Last minute suggestions for Vista, oh please fix these, there's still time!

[Omega 3]

Hi there,

I hope the people of influence are reading. I have some long-standing
issues with Windows but I am putting them aside to raise some top niggling
items to be fixed from the latest build in the wild, 5472.

1. I use dual monitors. My main monitor is a widescreen 19 inch with a
native resolution of 1400x900. 2nd one is standard 17 inch with native
resolution of 1280x1024. Selecting a standard desktop background on my main
monitor means that the image on the 2nd monitor is cut off at the top and
the bottom, like a widescreen movie and its awful. There must be a way for
the OS to compensate when the monitors are of different native resolutions.
Although Vista comes with widescreen backgrounds, this does not help the 2nd
monitor either as the image just gets cut off even more! Either create a
way to select a different image on the second monitor or have the OS detect
the resolutions and select the appropriate image - standard or widescreen.
Please fix this glaring error.

2. In Vista B5472, go to the Fonts folder. You may have to enable the
classic menus but if you select File > Install New Font, you will get,
rather astonishingly, a Windows 3.1 dialog box. Oh dear.

3. I don't care about all the rubbish, bloatware third-party alternatives, I
want a built-in, IE independant, proper download manager in Vista now! The
Mac has had it all these years, it's time for Windows.

4. Multiple applets where a single one will do. Try and change the title
bar colour (Vista basic graphics). You now have to jump through so many
hoops where as before, it was from a single applet. what happening with the
neat and tidy approach to navigation?

5. Ok, last one for now - I appreciate the new Explorer look and feel. I
don't mind losing the old File Menu bar. But there is no point in removing
that familiar tool (almost 20 years old) if there is no alternative
navigation pont to do all the same things without it. It's not very
intuitive. Take a leaf out of the Office 2007 book. They managed to get
rid of the File Menu and Tool bar menus and not lose a trick.

Omega 3

 

[MG]

Sorry, this is a question, not an answer for you...

How did you get your 19" widescreen to work under Vista? Did your monitor
driver install successfully? My problem is that I have a Dell 2007fpw 20"
lcd, but the driver refuse to install correctly under vista, hence Vista
only detects it as a PnP Generic Monitor and only allow 1280x1024 resolution
on the 20"... Please help, as that looks awful on a 20" widescreen. How did
you get your driver to work w/ Vista?

 

[jonah]

snip

5. Ok, last one for now - I appreciate the new Explorer look and feel. I
don't mind losing the old File Menu bar. But there is no point in removing
that familiar tool (almost 20 years old) if there is no alternative
navigation pont to do all the same things without it. It's not very
intuitive. Take a leaf out of the Office 2007 book. They managed to get
rid of the File Menu and Tool bar menus and not lose a trick.

Omega 3

You can get the file menu back, off the top of my head its a check box
in folder options, can't fire up Vista to check right now I have a new
Linux distro on my test box to have a look at and I can't be bothered
to change the disks over.

Yes I thought about dual booting with Vista......briefly, then stuck a
blank HD in instead.



Jonah

 

[Omega 3]

My main monitor is an Acer AL1916W. Vista detected it exactly the same way
as XP did - PnP Monitor and, the optimum resolution was set for me without
having to do anything at all. I have never installed any Acer specific
drivers because it didn't come with any! It's never given me any trouble
and is an absolute joy.

For best results, you need:
a.. A graphics card that can truly handle those high resolutions on their own. Mine is an ATI Radeon 9800 XT (AGP).
b.. Proprer WDDM dsiplay drivers for your specific graphics card.

 

[Omega 3]

Jonah, I appreciate that the menu can be switched back on again. However,
obviously, Microsoft is trying to move everyone forward, gently, which is
fine. But to truly lose the File Menu bar should also mean that everything
that was doable from there should be available in touching distance from the
same Explorer window and preferably, using the default or standard view.

snip

5. Ok, last one for now - I appreciate the new Explorer look and feel. I
don't mind losing the old File Menu bar. But there is no point in removing
that familiar tool (almost 20 years old) if there is no alternative
navigation pont to do all the same things without it. It's not very
intuitive. Take a leaf out of the Office 2007 book. They managed to get
rid of the File Menu and Tool bar menus and not lose a trick.

Omega 3

You can get the file menu back, off the top of my head its a check box
in folder options, can't fire up Vista to check right now I have a new
Linux distro on my test box to have a look at and I can't be bothered
to change the disks over.

Yes I thought about dual booting with Vista......briefly, then stuck a
blank HD in instead.



Jonah

 

[SAM-R]

The Vista Beta Team does not monitor this newsgroup.

 

[deebs]

Lol - this is a bit like the logical conundrum "never say never"

 

[Chad Harris]

People of influence who could metabolize your bugs aren't reading. The
people from MSFT who are reading are the Community personnel who are doing
well to dress themselves and have a rudimentary knowledge of Windows
software. Essentially MSFT has no interest whatsoever in hearing from the
public as to bugs. The only way they want to hear from you is that they
want the currency of your country to move into their hands either directly
or via the OEM preloaded Vista machines you buy. They project they will
get 400,000,000 OEM preloaded Vista boxes in 24 months after RTM according
to slides that they are circulating.

