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VISTA VS. XP AND FORMATTING YOUR COMPUTER!
Posts
myersguy
292
myersguy
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CloseJust a quick thread I thought I would make. Formatting your computer: the quickest and easiest way to delete everything and start anew. How often does everyone here feel that this is necessary? How often do you guys format your computers in their entirity? Do you have a method of backup for when you do this?
Me, well I feel that a format is necessary at any time that I feel a large slow in computer performance that I just can't figure out. That is happening right now. Thus, I have spent the last thirty minutes backing up everything I need to an external hard drive, and I have decided to give Vista a big middle finger. I am going to reformat my laptop to *GASP* XP. I have never tried this with my laptop before (every other time I used the vista disc that came with the laptop) and I am hoping that nothing important will stop working. The main reason I am changing back to XP? Well, I just don't feel that my laptop is as "Vista Ready" as they say it is. IT'S A CELERON 1.6 GHZ! So I say it's time to slap XP on it, and see if I get any boosts in performance (after all, most games have requirements like "1 gig of ram (2 for vista users)") So I am hoping for the best.
Other than the questions asked above, why not discuss the differences between Vista and XP? Have you used both? Did you notice any large differences in performance? Explain.
Please folks, do feel free to discuss while I format!
Me, well I feel that a format is necessary at any time that I feel a large slow in computer performance that I just can't figure out. That is happening right now. Thus, I have spent the last thirty minutes backing up everything I need to an external hard drive, and I have decided to give Vista a big middle finger. I am going to reformat my laptop to *GASP* XP. I have never tried this with my laptop before (every other time I used the vista disc that came with the laptop) and I am hoping that nothing important will stop working. The main reason I am changing back to XP? Well, I just don't feel that my laptop is as "Vista Ready" as they say it is. IT'S A CELERON 1.6 GHZ! So I say it's time to slap XP on it, and see if I get any boosts in performance (after all, most games have requirements like "1 gig of ram (2 for vista users)") So I am hoping for the best.
Other than the questions asked above, why not discuss the differences between Vista and XP? Have you used both? Did you notice any large differences in performance? Explain.
Please folks, do feel free to discuss while I format!
Shadowtext
120
author=myersguy link=topic=3161.msg61995#msg61995 date=1234753404Have you reformatted it since buying it? With laptops, like any OEM computer, the large amount of crapware that gets stuck on the thing and the just generally shoddy installations you get with them have them performing way worse than they ought to--a good wipe and reload as soon as you buy it will probably bring its performance to at least 150%.
Me, well I feel that a format is necessary at any time that I feel a large slow in computer performance that I just can't figure out. That is happening right now. Thus, I have spent the last thirty minutes backing up everything I need to an external hard drive, and I have decided to give Vista a big middle finger. I am going to reformat my laptop to *GASP* XP. I have never tried this with my laptop before (every other time I used the vista disc that came with the laptop) and I am hoping that nothing important will stop working. The main reason I am changing back to XP? Well, I just don't feel that my laptop is as "Vista Ready" as they say it is.
Post Service Pack 1, Vista's really not that bad, especially if you disable UAC and Aero and all. But the only reason to avoid going back to Windows XP is that newer devices might not have any drivers for XP.
But if you're actually buying an OS, I'd say wait for Windows 7, which will probably be out by August or so. I've been running the beta on my laptop, and I'm just very pleased with it all around. Much better resource usage than Vista, some pretty neat features (I love the libraries, for example), and seems only slightly less stable than XP--being a beta, I imagine the stability will improve for the RTM, anyway.
I work in a laptop helpdesk at my university, and we've had far more problems with Vista than XP. Mostly when it comes to the wireless network; Vista tries to search for an IPv6 address before trying IPv4, and that...does not work well. Especially when your university doesn't have an IPv6 DHCP server, and Vista just times out for no reason after failing it. We've had to resort to disabling IPv6 functionality on those computers just to get them online; otherwise, each user would have to repair their wireless adapter countless times in order to connect.
Like Shadowtext said, check to see if there are any XP drivers for your system, else you are shit out of luck. Keep in mind Vista has improved greatly over the years, and it's not a complete mess like it was before. However, the damage has been done I'd say...it will just become another distant nightmare, like Millenium Edition before it.
Like Shadowtext said, check to see if there are any XP drivers for your system, else you are shit out of luck. Keep in mind Vista has improved greatly over the years, and it's not a complete mess like it was before. However, the damage has been done I'd say...it will just become another distant nightmare, like Millenium Edition before it.
myersguy
292
UTTER FAILURE!!!
Well, I got my laptop formatted and installed XP on it, only to have my fears be realized. Yup, NO DRIVERS! Nothing works, not even the built in wireless card. Luckily I have a USB wireless adapter and install cd nearby. I am posting from a near useless machine at the moment. I tried updating drivers now that I have internet, but to no avail, since everything is just detected as "Video Adapter" and "PCI Device".
