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Published on November 7, 2007 By Dan Greene In Personal Computing
I've had an OEM copy of Vista Ultimate 64 bit version, with all the updates installed expect the foreign language ones, for about a month now. This article details the features which I do not like.

7. Instant search tool, great useless tool, the constant indexing of my hard drive has not actually made it any easier to find what I was looking for. Sure if know the exact name of a file or the general size yeah I can save time because I don't have to wait for a search to complete, but I generally have to do several searches to find what I am looking for. Still not very helpful

6. Inconsistent loading of the OS. I turned on my comp when I came home and just let it sit, didn't log in nothing, went to watch some tv for a bit, had dinner, came back to a blank screen, a solid on harddrive light and dvd rw drive light on solid, no signal to the monitor. I pressed the spacebar, wiggled the mouse, tried esc, then CRTL + ALT + DEL, nothing changed. I had to reboot because Vista feel off a cliff while I wasn't using it. Fucking lame.

5. UAC, nuff said, annoying as fuck, turning it off, in my system tray the red shield icon sits, unable to ever get that out of there, every once in a while when Vista feels like pushing my buttons, it pops up like the robot from lost in space "DANGER DANGER" whatever. When you turn off a feature in Windows it should go away, and bother you no longer. Not the UAC, I'm sure there is a hack, but I am seriously not motivated enough to figure it out cause I am just gonna scrap Vista if SP1 doesn't radically change my mind.

4. I hate with Vista, that sometimes programs like Yahoo messenger, lock up or crash, Doom3 has done it, and it brings the OS down as well, Like I can CRTL + ALT + DEL and get to the menu of options, which are all bad execpt the task manager, which is the only thing I wanna see pop up when it happens, but when messenger dies for whatever reason, it locks the whole OS up. On XP with this same rig, via my quad core, I could just select the process, and kill it, and restart Messenger, with Vista, I can't get the power of the 3 cpus not maxxed out, to the task manager. That's bullshit Microsoft!

3. Disk utilities, specifically the defragmenter, I'll run that, then I'll run the Aus logic disk defrag, and get another 5-10% better defrag from doing that, WTF?

2. Lack of extras and I mean serious lack. There is no Windows Virus scanning, so I use AVG, but with Windows having historical vulnerability to viruses you'd think that they would be interested in providing a free anti-virus for people running Vista, but my biggest lack of extra falls into the category of Word Processing. There is no MS WORD, no EXCEL, nothing, on the "Ultimate" copy of Vista. Basically you spend $200 on an OS, and then you can spend another $150-$600 on word processing software? Seriously, a computers primary job used to be word processing and it has never really gotten away from that. Imagine, a coffee maker that doesn't brew coffee anymore, but controls your television. Where the hell is Microsoft on the ball on this one?

1. Slowness, I hate that this OS runs slower, and bogs itself down, on a monster system. It is probably more secure and maybe more stable than XP, but I was doing fine with XP SP2, security wise, and stability wise, and experiencing much more responsive OS tasking, and switching between what I was doing. Vista is all bullshit when it says you can do more with more.

There are only two benefits that Vista has going for it, one is DX10 and DX10.1, and being able to handle more than 4 GB RAM. That's it. I have decided that everything else about Vista is either pure fluff or less than the value offered by XP.

[MOVED FROM BELOW DUE TO JU's PISS POOR EDITING SCHEME]

Well here are a few things I would have included in the Vista Ultimate package.

1. Better Speech Recognition The Vista Speech Recognition menu is slightly faster but it doesn't seem to recognize my speech any more effectively than XP. Which is sad. Gates said that he saw us using verbal speech to communicate with our computers much more than typing way back in the 70's/80's. For sure it would be faster and more efficient than typing. My first experience with speech recognition was in the days for a 500 mhz cpu. Then again with my single core 2.4 ghz processor. Now that I have a quad core, of which Vista mostly doesn't utilize, the experience has not significantly improved. This type of a program could/would vastly improve the versatility of an OS. It would also give Windows a feature other OS's don't have setting them apart.

