Windows Vista frustrations

Serendipity
Serendipity Posts: 6,975
edited August 2007 in The Clubhouse
Just got Windows Vista on my laptop and it is incredibly buggy. Freezes and lots of error messages.

That OS with nothing loaded on it (fresh install) will take forever to start up and launch programs...on top of that, the laptop will access its HDD unnecessarily all day long!

Anybody know how to improve the performance of Vista? I've tried disabling services and removing system tray applications, to no avail...
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  • avguytx
    avguytx Posts: 1,628
    edited August 2007
    Dump it and go back to XP. That's what I'm wanting to do with my Gateway laptop that I got back in February. It works ok but there are still things that will bug the crap out of me.
    Richard? Who's your favorite Little Rascal? Alfalfa? Or is it........................Spanky?.................................Sinner.
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  • mantis
    mantis Posts: 17,185
    edited August 2007
    One of the single biggest reasons I switched to Imac. I'm so sick and tired of Windows.
    Dan
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  • AsSiMiLaTeD
    AsSiMiLaTeD Posts: 11,725
    edited August 2007
    ...and there's the obligatory comment by a Mac owner. I won't get in to this debate again, suffice it to say that I'm not on the Mac side of the fence
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  • bigyank
    bigyank Posts: 224
    edited August 2007
    Try running Linux or even Solaris x86. Depending on your requirements from an application standpoint, a good amount of Office s/w is free for either of these as well. Check out OpenOffice.org

    Yank
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  • Demiurge
    Demiurge Posts: 10,874
    edited August 2007
    Polkmaniac wrote: »
    ...and there's the obligatory comment by a Mac owner.

    for all of a week, too... :rolleyes:
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  • PolkWannabie
    PolkWannabie Posts: 2,763
    edited August 2007
    MAC's are good for some things that they do natively or in applications that are native ...

    However, there are way too many apps that were built for PC's as opposed to MAC's to make MAC's viable and to use the cross OS capabilities to run PC based apps on MAC's makes them incredibly slow. In addition PC's have many more choices when it comes to development tools ...

    As far as anyone's OS is concerned, it's never a good idea to be on the bleeding edge ... New OS' are best ignored until they at least get to SP2. As far as the tried and true Windows OS' like W2K or WXP ... Problems ? What problems ... There aren't any ...
    Rick
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  • bobman1235
    bobman1235 Posts: 10,822
    edited August 2007
    Vista requires some pretty hefty machines to run well, chances are your laptop just isn't up to snuff. The constant HD accesses are because you need way more RAM - it's just swapping everything into virtual memory continuously (which is also why everything is slow - hard drive accesses are way slower than memory accesses, and everything you do is going through the hard drive if you are using virtual memory).
    If you will it, dude, it is no dream.
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  • Serendipity
    Serendipity Posts: 6,975
    edited August 2007
    bobman1235 wrote: »
    Vista requires some pretty hefty machines to run well, chances are your laptop just isn't up to snuff. The constant HD accesses are because you need way more RAM - it's just swapping everything into virtual memory continuously (which is also why everything is slow - hard drive accesses are way slower than memory accesses, and everything you do is going through the hard drive if you are using virtual memory).

    So I should upgrade to 4GB of RAM? I currently have 2GB of RAM.
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  • bobman1235
    bobman1235 Posts: 10,822
    edited August 2007
    Oh. Well then. It was just a guess... no idea what could be wrong then.
    If you will it, dude, it is no dream.
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  • Kris Siegel
    Kris Siegel Posts: 309
    edited August 2007
    Sounds like you may have a hardware issue if you're having constant errors and hard drive access.

    Vista, just like OS X Tiger, indexes your drive when you first start to use it but that takes no time at all.

    Every Vista machine out of the box including a $400 laptop my grandparents just purchased has been very quick for me.

    If your brand new system is having that many issues, then I think you're looking at the wrong culprit.
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  • Serendipity
    Serendipity Posts: 6,975
    edited August 2007
    Kris Siegel wrote: »
    Sounds like you may have a hardware issue if you're having constant errors and hard drive access.

    Vista, just like OS X Tiger, indexes your drive when you first start to use it but that takes no time at all.

    Every Vista machine out of the box including a $400 laptop my grandparents just purchased has been very quick for me.

    If your brand new system is having that many issues, then I think you're looking at the wrong culprit.

    Hmm, when I had XP it was fine and I never had any hardware issues with it.
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  • Demiurge
    Demiurge Posts: 10,874
    edited August 2007
    appadv wrote: »
    Hmm, when I had XP it was fine and I never had any hardware issues with it.

