Posted by Pierces Notary Services on 2/4/08 8:01am
Msg #233935

Windows Vista

Our local telephone company was running a special end of last year where if you signed up for the high speed internet/unlimited long distance you'd get a free Dell Inspiron with Windows Vista - I figured what the heck beings I need the high speed internet/unlimited long distance anyway. I have to keep that service for 2 years and they sent us this computer. I figured I'd set the new one up for my notary work and use the old one for family stuff. I think I need to upgrade the RAM in it. Boy it's slow. Is it the RAM or just the OS? I figured I'd have to upgrade it anyway. Any suggestions?

Reply by Elaine Sedlock on 2/4/08 8:22am
Msg #233941

I'm not sure, but I can tell you that I ordered a Toshiba notebook computer with WV and I had to send it back. The OS has many gliches in it still and it wouldn't even permit me to connect to the Internet. I called the phone co. for technical support and they walked me through several steps w/no luck. I also talked to tech support for Toshiba and, last but not least, I called Microsoft for support (they wanted me to pay some ridiculous fee for that which I wasn't about to do). A friend of mine called her brother (a computer guru) out to help me and after two hours of no luck (he repeated calls for support as well), I decided to send the thing back and buy a computer w/Windows XP Pro. No problems ever since! Microsoft is trying to make it so that everyone has to switch to Vista even though, with pretty much every program they put on the market, they know full well it has many problems in need of ironing out. My friend's brother told me it is possible to remove Vista and install another OS, but advised against it because of warranty reasons. Hope this helps and doesn't discourage you too much. I know the truth hurts sometimes, but good luck to you! Hopefully, since you seem to have connectivity, you'll be able to boost the RAM or something to correct the problem. I have a brother who has a computer business (he's currently recovering from surgery), but If you'd like I'll copy and paste your post into an email and send it to him for his input).

Reply by Cari on 2/4/08 8:54am
Msg #233945

I wish our telephone company was offering that deal...sounds sweet. As for WV, it totally bites.

I have WXP in my office and WV on our new home computer, and boy what a difference. WV is complicated and NOT compatible with many programs.

I want to buy a new PC for the office, but can't seem to find one without WV already installed...what I want to know is, where did you buy the computer without WV?

About the old computer, is there a Best Buy near you? Because the Geek Squad can do this for you, but honestly, not sure if the price is right.

If you're really ambitious, you can take out and install new ram and harddrive yourself, and even put in new vid cards. It's not really that hard, if you have time and patience - every PC is generally the same in the inside that is.

Good luck.

Reply by Elaine Sedlock on 2/4/08 9:14am
Msg #233949

Cari, it's getting harder to find any comp w/o WV but . . .

I bought an HP laptop through Tiger Direct (my first one that had WV was a refurbished Toshiba also from Tiger Direct and I really liked it better than the HP overall except for the OS). I'm happy w/what I have and the price wasn't bad, but I'll never do business with Tiger anymore because their service (based on my experience) sucks! They promise rebates and make it next to impossible to redeem them, don't respond to emails, and won't answer/return phone calls. I got so tired of wasting my time trying to get them to do what they promised (still haven't been totally reimbursed for the return of my first computer) till I just gave up. I wouldn't even purchase anything, not even something as simple and inexpensive as a mouse from them. JMHO . I don't have a Best Buy near me; but you can shop there online. Also, I've heard that sometimes you can request a computer w/o WV and some companies will provide the OS of your choice at little to no extra cost. Good luck!

Reply by Barbara A Demonte on 2/4/08 9:33am
Msg #233956

Re: Cari, it's getting harder to find any comp w/o WV but . . .

Try www.3btech.net, I've had wonderful results with them. Had a problem with computer I bought and they answered my email within 2 hours, and sent the missing memory stick the same day by FED EX overnight, had it the next day. I too quit using Tigerdirect after getting 3 bad motherboards and chipsets that wouldn't work, had to fight to get my money back and the fine print in their contracts for purchases completely favors the company. I returned their merchandise and they kept my money, so I finally wrote Visa contesting the charge and Visa took it off of my bill when I proved that I had returned the stuff to Tigerdirect in their required time frame. Worst part was that they charged me for the replacements that they sent, I had 3 charges for buying one motherboard and chipset that was bad to start with.

Reply by Pierces Notary Services on 2/4/08 9:49am
Msg #233961

I'm thinking maybe I'll use this new one for the family PC and keep my old one for the notary stuff - I'm really not having any problems with the old one, but just thought a new PC - less chance of things going wrong...

Reply by Pierces Notary Services on 2/4/08 9:50am
Msg #233962

By the way my old one has XP - which I find a lot easier to use.

Reply by Sandra Pugliese on 2/4/08 9:03am
Msg #233947

I just puchased a new Dell computer with Vista. After hours on the phone with Dell, Verizon and D-Link (wireless router), it was discovered that my router was not compatible with Vista. I had to purchase a new router and install it (2 more hours with Verizon and Netgear). I can now access the internet but have to set up my mail with the new computer. Good luck to you.

Reply by Sharon Taylor on 2/4/08 11:47am
Msg #233984

I have Vista only on laptop and keep XP on desktop computers

My laptop came with Vista, and through a fluke in the programming, I was able to upgrade it to Vista Ultimate free, so I've left Vista on it.
Our other two computers, both desktops, are using XP Professional, and we plan to keep them on XP until we absolutely positively have no choice but to migrate to Vista, or until MS finally gets the bugs worked out of Vista, whichever comes first.
If I were you, I'd use the one with the Vista OS as the secondary computer and your old computer with XP as your main computer.
And Vista is absolutely a resource hog. You'll need to add a lot more memory to keep it happy.

