For any OS X to Vista switchers

Hi All

Does anybody have regrets switching from OS X to Vista (or maybe even XP) ?

I'm going to be looking for a new notebook fairly soon (my poor little iBook G4 just feels too slow these days compared to what is available) and at the moment I've got it down to a Macbook Pro or Dell XPS M1330 (quality issues aside!)

I've been using Macs for 10 years now, OS X for the past 6. I've never had a kernal panic or lost any data (touch wood) although I have been a bit annoyed when some things have only been available for Windows or websites have obviously only been designed and tested on Windows, hence part of me says stick with what you know and you won't go wrong.

However, when I buy something new I like it to feel significantly different from what I had before so that it feels new rather than just the same as before (and thus justify the expenditure!)

But this is my quandry - when I got my iBook I went from OS 9 on my desktop to OS X which was basically a completely new OS so it felt very different, but going from 10.4.10 to 10.5 (Leopard) may not feel different
enough if you know what I mean, although I would hope at least going from an iBook to MBP will feel quite a bit different in itself. But going from OS X to Vista - I'm sure it will feel different but would I regret it and hanker for OS X again????? I'm not exactly a power user, mainly email, web, photo management and video editing (are Windows Photo Gallery/Movie Editor any good by the way?), plus the odd game, so either OS should be able to handle my needs without any problems!

I accept that a new MBP would have the option to dual boot with XP/Vista (with added expense) but at the end of the day I'd rather just stick with one OS 99.9% of the time otherwise things could get messy with my files being spread over 2 OS partitions.

I will delay at least until Leopard arrives in October to get a feeling for what people think of it, and I would hope Vista SP1 will arrive around then also, so either way my next notebook will be with Leopard or Vista SP1.

I just thought I would start the ball rolling early and see if anyone else has made this jump over to Windows and what their feeling are

Many thanks in advance

 

Y'know, FooTBall100, as long as people like you continue to return to Windows because you can't run that one webpage or Windows application, it'll never be made for Mac . You're not encouraging developers in any way to make it for Mac.

I think you're better off sticking to OS X. You've been with OS X for so long, you know how to use it well. If you go back to Windows now there's a lot more you'll have to do now (security, drivers, disk defrag) that you didn't have to on the Mac. Most applications have a Mac equivalent now, I don't see why not you just stick to Mac and run Boot Camp on that occasional Windows app you need, or just run Boot Camp at work.

By the way, there is third party software that allows you to access and edit Mac-formatted (HFS+) files on Windows, and also allows you to access and edit Windows-formatted (NTFS) files on Mac OS X.

And one more note: if you notice any websites that don't work in Safari, use Firefox (Mac version). It will most likely be compatible with Firefox.

 

I've never been a significant Mac user myself, but I second Sam's recommendation to stick to a Mac. It's what you know, it's what you have software for, and the new Macbooks/Macbook Pros are very nice machines. For you I just don't think there's any particularly good reason to switch.

 

Yeah. I'd stick with OSX if I were you. You can always run Vista in Parallels or Boot Camp if you really want to, but since you've already learned OSX, there's not much reason to switch. The multimedia things that you primarily do are better done on a Mac anyway

 

Thanks for your response Sam & Pitabred.

Maybe I should have pointed out that I wouldn't be returning to Windows because I've never been there

Before Macs I used Amigas and before that other home computers, I've always tried to resist the temptation to use Window PCs, probably a feeling that started 25 years ago when there was a whole host of home computers to choose from and anybody who had a PC back then were seen as 'boring' rich kids

Having said that I think Vista looks quite good, on the surface at least. I'm a bit concerned though that many Vista users turn UAC off, that is something that OS X has had an equivalent of since day 1, although I believe it is a bit OTT in Vista. There does seem to be quite a number of driver issues wven on new notebooks, hence I think it would be wise to wait for SP1.