I might have to go back, NOOOOOO!
I wonder if there is a way to go back to vista, somehow pack all the drivers together onto my external, and then bring them to XP...
Well, I got my laptop formatted and installed XP on it, only to have my fears be realized. Yup, NO DRIVERS! Nothing works, not even the built in wireless card. Luckily I have a USB wireless adapter and install cd nearby. I am posting from a near useless machine at the moment. I tried updating drivers now that I have internet, but to no avail, since everything is just detected as "Video Adapter" and "PCI Device".
I might have to go back, NOOOOOO!
I wonder if there is a way to go back to vista, somehow pack all the drivers together onto my external, and then bring them to XP...
Natook
1000
The way microsoft releases an OS is by selling it as a full blown product despite it's complete crappiness, then improves on it greatly the next time around. Like ME sucked balls (consider this beta for XP), then XP was pretty good, Vista sucked (beta for 7) then 7 will most likely be pretty good.
Shadowtext
120
author=myersguy link=topic=3161.msg62029#msg62029 date=1234760683I can't give you the address, but there's at least one free downloadable utility on the internet that will detect unidentified devices and tell you their names, which should make finding drivers easier. I assume you've already tried going to the laptop manufacturer's site and searching by model or serial number for drivers?
UTTER FAILURE!!!
Well, I got my laptop formatted and installed XP on it, only to have my fears be realized. Yup, NO DRIVERS! Nothing works, not even the built in wireless card. Luckily I have a USB wireless adapter and install cd nearby. I am posting from a near useless machine at the moment. I tried updating drivers now that I have internet, but to no avail, since everything is just detected as "Video Adapter" and "PCI Device".
I might have to go back, NOOOOOO!
I wonder if there is a way to go back to vista, somehow pack all the drivers together onto my external, and then bring them to XP...
I don't know how you guys are having so many problems with Vista (or at least making it sound like it). Almost everything that I had in XP works in Vista (exceptions: La Mualana's music in one mode, a OGG codec pack, and some funny issues with MS Gothic for a bit that I worked out) and one game even worked better (Legend of Cao Cao, I can play it with any regional settings now which I couldn't with XP). I can't comment on if Vista or XP is faster because when I switched I changed everything with the only carryover being any SATA drives I had.
As for backup and wipe, I've got my OS drive on its own small partition (50/640GB) and should the need ever arise everything on the OS partition is expendable. However I've never gotten to that point where I couldn't get a computer back up to speed just by doing basic clean up of start up programs and services.
Also don't disable UAC unless you're one of those people who thinks that they don't need some sort of antivirus.
As for backup and wipe, I've got my OS drive on its own small partition (50/640GB) and should the need ever arise everything on the OS partition is expendable. However I've never gotten to that point where I couldn't get a computer back up to speed just by doing basic clean up of start up programs and services.
Also don't disable UAC unless you're one of those people who thinks that they don't need some sort of antivirus.
Shadowtext
120
author=GreatRedSpirit link=topic=3161.msg62037#msg62037 date=1234763400The UAC is more trouble than it's worth for someone who knows what he's doing, security-wise. Like a lot of Vista's features, it's there for casual users--not power users. Like a more annoying, less effective sudo.
Also don't disable UAC unless you're one of those people who thinks that they don't need some sort of antivirus.
If you regularly run programs that you download from the internet from people you don't trust, or surf websites that might be loaded with malicious code, by all means keep UAC on. Otherwise it's not worth the trouble.
Disabling it fucks up with several of Vista's security measures which I believe is completely unacceptable in today's world. Enable any UAC prompt to auto-accept but don't turn it off.
*edit*
Except in a glorious interface decision the auto-accept is one of those impossible things to find (like most of the SMF features on this forum!
)
*edit*
Except in a glorious interface decision the auto-accept is one of those impossible things to find (like most of the SMF features on this forum!
Shadowtext
120
author=GreatRedSpirit link=topic=3161.msg62040#msg62040 date=1234763714Well that's what I meant. Turn it to "low security" mode, not hack the registry or disable the service.
Disabling it fucks up with several of Vista's security measures which I believe is completely unacceptable in today's world. Enable any UAC prompt to auto-accept but don't turn it off.
myersguy
292
OR Disable it and get a good antivirus.
Also, I am back to vista. Just as a quick explination GRS, I was only trying to run XP because Vista was idling on my laptop between 5-15% when nothing extra was running. I have decided to try and disable all of the unneeded features and what have you to see if I can get it running better. Otherwise, I will just have to tough it out till this summer when I buy my beastly comp.
