Need Vista success stories/advice for article I'm writing

I’m new here and have a favor to ask:

I’m writing a “Switching to Windows Vista” feature for First30days.com (a site that helps people get through life changes). The article will offer advice to people who have already decided to switch to Vista. Would anyone be willing to share a success story or advice on the following questions or other relevant issues?

1. What was the biggest problem you encountered switching over to Windows Vista and how did you solve it?

2. If you weren’t happy switching to Vista initially, what helped you get through the change?

3. Which Windows Vista feature do you find most useful or enjoyable and why?

4. Which Vista feature is the most difficult to get used to? What strategies have you come up with for dealing with it?

5. Are you happy with the Windows Vista edition you chose—Home Basic, Home Premium, Business or Ultimate? Why or why not?

Please post a response or email me with “Windows Vista success stories” in the subject line by 11/21. (Include your name and city or indicate that you want to remain anonymous.) Any amount of information would be a big help.

Thanks in advance!

Valerie

Thanks for the quick response and info, Rob!

Switeched to VISTA Home Premium 32 bit the week it came out. Created a dual boot with XP Pro. Never used XP Pro! I had one program that would not work on VISTA 32 HP which was Pinnacle Studio 9, an outdated application the company has long since released a Pinnacle suite for Vista (Pinnacle 11 latest.)

Three weeks ago I tore down my Dual boot Vista 32/XP Pro dual boot and Installed VISTA Ultimate 64. I experienced virtually no problems what so ever. My ancient Brother laser printer (Circa Windows 98 era) would not operate properly without a compatible driver being available. At the time of insllation of Vista 64 Ultimate I swapped my aging 965P MB out and upgraded to the X38 chipset with the ASUS Maximus Forumla PE. My system is so much fun now! It is actually fun to be behind the controls after this upgrade. 45nm Intel penryn ready.

Happy from the beginning, more happy with VISTA 64 Ultimate.

Definately Superfetch and the ability of the OS to appropriate 4 GB (or more) of RAM. Readyboost is great, I use it since I installed Vista. I plan on trying the free application of 'Virtual PC" that is available for free download with VISTA Ultimate 64. I may make a Virtual PC XP application, but I don't knoiw why I would need it.

I found by switching everything to 'classic view' I have no trouble finding my way around my PC.

VISTA Ulimate 64 is the most fun I have had with any PC I have built. The system in my sig is a very fast machine I enjoy greatly.

The prejudices and attitudes of other computer users. Seriously. But given the exact same FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt), harsh commentary, and downright lies were being spread when XP was released, this is not surprising. I was an relatively early adopter on both, and for whatever small value my word is worth: The fact of the matter is that Vista, at the same point in development was and IS better than XP.

From a physical standpoint: Vista doesn't like old hardware/drivers, and the various hardware makers very much want you to buy new components. So the makers have expended little to no effort to provide fresh drivers for older gear. So if you have a computer built on XP and is more than a couple years old, leave it ALONE.

The second thing - I run 64 bit, which some percentage of users may choose in order to run LOTS of system memory (4GB+), especilly now that DDR2 modules have dropped significantly in price. *BUT* in order to do this you have to install update KB929777, which is available on Microsoft's website. Yes... To me it seemed VERY odd to have to do this, as well. Anyways, leave the extra RAM in the package until after this update has been installed.

I know a significant number of people do have issues. I have fortunately been relatively trouble free - A couple older applications/games don't work any more. And 64 Bit Vista has a pathological hatred of anything with outdated or unsigned digital certificates. But I made very sure what I had was compatible, and replaced anything that wasn't. Predictably, the greatest percentage of issues are driver related - Hanging on startup, constantly trying to re-install the same driver, devices hanging, etc... On the positive side, these just seem to make Vista run badly. In XP you'd have crashes. On the negative side, people see the OS running badly and blame it on the OS rather than investigating why. A pop-up window with a message saying something like "Driver XYZ is not running properly. would be a nice addition.

From a "day to day, use it all the time" perspective: The new Search function. As long as you know the name of the thing, type it, and there it is. No Digging! Makes me wonder how much time I've wasted navigating through layers and layers of XP's file system. The 'cost' of this is more Hard Drive activity due to Vista indexing everything. Well, WELL worth the extra churning and light-blinking, IMHO.

From an "Oh My God, FINALLY" - Getting my Vista box onto the network was literally as simple as 'Plug In The Lan Cable'. That's it. Nothing else. No addresses. No Configuring. Just plug it in, and done. I thought perhaps I just got lucky. But I built a new PC for my sisters family, and when I brought it over there and plugged it into her cable modem, the same result. Plug it in... Done. Anyone who's spent time in the living Purgatory that can be Microsoft Networking will rejoice.

The Side Bar was kind of neat, until I figured out how little I actually use it. So I shut it off and haven't found a need to start it up again.

The other thing I would mention is, buried (Computer/Properties/Performance/Advanced Tools) in the system is a somewhat decent set of tools to monitor and troubleshoot issues. No, they're not nearly as good as prodicts you can buy. But they can point the way and save LOTS of time isolating a problem, and they're free with the OS. Not a bad deal...


{edit} It just occurred to me: I am running 32 bit applications on a 64 bit operating system, and with precious few exceptions THEY ALL WORK PERFECTLY. Apps? Fast and error free. Games? Smooth and error free. From a programming perspective, this is not easy to do at all. Add that to the plus column that I didn't even think of it.

I spent a good amount of time telling myself "WHY THE ^%()#&$*%^&#)($#GGGgggggg did they move THAT!?!?!" I bought a book so I could re-learn. My barely-computer-literate sister seemed to have no troubles. Search Function 4 The Win, I guess...

I chose Ultimate. But Microsoft has delivered on precious few of the promised extras, and I've found the one thing did want to get (DreamScene) to be horribly unstable. So save a little money and buy Home Premium.



Scott