I have used Windows PCs (up to XP) at work for many a long time - I develop real-time software so I have always had to live with PCs at work due to development tools - so they're not entirely new to me but I use them in a different way than I would if I actually owned one at home, ie no photo and video stuff, or web etc. at work !!!

Thanks again

 

Hey FooTBall100 again,

I still don't see enough incentive for you to actually go to Windows from where you are on Mac OS X. Do you really want to have to deal with antivirus software, defragment your disk and install drivers for any peripherals you buy? Windows has a lot more maintenance to do than a Mac does.

I still think you're better off getting one machine to do everything. At work you can Boot Camp on Windows, at home or any of the other tasks you listed I think you'll have more powerful tools and have a better time doing them on OS X.

 

Keep in mind that viruses exist on Macs as well (though admittedly in far fewer numbers), and disk fragmentation is a problem for any computer, not just PCs.

 

There's not really a lot for him to do on Vista. It's pretty secure out of the box, all you have to do is download a free real time antivirus scanner like Avast and something like Advanced WindowsCare Personal by Iobit (both free) and he'll be good. Run AWC once in a while and Vista is set to defragment automatically. I don't see all the "maintenance" people are saying you have to do with Windows.

 

There is one "known" virus for Mac OS X but it was not widespread (due to the application and method it was trying to infect with). It infected only 50 Macs when it was around.

And actually, Mac OS X manages files much better. Defragmenting the disk is not necessary on the Mac.

And I'm not saying running Windows securely isn't manageable, but I don't see enough need for him to switch to Windows from Mac entirely.

 

Thanks for your responses guys

I was anticipating Vista being similar to OS X in terms of maintenance and security. On OS X I have always used normal user accounts for everyday stuff like handling email and web and obviously with the Firewall on, and a separate Admin account for installing stuff or cleaning up system caches when necessary - wouldn't a similar arrangement with Vista make it fairly secure without the need for anti-virus programs to hog resources ? I have never used any anti-virus stuff on OS X, and I've never felt the need to

Thanks again

 

You absolutely should use antivirus on Windows. It is much too dangerous to run without. Vista is more secure with UAC and "built-in" Windows Defender (although it never finds anything when I use it on my PC) but its still unsafe to surf the web without antivirus of some sort.

Mac OS X is fine though. Just turn on the Firewall.

 

That's how I use XP. In XP though, that's not the default, so certain programs don't work quite right if you're not an admin. In Vista, however, running as a regular user (non-admin) is the default, and you have UAC, so it works a bit better, as long as you're using reasonably up-to-date programs. You can certainly set up an admin account for system maintenance... I would.

To put it into perspective, I've used Windows on the Internet for home, school, and work for the last 12 years or so, and I've gotten one virus. Once. It was at work several years ago. I was running an old version of Windows, I mean even for the time it was old. I have no idea how I got it. Big pain in the butt. But that was once in 12 years. And I wasn't using any antivirus software, and I didn't take the precautions then that I do now, like running as a non-admin user for everyday use.

As for defrags... about once every 6 months or so, just click a button and come back in an hour.

Vista comes with a firewall and anti-spyware program, so just install an antivirus program such as the free Avast and you'll be set. I've only used antivirus software for the last 3 years or so, and it's never caught anything, so I wouldn't call antivirus software strictly necessary if you generally run as a non-admin and use common sense, but I still think it's a good idea.

Drivers? Install it and forget about it. Actually many peripherals don't even need drivers. Keyboards, mice, my mp3 player... just plug 'em in.

So I guess there is a little more to do for security and system maintenance in Windows... but not that much.

 

Realize that most programs for OSX are written with running as a normal user in mind, whereas there are a LOT of Windows programs around that don't follow proper procedures. That's why a lot of people have issues with UAC, because programs don't do things the right way and assume that they should have admin rights, place temp files in the root C:. Also UAC is a kludgy implementation, but we won't get into that... If you know you can do the things you want to do on a Mac, stick with a Mac. Don't switch for the sake of switching, switch ONLY if Vista offers you something really compelling, a must-have feature of some sort. I personally don't think it does, and I think you'll be disappointed by the multimedia programs as compared to the options available on the Mac.

