Railfan Technology > Who has a problem with Windows Vista?

Who has a problem with Windows Vista?I realy don't like this operating system.On several occasions today it froze up on me and i had to log off and restart Windows.Is anyone else having this problem?Also i can't seem to update Windows it gives me a error code but i can't seem to find it.The balloon at the bottum of the page says(Windows is unable to update).I've has this problem sence February of 2008.What do you think?Any help you might give me i would be very thankful for.Your feedback is welcome.

I like Vista, I have had it about 3 months and froze up once. My issue is the provider here in AZ, Cox. They just suck, very overloaded and no effort to correct.

Google your Vista problem, you may get some solutions.

Agreed, Google the issue, but I don't think it is so much an OS issue unless you have a virus.

I've been virtually problem free on the machine I built. (Read, not Dell built or HP built...) The only issue I have is a known issue with the EVGA GeForce 9800 GTX superclocked video card but that has since been fixed.

Are you trying to run any newer Motorola CPS (customer programming software) for 2 way radios?

The latest versions still come with a warning about not attempting to load/run in a computer with any version of Vista.

This message dated December 2007 was enclosed with the CPS disc:

"Dear Motorola Customer,

The VISTA operating system is NOT supported.

Any attempts to run the CPS in VISTA might expose fatal errors in the operating system!

Attempting to upgrade to VISTA once the CPS has been installed will expose fatal errors in the operating system!

Uninstalling the CPS BEFORE upgrading the operating system to VISTA will also expose fatal errors in the operating system!

Therefore, if the CPS has been previously installed, the operating system should NOT be upgraded to VISTA. We are currently working on a safe way to upgrade to VISTA once the CPS has been uninstalled."

Choose you operating system wisely,

Daniel

Had a number of problems with Vista, Googled the error codes and fumbled my way through most of them, problems with drivers needing extra updates, etc. Used the MS and Dell diagnostics quite a few times. The Service Pack update seemed to help, the biggest problem I had was Vista and McAfee either being simply incompatible or loading self-defeating updates. I tried manual updates and determined there was something incompatible between the two. Spent a while trying to T/S McAfee and then deleted all of McAfee, tried a couple of other AV S/W that simply would not load. Tried Norton 2009 and have had very few problems since.

The Vista 'sleep' mode seems to be an unsolved mystery, last rumor was something about the depleting battery voltage being considered a changed state in the laptop. Then you have to use the DOS Command Line to recover or use the restore. After that it seems to be continually doing something besides what I'm asking it to do (it's not busy doing a Norton background scan either). It's a keeper until the new MS OS gets shaken out. On the other hand the XP machine is just about bullet-proof.

Got a Dell built machine just over 3 years ago built for XP. Have upgraded the RAM and a video card, added a hard drive and have done a few other things to it. I installed Vista on it about 3 months ago and haven't had a single problem with it. I have all of the latest updates for it, and don't seem to have any problems with my McAfee. The one issue I have is that it doesn't remember some of my settings on web sites with my Firefox when I close the browser and restart it. It doesn't do it with IE or my Firefox on my laptop Vista machine. It's a head scratcher. So, I just leave my Firefox browser open all of the time.

My only suggestion is to make sure you have the latest drivers for everything. If you've had this problem for over a year, I'd say to start over with a fresh install. Make sure to back up any important files first!

The machines I am using vista on are running quite well. I am running it on two Apple MacPro computers with 4-6 GB of RAM and an HP tablet PC with 2 GB of RAM. I turn off the "Aero" interface and run it in classic interface like Windows 2000. It seems to run Creative Suite faster on the PC side than it does booted into Mac OS on the same machines. The MacPros make fine Windows platforms.

I have never benchmarked it so it may be an illusion.

But, really it is working fine for me with SP1 installed.

~Steve Sloan

I have been running Vista Home with SP1 installed at Dell on a 1525 laptop for over a year now. I have not turned on any of the "bling" on Vista and have had 0 problems so far. The old P II laptop running Win XP Pro just could not hack the new versions of some of the programs I frequently run. I would not hesitate to purchase another laptop or netbook running Vista.