Also, I am back to vista. Just as a quick explination GRS, I was only trying to run XP because Vista was idling on my laptop between 5-15% when nothing extra was running. I have decided to try and disable all of the unneeded features and what have you to see if I can get it running better. Otherwise, I will just have to tough it out till this summer when I buy my beastly comp.
author=GreatRedSpirit link=topic=3161.msg62037#msg62037 date=1234763400I never had any issues with Vista.
I don't know how you guys are having so many problems with Vista (or at least making it sound like it). Almost everything that I had in XP works in Vista (exceptions: La Mualana's music in one mode, a OGG codec pack, and some funny issues with MS Gothic for a bit that I worked out) and one game even worked better (Legend of Cao Cao, I can play it with any regional settings now which I couldn't with XP). I can't comment on if Vista or XP is faster because when I switched I changed everything with the only carryover being any SATA drives I had.
As for backup and wipe, I've got my OS drive on its own small partition (50/640GB) and should the need ever arise everything on the OS partition is expendable. However I've never gotten to that point where I couldn't get a computer back up to speed just by doing basic clean up of start up programs and services.
Also don't disable UAC unless you're one of those people who thinks that they don't need some sort of antivirus.
That is, no issues after I turned UAC off. Why? Numerous reasons.
1) Prompts R DUM.
2) UAC also has some stuff integrated inside it for program files virtualization that happens to fuck up on numerous programs. Turning off UAC turns off virtualization.
3) System ran a hell of a lot better without it.
4) You don't need UAC.
5) Vista is pretty.
myersguy
292
4 and 5 are my favorites.
Also, after tweaking, I got memory usage down to about 33% when Idling, and cpu is between 0 and 5%.
Also, after tweaking, I got memory usage down to about 33% when Idling, and cpu is between 0 and 5%.
Also of note myersguy, you need to make sure that you find XP drivers ahead of time for your machine. I converted my laptop from Vista Ultimate 64 down to normal XP. Of course, some machines just don't have drivers.
author=GreatRedSpirit link=topic=3161.msg62040#msg62040 date=1234763714
Disabling it fucks up with several of Vista's security measures which I believe is completely unacceptable in today's world. Enable any UAC prompt to auto-accept but don't turn it off.
*edit*
Except in a glorious interface decision the auto-accept is one of those impossible things to find (like most of the SMF features on this forum!)
I agree with Shadow, WIP, myers, and ; most people with a competent grasp of computer security, spyware defense, and antivirus software will have no problems with the UAC on. I personally can't stand it on myself and my computer runs a lot better without it.
myersguy
292
author=WIP link=topic=3161.msg62053#msg62053 date=1234768793
Also of note myersguy, you need to make sure that you find XP drivers ahead of time for your machine. I converted my laptop from Vista Ultimate 64 down to normal XP. Of course, some machines just don't have drivers.
Any idea where I could find some of these XP drivers? I doubt they would be on the company site, seeing how the laptop was made to run Vista (even though it shouldn't have been).
author=myersguy link=topic=3161.msg62042#msg62042 date=1234764328
Also, I am back to vista. Just as a quick explination GRS, I was only trying to run XP because Vista was idling on my laptop between 5-15% when nothing extra was running. I have decided to try and disable all of the unneeded features and what have you to see if I can get it running better. Otherwise, I will just have to tough it out till this summer when I buy my beastly comp.
That was probably the indexing service noticing that your computer was idling and indexing files for searches. The memory consumed also means squat, Vista's smart enough to release memory that its holding onto for trivial stuff (like preloaded programs) when anything else needs it. Any actual performance issues you've seen could've been Vista, but CPU and Memory usage are not good indicators of performance
*edit*
Also the default image viewers in Vista suck. I completely forgot to include that in my list of issues I've had with it.
author=GreatRedSpirit link=topic=3161.msg62040#msg62040 date=1234763714
Enable any UAC prompt to auto-accept but don't turn it off.
Except in a glorious interface decision the auto-accept is one of those impossible things to find (like most of the SMF features on this forum!
Auto-accepting all the confirmation dialogs doesn't make any sense. That would be almost exactly like turning the UAC off, except you just have more overhead and loading times now.
I only format my computer when I have serious issues such as socket problems, in which you can't get online no matter what unless you format your hard-drive and install windows again. I will not discuss the differences between XP and Vista, cause I never ever seen vista before, but from what I heard XP is better.
author=Atavus Dei link=topic=3161.msg62071#msg62071 date=1234773509
Auto-accepting all the confirmation dialogs doesn't make any sense. That would be almost exactly like turning the UAC off, except you just have more overhead and loading times now.
No. Confirming that an application needs admin privliges to continue is part of UAC. Auto accepting still gives the security benefits without the biggest issues people have with UAC (well, besides this performance issue I can't comment on)
