Query over new laptop operating system..

Hey there! Below i have posted the specs of my new laptop on its way, it comes with Vista but thing is I am used to XP so if any problems come up on XP i am normally able to fix them. I dont particularly like vista and ive heard it can render laptops useless as it chew on ram? But with these specs which will be best??

I am willing to reformat and put XP on, currently downloading relevant drivers

# Dell Studio 1537 Laptop
# Intel core 2 Duo T5800 (2.0 GHz)
# 4096 MEG DDR2 RAM (4 GB)
# 300 GB SATA HDD
# Slot load DVDR-w (blu ray available)
# 15.6" WXGA Widescreen display
# ATI Mobilty radeon HD3450 (256 MB Video card)
# Built in webcam
# 3 in 1 Card reader
# 3 x USB 2.0
# HDMI Output
# 1394 Firewire
# Factory refurbished product - A grade
# 6 Month RTB Warranty
# Vista Home premium installed, updated & ready to use
# Vista restore disks provided

Thankyou, Dean

 

As long as you have more than 2 GB of ram, Vista is usually good. I remember reading somewhere that Vista ends up faster if you do have enough RAM, but I forgot where. A quick google search would let you know.

 

Ah right, thanks!! Still dont trust vista though... =/

How like XP is it anyway? I mean i dont want alot of problems, i have become really good at sorting out problems with XP and theres nothing about vista i like so im really unsure about which i want lol

 

Use Vista for a week, and if you still don't like it, then downgrade to Windows XP.

Unused RAM is wasted RAM, and Vista uses up to 50% of your RAM to cache files that are commonly used by you, so that they load faster.

I haven't experienced any problems during my time of using Windows Vista, so I've had nothing to sort out, hopefully you will enjoy the same experience.

Also, don't forget to uninstall any bloatware on your system when you first get it.

 

Fair point, i think i will give it a test run! but from the little ive seen when seing my flatmates its a pain in the a**

Also... Does vista change much over time? I mean... obviously after awhile (with XP) your laptop begins to slow but is there any differences with vista

will all my programs run on vista as easily? =/

 

I don't think I've experienced any slowdowns with Vista. I generally keep my laptop on 24-7 and restart once every few days.

Depends on the nature of the programs. Most programs should run the same except for system utilities, like antivirus etc which will not be compatible.

 

IMO, once you get used to some of the things Vista can do, you'll never want to go back to XP. The biggest thing for me: Live previews of your windows WITHOUT switching to them. Hover over a taskbar icon and a small thumbnail pops up showing you a live preview of the window, updating in real-time. Flip 3D does the same thing. I put my cursor over a taskbar button in XP and get irritated when it doesn't pop up the thumbnail.

The other main thing for me that after using Vista pretty much since it came out (I bought it about a month after, but I'd been using it since it was in beta), Windows XP just feels "old". It feels like an old, unpolished x-windows manager compared to Vista. You can make Vista look and feel exactly like old, boring XP, but you disable DWM to do so, and it falls back to slow, inefficient GDI.

The biggest problem most people have with Vista is UAC, but if it ever pops up without you explicitly clicking on something (say, a popup loads in the b/g and tried to install something), you get the warning and hit no, you'll thank it. In XP, since nothing's there to monitor system hooks, that popup would've installed whatever malware it wanted and you'd be compromised, just like that.

What is it that makes you not like Vista? Have you used it, or are you just going by what you read on anti-Vista sites?

 

Fair enough, you prefer vista but...

I really dont care for these fancy unnecessary features, previews must save you like.. half a second and i always know whats in my windows so honestly whats the point =/ i genuinly feel i will not be impressed by any "cool" feature of windows vista. I dont know of anyone who prefers vista... most people i know want XP tho have got used to vista at the cost of having your performance cut!

I dont like it because... obviously ive heard it chews on your ram or whatever, when i even touch someones laptop with vista n try do something to me it might aswell be in japanese, ive heard people have had problems even just youtubing vista can show. I mean when you say.. install a program on XP theres always a "read here if your using vista" which means its going to an "x" ammount of extra hassle for you as a user. Ive used XP since i was little and now i can do anything i want pretty much from experiance, so i would much rather not re-learn absolutely everything for vista! If i want the best performance out of my laptop so im still aimed at XP. I feel yeah, maybe in 5 years time vista will be fine but untill the system is flawless i think ill wait. Its like... when xbox 360 first came out and you get the dodgy batches to me right now lol

Also:

Will my mcafee anti virus work with vista??

Will games run equally as well on vista as XP??

What is it that makes you not like Vista? Have you used it, or are you just going by what you read on anti-Vista sites?

 

Vista has gone through 2 service packs, and Windows 7 is coming out in about 2 months time.

Probably not..

Taking someone else's benchmarks from a typical XP vs Vista thread.

Same hardware, GFX card not OC'd, and I get under WinXP:
3DMark Score 11965 3DMarks
SM 2.0 Score 5559 Marks
SM 3.0 Score 5632 Marks
CPU Score 2630 Marks

vs Vista:
3DMark Score 10841 3DMarks
SM 2.0 Score 5031 Marks
SM 3.0 Score 4924 Marks
CPU Score 2507 Marks

And here's more..

 

Personally I want to stay away from mcafee norton etc. Right now I'm using avast/windows firewall with vista, and have had no problems. You could also use kaspersky and nod32.

As for vista, I think at the beginning it got alot of bad hype, and people are still attacking it for something that it isn't anymore. Personally I love the start searchbar and indexing. And as windows 7 is coming out in 2 months, I think vista is totally usable. Also UAC is annoying, so I shut it off with this. It elevates your admin actions..