2. Real Word Processing: MS WORD Where is the Word Processor for Vista? Oh yeah it's in another $500 upgrade package aside from the OS. What bullshit. They don't even include the back burner Microsoft Works anymore. They could have at least given the user MS WORD 97 or 2003 or something instead of nothing with ULTIMATE! What they did give you is the antiquated notepad which doesn't even "nextline" properly but reads text files great. Except for the free Textpad program which works even better and opens more different kinds of text files. Wordpad was also included but it's the same Wordpad as WIN95. Really is that what I'm paying for with Ultimate, a word processor that was midrange 13 years ago?

3. Faster and better performance than the previous OS Really instead of the whole sidebar crap they could have bumped the speed of the a window closing or opening from the half second you see, to something like a tenth of a second, increased the size of the red X bar so when you wanna close something, you close it on the first try every time, and instead of just renaming everything from XP to Vista, they should have errorer on the side of making fewer changes to names of things, because now everybody has to learn a whole new OS again. If I was going to have the sidebar, the first thing I'd have in there is a google map of where the computer is at, instead of a second clock, 4 inches above my digital clock on the system tray. Real big benefit Microsoft.

4. Driver Support for EVERYTHING I mean everything, Microsoft is the biggest company in the industry, they have an OS which is the basis for everything to run on and 3rd party devs to develop for, not the other way around. Vista, should have included all the drivers that XP had for programs and hardware, and automatically emulated 32bit mode when necessary. So that end users, i.e. me, don't have to go digging online to find drivers for stuff that works with XP just fine. On a 15 gigabyte install, there wasn't room for a folder with these updates/drivers?

5. Real Backward Compatibility With an Ultimate copy, or "Premium level copy" of anything, there should be support for programs that originally ran on older copies of Microsoft OS's. Start with DOS and work your way up. This should come standard, with Vista Ultimate and why not. Obviously end users aren't going to be able to remember every thing they run on XP or Win 2000 that ran on older stuff like 98SE, 95, and DOS. There are a very few but select programs that people keep and run be it because of older machines or just low IT budgets. Whatever, there is a need to run older stuff and that capability should be with Vista at the "Premium level copy" of the OS.

Comments (Page 6)
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on Nov 11, 2007
Vista is Windows 5, really, isn't it? Can't wait for Windows 6. The odd numbers always suck.
on Nov 11, 2007
I was an ME survivor. XP was the best thing that ever happened to me.

I had no intentions of getting Vista. I didn't need it at all. However, in order to keep up with Windowblinds, I got it. I don't regret it now.

I am booted into XP right now, only because I can.    I'll be going back to Vista after XP is finished updating and then I will probably be a long time before I see XP again.

The Aero GUI is very nice and I have no desire to change from that right now. WB wasn't working smoother than Aero so it has been uninstalled.

Old programs that shouldn't work with Vista ..do.

I got Vista so I could skin it and now I don't want to.   


Fuzzy Logic.... Great discovery on the margins.   
on Nov 11, 2007
Yanno what I hate about Vista? People who visit threads clearly titled "7 things I hate about Vista", and then whine about the author whining about Vista.

In my extremely arrogant, biased opinion, choice is a GOOD thing. Not everyone needs the same thing out of their computer, and hardware specs vary widely. Personally, I'm quite happy that choices in operating systems are beginning to come about. That way, everyone wins.
on Nov 11, 2007
I had no intentions of getting Vista. I didn't need it at all. However, in order to keep up with Windowblinds, I got it. I don't regret it now.


Glad to hear everything is well, NT.

I didn't really want to change the Aero-GUI either, but after a while it just gets too bored and you'll want a different look. You'll see...
on Nov 11, 2007
Yanno what I hate about Vista? People who visit threads clearly titled "7 things I hate about Vista", and then whine about the author whining about Vista


That all? What I hate...er, dislike about Vista, is those people who visit threads entitled '7 Things I Hate About Vista' and whine about people whining about the author whining about Vista.

As for the choice thing, I'd have to agree with your extremely arrogant and biased opinion and categorically state that choice in the computer world is the best thing for consumers because: (a) choices help keep prices in check; ( it keeps developers honest & innovative, and (c) we can select what suits us best from the available options.

Heaven forbid Microsoft actually became the 'evil' monopoly and denied us this freedom.

"I hate Vista haters cos they never leave the toilet seat as they found it and never replace empty toilet rolls."

