I have been using Vista Premium intensively for one year now and am very satisfied. Of course there are better interfaces for operating systems (in the sense "more flexible", "more customizable") such as KDE on Linux...but Vista does the job. Only issue I had with Vista: whenever I used some home-made apps or non well known programs, they wont work...which is expected since Microsoft has hardened security in regards with non conformed apps.
Windows Vista: good or bad?
- Thread starter argon27
- Start date
Network problems are solved, that was an issue with the port forwarding, real easy to fix.
Just curious, did you tryeMule, limewire or something similars?
Does they work?
I wil receive the new computer in a few week.
If ever vista is a pain in the ass for me, there is a way to downgrade to Windows XP?
Just curious, did you tryeMule, limewire or something similars?
Does they work?
I wil receive the new computer in a few week.
If ever vista is a pain in the ass for me, there is a way to downgrade to Windows XP?
You should have no problem with them but I hope you realize that Limewire is more a virus distribution center these days than anything else. The best way to download anything is by using torrent. Any of the usual p2p networks are risky at best when it comes to virus problems and many times the file you download is not what you expected it to be.
And if you decide you don't like Vista, I would load a version of Linux on it before going down to XP. 64 bit version of Ubuntu would be nice on a quad core but XP on a quad core system would be like putting bicycle tires on a Ferrari. Yes...I actually said that. XP was a fine operating system but it's 7 years old now and it's time to leave it behind when buying a new system.
Techman
Techman said:Doc, it really sounds like your burner is toast. Considering the price of a new one, around 40 bucks or so, it would be a worthwhile upgrade even if it turns out to be a software bug.
And by the way...nearly 4 years is quite old in computer terms.
I've used different types of software & it seems to have the same problem. However, i can still burn regular blank CDs. It's just the DVDs that i can't burn. I wasn't aware that a new drive for my laptop was only around $40, thanks. And yeah, you're correct....4 years is actually old in computer terms.
Hi Doc, I didn't realize that you had a laptop. A replacement drive will be more than 40 bucks but I would need the make and model to check for an approximate price. But it does seem that it would solve your problem. If you can burn cd but not dvd the chances are really high that it is the drive that is defective. If your system is over 4 years old, it may not be worth paying the price to replace it and an alternative might be an external DVD burner. You can get one on special at futureshop for 59 bucks at the moment.
http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?sku_id=0665000FS10107475&catid=23794&logon=&langid=EN
http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?sku_id=0665000FS10107475&catid=23794&logon=&langid=EN
Well, the darnest thing just happened......i burnt a dvd!!!
I took your advice & began shopping for a new dvd burner. By the way, i have a Dell Inspiron 700M. First, i had to find out which brand of drive i had. I ran my Tune-Up Utilities program & it turns out i have a NEC dvd/rw drive. So i google the drive & a bunch of stuff shows up, including links to sites where i can download drivers for my drive. I figure i better go to Dell's webpage & try to download the drivers from there....i figure the drivers that i can get from 3rd party sites might either be the wrong drivers or have viruses.
So i'm at the Dell support page & download the drivers. I figure "why not?", just in case this would do the trick. I had checked how much the cost of replacing my drive would be & it was over $100, which made me wonder if i should bother at all since i'll probably buy another laptop within the next year or two. Anyways, I run the file. Reboot the computer. Slap a blank dvd inside the drive. Click on the file i want to burn & my "Magic ISO" program comes on. I chose the "burn dvd" option & wait. To my surprise, the light on my dvd comes on....and it stays on!! I listen to the drive & i can hear it running. I haven't seen this happening in nearly a year!!!!!
About 15 minutes or so later, the program stops copying & the disc ejects. This used to happen even when the drive wasn't burning, so i'm still apprehensive. I look at the back of my disc & it actually looks new & like nothing has been burned on it. I'm depressed again. Anyways, i slap my disc inside my dvd player which is connected to my lcd tv next to my computer & suddenly The Sopranos come on. It worked!!!! I can't believe it, it worked!
Anyways, i'd like to thank you for taking the time to figure out my problem & the suggestions. If i hadn't got the idea to start looking for another dvd drive, i never would have arrived (or thought about) at the drivers page. Not only that, but i've finally fixed my monitor's resolution. For some reason, I wasn't able to obtain the monitor's top resolution since i've been back from holidays. After getting the drive working, i decided to unplug the monitor, reboot & start all over & get the proper settings for the laptop before plugging my external monitor again. Plugged it back in, rebooted & guess what? The resolution i've been looking for is now available among the resolution's menus. My day is going great!
Thanks again!
p.s. I probably would have considered buying the external burner or buy an expensive drive from Ebay, but i don't burn dvd's very often with my computer.
