After a couple of months of trying really hard to keep Vista installed on my PC I have finally decided to go back to XP. I have realized (took me long enough) that all the errors and incompatibility were out-weighing the improved frame rate in games.
I had Windows Vista Ultimate installed. My current system is:
- CPU Type DualCore Intel Core 2 Duo E7200, 2833 MHz (9.5 x 298)
- System Memory 3072 MB (DDR2-667 DDR2 SDRAM)
- Video Adapter NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS (256 MB) (Vista adds another 1256MB virtual memory)
- 4Gig Flash drive used for Ready Boost
It isn’t the very best setup possible, but It should have worked just fine. The ready-boost feature worked very well, although it took quite a long time to start. As I mentioned the frame rates in the games improved by about 20 frames on average. This is due to DX10 using the Video Chips processing power rather than letting the main CPU take all the “heat”. For example in BF2 I get rates of between 50 and 70 fps, in Vista I was getting 70 to 100 fps. I was finally able to fly those damn jets and actually do some damage to the enemy rather than get shotdown every time.
But otherwise it is a horror. Constant issues with compatibility with oh so many games and software I gave up. Bf2, for example, would simply disconnect after every 2-3 rounds. Some games would not even start after a couple of times or crash constantly. The only internet browser that works is IE (duh). From time to time Media Player would just stop responding. Actually most of the apps started to “freeze” on regular basis. And the rate at which that would lock-up started to increase.
Also I was really tired of the constant need to take ownership of my own files. And the duplication of the same exact shit. The folder where You put Your pictures, for example, is called simply pictures. In reality it’s just a shortcut to a folder called My Pictures. However You cannot access the folder directly. Same goes for My Documents folder. That’s simply retarded. Beware of taking ownership of everything though. This may cause other errors. I took ownership of the Temp folder that is used by install programs. As soon as I have done that I was unable to install anything. I don’t remember what I did to fix the issue but it wasn’t enough to simply change the permissions back.
In any case If You do have Vista for God’s sake move back to XP. Unless You are regular user. In which case good luck You damn yuppie. In a couple of Years MS is going to release the new OS which would be basically Vista, but improved. I feel really sorry for those of You who actually paid for that thing. In my honest opinion I think that all of You should take Microsoft to court.
Detoam Software Vista
After a lot of headache, web searching and visits to many forums I was able to get this thing working. And it works very well.
First problem with the speed was that i have disabled superfetch service while trying to use the ReadyBoost service. Bad idea. They go hand-in-hand. After re-enabling the Superfetch and restarting the PC a couple of times the system started to work way faster. I am finally able to bring the Sidebar and themes back on-line.
Here is an excellent guide to speeding Vista.
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I am using a 4Gig USB stick (2846MB allocated for ReadyBoost) for the ReadyBoost. The way it works is that Vista, overtime, figures out what applications You are using the most. Since the memory on Flash drives does not get erased when the PC is shutdown (unlike RAM) the preferences are always there and the computer does not have to re-write everything each time You restart it. That does save a whole lot of time and resources. It is very good for those that play games a lot. I have noticed a slight improvement in loading times as well as (thanks mainly to DX10) big improvement to my framerates. My most frequently used app is FireFox. And I have noticed that it’s loading time is very fast now. Usually it takes about 10-15 seconds to load, but now it is almost instant. Same goes for the Outlook 2007.
Got any related tips? Submit them to me as an article or in comments.
Detoam Hardware, Software Vista
For the last two days (with only abut 3 hours of sleep) I have been battling. With vista that is.
I have finally decided to upgrade. Wasn’t an easy decision considering how many issues there are. But since I decided on it because more and more games are being released with vista in mind. My first problem started almost instantly. As soon as I installed it I was infected with virtumonde and Vundo mallware. This two are the worse of the bunch and are the hardest to remove. Fix for Vundo is fairly easy to do though, but it can hide very easy and if one isn’t going to follow all the steps it ain’t gonna work (duh).
VirtuMonde is a whole another story. This thing is been programmed to reproduce itself and hide like crazy. There is a fix for it, but it is very risky as it can damage Your system.
After I finally fixed it I realised that it was too late. I went over to an excellent resource in an attempt to solve the problem. Techspot.com. They tried to help me. And after many agonizing hours of scans, reboots and more scans I thought the problem was fixed. No-o-o. Key system files were completely destroyed. I was not able to install many of the programs I use. Luckily there is a program that can help that. I downloaded Vista manager from Yamicsoft. The program helps You restore original system files by copying the needed files from Your OS CD/DVD. I did that and things were working normally. But even than it was too late. The system was so freaking slow that I could not do much. Finally I decided to give up and reinstalled the whole thing. I didn’t do a clean install. I installed over what was there. Before I did anything I installed the free firewall from ZoneAlarm, Got a Vundo fix from Norton and installed a trial version of BitDefender’s Antivirus. I did a scan and found 4 Vundo infections.
The system seems to work okay for now. Although I keep receiving notices from ZoneAlarm that someone is trying to hack-in. I will fix that by changing the mac address.
However I am now having an issue with how slow the system is. I got it down to visuals. After I have disabled themes system speeded up enourmously. That bugs me a lot. The video card I have should be able to handle it with no problems, but it does not. From time to time the whole system would act like a woman on her “monthly”. I am also using the 4Gig flash drive for ReadyBoost. Still it does not help.
Aside from my card being an older version (it supposed support Vista) I suspect that the crappy motherboard I have is of no help. I guess that I am going to be forced to buy a new board. Gonna be hard to do since I can barely afford much as it is.
I am gonna stick with Vista for now as I still like to play games. But I am seriously considering of switching to Linux and (Iam gonna go to hell for this) buying an XBOX.
If You have any suggestions for me I’d be happy to hear them.
Here is a list of apps I used with torrent downs:
Detoam Software mallware, viruses, Vista
