How To Properly Load Windows VISTA

[o_deadly furby]

http://break.com/index/how_to_proper...html?playall=1

[o_tyrus]

Thats hilarious.

[o_jinx]

it would have been funnier if he'd somehow used Boot Camp or something to load it on an Intel Mac

[o_kenny]

Oh, me gonna show this to my friend who hates vista due to it problems with his puter........

[o_tyrus]

I'm still awaiting bl4h to make his thread:

"HAH I installed Vista and it owns!"

with the poll options:

are you:

a. jealous of me
b. super jealous of me
c. sad that you don't have dual something er other cards
d. gosh I hate my life compared to bl4h's

[o_kenny]

Im am SOOO gonna do that

/sarcasm heh heh just kidding! bl4h will eventually do that ^^

[o_backstaber]

Awesome. XD

[o_drtom]

Originally Posted by bl4h

Maybe I'll donate that one to the unfortunate.

you have friends?

[o_paft]

Yeah, I'll buy something and hope that it work without checking compatibility. It's not actually Vista is it, it's the hard/software manufacturers haven't made there things compatible yet. Wait for updates and drivers from them.

Thick bash-er people.

[o_vampiricus]

more Ferb more please!

[trepid_jon]

Whoa, that's Anthony. Weeeeeiiiiiirrrrrd.

On O&A the other day, he was talking about his fun times with Vista. He has a brand new computer...new enough to have Quad SLI. And he's apparently pretty capable with a computer. But Vista just wouldn't install for him. So I guess he decided to destroy his copy of Vista.

[o_deadly furby]

anyone with the name of trepid is not allowed to post in this thread because they didn't show up in Dallas with the free copies of FF for attendees as promised. http://forums.fortress-forever.com/s...ead.php?t=7502

[mervaka]

Originally Posted by bl4h

Vista might suck. thats up to you, but its far better than XP and any previous version of windows as of right now.

The biggest problem is rights. Vista is strict with rights. Even if youre logged in admin and run a program, it does not run as admin. You have to explicitly allow it to run as admin by right clicking it and choosing "run as admin". Ive found a lot of programs work once you run it as admin (such as battlefield2142).

This is a good thing but its going to be a while before programmers start programming things the right way

thats how operating systems should always have been written. you can blame microsoft for writing squidgy operating systems up to the point where they started writing vista.

[o_pizzahut]

bl4h, are there still any games left which won't run, even if you do the "run as admin" trick?

[o_streeteh]

Do we REALLY need another vista bashing thread? I mean come on, this is like the 5th one this week.

Vista is going to be seen as a pointless upgrade for many people because they don't understand what the upgrades are. Microsoft are doing a poor job of marketing them too, chosing to focus on "oooh look at our shiney new GUI" rather than the much more important factors. While the GUI does have a few major benefits, it's mainly there as a tool to get Joe Public to upgrade without having to have the real reasons explained to him.

In order of importance, the major upgrades are:
- Security
- Stability and Performance
- Games
- User Interface


Security

Why is security such a huge issue now? Windows 3.11 was fine wasn't it? Well no not really, it's just that it wasn't generally connected to the internet so there was no way to exploit the holes other than disk-based viruses, so no-one ever saw them.

These days nearly everyone with a computer has the internet, and the problems this exposes were quickly noticed - hence Windows XP SP2. More than any other technological advance, the internet has exposed the flaws which were there all along.

Vista combats this in several ways.
To start with, it ships with a decent, if basic, 2-way firewall which is enabled by default with sensible values. Needless network services are disabled by default. Internet Explorer runs in a sandbox to prevent malware using privilege escalation attacks, and Windows Defender attempts does a decent job of catching anything that might get through or that an idiotic user hunting for free screensavers tries to install.

In addition, Vista finally impliments limited user accounts properly, and UAC should back up LUA and at least make your Dad think twice before installing that "really cool file" he was forwarded by Dave from work. Along these lines, Internet Explorer 7 and Windows Mail include a phishing filter and Windows Mail also has the same junk-mail filtering seen in Outlook.

64-bit hardware enables other security improvements in Vista x64. The memory locations of key components are randomised at startup so buffer overflow attacks (which constitute the vast majority of attacks on Windows) simply won't work at all. Hardware DEP/NX flags honoured by the processor further strengthen this, preventing execution in non-code segments. Patchguard also watches the kernel and other core components for change, and will lock the system out until it can be repaired by inserting the Windows disc.


Stability and Performance

Signed drivers. I can't emphasis enough how important this is. Vista (especially x64) is built around the idea of only using signed drivers. While this means a headache for the next few months while manufacturers catch up, the benefits are enourmous. For drivers to be signed means they are WHQL tested. When they crash, this is reported back to Microsoft who can then pick up which drivers aren't up to scratch and revoke the certificate unless the manufacturer sorts the driver out. Want your hardware to work on Vista? Better start writing proper drivers.

