Save XP Campaign Fails

[LarryFlowers]

In spite of the efforts of a group of IMHO ill informed individuals, XP's "official" life ends on June 30th.

That isn't to say that there won't be PC's with XP available, a number of manufacturers will offer limited availability of XP downgrades, mostly in the business arena. There is a good summary of what some of the majors are doing in Ina Fiied's column at CNET http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-9968449-56.html.

For most average citizens, your next PC is going to be Vista and that's just the way it is. Some people will stray into the Mac waters, a few very brave and geeky types will no doubt find their way into the Linux camp, but by and large Windows Vista is here.

Keep in mind that 95% of everything you have read about VIsta is a combination of Microsoft haters, people who dont even use Windows and just love to stir the pot, and people who have NEVER even installed VIsta.

I have been living with Vista ever since the first beta, so I know of what i speak.

Is Vista perfect... not a chance, but then I have never used perfect software in the 38 years since I wrote my first program. Is Vista something you should upgrade to? Maybe. Depends on the hardware. I wouldn't consider it on any PC more than 2 years old, and you will need a decent video card to enjoy some of what Vista has to offer. 1 GB or Ram is a necessity, 2GB if you want to be realistic and 3GB will make you ecstatic.

I f you plan on purchasing a new computer this year, go with Vista, you wont regret it. It will take a little getting used to, there are differences, it is more secure than any WIndows operating system and there are some trade offs for that, but I am responsible for more than 400 Vista equipped PC's and not once has any Vista PC been infected or attacked by Malware.

Check anything you will hook up to the new PC. There aren't anywhere near the driver issues as when Vista first came out, but you will want to check and see if some favorite Printer or Scanner, etc., has a driver or fix for Vista. Keep in mind though that as of this year there are more drivers included with Vista than XP has ever had.

So we say goodbye to an old workhorse, remembering that when Windows XP first came out it was vilified by everyone in sight, and yet somehow it managed to get a lot of work done. Vista will be the same... and soon there will be a new contender for the throne.. I expect to start testing the next Windows OS by years end. I look forward to the process. Microsoft plans to make this the biggest beta in it's history.

[Drew2k]

I've been expecting this and trying to prepare my extended family that they will have to get used to a new way of doing things the next time they upgrade their PCs... they just do not like "change" this drastic from XP to Vista.

I have both XP and Vista in my house, and can say there are things I love about Vista and things I loathe. Most recently was a 6 hour struggle to install Office Enterprise 2007 on my Vista Laptop, where the only resolution was to turn off UAC so I could use Office! If I didn't turn it off, the only way to launch an Office app would have been to right-click an Office icon and choose run-as-administrator every time, couldn't even launch the app by clicking a document. This is apparently a widespread and known problem going back to mid-2007 where Office will successfully install from the logged in administrator, but then when running Office later it says it's not installed for the current user. Why one-year later is this still not resolved?)

Just a nightmarish 6 hours that I will never get back, and now I have UAC off ... at least no more annoying pop-ups to click off!

[harsh]

The nagging question remains: Is Vista really an improvement in efficiency, functionality and compatibility? For many, the answer is a resounding "hell no".

For all of the bluster about security, we find that it isn't Windows that is the festering wound. The festering wound turns out to be Internet Exploder, Outluck Express, Office and the ever-miserable Windows Firewall. All of these things can be cured with third party applications that are updated early and often versus the Micro$oftian "there are no bugs until we identify and release fix in which case there are no bugs".

If you still feel compelled to buy third party products to enhance Vista's "security", then I guess it isn't ready for prime time.

I'm pretty happy with W2K myself and with the exception of some software that doesn't run under Vista either, I'm getting much better response that I would otherwise for my hardware investment.

[MikeW]

Just a nightmarish 6 hours that I will never get back, and now I have UAC off ... at least no more annoying pop-ups to click off!

I lived this dream as well. Didn't spend 6 hours on it, but was dearly frustrated.

[LarryFlowers]

I've been expecting this and trying to prepare my extended family that they will have to get used to a new way of doing things the next time they upgrade their PCs... they just do not like "change" this drastic from XP to Vista.

I have both XP and Vista in my house, and can say there are things I love about Vista and things I loathe. Most recently was a 6 hour struggle to install Office Enterprise 2007 on my Vista Laptop, where the only resolution was to turn off UAC so I could use Office! If I didn't turn it off, the only way to launch an Office app would have been to right-click an Office icon and choose run-as-administrator every time, couldn't even launch the app by clicking a document. This is apparently a widespread and known problem going back to mid-2007 where Office will successfully install from the logged in administrator, but then when running Office later it says it's not installed for the current user. Why one-year later is this still not resolved?)

Just a nightmarish 6 hours that I will never get back, and now I have UAC off ... at least no more annoying pop-ups to click off!

Drew2K.. I believe that I know what your problem is with Office, I have run into this before. Please go to C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office 12. Locate one of the icons for the Office Programs, such as the one for WinWord. Right click on the Icon and select Properties. Go to the Security Tab. There should be 3 accounts "System" "Administrator" and "User". The System and Administrator accounts should have everything checked in the "allow" column. The Users account should only have check marks next to "read and execute" and "read". If these are not the settings, then change them and the problem should go away. Please let me know if this helps.

[LarryFlowers]

The nagging question remains: Is Vista really an improvement in efficiency, functionality and compatibility? For many, the answer is a resounding "hell no".