I took your advice & began shopping for a new dvd burner. By the way, i have a Dell Inspiron 700M. First, i had to find out which brand of drive i had. I ran my Tune-Up Utilities program & it turns out i have a NEC dvd/rw drive. So i google the drive & a bunch of stuff shows up, including links to sites where i can download drivers for my drive. I figure i better go to Dell's webpage & try to download the drivers from there....i figure the drivers that i can get from 3rd party sites might either be the wrong drivers or have viruses.
So i'm at the Dell support page & download the drivers. I figure "why not?", just in case this would do the trick. I had checked how much the cost of replacing my drive would be & it was over $100, which made me wonder if i should bother at all since i'll probably buy another laptop within the next year or two. Anyways, I run the file. Reboot the computer. Slap a blank dvd inside the drive. Click on the file i want to burn & my "Magic ISO" program comes on. I chose the "burn dvd" option & wait. To my surprise, the light on my dvd comes on....and it stays on!! I listen to the drive & i can hear it running. I haven't seen this happening in nearly a year!!!!!
About 15 minutes or so later, the program stops copying & the disc ejects. This used to happen even when the drive wasn't burning, so i'm still apprehensive. I look at the back of my disc & it actually looks new & like nothing has been burned on it. I'm depressed again. Anyways, i slap my disc inside my dvd player which is connected to my lcd tv next to my computer & suddenly The Sopranos come on. It worked!!!! I can't believe it, it worked!
Anyways, i'd like to thank you for taking the time to figure out my problem & the suggestions. If i hadn't got the idea to start looking for another dvd drive, i never would have arrived (or thought about) at the drivers page. Not only that, but i've finally fixed my monitor's resolution. For some reason, I wasn't able to obtain the monitor's top resolution since i've been back from holidays. After getting the drive working, i decided to unplug the monitor, reboot & start all over & get the proper settings for the laptop before plugging my external monitor again. Plugged it back in, rebooted & guess what? The resolution i've been looking for is now available among the resolution's menus. My day is going great!
Thanks again!
p.s. I probably would have considered buying the external burner or buy an expensive drive from Ebay, but i don't burn dvd's very often with my computer.
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I've got the new computer (inspiron530) for a week now and I'm very happy with it, Vista need to download at leat 100 update at the frist startup but after that, every thing work well, and it's a lot faster than my previous setup (celeron 1300 mhz 450 mb RAM)
Thanks for your advice guys.
but after that, every thing work well, and it's a lot faster than my previous setup (celeron 1300 mhz 450 mb RAM)Thanks for your advice guys.
argon27 said:I've got the new computer (inspiron530) for a week now and I'm very happy with it, Vista need to download at leat 100 update at the frist startup
Thanks for your advice guys.
I hope you had a firewall between yourself and the Internet before downloading the updates. The BBC tried an experiment, and found an unprotected (updated) computer was infected and owned within seven minutes. Good luck with that Vista thing. Do let us know how it turns out.
YouVantOption said:
I've tested that personally many times and surfing the net will infect an unprotected XP system within about 2 minutes depending on what sites you go to. Using Microsoft Update is totally safe though, and Vista is pretty close to immune to common virus and malware infections. I don't even run a realtime scan AV on my system.
Techman said:
Totally safe? nothing is totally safe. Given the current DNS poisoning crisis and the non-theoretical possibility of redirecting to a malware site intended to infect (no, the firewall wouldn't protect you under such circumstances), I'd say there is a significant threat.
Common malware. Well, there are enough hits via google for virus + vista to say the results give me pause, but sure. Vista exploits are a lot less common. Why? because Xp is such a POS, and virus-writers get more bang for their buck.
With Vista's user account control system, no program can install itself without the user's permission. Internet Explorer runs in a sandbox which prevents malicious code from infecting the system. To date there have been no examples of any code being able to bypass either protection without a user's permission. Combine that with an excellent integrated firewall and a decent third party AV and you have a pretty safe system.
While my XP clients continue to have numerous problems with malware, I have not had any of my Vista clients come down with a malware problem yet. And this is after more than a year and a half. I would say that's a pretty good sign.
Techman
EDIT: The Vista users that do have problems are those who turn off the UAC because they are bothered by the occasional notice that pops up. This leaves their system totally open to attack.
While my XP clients continue to have numerous problems with malware, I have not had any of my Vista clients come down with a malware problem yet. And this is after more than a year and a half. I would say that's a pretty good sign.
Techman
EDIT: The Vista users that do have problems are those who turn off the UAC because they are bothered by the occasional notice that pops up. This leaves their system totally open to attack.
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YouVantOption said:
That's thrue, with XP, I did a complete format on my old computer and I re-install XP....I connect to the internet to get all the update done, the firewall wasn't active...it took less than 2 minute to get infected!!!!
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