Reply by Korey Humphreys on 2/4/08 9:08am
Msg #233948

I'm running my new laptop computer (well, bought on December 31st) with Windows Vista and I'm not having any problems. I actually thought I'd change the OS and put in Windows XP, however I like Vista.

The only problem so far is that Adobe says there may be a conflict, however I still use it and it runs fine despite the warning. ----- All my programs work perfectly fine.

Did you do a Windows Update? You have to keep up with all the patches and updates Microsoft sends out.

I guess I should note that my laptop came with only 512 MB of RAM but I upgraded to 2GB of RAM.

Reply by Cari on 2/4/08 9:14am
Msg #233950

I have the same problem with Adobe ver 7, try downloading ver 8. As for the patches and updates, just set your computer to receive and install at certain time, like 2 am, and you don't need to worry about keeping up with it, it will do it for you.

Reply by Elaine Sedlock on 2/4/08 9:18am
Msg #233953

P.S. JFYI, I was told by an expert that there are MANY . . .

privacy issues w/WV as well. He said that, glitches aside, he would NEVER use it for that reason alone. If anyone would like more info on that just let me know and I'll ask him (I can't recall the details anymore).

Reply by Dave_CA on 2/4/08 9:25am
Msg #233955

I've been running Vista on one of my desktops for almost a year and I'm reasonably happy with it. I did max out the RAM and upgrade the video card. I also bought a fast 4 Gig USB memory stick that I leave plugged in and use with Vistas ready boost feature and this seems to add some performance. The 1st time you plug a compatible USB stick in Vista will ask you if you want to use it for ready boost and if so how much of it's memory to allocate. I let it use all 4 Gig.
I had some initial compatibility problems, scanner on my AIO and label printer not fully supported but now everything works.

I have not tried to upgrade my notebook to Vista and probably won't, at least not until after service pack 1.

Reply by Pierces Notary Services on 2/4/08 9:54am
Msg #233963

I have it set up to download and install the updates automatically - I guess maybe I just need to play with it a little more. I spent all afternoon yesterday transferring everything from the old computer to the new one.

Reply by Kathy/ID on 2/4/08 9:33am
Msg #233957

I bought a laptop with WV on it and my husband (not the slightest computer literate) was able to get it connect to the internet. We have a wireless router and it connected so easily it was pathetic.

I get the same message about adobe but it opens and prints with no problems.

I have not found any programs yet that I have used with it that are not compatible.

I do have a desktop with xp though as well.

Reply by Korey Humphreys on 2/4/08 9:39am
Msg #233959

Me too, Kathy

My desktop computer runs XP.

I have a router connected to my desktop computer and my laptop picked up its signal fine. I had no problems connecting to the Internet also.

I was nervous about purchasing a laptop with WV, but I'm glad I did.

Reply by Linda_H/FL on 2/4/08 9:38am
Msg #233958

Just so you know, Dell will build with XP instead of Vista

We just bought two notebooks with XP and I just got an e-mail from Dell for a sale on 'puters - I checked it out because I'm considering updating our desktops and I can build a desktop with XP - I steer clear of Vista after hearing all the horror stories of problems with it, including its interfering with other programs and print utilities.

Reply by Les_CO on 2/4/08 10:02am
Msg #233965

One can't be to rich, to thin, or have to much memory. WV needs lots of memory to work well.

Reply by Glenn Strickler on 2/4/08 12:41pm
Msg #233993

Don't blame vista, just yet. You get what you pay for

sometimes.


When I had a hard drive crash, I move my desktop to Vista and have not had any issues. I do run 2 gig of ram, but ram is cheap. I gig is more than enough for.

Dell had a lot of laptop computers that had a slow FSB (front side bus). The bus is what communicates with the rest of the computer. It doesn't matter how much ram, or how fast your processor is, if your bus is slow, your computer is slow. My mother-in-law wound up with one of these. It was running XP and was really slow. I put in more ram, and it did not help. A complaint to Dell and they exchanged it, no questions. I did not find out about the bus until later from a school teacher whose school uses Dell. Many laptops were apparently shipped this way with Vista. I never have read anything about this on any of the computer forums that I look at, so if true, they kept it quite pretty well.
Now your story makes me wonder if those computers were sold at a cheap price to companies to use for promotions. Let's face it, free stuff you get for promotions is not going to be top line stuff.

For the record, my desktop computer is not a super one. It is an Acer with an AMD 64 processor the last one before the dual core. I have 2 gig of ram. But it does have a fast bus. I used the tool that Microsoft has on their site to test if your computer works with Vista. Then I did a clean install and loaded my old drivers and programs one at a time so if I had a compatibility issue, I knew right away what it was ....

Reply by JanetK_CA on 2/5/08 12:11am
Msg #234058

Re: Don't blame vista, just yet. You get what you pay for

I think you hit the nail on the head.

I also have a Toshiba laptop with pre-loaded Vista and I love it. The only problems I had were in the beginning with some external equipment compatiblity issues. I have heard that Vista is a real memory hog, that the very minimum you need to run it is 512 MB -- more is better.