H
History Fan
I have a (somewhat) computer illiterate relative who bought a new PC
with Vista Home Premium installed. I visited recently in an attempt to help
him set things up. I only used the computer for a few hours, so my
information is undoubtedly incomplete (and maybe even inaccurate), but here
are my INITIAL impressions:
1) I hate the large desktop icons. I know they can be resized, but they
sure looked weird to me.
2) Vista has ClearType enabled by default. I was asked to turn this off,
and did so, yet I still didn't like the appearance of the font and menus.
3) Speaking of appearances, I found the options for changing things like
menu text and scroll bars very limited. Perhaps I just couldn't find the
proper settings area. With XP, you merely right-click the desktop, click
Properties, then Appearance tab. Once there, you have dozens and dozens of
options for changing XP's look. Where is this option with Vista?
4) To my amazement, Vista Premium does not have any fax software!!
5) Not to my amazement, my relative's 6 year old flatbed scanner does not
work with Vista. At least I couldn't get it to. I tinkered with Vista's
compatibility wizard, but no luck.
6) The Vista Sidebar is okay, but in all candor I prefer the Yahoo Widgets.
More customizable.
7) The extreme security measures enabled in Vista can be quite annoying. I
wanted to configure Crap-Cleaner to run at startup, but Vista prevented
this. Plus you seem to get warnings every time you make a setting change.
8) Aero is slick-looking.
9) The extra options for desktop wallpaper is nice.
10) Having a anti-spyware notification in the Security Center is a good
addition.
Before this experience, I had a strong inclination to upgrade my
computer to Vista, at least eventually. Afterwards, I appreciate XP much
more and will leave it alone on my computer.
with Vista Home Premium installed. I visited recently in an attempt to help
him set things up. I only used the computer for a few hours, so my
information is undoubtedly incomplete (and maybe even inaccurate), but here
are my INITIAL impressions:
1) I hate the large desktop icons. I know they can be resized, but they
sure looked weird to me.
2) Vista has ClearType enabled by default. I was asked to turn this off,
and did so, yet I still didn't like the appearance of the font and menus.
3) Speaking of appearances, I found the options for changing things like
menu text and scroll bars very limited. Perhaps I just couldn't find the
proper settings area. With XP, you merely right-click the desktop, click
Properties, then Appearance tab. Once there, you have dozens and dozens of
options for changing XP's look. Where is this option with Vista?
4) To my amazement, Vista Premium does not have any fax software!!
5) Not to my amazement, my relative's 6 year old flatbed scanner does not
work with Vista. At least I couldn't get it to. I tinkered with Vista's
compatibility wizard, but no luck.
6) The Vista Sidebar is okay, but in all candor I prefer the Yahoo Widgets.
More customizable.
7) The extreme security measures enabled in Vista can be quite annoying. I
wanted to configure Crap-Cleaner to run at startup, but Vista prevented
this. Plus you seem to get warnings every time you make a setting change.
8) Aero is slick-looking.
9) The extra options for desktop wallpaper is nice.
10) Having a anti-spyware notification in the Security Center is a good
addition.
Before this experience, I had a strong inclination to upgrade my
computer to Vista, at least eventually. Afterwards, I appreciate XP much
more and will leave it alone on my computer.