Chig wrote:When it's finished starting up, done downloading and updating with the latest security patch, and not crashing, you mean?
Drunken Idaho wrote:But hey, if you like spyware, virus hassles, and frequent crashes, then by all means use Windows!
In Bill's defense first:
I've not had a major issue with spyware & viruses, but that has more to more to do with my add-ons than the Windows Defender firewall that is packaged with Vista. I've had almost ZERO problems with crashes, and the problems I have had occured when trying to get Vista to run older software, usually just resulting in a lock-up. I've not really noticed a difference since the install of the Service Pack 1, which may or may not be the equivalent of Win98SE. It was a big mother, tho.
Yes, start-up is long. And I've found that Vista takes an extremely long time to load up a program that's not been used in a while. With the Win9x kernel, I always advocated frequent re-boots. With Vista, unless you have time to wait, I can't recommend re-booting until absolutely necessary. After a re-boot, frequently used programs will take awhile to get loaded - after it's been up and running awhile, tho, load times aren't that bad. I generally never close out the programs I use often. Of course, this strategy is nullified when, as in the last month, every day there is a new "update" that requires a re-boot. And whether these updates are doing any good I can't say. I just don't know enough about the NT kernel to be able to judge. I see registry value changes, but don't know what they are.
And the updates (including SP1) have not solved my major problem & complaint with Vista - it does
goofy shit.
One example that has only been occuring recently, and really pissing me off: broken shortcuts.
For no reason whatsoever that I can see,
all shortcuts, including QuickLauch, drop the "open" command and either pull up the shortcut's properties or "open file location". When this happens, drop down menu bars become disabled as well. The only solution is a reboot-n-wait. I've looked over some of the Vista forums trying to see if anyone else is having this (recent) problem, but those clusterfucks make me drink too much.
Despite claims & countless magazine articles to the contrary, the Search function is fucking useless. And the Run dialog box is just broken. The original Start menu is useless and confusing as well, I solved that with a third-party add-on Start Menu, which is totally user-configurable, but every now and then Vista will kick it off, too, requiring another reboot-n-wait. The different ways the Windows Explorer will launch, depending on which shortcut you select, is beyond comprehension. No matter how you configure the admin permissions, opening "Computer", will not allow you to access most folders. Opening the WinExplorer using the Winkey+E will allow access to
some folders. Navigating using the "breadcrumb bar" at the top of Explorer
can be useful, but only if Vista allows you access to the folders selected. (In fairness, god knows why, I may just not understand all that - I quickly became fed up with "access denied" and installed a third-party Explorer-type program, and don't worry about it anymore.)
And the User Account Controls .... well, like the first Mac commercial said, turning it off defeats its purpose. So I turned it off.
So yeah, slow & cranky, and erratic. But it sure is
pretty !
With enough patience and third-party utilities, I've made this Vista machine workable - it's like my first ex-wife, it's a bitch but I've gotten used to it. Until some strange comes along ....