My experience of Windows Vista

[Incinerate_IV]

Well I just finshed installing Windows Vista, I was able to dual boot between my old Windows XP x64 and Windows Vista with no problems. I was only using it for about 30 min so heres a quick summary of what I liked and disliked so far. First of all, the Aero user interface is really good, it needs some work but I'm pretty impressed so far. The only problems I found was that when I maximaze, the windows completely lose its transparency and turns into an ugly gray color, also the animations isn't as silky smooth as it should be, but thats probably because the nVIDIA drivers for Vista sucks. Another thing is, the windows is really in need of some anti-aliasing, when ever I use the windows flip feature, the edges looks terrible, it completely ruins the effect. One of the most annoying thing I found in Vista is the permission pop-ups, everytime when I attempt to rename, move, or delete a file, or if I try to install any programs, it automatically pops up saying I don't have permission to perform that task(wtf?) and I have to click continue to performs it.

Thats what I have so far, I'll update it later. If you guys have any questions about vista I'll gladly try to help.

[hunter260859]

i have a question what are the recommended specs for windows vista

[Proximus]

i have a question what are the recommended specs for windows vista

The minimum system requirements for Windows Vista Beta 2 are an 800 MHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) microprocessor, 512 MB of RAM, a 20 GB hard drive with 15 GB of free space, and a CD-ROM drive. For Vista Home Basic, Microsoft recommends a 3D video card and a DVD-compatible optical drive, along with audio and Internet capabilities. For Vista Home Premium, Ultimate, Business, and Enterprise editions, the company ups the ante with 1 GHz microprocessor, 1 GB of RAM, an "Aero capable" video card, and a 40 GB hard drive. That's it, nothing complicated, and certainly nothing particularly daunting. Forget all that noise about your PC not being able to run Vista.

There is one item here worth pointing out. Notice the "Aero capable" video card recommendation listed above. This specifies a DirectX 9-compliant 3D video card that supports a technology called Pixel Shader 2.0 in hardware and includes a new Windows Device Driver Model (WDDM) driver. Before you get too nervous about those requirements, we're basically talking about every 3D video card on the market today. And there's even one integrated graphics chipset--the Intel GMA 950--that fully supports Vista's gorgeous Aero graphics, so even modern low-end notebooks will run Vista beautifully.

[Spiff]

I really need to know if this beta allows you to install on a partition which already contains data without the need to format that partition.

Thanks for the writeup though Incinerate

[Richard the Lionheart]

Does the Beta 2 installation procedure give you the option of using a dual boot installation so that it doesn't affect my current XP installation?

[Incinerate_IV]

Does the Beta 2 installation procedure give you the option of using a dual boot installation so that it doesn't affect my current XP installation?

Yes, as long you install in another hard drive or partation it will won't affect your current Windows installation. At least for me at least, still back up some important files just in case if you want to try Vista.

Is it possible, after dualbooting Windows Vista, to remove it and just continue with your old XP installation? Also, if you had numerous games/programs installed on your XP installation, and you instal Vista will you be able to run them? (problems with the registry and all that)

Most games can run without any registry enttries, so that shouldn't be a problem. I'm not sure if you can run any games well on Vista though, since the drivers isn't that developed yet. And you probably need at least 2 gigs of ram, since Vista takes 960MB of ram right now with just IE running! As for deleting Vista, I'm not sure about that yet, but I know you can change the setting to automatically boot to XP unless you choose Vista.

Maybe that is because you aren't admin, at least similar things like that could happen in XP if you hadn't got admin priviliges.

I found its some new security feature, whenever I'm doing anything that require admin privilege it will pop up, even if I'm the admin. I did found out how to turn it off though, so thats not bothering me any more.

I really need to know if this beta allows you to install on a partition which already contains data without the need to format that partition.

It will delete all the files on that partition. Also, it says the drive you install it on need at least 15GB of free space, but it actually need another 4.4GB of free space on the same drive or on another drive to store the temporary installation data.

By the way, has anyone else installed Windows Vista yet?

And heres a screen shot of a thing I don't like about Vista, notice how jaggy the line looks.

[Mr.Flint]

And you probably need at least 2 gigs of ram, since Vista takes 960MB of ram right now with just IE running!.

So it was true after all.... a RAM chugger... well here is a one fingered salute for ya Billy!

[solid]

Is it possible, after dualbooting Windows Vista, to remove it and just continue with your old XP installation? Also, if you had numerous games/programs installed on your XP installation, and you instal Vista will you be able to run them? (problems with the registry and all that)

[theking994]

One of the most annoying thing I found in Vista is the permission pop-ups, everytime when I attempt to rename, move, or delete a file, or if I try to install any programs, it automatically pops up saying I don't have permission to perform that task(wtf?) and I have to click continue to performs it.

Maybe that is because you aren't admin, at least similar things like that could happen in XP if you hadn't got admin priviliges.

[General Sun]

Is the vista ready for everyday use? Can I use it as my main boot? (Not saying i'm going to), but will be be able to use it most of the time with no problems?

About about Spyware/Viruses/Worms?

[Incinerate_IV]

It seems pretty stable to me, no crashes yet, and it actually boots and shutdown faster than normal Windows XP.

As for anti-virus, the newest version of Avast Anti-Virus is compatible with all versions of Windows Vista.
http://www.avast.com/

Vista comes with Windows Defender, so that should take care of any spyware.

[Richard the Lionheart]

Ok, so I've installed the Vista Beta on a seperate partition. But now, how do I access my XP partition? How do I make it boot to XP?

[OTZ]

You should get an option before the Windows boot screen appears to select what OS you want to use. One should be XP, the other should be Vista.

[Spiff]

Yea well im gonna try it as soon as i find a blank dvd.. got it downloaded and ready to burn.. think ill just order some right now.

[Richard the Lionheart]

You should get an option before the Windows boot screen appears to select what OS you want to use. One should be XP, the other should be Vista.

I get no such thing.

[Spiff]

Are they installed on different physical hard drives? You may have to go into your bios and change the boot order.. perhaps.. worth looking into anyway

[OTZ]

That's unfortunate. What about the Start-up/Recovery section of your System Properties? THere is a box (in XP) at least that says something like "Display list operating systems for 30 seconds" - does such an option exist in Vista (right click on "My computer" > "Properties" > "Advanced") ...<crosses fingers for you>

[Richard the Lionheart]

Are they installed on different physical hard drives? You may have to go into your bios and change the boot order.. perhaps.. worth looking into anyway

They're installed on the same drive, but on seperate partitions. I can still switch between the two operating systems, but I have to do so via a partition management software. I have the software installed on both operating systems, and in order to switch between the two, I have to manually deactivate and activate the partition I want to work with.

That's unfortunate. What about the Start-up/Recovery section of your System Properties? THere is a box (in XP) at least that says something like "Display list operating systems for 30 seconds" - does such an option exist in Vista (right click on "My computer" > "Properties" > "Advanced") ...<crosses fingers for you>

I tried that, but there is only one operating system (Microsoft Windows) listed, both in XP and Vista.

It's tedious and annoying. I want to be able to choose which OS to boot right when I start my computer. Why don't I get the "multiboot screen"?

[Spiff]

Maybe this will be of some help:

http://www.aeroxp.org/board/index.php?showtopic=3390

or this

http://help.lockergnome.com/vista/Du...topict637.html



You could have edited the Boot.ini file, but apparently vista no longer uses that

[Incinerate_IV]

For me when I boot up, it has a choice of Windows or earlier version of Windows. The earlier version of Windows is Windows XP. Also can you see your old Windows XP partition in Vista?