Greetings all;

I've had a few emails directly to me regarding this post from last month 
requesting an update as to the situation with my son's computer. I'm happy 
to report that it now runs quite well and I can directly attribute it to the 
singular "compatibility" update from late July, after which the system ran 
quite stable for several weeks. We've installed the newer updates that were 
pushed a week or so ago, but they made no changes that we can determine. We 
also installed directx 9 because of several games (most from Ubisoft) that 
wouldn't run or install. So far this has worked well, but I don't know if 
we've caused any problems that will show later on when a game needing 
directx 10 is installed. His motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-7VM400AM, my 
daughter's an Asus A7V400-MX and mine an Asus M2N-E.

I have an issue with large documents with my HP Photo smart D7160 that is 
still present even with the latest driver. I had a 93 page text document 
that I had to instead print in 15 page increments after several attempts to 
print the entire document were unsuccessful. I don't know why this happens 
and since I very seldom have large documents to print I haven't investigated 
further.

In conclusion, with the latest updates Vista has been made a very stable 
operating system, at least in our house. I would still suggest that it is 
not an update one should undertake for Vista's sake alone, at least at this 
time. Still, if you are need of a new operating system, such as I was with 
two computers still running 98SE, it seems likely that you will have few if 
any problems.

However, heed the many warnings regarding the need for a reasonably fast 
computer. While Vista works well enough on my children's AMD 2600+ with 1.5 
GB RAM computers, I wouldn't want to have any less processing power or RAM. 
But then again I am somewhat of an impatient person. On a personal note, I 
spent many hours working on my son's computer in the hope that I would be 
able to rectify the difficulties he was having; all in vain. With one patch 
MS fixed the problem. While I understand that it is extremely difficult to 
ensure an operating system will run perfectly with every different piece of 
computer hardware out there, I can't help but wonder if MS couldn't have 
fixed this problem far quicker.

Bill


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Andrea & Bill Lee" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, August 08, 2007 9:29 AM
Subject: Re: [PCBUILD] Vista or XP?


> Greetings Michael;
>
> I installed Vista on the three computers in my home months ago (I think it 
> was
> April), and my daughter has it on her laptop (Dell 6400 Inspiron, bought 
> early
> June) as well. My advice is that unless in your reading you can find a 
> Vista
> function or application that you feel you need, stay with XP until you 
> find a
> reason to change.
>
> That being said, my Vista experience has been mainly positive, with one 
> major
> exception. My son's computer has had repeated problems with spontaneous 
> reboots
> and various programs shutting down with and without Vista informing me of 
> their
> status (although to be fair Vista has been kind enough to inform me most 
> of the
> time). These programs range from AVG to various games to task manager to 
> sidebar
> to just about anything. Often the system will just have been booted and no
> other software opened, and yet it will still state that some software has 
> shut
> down or is not responding.
>
> I have done many reloads of his system, as well as retesting all 
> components,
> although they were all taken from a system that ran perfectly with XP. 
> While the
> system runs reasonably well on initial install, as soon as a few games 
> (Star
> Wars for example) are installed, problems begin. Amongst the many other 
> attempts
> and efforts I made, the only change I found was when I downloaded video 
> drivers
> directly from ATI's site instead of using the Vista installed drivers. 
> That
> seemed to have solved the problems for a few days, and then it was back to 
> the
> usual difficulties. The number of program installations required to 
> trigger the
> problems has varied. I hesitated buying any new components in the hope 
> that the
> issues would be resolved.
>
> I'm on vacation at present, but about five days before we left MS 
> distributed a
> compatibility update which had my son's computer running with only one or 
> two
> minor difficulties over that time. It was a very noticeable change that I 
> can
> only attribute to the update at present. Also, it is being reported that 
> MS will
> soon be releasing a number of updates that, amongst other things, resolve 
> video
> driver issues. I remain hopeful that the problems on my son's computer 
> are, or
> will soon be, resolved. Also, my daughter has nearly the exact same 
> system,
> other than an Asus motherboard, the model of which I can't remember at 
> present,
> and an ATI 9600 video card, and her system has been running flawlessly. 
> She
> plays less graphically intense games than my son, but she has it running 
> almost
> every hour she is home (IM, Office, playing music, several mystery games) 
> and
> she has never once had a problem.
>
> I have been running Vista on a system I built earlier this year (AMD 
> 4600+, Asus
> M2NE (sp?), 2 GB RAM, ATI 1650, 300 GB Sata 2 HD) and have had only a few 
> minor
> issues over the months except with on old game that I still play on 
> occasion
> (Civ 2).
>
> Vista is a nice upgrade from XP and has a few nice features, but it is not 
> worth
> spending money on at this time. If I was buying a new laptop or pre-built
> system, I would not hesitate to buy it, based on my own experience. But I 
> would
> not upgrade an XP system unless it was necessary. My reason for the 
> upgrades was
> that my kids were both still running 98SE and I needed to upgrade them. 
> Also, my
> mother needed a new computer so after building my new system and building 
> the
> best two systems I could for my kids with the remaining components, I then 
> built
> a 1.4 Ghz Athlon system with the rest of the components and my old XP for 
> my mother.
>
> Now you have my humble opinion and my experience with Vista. Probably far 
> more
> than you wanted, but I hope that you find it helpful making your own 
> decisions.
>
> Bill
>
>
> Son's System
>
> Gigabyte MB (GM-400 (sp?) I can't remember exact model
> ATI 9550 Video Card
> 1.5 GB RAM
> AMD 2600+
>
>
>
> Quoting "Michael A. Wosnick" <[log in to unmask]>:
>
>> Hi all,

>> I have been off the list for an extended period and have just returned 
>> and
>> would like some insider advice. I know that reams have been written about
>> Vista vs. XP but wondered if some of the regulars here had a CONCISE
>> recommendation to make re: why (or why not) I should upgrade from XP 
>> Media
>> Center to Vista.

>> I have traditionally been an early adopter when a new version of Windows
>> comes out, but not this time. I want to get past the hype and marketing 
>> and
>> learn if there are some really salient reasons why an upgrade may benefit 
>> an
>> above-average and reasonably computer savvy user. Or should I still sit 
>> on
>> the sidelines and be happy with XP MC. 

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