As I mentioned over on my WebbyOnline blog last month, I began using Windows Vista on my main computer. Some may think I am stupid for doing it, but given the circumstances at the time (a hard drive crash), I figured then was a good time to do it. I have now been using Vista as my primary OS on my main computer for about a month now. It’s time to make my list of gripes official. Here goes, in no particular order:
- Very picky driver support. Due to some inner reworking with Vista, drivers for your hardware need to all be re-done. And some of the manufacturers are not issuing solid drivers quite yet. Namely, Nvidia. Nvidia drivers on Vista suck, last time I tried them. ATI, on the other hand, works beautifully.
- Some software doesn’t work. Some of the software I was using on Windows XP had to be upgraded because it would not work on Vista very well. Paperport 11 had to be upgraded. Camtasia Studio had to be upgraded. So, I spent a few hundred bucks over and above this operating system just so I could continue to get my work done.
- Some programs don’t work with Aero. Aero is the name for the eye candy interface built into Vista (not Vista Basic). But, some software doesn’t work with it. For example, I am using Paint Shop Pro 9. It works, but every time I start it up Vista has to revert to the basic interface.
- Annoying permissions confirmations. In order to do almost anything system related, you get bugged constantly about permissions. This is Microsoft’s attempt to make the operating system more secure, when if all you need to do is click OK to get past it, it’s little more than an annoying feature. Luckily, you can turn it off (which I have done).
- “IIS Worker Process Stopped Working and Was Closed”. I get this message all the time randomly throughout the day. I have IIS7 installed, which is the newer version of Microsoft’s web server software. It came with Vista. This error is annoying and, unfortunately, there seems to be little documentation out there on how to fix it. Plenty of people experiencing this problem, but nothing from Mickysoft on how to fix it yet.
- Task Manager is a screen-flash away. With Windows XP, you can view the task manager by simply hitting CTRL-ALT-DEL and up it comes. With Vista, when you give it the three finger salute, your screen totally flashes blank and you have to choose “task manager” from a list of options. I don’t like that.
- Big and Beefy. Windows Vista is a computer hog. At any given point, I have about 1 full gigabyte of system memory in use on this computer. That is absolutely incredible. My Gateway computer here has a variable speed fan on the processor that speeds up when the CPU is under load and quiets down when not. With Vista, that fan is spinning more loudly simply because the processor is kept so much busier. And, I mean, face it – Windows Vista comes on a DVD! If an OS needs a DVD to fit it, it’s bloated.
- Sometimes the screens lose their resolution settings. This may be due to #1 above, but sometimes when I reboot Vista, my screens will revert to the basic, smaller resolution. If I do another immediate reboot, then usually the screens will come back on in the resolution they should be at.
- Windows Update freaks me out. Twice now, I’ve used Windows Update from Vista and had the installed update BREAK my computer! Once, I installed an Office 2003 update and all of a sudden Outlook could no longer download email. Another update caused all my video drivers to stop functioning and I had to re-install all of my video drivers. This is a catch-22. Vista is new and I want updates to fix some of these annoyances. However, every time I run Windows Update, I tread lightly for fear of messing up the computer. And, as of now, Vista is one of those operating systems that, once it works, you don’t mess with it.
- It’s too new. Not really the fault of the OS itself, but because it is so new, I have ran across instances where people don’t know what the problem is and they just blame Vista. And they probably have a point.
All in all, I am not unhappy with Vista. However, it has kinks. I am hoping that Microsoft will issue some solid updates to this operating system that will make it faster, leaner and as stable as Windows XP. XP is and was tried and true. XP is a solid operating system. The thing I keep in mind is that there was a time when early adopters were complaining about XP as well, mostly with the same complaints we here now with Vista. My hope and expectation is that Vista, with time, will evolve into the solid solution that XP is today.
At least as solid as we usually expect from Microsoft.
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Good list. The IIS Worker Process business is particularly annoying. Also annoying: dealing with file permissions and not being allowed to change them quickly and easily.
