Windows XP

[dave3009]

I was forced to go with Vista given my insurance company selected the nearest available laptop to the one that had an incidient with 'the glass of wine'

Anyways they paid enough for me to get most my 'paid for' software back.

I am impressed, I have no issue, and I will upgrade (or scrap) all the machines in my business and go full Vista with Office 2007

 

[Andrew Fergus]

Andrew - why did you recommend XP rather than Vista?

Having used XP Pro for eons, I find Vista really really frustrating. For instance, I zipped a small piece of freeware & e-mailed it to my father. First indication I get that something isn't right starts with a phone call. So I give it a go - first up Vista wouldn't allow the download via the mail client, so I go direct to the ISP mail server and grab a copy from there, Vista won't let me unzip the programme without jumping through multiple hoops and resetting a security setting somewhere, I then have to jump through even more hoops to install the programme, only to find it doesn't actually work on Vista. What a waste of time that was! And all for a freeware game of chess. I know what I'm doing with computers and I don't need Vista to try to help me from harming the PC. XP over Vista any day.

 

[Stormseed]

I know what I'm doing with computers and I don't need Vista to try to help me from harming the PC

Perfectly put up, Andrew !!! I was longing to convey this very same thing but could not get the right words

 

[Richard Schollar]

I know what I'm doing with computers and I don't need Vista to try to help me from harming the PC. XP over Vista any day

I agree - these are my sentiments exactly.

I also fricking hate the defrag program in Vista - it never seems to complete on my Vista laptop (I've left it running for 24 hours on a new install) and since you get absolutely no indication of the progress any more, I have no idea if it completes most of the defrag or gets stuck early on.

Vista is pants and offers me absolutely no benefits over XP.

 

[kgkev]

Vista does look nice though.

 

[riaz]

Vista does look nice though.

Yes, but beauty is only skin deep.

 

[Smitty]

I know what I'm doing with computers and I don't need Vista to try to help me from harming the PC.

First thing I did was turn off User Account Control. Stops all of those irritating warnings.

 

[Jonmo1]

First thing I did was turn off User Account Control. Stops all of those irritating warnings.

I'll second that Smitty.

Once you turn off all the Security Crap, Vista is really quite nice.

For me, I only use it for some games, a little browsing and email.
I don't keep any personal information like SSN or CC #s on my PC. So I never really worry too much about security. I keep all my documents on an external drive.

But that's just me, so I turn all the security crap off.

In previous computers, I've always just let them run with little security. I get security from My Router where I Enable MAC ID Filtters, so only Select Mac IDs have access. So that prevents intentional hacking. If I'm dumb enough to go to a website that infects me with a virus or spyware, or my pc performance starts getting iffy, or whatever, I'll just reformat and start over. I actually enjoy the reformatting. So I normally end up reformatting like every six months or so. That's the extent of my troublehsooting and worry about security.

Now, I bought a New Dell Laptop with Vista Home Premium about a year ago. And this works for me to get it running very well.

Turn off User Account Control

In Services :
Disable Windows Firewall
Disable Defender
Disable the Security Center

PrePackaged Norton Internet Security and AV software, I leave installed, but disable all the automatic features, so it only runs when I tell it to.

That laptop has run EXCELLENT for me for over a year now. Normally by now on any other PC with previous OS, I would start having slower performance, just general bogging down and I would be reformatting it. But not with Vista, it is running GREAT.