I noticed the long-running very-helpful Mac Advice thread in this forum and thought perhaps a similar thread on Vista could be useful. Now I realize that M$ is "the evil one" around here and that the mantra is "get a mac," but still - some of us have yet to see the light and choose to remain on the dark side. I know.

I've also noticed that there is a lot of misinformation about Vista commonly stated on these and other forums and it can be helpful to ask Vista users those questions rather than OSX users.

For my part - I know a fair amount about Vista. I [edit:reconsidered in light of NDA] tested it for a while and I currently use it on 2 laptops and 3 desktops in very different environments with different requirements. In addition to my IT responsibilities in my workplace, I also run a small business that does IT consulting, etc. for other small businesses. I understand that different working environments have different needs and no OS (not Vista, not OSX, not XP) is the best for all people in all places at all times.

Still, there's a bunch I don't know about Vista, but I'm guessing that in a great place like dgrin there are a lot of closet Vista users who will have the answers to any questions posed by any of you.

So ask away! We're all here to help one another.

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In that spirit I'll start off with a few (easy and widely-known) tips:

• Use the "windows" key! Man is it helpful!
  • Win+tab = 3D application switcher view
  • Win+'e' = Opens windows explorer
  • Win+'r' = Opens "run" command
  • Win+'u" = Opens "Ease of Access Center" (Screen magnifier, text to speech, etc.)
  • Win+'d' = minimize everything and show the desktop
  • Win+'f' = opens "find"
  • Win+'g' = Opens Windows Sidebar
  • Win+'l' = Locks the system (thanks Rhuarc!)
  • Win+'x' = Opens "Windows Mobility Center" (great for notebooks!)

Great idea!

Originally Posted by wxwax Great idea!

I second that. Oh, and I am lovin' it over here on the dark side

One key to avoiding computing misery and heartbreak can be summed up in three words: backup, backup, and backup. (For proof, see: http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=73825)

There is one app out there that I think all Windows users should have installed, configured, and running daily: SyncBack. There is a 100% free version which I have installed on all my computers. With it you can set up automatic backups with all kinds of options (include and exclude sub-folders, file types, etc). You can backup to local drives or networked drives.

My backup routine looks like this:

Backup all image and document folders via syncback nightly at 2:00am to a network drive on my main computer (all 5 family computers back up to this drive).

Backup the "backup drive" to an external hard disk daily at 5:00am.

Backup the external drive to my hosted web space. Forget paying for special "online backup" sites - just get webspace. I pay $7/month for Bluehost web hosting. That gets me 300 GB worth of hosting space that I can access via HTTP or FTP. WHAT A DEAL!!!

This way I have 3 copies of my important stuff at my house (on three different hard drives), and one copy on Bluehost's servers. Total cost? About $250 up front for the huge hard drives (500GB SATA and 500GB USB External) and $7/month for Bluehost. Knowing my stuff is as safe as can be? Priceless.

Total brain damage? None. With SyncBack all the backups are done without any input from me.

Hi Paul,

And thanks for inserting some sanity in this ...

I have used both PCs and Macs for years and, quite frankly, have never really seen the big difference; especially in my world of video and TV production. So I've stayed on PCs since I never have been able to justify paying 3 - 4 times as much money to do the same job. But that's just me. Many like that cool apple logo.

You and I communicated a while back on my concerns about Vista (or any 1.0 version of anything), and I recently went ahead and pulled the trigger on a new PC with Vista, mostly because my slow, 1GB Ram machine was driving me crazy and the pricing on the PCs were justifiable. Computer is an HP a6230n with an AMD Athlon 62 x2 5600+ processor, 3GB RAM and added another 160 GB HD to use as PSCS3 scratch disk, though it doesn't seem to need it with that much RAM. And other than a few hick-ups, I have to say I'm very happy with Vista so far, especially for a new OS. But it does have a few quirks as well:

1. My monitor profile, calibrated using Spyder 2 Express and set as default, does not always load up on first booting the computer. It will finally load if rebooted, but is inconsistent. I usually “close” the computer at night using Sleep mode, so this isn’t a big deal. But comes up when new programs are introduced and need to reboot.