As far as I'm concerned, I absolutely can't stand Vista! I have a dedicated Toshiba laptop that I use for DJ'ing and it took me over a month and a half to get Vista configured correctly so that the DJ program I use would run stable! My personal laptop, also a Toshiba, was purchased a week before Vista came out, and came with a free upgrade to Vista which I waited no less than 1 whole year to install because the OS is so unstable. Today, that machine has Vista on it, and it's slow as mollasses, and no it's not loaded with Viruses/Spyware, as I have 4 programs installed on it to ensure it's clean. I'm "hoping" that Windows 7 comes out by March of next year as I will need to build a new desktop machine at that time and I don't want Vista on it, my current desktop machine has XP Pro and runs with no problems, however, I built my desktop machine myself.

When Vista was first released it was a nightmare for many users 'cause MS seemed to rush the release. That release behaviour by MS resulted in (what seems to be) alternating troublesome/stable platforms.

If you follow such things:

Windows 95 - troublesome
Windows 98 - stable
Windows 2000/NT - troublesome
Windows XP (after the SP2 upgrade) - stable
Windows Vista - troublesome
Next Windows release - stable?

Personally, I'll stick with XP 'til it's no longer supported.

I have four installations running Vista. Three Dells and one Sony notebook. The only that gives me headaches is the first Dell PC I bought when Vista first came out. The damn thing crashes my video software quite often. The same software running on a newer Dell PC runs great.

Todd Clark
Canyon Country, CA
Trainorders.com

ive got vista business SP1 running on 3 dells. no problems. i prefer it to xp in terms of stability. i have tweaked it a bit to make things quicker. (PM me and i'll tell ya what i did) ive got the windows 7 beta on a thinkpad T60 currently. looks very promising. that said, i use macs alot. i actually prefer OSX to windows of any flavour, but whats a sysadmin to do?


hint: try downloading vista SP1 standalone from ms' site, then installing it, instead of getting it from (sometimes) automatic update. see if that helps.

Here's the link. its over 400 mb. enjoy!

msdgbar Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Who has a problem with Windows Vista?I realy don't
> like this operating system.On several occasions
> today it froze up on me and i had to log off and
> restart Windows.Is anyone else having this
> problem?Also i can't seem to update Windows it
> gives me a error code but i can't seem to find
> it.The balloon at the bottum of the page
> says(Windows is unable to update).I've has this
> problem sence February of 2008.What do you
> think?Any help you might give me i would be very
> thankful for.Your feedback is welcome.


Please visit http://update.microsoft.com and follow the steps. If at any point you get stopped or get an error message, take a screen shot of that message (press the ALT key and "PRT SCR" keys together and then "paste" into photoshop or Paint and save it as a GIF and send it to me via PM.

251F Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Are you trying to run any newer Motorola CPS
> (customer programming software) for 2 way radios?
>
> The latest versions still come with a warning
> about not attempting to load/run in a computer
> with any version of Vista.
>
> This message dated December 2007 was enclosed with
> the CPS disc:
>
> "Dear Motorola Customer,
>
> The VISTA operating system is NOT supported.
>

Translation: We are not going to spend the time and effort needed to go through and fix our code to work in a more secure operating system like Windows Vista.

TCnR Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Had a number of problems with Vista, Googled the
> error codes and fumbled my way through most of
> them, problems with drivers needing extra updates,
> etc. Used the MS and Dell diagnostics quite a few
> times. The Service Pack update seemed to help, the
> biggest problem I had was Vista and McAfee either
> being simply incompatible or loading
> self-defeating updates. I tried manual updates and
> determined there was something incompatible
> between the two. Spent a while trying to T/S
> McAfee and then deleted all of McAfee, tried a
> couple of other AV S/W that simply would not load.
> Tried Norton 2009 and have had very few problems
> since.

Friends do not let friends use McCrappy!

> The Vista 'sleep' mode seems to be an unsolved
> mystery, last rumor was something about the
> depleting battery voltage being considered a
> changed state in the laptop. Then you have to use
> the DOS Command Line to recover or use the
> restore. After that it seems to be continually
> doing something besides what I'm asking it to do
> (it's not busy doing a Norton background scan
> either). It's a keeper until the new MS OS gets
> shaken out. On the other hand the XP machine is
> just about bullet-proof.

1) Try disabling the Indexing service. Right click on "My Computer', Manage, Expand "Services and Applications", click on Services, find "Indexing Service", right click on it and select Properties, then in the drop down box select Disabled. (If you do not see "Indexing Service", then you have "Windows Search". Follow the same steps.)

