Windows Vista Discussion

I've been using Windows Vista Ultimate x64 exclusively for a few days now and here are a few things that I've noted that I hope are ironed out by its retail launch.

Firstly, I've had problems with playing videos. I have a lot of .avi files with xVid and Divx codecs and so far I haven't been able to play any of these files. I've searched around for some vista compatible codecs and what I have found do not work. Divx videos just show a black screen and xvid videos do play, but there is no sound.

Also Truecrypt is not supported yet. It's not a major problem for me but I do have some encrypted files that I can't access until Truecrypt supports vista.

Also Vista doesn't recognize my Canon i860 printer. With XP the drivers were installed automatically and I have not seen any drivers from Canon that supports Vista yet.

I also found that there were a few programs that are not yet supported. Spybot, which i use for its secure shredder, won't shred any of my files and Alcohol120 won't install or run properly either.

I haven't tried out any games yet, but I haven't heard many problems in that area except for loss of FPS due to developing drivers.

I'm hoping more software and hardware companies will be making their products more vista compatible as it really is a neat operating system. For now though, I think I'll reinstall XP for a few more months until the retail is available at my school's bookstore and experiment a while longer.

Please share your experiences here and I'll try to update if I come across anything new.

 

rest assured that most of the problms you have have mentioned will be fixed. i rember when the vista beta first came out. it had several problems that botherd me the main one being drivers, like my sound driver. but i tried out the RC1 client not too long ago and i found that most of my probems were fixed.

 

I'm pretty sure they will. Hardware manufacturers still have a month to roll out drivers for vista and most software companies have plans to develop updated software for vista as well. I was just reading over at the Truecrypt site that the next version will support vista so I can't wait for it to be released.

I too had a lot of problems with the betas and RC1. RC2 is pretty much clean as a whistle for the exception of the problems I listed in the parent post. All of which aren't Microsoft's doing anyhow.

 

Spybot has a vista patch:

Not sure if it will help ye in your situation:

http://www.safer-networking.org/files/sbsdtools15beta.exe

Is the printer, usb or parallel? Lpt1?

Have ye tried the vista codec pack?
http://majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=5326

Fear, NWN2, COD2, Civ4 all work on my machine. Using Vista Ultimate 5744

 

I've found that patch for Spybot. I'm able to do everything but shred files it seems.

The printer is parallel. It's actually hooked up to another computer in my loft and I tried accessing it across my network. Funny thing though, I have Vista x84 on my laptop and I can print just fine with it. I guess I'm stuck because my desktop is using the x64 version?

I haven't tried that codec pack yet, but I'm downloading it now. Hopefully it will solve most of my video problems.

I'm glad to hear those games work. I couldn't live without FEAR and Civ4 and I hope BF works as well.

Thanks for the help and links. I'll let you know what the codec pack does for me.

 

Ah, the codec pack solved all my video/audio problems! Thanks!

 

Thanks for the information Halo. It seems that I'm running pretty well driver wise for the exception of my printer. It's not the biggest deal since I can print from my laptop. I'll just have to wait for Canon to release some x64 drivers; hopefully they've been testing them already, but I don't have my hopes up.

I'll try out what you suggested. I noticed a few times that just double clicking on an .exe would not install the program correctly. I had to go back and reinstall under administrator.

Another thing I have noticed though, is that after rebooting, my hard drive is working for a good five minutes before quieting down. This never happened with XP and it's not like my system is slow either. (3700+, 2GB Ram, 250GB SATA HDD 16MB Cache, nvidia 7900GT). The last time this happened to me was when I tried to run win98 on a 133mhz pentium with 64 mb of ram and 4gb hdd. Is Vista really taking all that time to load everything or will this be something ironed out later?

 

That's probably the indexing running for instant searches. BTW, why not dual boot instead of installing one or the other until your Vista issues are resolved.

 

I used to boot Vista, XP, and Ubuntu but had a hard drive crash and decided to run Vista exclusively. I have all my problems resolved and anything else is just a minor annoyance that I can live with until it's fixed. After using Vista, I don't want to go back to anything else.

 

I agree there.