2. In PSCS3, I sometimes lose the Brush boundaries and end up with a cross-hair only. This can even happen when using the Brush, but seems to happen sometimes when I switch tools and then come back to a Brush. Again, rebooting clears this up.

3. Not really a photo / imaging thing but ... I seem to be unable to get Norton to run a scan when the computer is in Sleep mode. I realize that the Task Scheduler has an area to tell it to wake up the computer to run this, but it hasn't worked and when I return to Task Scheduler, the check-box for waking up is no longer checked. Not the worse thing in the world, but would like to run this in the middle of the night when the computer is in Sleep mode.
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But here’s the good news that has always kept me in PCs (for personal, anyway): I ran the Photoshop Benchmark Tests that are in Dgrin here, and my $650.00 PC has pretty much the same scores as the iMacs and Macbook Pros costing 3+ times as much. Of course, I don’t have iLife, I do spend $35.00 a year for Norton and no one likes the logo on my computer. But now I can afford that new Nikon D300 and twice as many pixels as my current D70.

Thanks for any input on the problems I mentioned.

Mick,

Glad to hear it's working out well for you!

I wish I had something to offer on your problems, but:

1) I don't calibrate my monitor, but this sounds like a MS bug. Have you reported it to them?

2) I don't use PSCS3, but it sounds like something Adobe needs to fix more than MS.

3) DUMP NORTON! No, seriously. It's $35/year, it's a memory hog, and I find it to be buggy on almost every computer I find with it. Avast! is great and free. AOL gives away McAfee for free. If you like paying for software (just for the thrill of it I guess) Kapersky is really good. (I use Avast! on all my machines, YMMV!)

My benchmark tests have always been impressive as well (on desktops, not notebooks because I buy ones with cheaper processors and graphics cards). My Intel computer screams and I'm loving it!

Re: iLife. I have iTunes (and I think it stinks, though it's much, much better than WMP!). Vista's photo management is good enough for me (not that I use it) when compared to iPhoto. Windows Movie Maker (Vista version, not XP version) is also fine for me. Garage band...well, there's just no PC comparison that I've ever found, but I can live without it.

Thanks for the speedy reply, Paul.

Originally Posted by Pupator I don't calibrate my monitor, but this sounds like a MS bug. Have you reported it to them?

You don't? You should (this is probably the only chance I'll have to advise you ) Anyway, will report it and I'm expecting many fixes with SP1.

Originally Posted by Pupator I don't use PSCS3, but it sounds like something Adobe needs to fix more than MS.

You don't? You should (oops). This I will also report or check with Adobe.

Originally Posted by Pupator DUMP NORTON! No, seriously. It's $35/year, it's a memory hog, and I find it to be buggy on almost every computer I find with it. Avast! is great and free. AOL gives away McAfee for free. If you like paying for software (just for the thrill of it I guess) Kapersky is really good. (I use Avast! on all my machines, YMMV!).

This I will check out for sure. I've never had many problems with Norton, but, hey, $35 is $35. Thanks for the tip. Do you know if Avast will run okay coming out of sleep mode? Or is it a problem I'm having with the set-up?

Originally Posted by Pupator Re: iLife. I have iTunes (and I think it stinks, though it's much, much better than WMP!).

Yea, we have iTunes as well, for my wife's iPod. Being in Northern California, it's the law - at least one iPod per household or they take away your Starbucks card.

Thanks again, and good to hear from you.

Originally Posted by HarlanBear Yea, we have iTunes as well, for my wife's iPod. Being in Northern California, it's the law - at least one iPod per household or they take away your Starbucks card.

I'm glad we have this thread here now...I just got a laptop with Vista. It's taken some getting used to, but I've liked it so far. Haven't found too many bug issues yet.

Just a clarification of one of the shortcuts the original poster had. As far as I know Win+L just locks the system, it doesn't actually logout. Correct me if I'm wrong! I just know if I use that combo then type in my password I am back in and all my programs are running like they were.

Originally Posted by Rhuarc Just a clarification of one of the shortcuts the original poster had. As far as I know Win+L just locks the system, it doesn't actually logout. Correct me if I'm wrong! I just know if I use that combo then type in my password I am back in and all my programs are running like they were.