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/wind...r-account-controluac-for-administrators-only/

 

Really?? What is the point! Will this windows 7 be any good?

Why on earth wont my mcafee work =S Thats reeeeally put me off vista now! Its on my mcafee online account tho not cd, will that make a difference?

theres no way in hell im using norton or any other anti-virus haha!!

 

Well, my 14z came with mcaffee installed, so I'm not sure why it wouldn't work...

 

Thanks! I can understand your point about the bad hype, i still dislike vista though

I am a tad worried about using avast anti-virus, i hate the way norton slows down/pops up all the time. Is avast or AVG aswell, they any good???


I think... i will trial vista for a week or so, see how many problems i get once ive tried installing n running my programs then if not create a partition and install XP =]

Can someone please tell me how to go about this... like from startup press F..

Thankyou!

 

the specific version installed in his xp OS likely wouldn't work. Is the one that came with it a full version?

 

Current versions of McAffee support Vista and XP, but who knows how old the OP's version is?

 

Ok enough of mc afee! lol

I bought mine via the .co.uk website, so i have to go to downloads in my account then install so it should be the current version =]

So...

1) is avast or AVG aswell, they any good???

I think... i will trial vista for a week or so, see how many problems i get once ive tried installing n running my programs then if not create a partition and install XP =]

2) Can someone please tell me how to go about this...

like... from startup press F.. etc etc

 

The free ones are pretty good. I've found no reason to complain. I personally use norton, but only because that's the university mandated one.

 

Ok... thanks for the posts so far everyone!

What do i need to press to create a partition??

Once i have got XP working on this partition, how do i remove vista from the other partition and move the space over to form one big one with XP =]

Dean

 

Actually, I prefer Windows 7, but this is a Vista thread, so...

You feel you won't be impressed by the cool features, because you've never really used them. Vista didn't cut performance on my machine - it was faster with Vista than with XP.

Like namaiki said, unused ram is wasted ram. If you have 4gb ram, and always have 3gb free, why don't you just have 1gb ram? Vista precaches whatever you may use. Vista's memory management is 10 times better than XP's, and it will pretty much instantly dump any ram it's using if/when a program requests it.

This is known as a "Badly written program". A correctly written program will install on Vista, same as it does on XP.

Ah, now the truth comes out! You dislike Vista because it's "Not-XP", and don't want to learn something "different".

Vista is fine now. I also have a launch-day Xbox360 that's running perfect.

A Vista-compatible edition will, and yes, games will.

 

My 2 cents, for what it's worth.

At work I use XP, but it's not "my" computer and I'm doing only particular things on it.

At home I've run Vista since it's been available, and never had an issue with it. I didn't really notice how accustomed to it I'd become until last January when I bought a netbook with XP and rediscovered just how much it sucks. I installed Windows 7 on it and greatly prefer it.

 

Lol! No really... the features are POINTLESS

-Fair point bout the ram =]
-I dont want to learn something different because theres no need, but its sorta looking like im gonna be forced to relearn all i know of PC's!!! Really, why not keep it all the same as XP n make it look flashier. Your paying so much more for NOTHING!! stupid !!tfosorcim

Thanks tho, i mean.. vistas not seeming so bad but i swear.. if i run into problems during my week of trialing it i wont happy haha

Dean

 

It may be "NOTHING!!" to you, but your needs are not everybody elses. However, if you think there's no need to learn Vista (I truly hope you aren't in the IT industry), then by all means, keep living in the past.

Besides, it's still basically Windows. You don't need to "relearn all you know of PCs!!!", it's not Linux. Case in point: my mother used Windows XP since before SP1 came out, she got a Vista laptop a year and a half ago, and it only took her a couple weeks to get used to the things Vista does different (and she's FAR from a technical user... she still calls me to help her with simple things, like installing programs). The only things that you see that are changed is some of the layouts (control panel), names and minor UI stuff. All the real changes that make the OS better than XP are under the hood stuff you can't see, and stuff that doesn't affect your proficiency level.

Vista has a much more secure, stable and efficient kernel than Windows XP, that XP really isn't even in the same league as Vista.

The only problems you'll run into are ones you go looking for.

I still think you're simply being stubborn and refusing to move forward.

 

Get yourself kaspersky internet suite cheap on ebay.

http://internet-security-suite-review.toptenreviews.com/

Also your computer is good enough for windows 7, so why not get that version.

I have windows 7 installed on pentium m lappy with 2gbs and it runs far better than vista did on it, and vista has 2 service packs out already.

 

Fair enough, am trialing vista now!

And Also... i will wait abit for Windows 7 i think, let all the programs get smoothed out, i know its better than vista as ive seen the comparison on youtube but think its best to wait abit, speacially for the price to come down =]


Question tho...

why when i move say... a shortcut on programs do i get the message

"Destination folder access denied" with administrator permission to continue like... EVERYTIME i do something =/

I have slready disabled the UAC thing! How do i also disable this... security centre somehow or.... ????

Using vista home btw, Dean

 

Set your account as an administrator and you should be good to go.

I had Vista installed on this laptop when I got it and maybe an hour in (after installing several programs), I formatted and put Windows 7 RC on it and I love it.

My fears about a new OS (and 64 bit, no less) just disappeared. I was worried that Photoshop 7 wouldn't run well on it, and runs flawlessly.

 

You should re-enable UAC. You've disabled IE8's "sandbox" mode, you've disabled folder redirection, and you've disabled the OSes ability to see and stop programs from hooking into the kernel when they don't need to.

You've basically dialed your security back to XP's level. You're vulnerable to exploits of all kind that install trojans, malware and backdoors silently, that you'll really never know you have.