I finally have Vista running smoothly

[Retired]

My copy of Vista is Vista Home Premium. My hardware is a home-built desktop
with 512 MB of memory, a 40 GB hard drive, a floppy drive, a CD drive, a DVD
drive, and a CPU running at 950 MHZ. I use an Ethernet cable connected to my
router in order to gain access to the internet through my cable modem. This
computer does not use wireless, which has been problematic for some users.

I know this hardware sounds very minimal, especially the CPU speed, but with
the applications I am using it runs efficiently and quickly.

Here is what I did:

A clean install of Vista (deleted all hard drive partitions, reformatted the
hard drive, and installed Vista). Earlier I had tried a system upgrade from
XP to Vista, and ran into all sorts of problems. A clean install will force
you to re-install all applications and all needed data files, after Vista is
up and running, but it is far less troublesome.

Turned off UAC to avoid a constant barrage of "helpful" messages while
setting up my Vista system..

Removed Defender from the startup list for the same reason. It's still
there, but will not begin running at startup. I'm not sure if Defender is
that intrusive, but I didn't want to deal with it at the moment.

Changed the workgroup name from WORKGROUP to MSHOME so that this computer
would be able to communicate with other XP running PCs on my home network.
The default workgroup name for Vista is WORKGROUP, while the default name
under XP is MSHOME. In a home network, all computers should have the same
workgroup name.

Downloaded and installed an anti-virus program called AVG free from Grisoft.

Downloaded and installed an anti-spyware program called Ad-Aware (free) from
Lavasoft.

Installed Microsoft Office 2003.

Downloaded and installed all updates from Microsoft for Vista and Office.

Downloaded and installed all updates for AVG Free and Ad-Aware.

Performed a full system scan with AVG Free and Ad-Aware.

Chose the "classic" option for the Control Panel and also for the Start
button. This makes Vista seem more familiar to me.

Selected the single click option for my mouse (just my preference).

The only glitch I experienced was that my (quite old) CD-ROM drive was not
recognized. This, however, may have nothing to do with Vista. Could be a
loose power cable to that device, or whatever. I haven't used it for over a
year.

All device drivers were recognized, and no errors show up under the Device
Manager. I was halfway expecting my Nvidia driver to give me problems
because there have been reports that some Nvidia drivers are not compatible
with Vista. However, mine was accepted without a problem. The graphics card
is an NVIDIA GeForce4 MX440 with 64 MB of onboard memory.

Prior to reaching this successful goal Vista's User Account Control (UAC)
was causing way to many delays with its "helpful" messages. So I turned it
off and was then able to do all of the above without interferences.

I plan to keep UAC turned off for a while, until I at least have become more
familiar with Vista. In the meantime, AVG Free and AD-Aware are providing
all of the protection I need.

Is my system performance adequate? For what I do, it certainly is. I surf
the internet, download files from the internet (even large ones several
hundred MBs in size because I use cable, which allows for fast downloads),
use E-mail - including photographs as attachments, and use the Office
software.

Gaming is something I occasionally do, and my system is not adequate for
some of the more advanced games - but does just fine with Microsoft Flight
Simulator and similar packages - that is, it did OK with Flight Simulator
under Windows XP. I haven't tried it out with Vista yet, but probably there
will be a performance hit when I do.

Hope this is of some help to you.

 

[Daze N. Knights]

Good job! I would note that 512 MB is a bare minimum amount of memory
for running Vista, however, and recommend that you consider at least
doubling it. Also, I don't think that a video card with only 64 MB of
memory is capable of Aero. I believe that 128 MB is the minimum.

Daze
----------

 

[Drew]

Very impressive!!,...Surprising but impressive!!....I do not think you will
really be able to run flight simulator X though..Takes a lot to run that
one..Gaming overall would be tough on that machine..!

 

[Brian]

Thanks for letting us know what worked for you. It's just as helpful as
knowing what doesn't work.

Because I didn't have many problems through all the betas on all sorts of
machines (most with minimal capabilities and all with older hardware), I
bought myself a new entry-level Compaq laptop for Christmas.

I did a fresh install with the Express Upgrade, and Vista (Home Basic) ran
fine with the 512 MB of RAM that came with it. When I could finally afford 2
GB of RAM, I was pleased to see that the RAM "sweet spot" that posters talk
about is true (in my case), and Vista really pops now. I really enjoy using
it.

