Well Linux is in the past now. Mixed feelings about it. It was fast and neat and stuff, but would require a bit more learning from me to feel comfortable. Interesting enough to keep in mind for the future.
Aaarrgggh.
But it's time for Vista. Since there are a lot of "n00bs" in the class, our teachers thought it would be worthwhile to get familiar with that too. I couldn't pass an opportunity like that!
Aaaarrgggh.
So now I'm typing from Vista Ultimate. Installation was quick and clean. But the candy colours and window interface made me feel like an idiot. Too simple and too user friendly. At least installing XP feels like you're installing an operating system. After installation it gets a bit better. Looks good, and the black taskbar warms my heart. So off I go to get the cyberspace highway set up. I get lost in to the "user friendly" automatic screw up everything windows for a while. Then I find it, the ip setup! I'm seeing a working connection and with dread, I open explorer. "WTF?. It not wolking!" Seems I have to undo some of the crew ups I made the automatic screwup system make. Ah finally I get surfing.
Well at least you didn't pick one of the disabled versions... Yes, Vista cannot automatically figure out working TCP/IP settings if you are behind the router. It will somehow recognize the router, and will ping to computers connected to the router, but it
cannot get past the router to actually use the wide area network we call the Internet.
When I tested it, I had to find the TCP/IP settings (which, I have to say, felt like being hidden 6 feet under all the 3D Aero windows whe I finally found the right tab) and set manually
the same figures that ipconfig /all returned when it was using automatic configuration.
Which means that autoconfiguration does get the proper values but it just doesn't work, and when same values are used on manual setting, it works for some incomprehensible reason. Well, if it works it works, even if there's no plausible reason. Way to go MS... True user-friendly system you have.
While scrambling towards Opera homepage I take note how sloooow its loading. So I taunt the karma gods and do some testing... Yes, it is incredibly slow, even when compared to the explorer in XP (which I have on another HD I usually use with this computer). Maybe the explorer Vista comes with is just chocking up on itself? Or maybe the low memory on this rig is causing slowdowns?
Most assuredly the latter. If you have "only" 1 GB of memory, it won't be enough if you have all the default features on. With 3GB it works pretty smoothly, though. The last time I looked, my gran's Vista Home Basic (I think) used 600-700MB when
idling. Are other programs working at "normal" speed, or is it just the net connection that feels sluggish?
I download Opera and get annoyed by "Are you really, really sure you wish to do this?". With Opera, surfing speeds up a little.
Perhaps you would do wise installing some proper firewall and disabling the Windows Firewall. Also, get Avast! or some other excellent lightweight virus protection, if you haven't already done so. Also, if you don't use IE7, you won't be getting most spy/adware, so you might want to disable Windows spyware detector thingy as well (is it called Defender in Vista, I don't remember).
Then you also might want to check Start->Run->msconfig and disable some of the startup crap as well as some services, like Fax, Phone, Server (if you don't use it, as is likely), Workstation (again, you likely won't be using this yet it is on by default, increasing startup time slightly), Distributed Transaction Controller (seriously, wtf), UPS (if you're not using UPS, duh) and perhaps some others.
So at first glance, the interface looks nice with all gimmicks and stuff. It also looks even more n00bified than in XP, and thus is annoying. I need to rummage trough it some more to see how much of this "user friendliness" I can eliminate.
Get rid of the google/clock toolbar thingy at least.
Maybe I might consider getting Vista once I get some more memory on my home rig, and once they patch this thing to a reasonably working version...
Good boy, that's the same conclusion I've come to.
I have one installed but haven't used it in months after initial testing... It's not strictly legal either, but what the hell.
<pirating-is-bad-singsong-style>
You wouldn't buy a car - without having a test drive.
You wouldn't buy a handbag - unless your Significant Other delicately informs that she'd like one.
You wouldn't buy a television - without having a chance to check the image quality.
You likely wouldn't buy a DVD - without already having seen the movie.
You wouldn't like to buy a game - without checking if the hype really matches the product.
And you most assuredly would'nt want to buy and OS for your computer without having a chance to try it out first.</singsong>
It's not like you can march back to shop after having Vista for a week and return it because you didn't like it... I don't think it would work very fine.
