anyone using vista?

[redbone]

so, after being out of school twice as long as i was ever in, i have begun college pursuing info systems/IT whatever you want to call it.

so anyway, i'm given the assignment to give a presentation about using windows vista for data organization and file naming and general usefulness and aspects.

i do have vista on my home computer, but rarely use it as i've found that vista serious issues with locking up, freezing, and numerous other headaches.

as a whole my computer skills suck, and my data organization and file skills suck even more.
being that i moved here to md. only a yr. and a half or so ago i have no one to call on for help so i thought i'd throw it out here to you guys for some input.
any info you could pass along, good or bad, would be appreciated.

as a sidebar...i'm also taking a class for computer repair and troubleshooting. hopefully when i complete that it will goodbye vista from my computer.

thanks,
redbone

[XJOK2PLAY]

My son bought a new PC last year that has Vista. So far, his has worked well.
He, too is currently enrolled in college courses online... University of Phoenix... persuing IT.... he might could answer anything specific you need to know...

I'd have to call him... he's married and lives on his own now.
Let me know... send me a PM w/ specifics if ya like.
Bob

[CatatonicBug]

I've avoided Vista myself, but I've played with a few PCs that had it. It's very similar to all previous file systems, except for the names of some of the files. Instead of the "My Documents" folder, they are now identified by the user name.

I would talk about using file naming techniques that allow the user to identify files easily, and using the "View/details" & "arrange by/modified" feature to tell how old a file is or when it was created or last modified.

There are so many users I deal with who think they have to open an application (like Excel) first, to allow them to open a file. Explain to them that the file extensions (i.e., .xls, .doc, .pdf) are what identifes what application will open when they double-click on a file. They can also separate their files into folders based on what they are about to help them stay organized.

These are basic Windows things, and not really Vista-specific, but I guess it depends on what exactly your instructor is looking for. You can also use Powerpoint and screen shots to create a more professional presentation. You can take an image of the window that is on your screen by using alt-PrintScreen, then right-click and paste it into your presentation.

JAT, HTH.

[Larrym]

Show and Tell?

Your instructor really gave you something to chew on: Organization. The fact that you have to give a presentation seems to me like you're gonna have to learn to use MS Powerpoint: the standard presentation application. I believe that learning/using PP is a challenge in itself. But that's a good thing cause as we all know we learn by doing. Not talking about things or listening as someone else talks.

Add to this the fact that the PP usually requires the presenter face his/her fear of public speaking. I don't know if you're going to have to stand up in front of the class or not. If you don't want to do the presentation "Live" then you can use this to make a realtime video of your screen antics:

http://camstudio.org/

The application (Free!) captures what happens on screen and allows you to add voice/narration during or after the fact. The above link takes you to the home page where the additional link to download/install the software is down the page a bit.

Might get you points for innovation...might not.

[bikerphil]

Vista works fine for me, I just don't load it up with unnecessary crap, toolbars, etc. The less you have running, the better.

[mro]

Frys or a good book store will have books covering all aspects and skill levels for learning about computers. There should be several for Vista, also available for various skill levels. There is a $hit load of info free on the internet, from general forums to sites dedicated to specific types of problems covering hardware, operating systems to programs and viruses (which are just malicious programs) .

I would have recommended that before you took a class for either repair or software related stuff you should know all the basics of your own computer and operating system.
Have you ever opened the case on your computer? Cleaned the heat sync on the cpu?
Did you know that your computer will generate more heat running a game than using a word processor, or why you should know that? Are the problems with your computer hardware or software related, have you updated the OS regularly, have you checked that the drivers are compatible and current…..are you running a bunch of “services” in the OS that you don’t need or are there to many programs loading at start up that are just wasting “resources” that sloooow your computer down.

If you’re a total newbie to the insides of a PC it may seem rather mysterious at first but there are only about a dozen replaceable components. Learning to do hardware repair is nothing but determining which component failed and unplugging it and plugging in a new one. (motherboard is the only exception in that it’s generally held in place with screws and is connected to everything else) “Fixing” hardware on a PC is easier than cleaning and tuning carbs on an XS.

Getting good at “fixing” OS problems starts with knowing what the OS is supposed to do and where and what settings you can update, modify or change. Learning about the OS costs nothing but time and research. All the information needed is on your computer or available over the internet. Lock-ups, BSOD etc, are most likely corrupted or incompatible drivers but Microsoft does have “issues” and sometimes it takes awhile searching there site to find the uncommon fixes for problem PCs.

Good luck in school. Generally by the time you finish a class related to software it’s already obsolete, but can be a good starting point.


mro

[redbone]

wow...you guys are wealth of knowledge.

cata, you made some good points and good ideas i will most likley incorporate into the presentation.

larry, your rite on the organization thing. there are a great deal of ways to do that. none of which i am skilled at. BTW, we do have to do the public speaking thing with a pwr point demo. again, not very skilled in PPt but not really afraid to speak in front of class, IF i know what the hell i'm talkin about, which in this case i do not.

mro, someone else at work had mentioned a lot of what you said regarding unneccessary geeb running at startup. i believe i've stopped all of that.
i've never opened a computer case until 2 wks ago in class. i'm starting to figure out the components and do believe half my prob is RAM or lack thereof. i;ve only got 512 mb. i have noticed most of the time when it really acts up is when the wife is on farmville. i'm beginning to suspect the graphics involved with that are too much .
you also sum it up well, by the time i learn this vista nonsense windows 7 will be king of the hill and vista a has been.

thnaks again for all the input,
redbone

[Ivan]

Vista started out as a has been.

