Entries Tagged 'Windows Vista' ↓

Yesterday, around 7:00 PM Eastern Time, the last known instance of Windows ME was put to rest. At least that’s how it felt to me. You see my parents (two very bright people I’ll have you know) have been running Windows ME for the past seven years, to my horror. Saturday night they finally purchased a new computer and Sunday night I had everything set up for them.

I had begged my parents for years to upgrade to Windows XP, but they never got around to it. In that timespan, they went through three computer monitors, and “the computer is running so slow” phone calls to their loving son. My reply was always, “you need to upgrade”. When Vista launched, I knew they were going to need new hardware as there was no way their old Dell would be able to run Vista. In the end, the computer did my convincing for me, and I didn’t have the heart or free time to resuscitate it one last time.

The Windows ME machine didn’t go down without a fight, however. I hooked up their cable modem up to the new laptop and of course Windows Vista didn’t have any drivers to handle the device. “No problem”, I thought to myself. “I’ll just hop on the Internet and download the driver.” Then I remembered the only internet connection I had was on the ME machine, the same one that took five minutes to download a simple web page. Add to this a toddler who was giving my wife quite a workout, and the situation was stressful to say the least. We decided to hit the pool while the driver downloaded. I cursed at myself for not bringing my laptop.

Sufficiently waterlogged after an hour in the pool, we returned inside and my download was complete. I plugged the USB drive into the ME machine, rebooted (the only way it would recognize the drive) , and copied the driver to the device. Next I installed the driver on the new laptop and it recognized the modem. R.I.P. Windows ME.

Maybe my parents weren’t the last ones to be running Windows ME, but it sure felt like it. It sure feels nice now that they have bought their new computer. Windows Vista isn’t the greatest, but it sure will be easier for me to manage.

I’m not sure what my parents will do with the old computer. If it was mine I’d probably reformat the hard drive and install Linux. At some point we’ll have to get their data off the old machine onto the new one. That’s a project for another day. In the meantime, my Mom and Dad are very grateful to be able to connect to the Internet on their new computer, without have to wait a lifetime. I told them that was one favor I did for them compared to a thousand they have done for me.

Anyone else know of a Windows ME machine still out there in the wild?

When I first purchased my laptop and started running Vista, I was a big fan of the new GUI interface, especially Window Aero. As I began installing my applications, however, I began to notice some problems with the interface. I wrote this post originally on my writing blog, but I thought I’d post it on this site as it fits better here (with a few edits):

As I mentioned in my hard-drive recovery with Linux post, my P.C. died a few months ago. In it’s place I bought a laptop,which came pre-installed with Windows Vista Home Premium. I’m not one to be an early adopter for anything made by Microsoft, but I also didn’t want to get stuck with an operating system Microsoft was going to abandon in a few years (I’m talking about XP - I hope they don’t abandon Vista). Vista has performed well for me so far, except for a few gotchas (don’t get me started on hardware compatibility, though).

First of all, though, I like the new look and feel of Windows. Sometimes, it’s just nice to have a change. Also, if you have the proper graphics card and such (I do), you can run a version of Vista that includes Windows Aero which has such features as translucent windows and Window Flip 3D. See the pictures below.

Not too bad for Windows, right? Unfortunately, there is a problem. Some applications disable Windows Aero. For example, if you use applications such as QuickTime or iTunes, Windows automatically disables Windows Aero, which means no more translucent windows and no more Flip 3D. I haven’t found a list anywhere that describes which programs are incompatible with Aero, so it’s kinda hit and miss when you install something new.

If your version of Aero seems to have stopped working, use MSConfig to see what you have running at startup (type MSConfig at the Run Command). If you are having trouble finding the Run Command in Windows Vista, simply press the Windows key and “R” key together. It seems they hid the Run command by default in Vista.

Anyhow, I just thought I’d post this for all of you Windows users who wondered why their desktops weren’t as pretty as they used to be. You are probably just running something that doesn’t play nicely with Vista yet.

********************UPDATE****************************

After downloading the newest version of iTunes, I seem to have less of a problem with Aero. I’m still having problems with my Vista Sidebar, as it seems to be disabled on startup 50% of the time, due to software conflicts. As I’ve said before, though, I really don’t use it much anyhow.

Microsoft released two updates for Windows Vista on August 8th. These updates are currently available from Microsoft’s download site only (not Windows Update).

The first update “improves the compatibility and reliability of Windows Vista” and can be downloaded here: KB938194.

The second update “performance and reliability of Windows Vista” and can be downloaded here: KB938979.

I guess once you install these updated Vista will be twice as reliable

Apparently there were unauthorized versions of these floating around last week before they were yanked by Microsoft.

I’m running Windows Vista on my home computer, but I’m going to wait a bit before I install these updates. I prefer not to be a pioneer when it comes to software, Windows in particular.

Anyone out there install the updates yet? Notice any performance or reliability improvements?

As most of you know, Microsoft introduced a new feature with the release of Windows Vista - the Windows Sidebar.
On the surface, this seems like a pretty cool feature; the ability to have a lot of different information right there on the desktop. Well, I’ve been running Vista for about five months now and I would have to say I have mixed emotions, at best, about Windows Vista Sidebar.  To the right I have posted my current Windows Sidebar.

The Positives

• Information right there at you fingertips. I really like the CPU/RAM meter that lets me know how my system is performing.
• Customization. Anyone can develop gadgets and these can be added to anyone’s sidebar.
• Looks. I have to admit, the Windows Sidebar just looks cool.

The Negatives

• Windows Sidebar takes up a good deal of memory. I’m not really sure how much memory the Sidebar is eating, but you don’t get an image rotator, an rss feed ticker, etc. for free.
• Lack of cool widgets to add to the sidebar. Other than the few that came with windows, I really haven’t seen any widgets that make me want to download them. Microsoft has a Gallery site where users can upload their widgets, and rate those available, but I just haven’t found anything of much use there. Most of the widgets there are weather related, ticker related, or some type of skin for the clock. Maybe as the technology is out there and matures there will be some more cool stuff, but right now I’m not blown away.
• I really don’t look at the desktop that much. The only times I really look at my desktop is when I startup my computer, when I shut it down, or when I launch an application (and that’s usually from the quick launch). I really just don’t spend much time perusing my desktop.

Prognosis

Though I like the Windows Sidebar and think it will gain usefulness as more and more people use Vista, I certainly don’t

think anyone should upgrade to Vista just for this feature. Right now Windows Sidebar is just eye candy for me, though it’s eye candy with potential.