    I haven't had any issues with Vista. It's been one of Microsoft's better OS releases right up there with XP. It's more of a resource **** than XP, as stated above, but that's just the way of the future. Terabyte hard drives and 4Gigs of RAM were just a dream a few years ago. Now they're reality.
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  • izafar
    izafar Posts: 819
    edited August 2007
    appadv wrote: »
    Hmm, when I had XP it was fine and I never had any hardware issues with it.

    This tells us that you upgraded to Vista on an existing laptop. Vista should work fine when it comes loaded from an vendor, but a user upgrade can result into issues. You can still have hardware issues as not all the hardware that worked with XP, works with Vista.

    Your option now would be to go back to XP or do detailed analysis of your current install to see whats causing the issues. As a first step make sure you main hardware has latest vista drives (i-e motherboard, chipset, graphics card, CD drive and sound card etc)
    -izafar

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  • thejck
    thejck Posts: 849
    edited August 2007
    appadv wrote: »
    So I should upgrade to 4GB of RAM? I currently have 2GB of RAM.

    if you have a 32 bit computer then 4gb of ram will be a waste. try 3 instead. something to do with the total addressing space available to windows. hard to explain.

    the OS xp or vista will only recognize around 3gb
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  • opus
    opus Posts: 1,252
    edited August 2007
    I love Vista.

    As a novice computer user ( McLoki will attest to that:rolleyes: ) I find it much easier to use, more intuitive, and easier to fix problems when they arise. You cool people that use their computers to make money may not like it but I am very happy with it.
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  • Serendipity
    Serendipity Posts: 6,975
    edited August 2007
    I'm back to XP on my laptop and it works fine.

    But another new laptop I am using with Vista pre-loaded is having the same problems now. It's a dual-core 2.0 with 2GB of RAM and Vista is still a resource hog.
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  • Bamadude
    Bamadude Posts: 245
    edited August 2007
    Here's Vista Upgrade Advisor from MS to help determine how a machine will handle the upgrade. Personally I wouldn't load Vista until at least SP1 and then only on newer certified hardware or a pre-built system.

    bamadude
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  • PolkWannabie
    PolkWannabie Posts: 2,763
    edited August 2007
    ... or at least do a FULL install ... NOT an upgrade ...
    Rick
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  • Serendipity
    Serendipity Posts: 6,975
    edited August 2007
    PolkWannabie wrote: »
    ... or at least do a FULL install ... NOT an upgrade ...

    Yes, it was a FULL install, as stated in the first post. I meant "upgrade" as in a new version of windows.
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  • SolidSqual
    SolidSqual Posts: 5,218
    edited August 2007
    I'm a former Mac owner. Never again. Somehow the mac always restricted me just when I needed connectivity or access to something the most. Macs are for people who don't want to learn how to manage a computer and tweak it to your needs. My Vista Business runs flawlessly by the way.
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  • dylan
    dylan Posts: 453
    edited August 2007
    Laptops can also be constrained by slow RPM hard drives (4200 and 5400), and Vista needs every bit of horsepower you can throw at it. On hardware made in the last year, its been a decent performer for me. As stated above, unless you're running 64-bit, 4GB of ram is a waste.

    Along the laptop lines, Vista needs good graphics performance. Do you have an onboard video card, or a 3rd party'ish one (ATI/ nVidia)?
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  • Serendipity
    Serendipity Posts: 6,975
    edited August 2007
    I use the nVidia GeForce 7600
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  • Serendipity
    Serendipity Posts: 6,975
    edited August 2007
    dylan wrote: »
    Laptops can also be constrained by slow RPM hard drives (4200 and 5400), and Vista needs every bit of horsepower you can throw at it.

    Must be the hard drive then. Most laptops (like mine) come with a 5400RPM hard drive. That would explain the constant disk accessing.
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  • dylan
    dylan Posts: 453
    edited August 2007
    What model do you have? Hard drives on laptops are usually easy to pop out and check. Most times hooked to a bezel on the side, take off a couple screws, and the whole assembly comes out.

    newegg.com has good prices on 7200 rpm drives. That's a direct relation to performance.
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  • Serendipity
    Serendipity Posts: 6,975
    edited August 2007
    It's a Fujitsu.

    But since my laptop runs fine with XP, and my new laptop runs OK with Vista, I'll just leave things alone as the saying goes "don't fix it if it ain't broke"
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  • dylan
    dylan Posts: 453
    edited August 2007
    Done and done.... I agree. I tried like hell to get Vista running on my home machine, but could not get it to work with my Creative Labs Audigy 2 pcmcia card. My home computer is a glorified stereo (USB XM, Jolida amp, RT 35's), so no audio - no worky. Went back to XP and left it at that (3 year old Dell laptop).
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