Microsoft Vista Problems
Good Ole MS Vista. The black sheep of the family. The unloved runt of the litter.
But those Vista machines aren’t that old and can still run pretty good. So a lot of people are still stuck with it and will battle on for another year or two or (perish the thought) a bit longer than that.
As someone who works with computers all day every day I have machines running XP and Windows 7 but I will avoid their middle brother like the plague.
The Vista Release really did Microsoft no favors. It enhanced their reputation for rush releasing buggy software and I suspect it ended up pushing a lot of users into Apple’s open arms.
I admit I have been tempted to buy Apple but the contrarian in me hates to go with the popular opinion and so I battle on with MS and my Nokia phone …LOL
They should have developed it for another couple of years and I think if we had got Windows 6 instead then we would all have been a lot happier.
As a matter of interest I just checked Facebook to see if there was a Windows Vista Fanclub. But Zilch, Nada, Nothing. And Facebook has Fanclubs for everything and anything under the sun… but not one single solitary person bothered to set up a Vista appreciation society. I think I might set one up just for a hoot! I’ll let you know when I get round to it.
So What are the Vista Problems?
Well they are numerous and to detail them all would probably bore you to sleep. But a few of the major issues include
Those Constant Vista Updates.
If you ever reinstall Vista you will get a real eye opener to the number of patches and fixes that have been applied to this from when it first came out. They are seemingly endless. Two service packs which have to be applied one on top of the other……why could we not just have the latest one that does everything a la XP Service Pack 3. Then hundreds of security updates and tweaks. It would just wear you out.
Most people call us for a computer repair after these Vista updates have gone wrong. I have seen so many cases of the automatic updates hanging at around 33% and not able to complete.
Sure you can try roll backs and returning the computer to a restore point but my experience is that these rarely work successfully and you are best to back up the crucial data and restore the machine to its factory settings.
And that’s when all the updating starts in earnest!
The Vista Settings
After moving from XP it can be really hard to find what your looking for on Vista. The buried display settings are seemingly buried deep and hiding settings from users just frustrates them. You have to right click on your desktop and go down to Display Settings but if you have a large display of at least 1024 x 768 you won’t have to scroll to find it.
The Powertoys are gone.
So many people used to use the resize powertoy on XP that it baffles me why they never replaced like for like. I know that you can now get a clone but you have to search for it from a third party supplier and this is too much hassle for many.
The Explorer Browser
I think that’s the thing I hate most on Vista.
Its badly designed. It is hard to find the directory and it just lacks an intuitive feel.
It wont show the columns for file details in the correct order, even if I change it. It shows Date-Type-Size, rather than Size-Type-Date
I can’t seem to easily show/hide the folders pane, and this was useful.
The Backspace doesn’t go up a directory, it goes “back” to the last one you were in (does that make sense in a folder tree structure). There is the Alt-Up function , but you don’t think of that instinctively.
Alt+Enter only works on the right pane for some odd reason! Crazy
Not ready to replace Vista.
So despite all these issues with Vista many are not ready to just get rid of it just yet.
The best solution to get the most of Vista is to format the drive and re-install from scratch. This will remove any lurking virus on the hard drive.
It will also give you a clean de-fragmented hard drive to install the OS on.
With a fresh install you should get at least another couple of years out of the machine and while your doing this it is always a good idea to add additional RAM which significantly boosts your machines performance.
To have your vista problems fixed and your machine upgraded okComputer based in Calgary can help. Just contact us on 587-718-0196 or via the website at okcomputer.ca