Compaq C301nr
Intel 940GL Express Chipset on generic Motherboard
Intel Integrated 950 graphics (up to 128 MB shared RAM)
*Celeron M 430 (1.76 MHz, 1 MB L2 cache)
512 MB RAM, then 2 GB
Built-In Broadcom Wireless G
DVD-RAM
$399 Fry's Door-Buster Special ($599 MSRP)

*Yes, a little ole CELERON! Who knew?

 

[Frank]

My copy of Vista is Vista Home Premium. My hardware is a home-built desktop
with 512 MB of memory, a 40 GB hard drive, a floppy drive, a CD drive, a DVD
drive, and a CPU running at 950 MHZ. I use an Ethernet cable connected to my
router in order to gain access to the internet through my cable modem. This
computer does not use wireless, which has been problematic for some users.

I know this hardware sounds very minimal, especially the CPU speed, but with
the applications I am using it runs efficiently and quickly.

Here is what I did:

A clean install of Vista (deleted all hard drive partitions, reformatted the
hard drive, and installed Vista). Earlier I had tried a system upgrade from
XP to Vista, and ran into all sorts of problems. A clean install will force
you to re-install all applications and all needed data files, after Vista is
up and running, but it is far less troublesome.

Turned off UAC to avoid a constant barrage of "helpful" messages while
setting up my Vista system..

Removed Defender from the startup list for the same reason. It's still
there, but will not begin running at startup. I'm not sure if Defender is
that intrusive, but I didn't want to deal with it at the moment.

Changed the workgroup name from WORKGROUP to MSHOME so that this computer
would be able to communicate with other XP running PCs on my home network.
The default workgroup name for Vista is WORKGROUP, while the default name
under XP is MSHOME. In a home network, all computers should have the same
workgroup name.

Downloaded and installed an anti-virus program called AVG free from Grisoft.

Downloaded and installed an anti-spyware program called Ad-Aware (free) from
Lavasoft.

Installed Microsoft Office 2003.

Downloaded and installed all updates from Microsoft for Vista and Office.

Downloaded and installed all updates for AVG Free and Ad-Aware.

Performed a full system scan with AVG Free and Ad-Aware.

Chose the "classic" option for the Control Panel and also for the Start
button. This makes Vista seem more familiar to me.

Selected the single click option for my mouse (just my preference).

The only glitch I experienced was that my (quite old) CD-ROM drive was not
recognized. This, however, may have nothing to do with Vista. Could be a
loose power cable to that device, or whatever. I haven't used it for over a
year.

All device drivers were recognized, and no errors show up under the Device
Manager. I was halfway expecting my Nvidia driver to give me problems
because there have been reports that some Nvidia drivers are not compatible
with Vista. However, mine was accepted without a problem. The graphics card
is an NVIDIA GeForce4 MX440 with 64 MB of onboard memory.

Prior to reaching this successful goal Vista's User Account Control (UAC)
was causing way to many delays with its "helpful" messages. So I turned it
off and was then able to do all of the above without interferences.

I plan to keep UAC turned off for a while, until I at least have become more
familiar with Vista. In the meantime, AVG Free and AD-Aware are providing
all of the protection I need.

Is my system performance adequate? For what I do, it certainly is. I surf
the internet, download files from the internet (even large ones several
hundred MBs in size because I use cable, which allows for fast downloads),
use E-mail - including photographs as attachments, and use the Office
software.

Gaming is something I occasionally do, and my system is not adequate for
some of the more advanced games - but does just fine with Microsoft Flight
Simulator and similar packages - that is, it did OK with Flight Simulator
under Windows XP. I haven't tried it out with Vista yet, but probably there
will be a performance hit when I do.

Hope this is of some help to you.

Excellent! I would recommend only one change and that is to change the
name of your workgroup from the default mshome to something you yourself
chose (made up) and that only you know.
That way you will have a more adequate and secure protection from hackers.
Frank

 

[Lang Murphy]

Here is what I did:

A clean install of Vista (deleted all hard drive partitions, reformatted
the hard drive, and installed Vista). Earlier I had tried a system upgrade
from XP to Vista, and ran into all sorts of problems. A clean install will
force you to re-install all applications and all needed data files, after
Vista is up and running, but it is far less troublesome.

Hope this is of some help to you.

Good job; glad to hear your system is running smoothly. No doubt, at least
not in my mind, that clean installs are far more successful at creating
stable systems than upgrades. I felt the same way about moving to XP from
W2K..

Thanks for posting your success.

Lang

 

[Guest]

In the XP comp I run flight simulator 2002 with 8mbs of onboard graphics
memory; it is an old Acer. Haven't tried it in Vista! In vista i am using CPU
2.0Ghz, 128mbs ATI Graphics, and 1 Gig of Ram to run Home Premium; it runs A1