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Geek to Live: Windows Vista upgrade power tips

lifehacker.com — After weeks of test-driving Windows Vista full-time, there are several tips and tweaks I'd wish I'd known before I started. In the spirit of saving you the time when it's your turn, today I've got a selection of useful Vista pointers for power upgraders.

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  • cquinnd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8You can tweak UAC to be less annoying in behavior, but still protective of the system, rather than disabling it completely.

    Otherwise, good article.
    • JeffH, on 10/12/2007, -4/+6Exactly.

      I find it funny that everyone is just dying to disable UAC. While UAC isn't the only security improvement Vista boasts, I can already see people bitching about viruses, yet were dumb enough to turn off UAC completely.
    • MisterCookie, on 10/12/2007, -6/+15I don't get why people say that Unix is so much more secure because of its superuser feature, yet here people are criticizing Windows for implementing the exact same system.
    • iamdanielj, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6@Mistercookie:

      I think people are complaining because of the annoying implementation in Vista. No one in their right mind should be anti this security model. However I have a feeling that it is going to be turned off in many 'average' users computers, because it adds another step to using their computer.
    • iamdanielj, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1@mythos

      Sorry I havent done as much research into Vista as I should have, but what requires UAC confirmation? I'm guessing simple program installs gets past, but what exactly will it hold back for confirmation?
    • popfrogs, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7UAC is so annoying and pervasive it might as well be disabled for most users.

      Remember the dialog boxes that XP pops up for ActiveX controls (while browsing) and other little 'warnings' that people mindlessly click through to continue? That's exactly what they'll continue to do.
    • grumpyrain, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2IMO, a better option for UAC that Microsoft didn't do would be something like 'Disable UAC until tomorrow' or 'Disable for n days'

      That would give you enough time to get everything set up without being bugged with a popup during every install, yet would mean that people would not permanently disable UAC, one of the things lacking in Windows up until now.
    • Gizza, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2"Remember the dialog boxes that XP pops up for ActiveX controls (while browsing) and other little 'warnings' that people mindlessly click through to continue? That's exactly what they'll continue to do."

      Isnt the point of the UAC that people without proper rights cant just click an ok button to continue? So unless the user is logged in as admin, or a user with enough rights they just simply cant do a lot of things. Hence you can set up ur little bros and parents account to allow them to not do stupid things.
  • Ummagumma, on 10/12/2007, -5/+4Some good info there.
  • llbbl, on 10/12/2007, -27/+3Vista sucks. Msft should have open sourced it and charged for support. They have enough money and they OWE us for the crappy software (windows ME) they released in the past.
    • CBTF, on 10/12/2007, -2/+12They don't owe you a thing, you made the choice to buy whatever you did.
  • davethe1st, on 10/12/2007, -10/+3I'm just going to downgrade to Windows 3.11.
    • iamdanielj, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I might do that if it would support my 64bit Processor. Dos/Win3.1 FTW

      Oh and disabling the UAC, not a good idea. Windows has finally built in some form of security model on home systems. Why would you turn it off?

      Anyways Dugg for an interesting read.
  • snakesonasam, on 10/12/2007, -19/+1umm who is actually gonna get VISTA??
    anyone with money to upgrade might as well get os X
    • Scatropolis, on 10/12/2007, -3/+16Hmmm...$160 I payed for Vista compared to $1,600 I need for an OS X running computer w/ OS X.

      You're right, I should have just cashed out the extra $1,440.
    • baxtermaddux, on 10/12/2007, -18/+3theres no doubt in my mind that im not upgrading. simpy out of spite. im gonna get an mac mini next. i want something that just works. simple as that. not to mention everything Vista has, OS X already had a year ago

      oh and Scatropolis: you only have to spend 600 bucks to get OS X on a mac mini
    • estvir, on 10/12/2007, -3/+16Right, because spending $150AU buy Vista (Home Premium) for my current PC (Which is only ~4 months old so it's current tech) is the same as spending ~$ 1,849.00AU for a system which is less powerful, won't allow me to run games (OSX), etc.

      Real smart there.

      Hell, the top iMac model which by default costs $2,999.00AU is slower than my PC I built for a a third of the price.
    • iamdanielj, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6@baxtermaddux

      When we are talking about upgrading here, we are assuming we already have a system powerful enough to run Vista (which I have), so the upgrade only costs US$160 (I'm going on the assumption that Scat... has the right prices). Whereas I can't 'upgrade' to OSX, I actually have to buy a whole new system to run OS X which makes it a whole lot more.
    • metalhead3767, on 10/12/2007, -5/+9Yea, donate 3x as much then my hardware costs to the apple cult.

      Apple hardware is outrageously overpriced.

      Anyway vista owns OSX.
    • neomis, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Just about anyone who buys a PC @ best buy, circuit city, or any other major retailer for the next 3 - 5.
  • nysus, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4Tweaking an OS was fun when I was learning computers. Don't really have an interest in spending hours getting all the settings just right anymore. Just give me at tool I don't have to spend any brain cycles thinking about it so I can focus on getting real work done.
  • Gizza, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2This was the first Ive heard of that ReadyBoost. Sounds like an interesting feature. Wonder how much of a difference it makes tho.
  • AminoSC, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Vista is a Masterpiece.
  • popfrogs, on 10/12/2007, -8/+3The best advice?

    "Don't do it. There's no good reason for Vista." I've been running it on a test box and Vista, along with IE7, just isn't ready for prime time. Microsoft gave my company 25 keys for the full-blown corporate version, and IE7 fails on a ton of legacy apps (like Clearcase) and even the CSS rendering from our Sonicwall firewall fails.

    If you're in charge of IT for your company, avoid IE7 for as long as you possibly can, and avoid Vista even longer. Unlike the Win98 to WinXP transition, there is no good reason or measurable benefit to Vista. Yet.
    • wherewithal, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Surely you mean "a ton of legacy apps fail on IE7", not "IE7 fails on a ton of legacy apps".
    • Gizza, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Thats like all these ppl that complain that Vista isnt compatible with most of the software theyve been using for years on XP.
    • CarlosReyes, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3so.. can I have one of those Keys?
    • popfrogs, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1@mythos:

      I know Firefox/Opera can be installed on Vista. However the problem lies more with IE7 and its borked rendering engine...because Microsoft pushed it as a critical update to XP and alot of people ended up with it. Surprise!

      @wherewithal:

      Actually I had it right the first time. IE7 fails with these applications, not the other way around. I can conclusively say it because Firefox and other, more compliant browsers render pages just fine. It's Microsoft's IE team being asshats with the CSS rendering engine again, what else is new?
  • ericsante, on 10/12/2007, -9/+1The Best upgrade to windows is Ubuntu!
  • striker1211, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Wow... keyboard shortcuts for quicklaunch buttons? You dont say? Amazing... too bad you can do the same thing in XP
  • nataliemaines, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I like Windows Vista .
  • NiteFlyer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0This was my experience the last 2 nights and the results so far.....
    Still trying.... :-)

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVJfuFfpbIU
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