Like Windows XP, whose OEM recovery discs and partitions could not do a
repair install of Win XP, the OEM preinstalled boxes from named partners
(300--the big guys not the small OEMS who are forced to provide genuine MSFT
retail media rather than OEM crap) for Vista will not be able to reach
Startup Repair and other features reched via the media setup screen under
the umbrella of the Windows Repair Environment.


You can download the MBC (the Microsoft Bug Reporting Client Tool via:
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=43655 but for the public it's as
worthless as yelling at an NFL quaterback on TV on Sunday (NBC) orMonday
Night (ABC) this season.

This tool I provided is not made available on any MSFT public site, but it
was buried by a MSFT employee on an MSDN blog.

Email this bug to (e-mail address removed) or email this bug to
(e-mail address removed) two developers who gush on their blogs how anxious they
are to get public feedback.

CH

 

[jonah]

Jonah, I appreciate that the menu can be switched back on again. However,
obviously, Microsoft is trying to move everyone forward, gently, which is
fine. But to truly lose the File Menu bar should also mean that everything
that was doable from there should be available in touching distance from the
same Explorer window and preferably, using the default or standard view.

snip

Absolutely right, it was a shock first time I saw no file menu. We all
get used to doing things in a standard way. What if car manufactorers
suddenly decided to change control positions around and changed the
signage and the way things worked? Chaos, accidents and lawsuits would
quickly follow. I quite like Vista but a lot of stuff is not exactly
helpful. I am with you on Office though, the ribbon system is very
good when you get used to it.

Jonah

 

[Ray]

Any problems with displays switching around?

Whenever I boot into Vista, both displays come up as they should and everything where it's supposed to be. But after a couple of minutes the left (my primary) display switches off and the right display now becomes the primary, and only one.
After I move everything back there's no more problems, until the next reboot. It's done this right from the Vista install, I even switched the ports around back then, thinking that may fix it.
I'm just putting up with it thinking that it's an Nvidia driver problem that'll get fixed sooner or later.

Ray
My main monitor is an Acer AL1916W. Vista detected it exactly the same way
as XP did - PnP Monitor and, the optimum resolution was set for me without
having to do anything at all. I have never installed any Acer specific
drivers because it didn't come with any! It's never given me any trouble
and is an absolute joy.

For best results, you need:
a.. A graphics card that can truly handle those high resolutions on their own. Mine is an ATI Radeon 9800 XT (AGP).
b.. Proprer WDDM dsiplay drivers for your specific graphics card.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

nVidia cards have been a problem with dual monitors all along. Until a couple of builds ago Vista seemed to have an incestous love affair with the VGA connectors. For a couple of builds I could not keep my taskbar on the right monitor. Back around 5270 or just after Setup would swictch to the VGA connector and leave a static display on the DVI connector so that you could not even tell that Setup had completed.

I had the problem you describe when I was on 5384. It is fixed nicely in later builds.
Any problems with displays switching around?

Whenever I boot into Vista, both displays come up as they should and everything where it's supposed to be. But after a couple of minutes the left (my primary) display switches off and the right display now becomes the primary, and only one.
After I move everything back there's no more problems, until the next reboot. It's done this right from the Vista install, I even switched the ports around back then, thinking that may fix it.
I'm just putting up with it thinking that it's an Nvidia driver problem that'll get fixed sooner or later.

Ray
My main monitor is an Acer AL1916W. Vista detected it exactly the same way
as XP did - PnP Monitor and, the optimum resolution was set for me without
having to do anything at all. I have never installed any Acer specific
drivers because it didn't come with any! It's never given me any trouble
and is an absolute joy.

For best results, you need:
a.. A graphics card that can truly handle those high resolutions on their own. Mine is an ATI Radeon 9800 XT (AGP).
b.. Proprer WDDM dsiplay drivers for your specific graphics card.

 

[Ray]

Thanks Colin, at least it's working for me, that's the main thing. I'll be watching for RC1 though.

Ray
nVidia cards have been a problem with dual monitors all along. Until a couple of builds ago Vista seemed to have an incestous love affair with the VGA connectors. For a couple of builds I could not keep my taskbar on the right monitor. Back around 5270 or just after Setup would swictch to the VGA connector and leave a static display on the DVI connector so that you could not even tell that Setup had completed.

I had the problem you describe when I was on 5384. It is fixed nicely in later builds.
Any problems with displays switching around?

Whenever I boot into Vista, both displays come up as they should and everything where it's supposed to be. But after a couple of minutes the left (my primary) display switches off and the right display now becomes the primary, and only one.
After I move everything back there's no more problems, until the next reboot. It's done this right from the Vista install, I even switched the ports around back then, thinking that may fix it.
I'm just putting up with it thinking that it's an Nvidia driver problem that'll get fixed sooner or later.

 

[Chad Harris]

If the Vista "beta team" which is actually a couple hundred teams composed
of a couple thousand people doesn't monitor this newsgroup, are you
hallucinating when you see posts from Darryl Gorter from the Vista setup
team--do you think when you read this you have a transient delusional
syndrome? If other MSFT personnel assume names, there may still be more.