For all of the bluster about security, we find that it isn't Windows that is the festering wound. The festering wound turns out to be Internet Exploder, Outluck Express, Office and the ever-miserable Windows Firewall. All of these things can be cured with third party applications that are updated early and often versus the Micro$oftian "there are no bugs until we identify and release fix in which case there are no bugs".

If you still feel compelled to buy third party products to enhance Vista's "security", then I guess it isn't ready for prime time.

I'm pretty happy with W2K myself and with the exception of some software that doesn't run under Vista either, I'm getting much better response that I would otherwise for my hardware investment.

I use TrendMicro anti virus for my email scanning, I use Windows Defender. I use Windows Firewall. Nothing else. I use this method on all the PC's I control (though in some cases it is McAfee for the email). Zip problems. Oh, and my bigger networks have hardware firewalls. I used layered defenses.

You have to take into account though that there are more XP machines on the planet than Vista, so they remain the primary target of malcontents. Studying the statistics is nearly impossible as each side has its own axe to grind and slants the statistics to suit their conclusions. There are a couple of things that can be said though: 1.) Firefox has had more "critical" vulnerabilites to deal with in the past year than did Vista IE7.. by a factor of 66%. This figure should not be surprising due to the popularity of the FireFox browser. What did surprise me was that Firefox has almost twice as many known UNPATCHED vulnerabilites as Vista IE7, that being said... neither has very many.

Please note that I differentiate between XP IE7 and Vista IE7, they are not the same product inspite of labeling. XP IE7 remains the more vulnerable.

For the momnet Vista remains the more secure operating system if for no other reason than the one that applies to the Mac users who think Mac is more secure than Windows.. the population of the Operating Systems dictates the level of concentration by those who would do harm... why write any kind of attack against Mac or Vista when the XP universe remains so much bigger.

If you cant find any other reason to switch to Vista that may be the best one yet!

[naijai]

I lived this dream as well. Didn't spend 6 hours on it, but was dearly frustrated.


Don't know what settings you guys have on your pc but i installed same verison without any hassle to multiple vista pc's without any hassle and it runs on all of them normally

[Steve Mehs]

Sweet, best news I've heard all day.

To all those that want XP to stay alive:

http://www.foolserrand.com/funneh/graphic/nelson_ha_ha.jpg

[Drew2k]

Drew2K.. I believe that I know what your problem is with Office, I have run into this before. Please go to C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office 12. Locate one of the icons for the Office Programs, such as the one for WinWord. Right click on the Icon and select Properties. Go to the Security Tab. There should be 3 accounts "System" "Administrator" and "User". The System and Administrator accounts should have everything checked in the "allow" column. The Users account should only have check marks next to "read and execute" and "read". If these are not the settings, then change them and the problem should go away. Please let me know if this helps.Larry, thanks, but no good. This was similar to many of the online remedies I had seen and tried, most of which involved permissions on registry keys and permissions on files in the Installer directory, but I tried your workaround, turned UAC back on, rebooted, tried Word again, and saw the same problem as before: It tries to configure Word, launches Word, then reports, "Microsoft Word has not been installed for the current user. Please run setup to install the application." So ... another 10 minutes I'll never get back while trying to deal with this! :p :p :p

So I just turned UAC off again. It's easier to do that than play games with what should be a simple installation process. :sure:

(I do appreciate you trying, though! :up:)

[LarryFlowers]

Larry, thanks, but no good. This was similar to many of the online remedies I had seen and tried, most of which involved permissions on registry keys and permissions on files in the Installer directory, but I tried your workaround, turned UAC back on, rebooted, tried Word again, and saw the same problem as before: It tries to configure Word, launches Word, then reports, "Microsoft Word has not been installed for the current user. Please run setup to install the application." So ... another 10 minutes I'll never get back while trying to deal with this! :p :p :p

So I just turned UAC off again. It's easier to do that than play games with what should be a simple installation process. :sure:

(I do appreciate you trying, though! :up:)

Drew... all you have done now is peaked my interest.... :lol:

[stogie5150]

My problem is STILL I haven't found a damn thing that Vista does better than XP for the average user. :confused:

And no support for older equipment is inexcusable. :mad:

And, I am no Microsoft hater, either. I use and like their products, other than Vista. Hell I bought a ZUNE, for goodnessakes. Its just as buggy as Vista. :lol:

Vista just isn't BETTER, that's what frosts me. I was expecting an upgrade. :hurah:

[Mark Holtz]

My XP work drive has Windows XP and Office 2003 on it.

My Vista drive has Windows Vista 64-bit and Office 2007 on it.

My system (1 year old, built from scratch) has 2GB of RAM, a Core 2 Dual 6600, and a NVidia 8800GTS 256MB video card on it, with a removable drive bay on it. So, it is not a dual-boot system, it is a cold-swappable hard drive.

Care to guess which hard drive gets a lot of use, especially in web development? Care to guess which hard drive does an excellent job of collecting dust, only to be put in occasionally for a system patch and to be reminded how much it is an exercise in fustration?

Oh, yeah, we are not allowed to hook up a Vista box to the corporate network... PERIOD. Major corporations are sticking with XP. I work in the technical support department, and we are a very tech-savvy group. Yes, we have a few Mac fans (puke), however, noone is a fan of Vista. An improvement? HA!