XP or VISTA ????

[namvet]

so whats been your experience with these OS systems???? I have XP. and love it. so who's got Vista???? which do you like best???? problems???
XP is supposed to go off the sales shelves next month. but there is a growing support from many users to keep it around. including a petition to MS.

save XP

MS responds

[Yurt]

XP is great, SP2 that it is. i used vista at work and a major problem with vista is the drivers -- there is a lot of hardware out there that does not support drivers, for example we had a industrial panasonic copier/printer that was maybe 9 years old and panasonic had no drivers to support vista, so my computer (the newest one) could not print to the machine.

other than that, vista is ok, they changed a bunch of stuff around simply to make it "seem" different IMO. if you want to switch, make sure to check compatibility not only with your computer hardware/software but any other machines...

[Gadget (fmr Marine)]

Vista is OK....I have it on my personal laptop....so I am not taxing any resources by surfing or looking at smut.....

I prefer XP, though...just seems a bit more stable, and as mentioned, more driver support....although I am sure that will change.

[namvet]

XP is great, SP2 that it is. i used vista at work and a major problem with vista is the drivers -- there is a lot of hardware out there that does not support drivers, for example we had a industrial panasonic copier/printer that was maybe 9 years old and panasonic had no drivers to support vista, so my computer (the newest one) could not print to the machine.

other than that, vista is ok, they changed a bunch of stuff around simply to make it "seem" different IMO. if you want to switch, make sure to check compatibility not only with your computer hardware/software but any other machines...

BTY if you have MS updates installed they released XP SP3 today. I installed it and it works fine..............

[namvet]

Vista is OK....I have it on my personal laptop....so I am not taxing any resources by surfing or looking at smut.....

I prefer XP, though...just seems a bit more stable, and as mentioned, more driver support....although I am sure that will change.

same here. but I have heard a lot of complaints about Vista. maybe that's why the petition to keep XP huh ??????

[remie]

same here. but I have heard a lot of complaints about Vista. maybe that's why the petition to keep XP huh ??????

Ive got XP on my office PC and vista on a tablet I take into the field. So far I am not a fan of Vista but then I wasnt crazy about XP when I first got. My biggest beef is when I put my tablet on our office network (all XP) there are all kinds of confilicts.

[Yurt]

BTY if you have MS updates installed they released XP SP3 today. I installed it and it works fine..............

no way, i do and it has not updated, i think i might have an evening update, thanks for the heads up

[KitchenKitten99]

I like Vista, although I don't have it myself. My husband does on his laptop, and so far I have liked the interface and features it has. I bought my new laptop just before Dell converted all their machines' software to Vista last year, so I got one of the last machines with XP Small Business, but I got the Vista upgrade disc for free, if I wanted to upgrade it myself.

Problem is, I don't have an incentive to do it, because all the software that I use, doesn't work well with Vista, or I have to make too many changes to settings to even use the programs, and one, won't work at all. So for now, I have XP and will not upgrade until I buy a new laptop, and that won't be for at least 2 years. I sold my free upgrade disc on eBay for $100.

DH's computer was custom-ordered through Dell for gaming. Unfortunately, because of the features he wanted and the performance, he had to get Vista. There were a few conflicts with a few of his games, but he was able to have one of the Dell techs remote access it and show him a few shortcuts and things he needed to do to run the games. Now everything automatically sets itself to the correct settings when he puts the game disc in. From what I have read by serious PC gamers, Vista is actually a better platform for gaming and graphics-intensive software.

In the end, I believe Vista will go the same way as XP. Remember poor reception, and all the whining and griping about XP, and system issues when it first came out? Well, they were worked out and now XP is the standard. I believe much will be the same for Vista. Only time will tell.

[namvet]

so for most of you with Vista, comparability is the issue here??? Ive had XP now for over 4 years and ive had no complaints from the get go. very stable OS for me. but. XP was already up and running before I bought it so any issues were probably fixed before I chimed in. hopefully MS will do the same with Vista. in time. or else....................

[Pale Rider]

BTY if you have MS updates installed they released XP SP3 today. I installed it and it works fine..............

I saw this and decided I wouldn't download it. It said I had to backup every single file I have on my computer before downloading. Well hell... I've got a ton of shit on this computer. That would take up I don't know how many discs to do. Did you make back ups of everything ?

[namvet]

I saw this and decided I wouldn't download it. It said I had to backup every single file I have on my computer before downloading. Well hell... I've got a ton of shit on this computer. That would take up I don't know how many discs to do. Did you make back ups of everything ?

I already had B/U disc. but I don't why its says that. it did not affect anything. its designed really to make windows run smoother and some more security.

[KitchenKitten99]

I saw this and decided I wouldn't download it. It said I had to backup every single file I have on my computer before downloading. Well hell... I've got a ton of shit on this computer. That would take up I don't know how many discs to do. Did you make back ups of everything ?

Get an external hard drive and back up all your files that way. It works like a jump drive, but with a larger capacity. You don't need discs. It takes very little time and you can essentially just select all your documents, click "copy" and select the new hard drive location, and you're done. The speed to copy all of the files depends on the volume and complexity of files. Mine took about 15 minutes total.

I bought a 500gb MyBook Essential edition by Western Digital, because I researched all the reviews from users from different sources like cnet.com, bestbuy.com, circuitcity.com, officemax.com, etc, and MyBook & Seagate were tied for ratings. Right now, Circuit City has one available for $109.99.

I have started putting our DVD's in the thing. I have so far 20 movies in it, and I am only down to 465gb, including my other files, like music and photos and misc documents.

[namvet]

I use CDRW's they're dirt cheap and re writable.

[KitchenKitten99]

I use CDRW's they're dirt cheap and re writable.

maybe so, but it then creates discs that are limited in capacity to save (needing multiple discs for many files or large, complex ones) with possiblity of getting scratched or damaged, lost/misplaced. If the disc gets damaged, the ability to get the data off it will be hard, if not impossible. If my EHD fails for some reason, the data can still be retrieved.

I just don't like having multiple discs laying around, and I have to search each disc in order to find the file I want. I prefer just accessing the file as if it on my system already.

Really it is up to you, but most techs will tell you to back up in an EHD or even an off-site data company, rather than discs, which are becoming obsolete.

[namvet]

maybe so, but it then creates discs that are limited in capacity to save (needing multiple discs for many files or large, complex ones) with possiblity of getting scratched or damaged, lost/misplaced. If the disc gets damaged, the ability to get the data off it will be hard, if not impossible. If my EHD fails for some reason, the data can still be retrieved.

I just don't like having multiple discs laying around, and I have to search each disc in order to find the file I want. I prefer just accessing the file as if it on my system already.

Really it is up to you, but most techs will tell you to back up in an EHD or even an off-site data company, rather than discs, which are becoming obsolete.

but im a home user not a tech. ive been using CD's for years. I keep mine in the jewl box's they came with. they still look like new. good point on capacity. but you can buy double layer CD's with up to 8.5 GB. HP has software for OS back up. I backed up my entire OS system on one. but its personel pref.