Correct! Good find and I'll update the post!

Originally Posted by HarlanBear Yea, we have iTunes as well, for my wife's iPod. Being in Northern California, it's the law - at least one iPod per household or they take away your Starbucks card. Thanks again, and good to hear from you.

Is it just my experience, or does iTunes run like complete junk on Vista? Scrolling through the library is a crawling, stuttery mess.

Other than that, I've been using Lightroom with no problems. Running LR on 1gb of ram is doable, but not painless. @gb is much, much better. Good thing that ram is nearly free these days.

Originally Posted by TylerW Is it just my experience, or does iTunes run like complete junk on Vista? Scrolling through the library is a crawling, stuttery mess.

We've had no problems or issues with iTunes on the new Vista machine. Though we did download the newest version, which, for some reason, I was unable to do on the old XP machine. Upon download (Version 7?) it linked just fine to the music library I transferred from the XP machine and we had tunes. Sync with my wife's iPod was also fine. Do you have the latest version of iTunes?

iTunes runs slowly for me, but it did that on XP as well. I don't think it's able to handle really large libraries. Still with an iPod classic for me, a 4th gen for my wife, and my iPhone - I don't really have many other options.

I agree completely about RAM. 2GB is the magic number for Vista. 1GB is okay for my media pc (because it doesn't do anything except stream media and small amounts of surfing), but 2GB makes Vista cook!

I've looked at all the settings and tried to look for a solution for this... whenever I boot up the computer, the start menu has all the default programs back, no matter how many times I remove them. I went to customize start menu and unchecked default programs but they still come back. The ones I've "pinned" to the start menu are fine though. But the recently run programs always get replaced by the default ones, which is annoying. Anyone know how to 'fix' this?

Originally Posted by JenW I've looked at all the settings and tried to look for a solution for this... whenever I boot up the computer, the start menu has all the default programs back, no matter how many times I remove them. I went to customize start menu and unchecked default programs but they still come back. The ones I've "pinned" to the start menu are fine though. But the recently run programs always get replaced by the default ones, which is annoying. Anyone know how to 'fix' this?

The "default programs" box you're checking doesn't do what you think it does. It is not related to the programs that appear on the left side of your start menu (the most frequently used + pinned), it relates to the link it adds on the right side of the start menu called "default programs" where you set which extensions are opened by which programs.


To do what you want, right click on each application in the start menu that you DON'T want to appear and then left click on "Remove from this list." Rinse and repeat for each item you don't want and soon that list will be populated by the items you do want.

Thanks for the info on the default programs box. I've done what you suggested by removing each item from the list and it does get repopulated, but then when the computer gets restarted the old default stuff is back. How can I make them stay gone?

Odd. I can't replicate the problem on my computer, but I've found a few threads on various messages boards where people had the same problem. They don't offer any solutions either.

Try opening and closing your favorite programs 4-5 times each and see if you can bump them off the list.

What programs are we talking about anyway? Media Center, File and Settings Transfer, etc....?

Also, try (in the settings menu you were in before) changing the number of programs displayed to 0 or 1. Then reboot and change it back to 5-6 (or whatever).

Also, what happens if you set that number at 7-8 and then just "pin" your 7-8 favorite programs there. Do they go away too?

It's nice to see that there are other pleased Vista users out there.
I got my new Dell with Vista home premium in march and have been pleased overall. As far as organizing photos,making slideshow DVD's Ilike it, I don't have photoshop but use Paint Shop Pro XI and works for my needs so far.
Thanks for the tips.

Originally Posted by jdmphoto It's nice to see that there are other pleased Vista users out there. I got my new Dell with Vista home premium in march and have been pleased overall. As far as organizing photos,making slideshow DVD's Ilike it, I don't have photoshop but use Paint Shop Pro XI and works for my needs so far. Thanks for the tips.

You're welcome. I'm a big PSP advocate as well. I've been using it since version 4 and am now on X2. (I was happy with XI, but with coupons was able to upgrade to X2 for $30, so I figured "Why not?," ya know?)

Don't forget to offer your Vista tips and tricks as well!

Can't believe you bogarted my thread title!
Typical Winders user, have to copy everything that Mac does