A Request For Advice Regarding Setting Up A Sensible Basic Build With Vista

It's a Sony VAIO laptop from around 2010, which is cabled to my router.
I needed to start from scratch following a crash at the weekend (apparently a corrupt/missing hal.dll)

I know its inherently insecure but my technical knowledge is limited, so dont want to use Linux.
I won't be using it for banking/shopping/anything financial and it won't be storing any important family data/pictures etc.

So, what are your suggestions for how I configure the machine please?

Regarding the build so far, its currently going through multiple Windows updates.
I am using a 4Gb SD card with Readyboost and I've put the Epson printer driver back on.
Although the machine has been downloading Windows Updates ok, IE wont connect for some reason.
IE was problematic before and Ive been using Firefox, which seems to have been better than Chrome.

When I've got a setup that seems ok, I'd like to take an image to make the process easier next time ... could you let me know the simplest (free) way to do it please?
Is there a way to set up some sort of recovery cd which might help with problems that caused the rebuild?

Just for reference, what I was using before was:

• Antivirus: Avast (the machine is currently back in a temporary free trial with McAfee as part of the Sony OEM build)
• Scanner: Malwarebytes
• Browser: Firefox (as IE isnt working, I have downloaded version 59.2 onto another laptop in readiness)
• File transfer: SendAnywhere (this is to my son, in London)

From memory I'm not sure about specs for the machine, but I think it has 1Gb memory and 250Gb HDD. The internet is telling me that it has a mediocre for the time CPU (Pentium dual core T3200) ... I'll check when I get home.

Thanks very much!

 

You won't get a usable system with Vista. It can't run the current generation of browsers satisfactorily, and IE can't cope with modern websites, meaning many websites won't be accessible, so where will that leave you? Understandably you are shying away from Linux simply because you don't know the first thing about it. Neither do I but to alleviate boredom with Win, 10 last month I installed Manjaro in dual boot with Win 10 on my old laptop and it could hardly have been easier, even automatically enabling the wireless adapter and giving me internet access. I was very quickly in the position where there wasn't much I was able to do in Win 10 that I couldn't do in Manjaro, and it hadn't required any input from me that couldn't be supplied by common sense.

This isn't a plug for Manjaro as any of the popular Linux versions will supply a similar experience.

 

Thanks for the reply, but as I'm seeing it, my printer driver and camera utilities are supplied with Windows/Mac version discs, but not Linux.

Maybe I could go dual boot with Linux, and use it for the other main job it does? (utorrent)

What version of Linux would you recommend for this machine ... a distro which is easy to install and operate would be good.

Thanks.

 

Well I'm certainly not the best person to advise on which Linux but I can say that the version I chose - Manjaro, worked well on my six year old Thinkpad and is well supported so worth trying imo, but searching online for printer and camera drivers might influence your choice of distro. Difficulty in finding and installing drivers did hold Linux back for many years but I read that the situation is now much improved. I had no problems anyway.

Another bit of advice I would offer is to be sure to save a good system image of your Windows system before adding Linux to it. Linux is very clever at reconfiguring your boot setup so you can dual boot but if you later want to revert to just Windows it is not so simple. However restoring a pre-Linux image completely solves the problem.

So see what exists driverwise, grab a system image, and start getting your feet wet

 

If you have internet access with your Vista computer, why don't you download and try Firefox? That's what I did after I reinstalled Vista, and it works just fine.

The latest version of Firefox that will load and run on a Vista computer is version 52.9.0. And after the last of the Vista updates have been completed, there are four more updates by Microsoft that you can install. What they do is fix the operating system speed up the update process. Use Firefox to access them. You can find them at here.

 

Yes, that's where I’m at now. Firefox 52.9 is in and working fine. I'm up to SP2 for Vista now and will follow the advice you kindly linked to finish. Many thanks.

 

I strongly advise against the dual boot.

 

Why?

 

I recommend the OP try Linux Mint Mate. Linux Mint has a community of helpful people. Note that you can also search Ubuntu and Debian forums for help.

 

My main argument comes from a guy on You Tube that I have watched. I think his name is Chris Titus, but I could be off on that. He is Linux certified and he helps a lot of home users (as a business). He says that he has seen a lot of problems on dual boot Windows/ Linux.
When you are running the dual boot, the computer first boots to a screen called the grub bootloader. Sometimes Windows manages to erase or screw up the Grub bootloader. Then you basically have to reinstall the brub bootloader.

 

I doubt it applies to all versions of Windows.
I have dual-booted Windows XP & Ubuntu, as well as Windows 7 & Linux Mint without any problems.

 

Actually, the You Tuber is Joe Collins. I am not sure what his credentials are but he's pretty active with creating Linux content.
Here is the video

 

Potential problems down the road shouldn't be a cause for concern. Regular system imaging banishes such concerns.

I've run dual boots for years and haven't had the experience you describe and am confident I could recover in half an hour should it happen.

Your video appeared while typing. I'll take a look.