 

Yeah... the situation has been improving since Vista's release though... application developers are actually trying to make their stuff work as a limited user; i.e. not edit the registry all the time, etc.

I agree not to switch for the sake of switching. But if Apple doesn't make the computer you want to buy, and a different hardware vendor does, I would consider that a good reason to switch too. Of course, Linux is another option.

 

The sensible side of me is definitely saying stick with Apple and OS X (with the option of using bootcamp if I need to), the other inquisitive part of me is maybe just looking for a good reason to give a Windows Notebook a try to Think Different

There are a couple of things that I do wish were available on Apple notebooks like on many PC notebooks such as the XPS M1330 - 2 mouse buttons plus a full sized keyboard with proper arrow keys, separate Page-up/down, home and end keys - why can't the MBP at 15 or 17" have these keys they're wide enough! - and also a built-in media card reader but that is a minor issue, I can just use the ExpressCard slot for that I suppose.

Thanks again guys

 

Man there is alot of FUD about Windows and Vista.

Do you need AV software for Vista? Maybe.

Do you have a router at home, you know cheap wireless Linksys, D-Link, Netgear type that is 2 years old or less? If so all the once I have setup come with ICMP off....meaning it will drop 99% of the crap that is floating around on the internet. Some even have SPI built in.

Do you surf Porn, or hacker sights for software cracks? If you DONT and you have a router now you have eliminated 99.9 of the crap out there.

One last question, do you open email that you wonder why it came to you? If no, the advice that has been given out for YEARS then with a router, no porn/hacker site surfing and no stupid email usuage then Vista does not need AV.

Honestly I have been using windows since Windows 3.0 and I have been on teh internet with modems, ISDN (worked for SBC) and DSL for a long time and I have NEVER gotten a virus or malware.....even on 2000/XP.

If you get Vista, leave UAC on, leave defender on, leave the firewall on, leave auto-updates on, and dont put your PC in the DMZ of your router and you wont have any problems. Oh dont open those e-card emails...its not your birthday

Besides large mail providers, gmail, hotmail, yahoo....have really good AV/Spyware software.

 

Well, I don't go to hacker sites, porn sites or other iffy sites. I don't open e-mails from anyone I don't know. I am behind a hardware firewall and windows firewall. And I do get a Trojan and some malware once in awhile. And I have gmail, hotmail and yahoo for my mail accounts.

 

i'd stick with mac if your used to it and just run vista or xp in parallels or boot camp if you need it for whatever reason

 

I find that more mac users like Vista than Windows users. I wonder why that is . But anyways, I think you'd be happy with Vista if you decided to switch to it. I personally do not run an anti virus, and run myself as a standard user.

Good read. http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000803.html

Good luck with whatever you choose.

 

Interesting topic. Having used windows all my life, I can't imagine not running without an antivirus, or not checking for spyware once, in a while. It's not annoying...it's just a fact of using a computer for me. Not doing that would just seem strange.

 

I am just upset at the amount of performance that is taken away by using such a product. So far I've survived without an Anti Virus product. I do still run Windows Defender, I can't ween myself away from that yet.

 

Does that actually work?

I have Windows Defender on my PC, and it never finds anything. Next I use Ad-Aware and Spybot and it finds around 5 objects, while Defender says "your PC is running fine!".

 

I tend to think the security and other so called weakness of Windows are blown way out of proportion.
For about over 7 years already, my PC have not catched a single virus yet. My anti-virus(Symantec Client Security) never detects anything, I never have weird performance issues, I never have random crashes or BSOD so I'm inclined to believe my computer is virus free.

Other than slowing down boot up slightly, my anti virus software&firewall at least don't really have any impact on performance.