There are 13 post from Darryl Gorter on this group and the setup group, and
several more from both groups since the birth of the newsgroups have been
removed from the server over time.
____________________________

Hello Martin,
It's part of the OS. So it's unclear from the thread which Bluetooth Stack
is being installed.
If it's Logitech's Bluetooth stack and drivers then their Control Panel
applet needs to be used.
If it's Microsoft. then the bthprops.cpl is used.
For some reason it may not be displaying in Control Panel, but running it
from a command line may at least give us an informative error message or
clue about the issue.
Thanks,
Darrell Gorter[MSFT]
---------------------

Hello Ted,
What are the Bluetooth devices that show up in Device Manager?
Was this an upgrade or a clean install?
Thanks,
Darrell Gorter[MSFT]
----------------------------

Hello Ted,
Remove the radio in Device Manager then and let it be redetected.
Thanks,
Darrell Gorter[MSFT]

_____________________

From: ""Darrell Gorter[MSFT]"" <[email protected]>
Subject: RE: What needs to be done to get BLUETOOTH working in BETA 2?
Date: Wednesday, July 05, 2006 8:32 PM

Hello Bodean,
Clean install or upgrade?
What Bluetooth devices show in Device Manager?
I show it in Control Panel under Hardware and Sound. Bluetooth Devices.
If this is the Microsoft Bluetooth Stack there should be a bthprops.cpl
file located in \windows\system32.
from the Run line you can enter c:\windows\system32\bthprops.cpl
Thanks,
Darrell Gorter[MSFT]
___________________

Hello Skip,
Clean install or upgrade?
What Bluetooth devices show in Device Manager?
I show it in Control Panel under Hardware and Sound. Bluetooth Devices.
If this is the Microsoft Bluetooth Stack there should be a bthprops.cpl
file located in \windows\system32.
from the Run line you can enter c:\windows\system32\bthprops.cpl
Thanks,
Darrell Gorter[MSFT]
______________________



This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights
--------------------

Hello Peter,
What files did you delete?
Can you try booting to the DVD?
On the install screen in the lower left, choose the recovery option
Try to see if one of the recovery options allows you to fix the system
Thanks,
Darrell Gorter[MSFT]
____________________________

Hello,
You need to contact your TAP Account Manager, they have the information you
need.
This topic is under NDA, it can only be discussed in TAP specific beta
newsgroups, certainly not in public newsgroups and not in the tech beta
newsgroups.
Thanks,
Darrell Gorter[MSFT]
__________________________
Hello Paul,
You have to take ownership of the files and folders under Windows.old
before you can delete them.
You do not have permissions to delete or modify system files or folders.
Thanks,
Darrell Gorter[MSFT]
_________________________

Hello Fabio,
Same as before.
Setup /unattend:<unattended file name>
Thanks,
Darrell Gorter[MSFT]

____________________

Hello,
You can do this via an unattended file for profiles.
Program Files is not supported to relocated,, it will break servicing( you
will not be able to sevice any components under program files if it is
relocated. ( it never was supported, any legacy settings were undocumented).

Unattended
Components
à Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup
à FolderLocations
à ProfilesDirectory

The description given is ProfilesDirectory describes the path to the
profiles directory, it can be other volumes as well.

The example given is the following:

<FolderLocations>
<ProfilesDirectory>%SystemDrive%\Profiles</ProfilesDirectory>
</FolderLocations>

Thanks,
Darrell Gorter[MSFT]

______________________

Hello,
Can you locate the \panther\setupact.log file?
There should be more information in that log file as to why we are seeing
the error message.
Thanks,
Darrell Gorter[MSFT]
_____________________________

Hello,
Can you locate the \panther\setupact.log file?
There should be more information in that log file as to why we are seeing
the error message.
Thanks,
Darrell Gorter[MSFT]
___________________

Hello Paul,
You have to take ownership of the files and folders under Windows.old
before you can delete them.
You do not have permissions to delete or modify system files or folders.
Thanks,
Darrell Gorter[MSFT]
_________________________

CH

 

[Chris Game]

The Vista Beta Team does not monitor this newsgroup.

What 'Vista Beta Team'? You mean the group of beta testers, or some
specific project team inside MSFT? And why wouldn't they monitor
this group - MSFT sets up this microsoft.public.* hierarchy.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

The public newsgroups are all for user self-help, not for communication with
Microsoft. MS sets up groups on betanews and privatenews for that. There
are also managed newsgroups in which MS guarantees turnaround in two
business days. Those newsgroups are part of a subscription program paid for
by the users and releated to specific technologies as in the TAP programs.

Some MS folks read the public groups, but not officially. Those that do can
pursue things they read but it is voluntary.

The Vista beta teams are many hundreds and consist of thousands of
programmers, program managers, and testers.

The Vista public newsgroups were not set up for beta users, even though
that's all there is right now. The Vista public newsgroups are the
permanent newsgroups for self-help that will continue to bring Vista users
together long after Vista has released to manufacturing and progressed
through its lifecycle.