512M is not really enough to run Vista. It consumes memory at an alarming rate. I have heard 2 gig of system memory is about minimum for vista on a 32 bit system. On a 64 bit, you probably need more.

Windows 7 is much more refined and has a smaller footprint on system resources, as far as I can tell from using it for a couple months. Aesthatically, they are nearly the same.

Organization of data in Vista is streamlined in some ways not seen before. The OS gives a half assed attempt at guessing where you want the file based on extension. I.e. a mp3 would go in the music directory, and a doc would go in the documents directory. Some times it worked for me, some times not. Another thing I find handy is the folder view templates. In the View menu of an explorer window you can tell the system to use this folder like a music folder or a video folder and whatnot to customize the way the information is presented. If you tell it the music folder is to use the music template, it will sort the sub directories by album, artist or what you select, much like the way WMP works. It also presents a "Play All" button which is neat.

Also, on the left side of the explorer window is a menu button labeled "Organize" which contains all the possible file and directory operations in one handy place. You don't have to right click or search through the window menus this way.

That's just some stuff I have grazed from using vista.

Oh, and if you get the chance, ask your teacher how to run an unsigned driver in Vista or 7. I ahve tried a hundred different ways and been unsuccessful. No more optimized video card drivers and other "stuff" until I figure that out.

[cywelchjr]

Oh, and if you get the chance, ask your teacher how to run an unsigned driver in Vista or 7. I ahve tried a hundred different ways and been unsuccessful. No more optimized video card drivers and other "stuff" until I figure that out.

I don't know about 7, but in 32 bit Vista you can use unsigned drivers, you just have to click through when installing them. The 64 bit versions you can't use them at all. I've been using unsigned drivers with Vista on my laptop almost since the beginning, since the drivers that actually work reliably are pretty much all unsigned (I hate how fast hardware manufacturers drop support for older hardware, even though it still works just fine).

[Ivan]

Yeah, I have 64 bit. Its driving me nutz.

[cywelchjr]

Yeah, I have 64 bit. Its driving me nutz.

I love/hate 64 bit. With the right machine is can be blazing fast, but the memory footprint is so much higher that I find I can actually get better performance with 32 bit on the same hardware unless I go to insane amount of RAM.

I sure am enjoying the 1.25 TB HD I just got though.

[CatatonicBug]

My boss runs a 64bit Vista machine with no problems at all. Of course, it has 4gig of RAM. He just said that he will be getting me a 4gig Win7 machine in the next few months, so I don't know if I should be happy or scared.

[cywelchjr]

My boss runs a 64bit Vista machine with no problems at all. Of course, it has 4gig of RAM. He just said that he will be getting me a 4gig Win7 machine in the next few months, so I don't know if I should be happy or scared.

Win 7 with 4 Gig should scream! Vista 32 with 3 does well, so I imagine with the significantly smaller footprint that 7 would really wail.

[XJOK2PLAY]

RedBone,
Ivan & Cy are right on the money about the amount of ram needed.

If you upgrade to at least 2 GB... you'll probably begin to be able to use it w/o freezing up!

98SE (which is what I still use... believe it or not...) was ok w/ 512 mb, but works great w 1 gb.

XP needed at least 1 GB, but worked better w/ 2gb

Vista needs a minimum of 2 GB, works great w/ 3 or 4 gb....

Seems everytime they double the OS bits (16,32,64)... they need to double the amount of ram required to run it. They always have so much stinkin' crap running in the background... amazing how much it takes just to idle on the desktop now! I like '98 cause you can go in, turn off all that worthless junk that's consuming HP, and increase efficiency. In XP, it LOOKS like you can still do the same... but if you do... it WILL CRASH... and w/o a startup disc... your screwed! Call a PC repair tech.

Trouble is... the ones you can buy off the shelf usually never have even half enough ram... and they sucker us into thinking it's a good system cause we're used to what the last OS needed to function!

Up the ram and I think you might begin to like it... there are a lot of cool little changes and enhancements in Vista. Especially in music and pic management areas.

As for me... still stuck in the stone age... and now nobody's supporting '98 anymore... I can't even hook up my 3 year old digital camera due to drivers for the camera requiring a 32 bit OS... printer went out... same story!
Devious little jerks... hard headed cheap guys like me that won't upgrade...
(I have many reasons though...) they figured out how to squeeze us out if we don't comply... ain't technology a wonderful thing?

I'd probably do it if they'd just get an OS that would work right w/o a million bugs, w/o going through 7 upgrade versions to fix them all, only to then watch them chunk it and release yet another new OS... and I wish they'd just leave it alone for at least a year!! Guess that's too much to ask... the PC powers that be still seem totally content allowing the buying public to be their 'beta testers' and figure out all their bugs for them...

'Puters... can't live w/ them, can't live w/o them!

[CatatonicBug]

XP needed at least 1 GB, but worked better w/ 2gb

Not true. Maybe if you're doing a bunch of of gaming, but we use XP as our standard OS on all our office PC's, and NONE of them have more than 512mb. some even run fine with 256mb. As long as you keep the nasties out of your PC, 512 should be fine for the average user on an XP machine. Vista, OTOH, has a minimum requirement of 1Gb.