Um ok.


The trouble with having your tongue firmly planted in your cheek is that the next sentence or two most often comes out all skew-whiff and mangled ....asked for stir-fry chicken for dinner and ended up with frozen strawberry yoghurt & pickled onions.

Actually, Dan, you're quite entitled to whine about Vista if you like, especially if it's not performing as you'd like/need, but please be aware that there are some nuts around here (I shan't mention any names) who'll have some fun at your expense.
on Nov 11, 2007
call me Acorn
on Nov 11, 2007

Vista is Windows 5, really, isn't it? Can't wait for Windows 6. The odd numbers always suck.


Vista is Windows 6, XP is 5.1, 2000 is 5.
on Nov 11, 2007
"Actually, Dan, you're quite entitled to whine about Vista if you like, especially if it's not performing as you'd like/need, but please be aware that there are some nuts around here (I shan't mention any names) who'll have some fun at your expense."

Well there'll be more then a few, who read it, and decide to just wait on Vista, which is what I would have done, had I read my article. Unfortunately I sometimes have to try things myself against the intel and insight from others.

Vista is not a better choice than much XP that is clear. A different choice but better nope.
on Nov 11, 2007
Vista is not a better choice than much XP that is clear. A different choice but better nope.

See, thats just YOUR OPINION which happens to be shared by a few. Most who have switched over seem to like Vista more then XP and like myself have had NO problems with it. Its not slower then XP for me, it doesn't bog my system down in any way (even with dreams, photoshop and more running), programs open faster and smoother then in XP and the OS itself is more secure and less buggy then XP.

This is the reason I think your getting 'backlash'. Many more have had little to no problems then those who have. Granted as with any program a computer configurations (hardware and software) and just how much the individual likes to try their hand at being a 'Power User' (as well as many more factors) are going to effect each ones experience. Its all personal taste.....

on Nov 11, 2007
Many more have had little to no problems then those who have.


I find that hard to believe. I personally know around 10 people that have installed \ bought a machine with it on... every single one of them has let me know how much they regretted it. Thats 100% That is also not including all the skinners I know who despise it.

Of course, your experience may differ.
on Nov 11, 2007

Many more have had little to no problems then those who have.


I find that hard to believe.


I don't.
on Nov 11, 2007
Yeah of the numerous people who I have talked to who have given Vista a go all but one has liked it and that one person didn't have problems with it, they just liked XP more is all.

Now so far as skinning it... my quarrels with it have nothing to do with Vista itself but rather SKS6 (finding a specific 'item' in 6 seems to be more of a pain then in 5). Other then that its just more parts and pieces.
on Nov 11, 2007
I think a lot of the hate towards UAC is uninformed. UAC is indeed a feature in Vista. It only gives you admin rights when you need them. This literally bricks a lot of spyware and malware and it won't work properly. Leave it on. I'd much rather let Microsoft annoy me than some third world spyware developer who has everything to gain.
on Nov 11, 2007

I find that hard to believe. I personally know around 10 people that have installed \ bought a machine with it on... every single one of them has let me know how much they regretted it


The biggest/most common factor there is that many 'bought' machines are supposedly Vista ready, but in fact are below par/grossly underpowered with only 512mb RAM...thus it will crap its daks because resources are depleted prior to startup.

I've also seen where people have installed Vista on machines with marginal resources and found the same thing: sluggish behaviour and crashing due to insufficient resources. For example; a friend has Vista installed on 3.2ghz p4 with 2gigs of RAM, but his graphics card is only a 128mb Nvidia 6600GS, and therefore it lags, stalls and freezes because the card draws heavily on CPU and RAM to support the Aero GUI. When 'classic' is enabled, his machine runs reasonably fast and does not freeze/crash, etc.

For those with 'truly' Vista ready PC's, however, with more than adequate resources, the experience is (usually) quite the opposite and those users are more than satisfied with the OS.

on Nov 11, 2007
Vista runs wonderfully in my virtual machine. The only "dog" on performance is on the graphics end because virtual machines don't see the graphics accelerator. But considering it has to run INSIDE my host O/S, I'm actually fairly impressed with its performance.

But it will still be awhile before I run my main machine on Vista.
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