Though, on my ancient p3 1gz machine, I do run FC6.

 

Hehe, it is nice eh? I still have peripheral driver issues with the RTM release, hopefully HP will have drivers by the time it RTM's to the public or soon after. As I have low end printer and scanner, I'm not holding my breath and I can't
justify buying new hardware to replace perfectly good stuff, not yet anyway.

 

There is a workaround, btw.



I hear (read(not tested)), downloading driver software from their newer printers have fixed the issue. It isn't drivers, per-se, but new software that controls the drivers.

 

The tech. guy where I work is using vista on one of his computers, he says that he has to turn the settings down because it is so graphics intense.

 

Can I get a trial version of Vistat that supports media center?

 

I've read that on the MS beta NGs, all that the people wanted were simple drivers to run their HW without all the bells and whistles that HP provides with the SW. I'll check it out and hopefully I won't blow up another Vista install. Thanks for the tip.

 

You have to register and get a beta key from Microsoft and then you can download vista from the customer preview program. - link

 

HP has changed their Vista page.

I tried a couple of drivers but they didn't work. I'll try some others tomorrow.

 

Ah, my bad, I didn't realize that.

 

BTW, anyone who has the leaked RTM will get a rude shock as WGA is now working for Vista so the RC1/2 trick won't work anymore. I pity the person who stated that they loaded 7 installs at home and work. They will get a rude awakening.

 

Well, it looks like I'm back to RC2. That's ok though, I've installed so many programs to see what's working that I think I'm already needing a reinstall.

Thanks again Halo! Great link!

 

I have RTM but the new update from Microsoft knocked off my activation even though I was using my beta key. There's like 28 days left to activate and some features were disabled.

If you use firefox, there's an extension called Foxmarks that sincs your bookmarks on all your computers. You just create a username and password and store a file on their servers and it updates or downloads the file when ever you make a new bookmark or open your browser automatically. I love it!

 

What are the advantages of Windows Vista? Besides looking pretty

 

Everything you need to know can be found right here.

 

Just finished installing Vista Business as a dual-boot with Win 2k3 Server R2, and it worked perfectly with no problems in initial installation. Box is Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe motherboard, AMD Athlon/64 3200+, 1Gig RAM, SATA drive. HP Photosmart was automatically detected and installed. Had a struggle getting the Twain drivers for the Epson Perfection 2450 scanner; the scanner drivers wouldn't automatically install, but did install from the Setup on the original CD. Took about four attempts before the Twain drivers would install, but finally did. Also had to manually install the Vista drivers for the onboard RealTek audio drivers, but that went smooth and audio is great.

My suggestions at this point (haven't done any software tests yet) would be that folks start with 2Gig RAM and use a fast video board with craploads of memory. Just casual observations so far.

UI is very Mac-esque, but more closely resembles one of the graphical desktops in SuSe linux 10...

 

Will media center be standard on Windows Vista? Or do you have to buy a special version?

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/features/forhome/mediacenter.mspx

 

Media Center will be incorporated into the Home Premium and Ultimate editions of Windows Vista.

 

Thanks for the links, a lot of great info! Yeah, I never got an actual RTM key. I just had m keys that worked with RC2 but I'll check out the warning page and see what it offers. If not, I'll just wait the month and pick up Vista from my school's bookstore. Thanks!

 

Windows Vista Starter? Is it for third world countries? What is is like?

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/getready/editions/starter.mspx

 

Yeah, it's aimed towards developing nations. It will be very basic and not have many of the features in the main stream versions. I don't even think it will be available for retail in the US.

 

Well I've been problem free for a while now and I really can't wait for release. I've spotted OEM versions of Vista on Newegg, but I'm hesitant on ordering one of those. I plan on building a new computer in about a year and I don't want to spend $150 on an OEM version of Vista and have it locked to my current motherboard. I'm hoping that the retail Ultimate will come down in price a little bit in a year and then I might make the switch. I'd just love to switch over now, but I don't want to be locked to my current motherboard, and I can't afford the full retail version right now as I've been notified my school's bookstore will not be carrying it. Tuition comes first. :-(