2) How old is the battery? If more than 3 years, replace it. Also, try adjusting the power settings, and make sure "Turn of hard drives" is set to NEVER!

TheCurator Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> When Vista was first released it was a nightmare
> for many users 'cause MS seemed to rush the
> release.

As an MS Development Partner, I started running Vista several months before it was publicly released. In my opinion, Vista was fine - nearly rock solid - from the time it was released. MS didn't rush the release, they set a date and followed through. The problems came because many hardware companies failed to provide adequately tested device drivers in a timely fashion and software providers chose not to comply with the new security requirements. These companies had early access to everything they needed to be compatible with Vista .

One machine that we ran Vista on prior to the release gave us lots of problems because of bad drivers or no drivers at all. Another machine (with good drivers) performed flawlessly, operating for up to two months without a reboot and no signs of memory drain. I won't say that Microsoft has done everything well in its history, but I think they really got the raw end of the deal on the Vista release by getting blamed for the lack of action from other companies like nVidea, McAfee, Norton, HP Printers, and Epson Printers. Windows 7 is looking to be even better!

I'm reading good things about Windows 7 (from beta testers in the forums). I'm not messing with Vista.

To shiny rails,
Jamie

Interesting discussion with a broad range of experiences. While we're into the Vista Discussion, what was the basic idea behind Vista? Was it upgraded Security, faster processors that needed updated code, or simply time for a new package?

> -----
> > Who has a problem with Windows Vista?
---------
> -----
> > The Vista 'sleep' mode seems to be an unsolved
> > mystery,
...
>
> 1) Try disabling the Indexing service. Right click
> on "My Computer', Manage, Expand "Services and
> Applications", click on Services, find "Indexing
> Service", right click on it and select Properties,
> then in the drop down box select Disabled. (If you
> do not see "Indexing Service", then you have
> "Windows Search". Follow the same steps.)
>
> 2) How old is the battery? If more than 3 years,
> replace it. Also, try adjusting the power
> settings, and make sure "Turn of hard drives" is
> set to NEVER!


Good info, I'll take a look.

TCnR Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Interesting discussion with a broad range of
> experiences. While we're into the Vista
> Discussion, what was the basic idea behind Vista?
> Was it upgraded Security, faster processors that
> needed updated code, or simply time for a new
> package?
>
I think it was several groups from software companies to big businesses telling Microsoft....

To qoute a line from the Mel Brooks movie "Spaceballs".....DO SOMETHING!!!!!

TCnR Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Interesting discussion with a broad range of
> experiences. While we're into the Vista
> Discussion, what was the basic idea behind Vista?
> Was it upgraded Security, faster processors that
> needed updated code, or simply time for a new
> package?
>

Windows workstation (desktop) operating systems, while far from open source, where designed (either on purpose or by accident) to allow a far and wide ranged of applications to be run on it, anything from graphics to accounting to games to work processing and everything from A to Z, and do so in a way that any hardware vendor could obtain the information needed from Microsoft to get their device (graphics card, printer, scanner, hard drive, whatever) to work with Windows and any software vendor could obtain the information needed from Microsoft so that their software would work.

In doing this, Windows was left vulnerable to attack. This was not a big deal up until around 2000-01 or so when virus attacks and spam and other malicious activity on the Internet began to explode, and as a consequence Windows operating systems suffered tremendously, and everyone in business began screaming bloody murder at Microsoft for allowing this to occur.

As such, first beginning with Windows XP (which was already far along in development and was actually released about 12 months BEFORE the original plan) but more so in Windows Vista, security became a primary focus. What happened next was foreseen by everyone in IT: Software that always worked began to crash. Why? In a nut shell, lazy programming caused by complacent attitude because hey it worked before.

Yes, there is more to it than that, but that is a fairly good recap.

I have the Vista Home Basic which I didnt research enough. I should have got Home Premium. I didnt see anyone address the specifics of what they had.
Roger B

I have Vista Home Premium (32-bit) on a 1-year-old HP laptop and have not had any problems with it. I think SP1 may have helped its reliability. I'm no computer expert so that's just an opinion.

From what I've read and heard about Windows 7, Vista is living on borrowed time.

Regards,
John