I run defrag once every 4-6 month, anything more than that you are just wasting your time.

I stick with Windows because I like video games, and I'm price sensitive. In alot of cases I would be spending almost $1000 more for a similarly speced MAC making OSX a $1000 upgrade for me

 

What kinds of "objects" does it find? When I run Ad-Aware it alerts me to about 200 "objects", and then I look through them and every one is a web browser cookie. Like, if I didn't want cookies, I'd just turn them off in my browser.

But some people think it's a really great program because it finds all these "objects" that Defender "missed".

Of course I haven't seen the objects found in your case, so maybe some or all of them were things to really worry about, I don't know.

By the way, Defender hasn't found anything on my machine either... but I don't think that means the program isn't working. I just think it means I'm not downloading spyware.

 

same for me
ad-ware etc found 20 objects that Windows Defender missed, I looked at the result in more detail they were all cookies too. So seems like Defender is doing its job or I'm not catching spy-wares

 

I think if I had to run Vista with anti-virus software just to feel safe then it would be a killer for me in terms of buying a PC notebook to use Windows full time, moving from OS X where I feel safe doing what I do I had hoped Vista would be a similar experience without any need for all this system resource hogging software running in the background, and with the same amount of maintenance.

At the moment I am starting to lean towards a MBP as my next notebook, but I would still want to install Vista on it, but only to play with out of curiosity and to run any PC software that I acquire - I would not be surfing the web with it when I can do that with OS X as I have been for years. As I said before I just wish Apple could give us a MBP with 2 mouse buttons and a full sized keyboard, they want Macs to be easier to use yet to do a 'right click' or a 'forward delete' or 'page up' you have to use more fingers which has been the only annoying thing for me with using my current Mac notebook.

Thanks again for your replies, if anything they're pushing me back over to the land of Apple after being in the middle when I first raised the question

 

The "maintenance" aspects of Windows are always blown way out of proportion. The viruse issues are always exaggerated (not in importance, but in your supposed inability to avoid them). When Safari came out for Windows, that showed that Apple software is not inherently more secure -- the hacking interest and infrastructure just isn't there.

I don't think you shoud switch to Vista though. If you've been doing fine with OS X for all this time, then you probably aren't somone who would benefit from the switch. Were I you, I would try to move deeper into your OS, rather than switch to Windows. OS X has about a million hotkeys and hidden features, and cool shareware. Some of those things are very useful, and pretty cool. I've become really used to using mouse buttons with Expose, for example. It's a small thing, but it's made OS X a lot more palpatable for me.

 

I don't download porn or questionable content and I haven't had a computer virus in eight years with Windows. Viruses don't just materialize on your computer; you have to actively download them yourself by being stupid.

 

Quoted for how much sense it makes.

 

Vista is more maintenance free IMHO. I use to set a specfic swap file size and manually defrag with XP. Defender was an add on for XP as well.

With Vista I dont do anything, it defrags it self and Defender is there but out of sight.

 

The only reason you haven't caught a virus is because you walk on eggshells and don't click on anything odd. Use Linux or OSX, and you don't have to watch your back when you browse the web, click on links, anything. It's just a completely different feeling using the computer and knowing you don't have to worry about a virus unless you specifically tell something to run.

 

But it's not as hard as you make it sound. First, don't run as an admin user. Secondly, use Firefox. Third, don't click on any pop-up flashing advertisements that say "Your computer may be infected with SPYWARE! Click here to fix it." (If you click by accident, it's ok, Firefox still won't run anything without asking you first.) Fourth, don't run executables people email you unless there's a need to run it and you're really sure they intended to send it and it isn't a virus that sent it in their name.

If you do all that, you don't even really need AV software... although I like to have it anyway as an extra level of protection.

Still, I do have to concede that it's better in Linux or OS X, since you can be even less careful and are extremely unlikely to get a virus no matter what you do.