Nvidia driver problems are a nightmare, with certified drivers often being inferior to beta releases.
See what happens when you repoint a user’s home directory to a data drive instead of the C: drive.
You didn’t mention the business of losing the gateway address on return from a sleep, though this is now fixed in one of the updates that has yet to get into Windows Update.
Nor Office 2007 apps crashing all the time (perhaps not a Vista problem?)
The UI for Media Center (esp. the guide) is woeful.
6 months on and I’m spending more time with Ubuntu. Vista is a disappointment in many ways and the new interface a huge “so what”. Forget Aero; for Explorer to still not have a split pane view yet is just inexcusable. Thank heavens for Mozilla and Thunderbird and Open Office and web apps.
I couldn’t agree more. Vista is a BETA. Simple as that.
Interestingly, though, it runs pretty well on my notebook. The desktop, though, is full of annoyances.
I am, sort of, running Win Vista Home Premium on an emachine. I say sort of because I was able to do away with most of the annoyances and bloat by doing a full recovery using emachines bare-bones recovery CD. What I have now is almost an XP clone. There are now left just two glitches. One is with PSP 9 – double clicking will get you a typical ridiculous MS error message. This can be avoided by right clicking and using “OPEN WITH”. The oher glitch is the bloated fonts folder with several dozen absurdly named ttc and ttf files. They are anchored and many of them defy eviction. If you run across any information on how to do awy with them kick it over to me.
Um to access the task manager you can just hit ctrl+shift+escape, still three keys just the last two are different.
RE #6: You can also access Task Manager by right clicking on the taskbar and selecting Task Manager from the drop down list
RE #8: I was having the same resolution issues in Vista business and I’ve found a way around it. This only works if you DON’T use dial monitors, and that is to disable ‘TMM’ in Task Manager [Control Panel - System and Maintenance - Administrative Tools - Task Scheduler] …seems to work for me.
It surprises me how many people seem to be surprised by this change to Ctrl+Alt+Delete. Every NT-based operating system has always blanked the screen and gone to a Windows Security menu, with the sole exception of Windows XP with the Welcome screen enabled. Since I use XP with the Classic logon, I still get Windows Security.
Well here it is October of 2008 and Vista still sucks and the Updates STILL break my computer, excuse me COMPUTER. Updates cause so many problems you have to run system restore, then you get stuck with all the old files FOREVER. Then there is the problem of taking a backup (recommended). Your only choice for backup location is
or removable media, unless you have a Network. Vista will not replace one backup with the newer one so then you get the big BACKUP FAILED the next time automated (again recommended) backup runs. All of a sudden you realize.. those annoying pop-ups from Gateway offering to store your data for a year for $29.95 are there for a reason. If you don’t want to carry your backup discs everywhere you go, you HAVE to use this service. You pay for it, and then it takes 2 days to run the backup.
Silverlight is require for everything but Internet Explorer sees it as an Add On and support folks always say “You’ll have to remove add-ons” that will fix your problem with Explorer.
There’s no way to get rid of IE and no way to fix it.
Vista is such a hog my fan runs all time. Now the fan has started making a twangy scraping noise when I boot up and occasionally at other time as well. No doubt it will quit working eventually…..no doubt when I’m in the middle of a two day RESTORE…..
Are we having fun yet?
PS…Here’s a raspberry for Microsoft Word 2007 (:>)
Hey…I did NOT put that pop-up in my comments. It got there all by itself. I guess I should have written “on a disc” instead.
I got totally fed-up with Vista on my Dell Laptop about 10 months ago now so I wiped it off and installed XP.
I’d almost forgotten about all the old glitches I had with Vista until yesterday when I was repairing a friends Dell laptop (with vista home) …all the memories came flooding back to me.
I DON’T MISS VISTA AT ALL! …may it rest in peace.
…Let’s hope Windows 7 is better!??????…
You can use Ctrl-Shift-Esc to acess task manager instantly.