The new driver model also gets drivers out of kernel mode, so when they fail they don't take the system with them. This is especially important for graphics drivers which, according to Microsoft, cause the majority of BSODs on XP. In the event that a graphics driver does crash, your screen will go dark for a few seconds while Vista shuts down the graphics system then restarts it and you're back in action. This modularity and separation of non-vital code from the kernel is one of the design decisions which has helped linux be so secure and stable. It's inclusion in Windows is long overdue.

Technologies mentioned earlier in the security section also serve to improve stabiblity, simply because malware tends to mess the system up as a side effect. Other improvements include a rewritten scheduler which is much better at detecting when an application has failed and taking the appropriate action, a rewritten TCP stack and prioritised I/O.

Finally, Superfetch attempts to have the right program ready at the right time by monitoring activity and pre-emptively caching frequently used programs in memory ready to run. Please note: Due to this, Vista will use all your memory! This doesn't mean you don't have enough. It means it's working like it's supposed to.


Games

There's not a lot to say here, other than DirectX 10 and planned integration with XBox Live. I won't lie here - right now, games are running about 10% slower on Vista and this is inline with Microsoft's expectations. Once DirectX 10 cards are mainstream and manufacturers (I'm looking at you, nVidia) pull their fingers out and finish their drivers, the reverse is likely.


User Interface

For the most part, it does nothing to improve the functionality of the OS. Let's be honest: flip-3d is a toy and nothing more, as is the transparency. However, overall it does at least give a professional, polished look to the system.

Noteable exceptions to the general pointlessness are global search, the genuinely useful sidebar, and a few clever UI choices. For example, did you know that when you press the Windows key, the start menu opens with the Search box already focused? The search also defaults to opening the top match when you press enter. This means you can press the Windows key, type "calculator" or even "calcu", press enter and the calculator will be right there. No mouse input required, which is great for those of us who use the keyboard shortcuts as much as possible.

Finally, rendering the GUI on the graphics card has enabled a few further improvements. Moving a window around the screen no longer uses 20% of the CPU - it shouldn't impact it at all. Video won't skip or break up when you drag the window about either. Performance overall is smoother and more refined.


So...

Vista has disadvantages. Gaming is currently slower than on XP. Hardware is a pain in the ass as device manufacturers rush to get drivers out of the door. However, these are things that will improve with time.

More of a worry is the memory requirement. Don't expect to run Vista on 512MB, whatever Microsoft might tell you. 1GB is a sensible minimum. And remember, Vista is supposed to leave you with no free memory; it improves performance. If you disagree, you may be interested to know that OSX does the same and Linux has done it since the early 90s. There are no shortage of technical papers explaining why this works.

Overall, if you get Vista now then you'd be naive to expect to install it without problems, but the two major issues of hardware support and gaming performance will be resolved in the coming months. The advantages listed above are more than enough to sell the OS, especially once current problems are resolved, and there are other useful things I haven't even touched on such as Previous Versions.


In Conclusion

Threads like these are started because people don't understand what Vista is about. This isn't really anyone's fault. Microsoft aren't doing a good job of explaining what their product does, but there are pages and pages of details of the innovations and improvements Vista offers if you only look.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Featur...o_Windows_Vista

The real upgrades in Vista are security, stability and performance. All three of these should be better than XP once the initial kinks are worked out. Whether this happens or not, especially with security, is something that can only be seen as time goes on and the OS gets exposure to the real world.

Shamelessly ripped from ocuk as is sums up what needs to be said without me having to type it.

[mervaka]

ocuk's middle name is shameful. fucking cunts.

[o_streeteh]

I thought that was a well argued post personally, it is true that thier returns system is about as useful as a rainmack in the sahara but does that really mean a well written post on thier forum is crap too?

[mervaka]

i wasnt talking about their forums at all. i was indeed talking about their returns system. i got a letter from stoke on trent city council a couple of months ago saying that trading standards were investigating them.

for this reason, i STILL have a motherboard they refused to return, just because i took it out the packaging. they cant refuse it, but they did, and they hung up on me when i started protesting. ironically, he was called matthew street.

[o_streeteh]

(queue Twilight Zone Music)

Nah i agree, i have had one problem with OCUK which fortunately was only worth £8 so i didnt bother chasing em up. When the order goes through correctly its fine, however occasionally you will get bummed.

[o_tyrus]

Until major programs like "iTunes" have specific links for installations on Vista, I probably won't upgrade. This goes for many many other programs as well.




As you will notice, there is no link for a Vista installer. Although I know the XP one would probably work on Vista, I still would wait. This also extends to driver installations and codec packs for video players.