayur

Vista with no bloatware makes my 6-month-old laptop run like shit. said laptop has 3GB RAM. Vista is more useless than a $.50 whore.

Windows 7, however, is much closer to XP in performance. i like it quite a bit, and if the release is close enough to the beta, i'll happily pick up a copy.

I've heard of people having nightmares with Vista. When I was shopping for a laptop, all I found was Vista. I dont mind change, but after playing with my cousin's Vista laptop, I nearly lost it. So I got a MAC instead. I love it so much that I want to get rid of my XP machine..lol.

I don't see how everyone seems to hate Vista so much. It's not my favorite OS I've ever used, and it can be a resources hog (sucks up about 1GB of RAM just sitting there...), but it's not that bad. Just make sure you don't waste your money on any of the versions except Home Premium (it has all of the features except for some kind of super encryption program in Ultimate, and Home Basic is just XP with a facelift).

I am excited about W7, though. Looks very promising. Waiting for it to be fully released, then I'll probably upgrade.

I know that but I don't like running virtual machines. Probably just going to reformat and create a seperate 20gig partition for xp.

What are the specs of your laptop? Doesn't matter how old the computer, it all depends on the specifications. My laptop is a year and half old now and it runs superbly.

And I do agree with you, Windows 7 is going to rock, I plan on upgrading as soon as it comes, also waiting to build my new desktop until it comes out so I don't waste money on licenses.

i just bought a vista equipped desktop lastnight and love everything about it besides all the ownership/permission popups.

my new setup has 6g ram, phenom quad core processor, 640gig hd, geforce 9100 graphics card. much much faster and smoother than my previous setup on xp.

I hear you on those permissions things. Sure it helps the n00bs but there should be a setting to turn it off. Nice setup btw, I plan on building an i7 rig at the end of this semester.

i believe if you go to the control panel - users - turn off user access control, it will fix those pop ups

Hah! Thanks! Learn something new everyday lol.

lol.... speaking of the devil... I bought a vista laptop last night... 2nd hand of course, i dont buy stuff new... at least not very often...

Specs:
Processor Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor T2450
2.0 GHz | 2 MB L2 cache | 533 MHz FSB
Display panel 15.4-inch WXGA (1280 × 800)
Memory 1024 MB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM (2 × 512)
Operates at 533 MHz
Video controller Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950
Up to 224 MB of shared video memory (when 512 MB or more system memory present)
and dvd writer...

Got it for only $200 because 1. original 160gig hd was replaced by a 20gig one 2. cosmetic issues (scratches & dings everywhere, literally and dvd cover missing) 3. charger does not charge battery 100% since its not a "gateway brand" although it runs fine when its plugged...

I will do what turbo4age said about those annoying "accept" things...

I have a problematic nvidia 8600m GT in my laptop, luckily I don't play many (if any) video games so it doesn't overheat.

i love the windows 7 beta build, so much smoother than vista and my laptop battery last about twice as long

So I finally was able to shrink my vista partition so I could install xp to run some applications that I need for school as well as guitar hero because they won't play nice with 64bit. XP is freaking fast on my hardware lol. Regardless I still prefer vista, more aesthetically pleasing plus I don't find it that slow at all, at least not for me

run ubuntu

http://www.ubuntu.com/

does everything windows does and more. no program installs needed.





/thread

oh yah... my bad... I had to read the difference of the two. Its sad that Im going to school for CS and dont know these shit...


EDIT: I just downloaded win7 and am thinking about installing it in the laptop AFTER i get some other HDD for it.

ubuntu is also a resource hog. I have this one really old computer and thinking ubuntu would make it at least usable, nope, runs slower than install xp. I do love using ubuntu though. It's freaking sweet, but it is a resource hog nonetheless.

its not a resource hog at all.

i can run ubuntu 7 off a flash drive on a computer running windows 98....


can vista, xp, osx, or windows ME do that?