new comp w/Vista Home Premium

[Andrew0421]

I have ordered a new comp. and wonder if anyone has any suggestions as to
updates, patches, configuration, or uninstall of adware before I start to
load my apps. This will be my first experience with Vista.
Thanks in advance for your reply,
Andrew

m9000t HP Pavilion Elite Media Center Desktop with INTEL processor;
Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Quad processor Q6600 (2.4GHz);
3GB DDR2-667MHz dual channel SDRAM (2x1024,2x512);
Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium (32-bit);
1TB 7200rpm SATA 3Gb/s dual hard drives (2x500GB);
Blu-ray / HD DVD player & Lightscribe SuperMulti DVD burner;
Integrated 7.1 Capable Sound w/ Front Audio ports;
512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8500GT, TV-out, DVI-I, HDMI;
15-in-1 memory card reader, 2 USB, 1394, video, audio;
802.11 b/g USB Wireless LAN card & USB external modem;
ATSC-NTSC TV tuner with PVR, FM tuner, remote

 

[Mike Hall - MVP]

Run Windows update first. Spend some time looking at the HP window that pops
up when the machine is first started.

 

[Mike Hall - MVP]

One more thing. Get device drivers for external hardware devices from
manufacturer web sites. Do NOT use old XP drivers off of installation CDs.

You might also want to check out software author web sites to see if
patches, fixes etc are required for the software you want to install..

 

[Bob J]

On the surface it appears that you should have no problems running Vista on
the specs you have provided.
I have Vista Home Premium running on a HP Media Centre a7575a, P4 duo core,
Navidia 7600gs Graphics, with no problems at all. Media Centre works great
for TV, just take time to read & understand how to set up any
program/application you wish to run. I also have Tablet Pc installed which
operates again with no problems
Ensure that all drivers are Vista compatible, download all updates from MS,
excluding graphics, sound, etc. these are better downloaded from the
manufacturers website.
Any programs you wish to run ensure they are compatible with Vista.
Overall ensure that you research and understand any program/application
which install.
You will find some nockers of Vista but my experience has been, that Vista
handled correctly and understood is a vast improvement on other OS, this is
not to say it's perfect, no OS is perfect.
I have found that most problems that have arisen, have been because of
me(the user) has not abided by the rules,(so to speak).
I am not employed by MS, just someone who has operated/ tampered with
computers for over 30yrs.
Enjoy the experience of computing, who knows what the future of computing
will evolve.
--
Regards
Bob J
If advise given from anyone, solves problem or not, or if solved from
another source,post back & let us know.
Then we all benefit.

 

[Bob J]

Other things you should consider is your Anti Virus setup, Widows Firewall,
Windows Defender are more than adequate, as for an AV protection, programs
such as, Avast, AVG, Nod32, again are not as intrusive and bloated, avoid
Norton, Symantec, they are fine but are known to conflict with Vista security
setup, (they do work for some users. if they set them up correctly.
Adware, Spybot Search & Destory are good back ups for Defender.
Avoid registry cleaner type programs, unless you know exactly what you are
doing.
During initial setup if you elect to index you drives, expect your PC to be
a bit sluggish for a while, but once indexing complete, (maybe a couple of
days) the PC will settle down, not a bad idea to not shut down your PC during
this period.
Many of the MVP's in these discussion groups have website that give good
sound advise and tweaks,look them up when you have the time.
If you have any problems post to the relevant discussion group and their is
always someone that can offer advise of a remedy/fix.
When you look at Windows Update, it is not a bad idea to elect to "Download
Updates' but you elect to install, ensure that a restore point is created
before update are installed, So if anything goes wrong you can restore to a
previous point, this also applies when installing a new program/application.
Any othe rqueries please post back
Happy Computing
--
Regards
Bob J
If advise given from anyone, solves problem or not, or if solved from
another source,post back & let us know.
Then we all benefit.

 

[Bob J]

Sorry if this sounds a bit long winded,
Vista is MS but it is not XP, new OS new experience, things do change.
--
Regards
Bob J
If advise given from anyone, solves problem or not, or if solved from
another source,post back & let us know.
Then we all benefit.

 

[Andrew0421]

Bob,
Thanks for your response. Sounds like all good info. What exactly is
indexing? I assume it makes searching for files on your HDD faster? If I
choose to do this will it speed the process if I initiate it before
installing any apps? I have free access to McAfee Security Suite, through my
ISP, Comcast.net. Do you have any info or opinions on using it. I had to
uninstall it on other comps I have because it really bogged down IE page
loads. I am hoping that this new comp w/it's powerful processor will handle
it better.
The new comp will have 2-500GB HDD. Any examples on how to manage these.
Do I want to install all apps on the boot drive, does it matter? I may need
to install XP PRO as duel boot to handle some older software. Are most apps
that now work w/XP going to work W/Vista?
Thanks,
Anderw

 

[Bob J]

Indexing is for as you describe, indexing is a low priority application. so
it is supposed to work when the PC is idle, If you read thru previous post
it does appears to slow the PC down whilst operating, personally I would not
activate until after installing all programs, then it will also index those.
MCFee also is a much bloated program, do'nt get me wrong I not saying they
do not do their job, with the extra security measures in Vista, AVast, AVG,
NOD32, are quiet good, Which ever AV you decide, disable the email scanners,
most AV have realtime scanners which do the same, quiet well.
As for XP programs on Vista, it can be a bit of hit & miss, some do, some
do'nt. It will pay to check providers website for Vista patches & updates.
Personally I have done away with dual booting and use Innotech or VM Ware
Virtual PC to run older OS, because eventually I will most stop using them as
I upgrade to Vista dedicated programs.
Nothing wrong with installing apps on boot drive, moving them to another
drive can get confusing, maybe move you personal data files to another drive.
If you are going to use a backup facility that should be place on separate
drive, might be a good idea with the second drive split into 2 partitions,
one for your data, one for backup.
Also Vista has a defrag capability which will run in the background, it does
not have the graphic display like previous versions but there is no reason to
sit and watch the defrag work, when you can be doing other things.
I have got rid of most of the extra services/applications that HP provided,
because generally they are basic programs and there are better ones available.
If any one suggests that you use Readyboost, with 3gb RAM it will be of
little if any use at all. I have 3gb and the PC runs very well. Also an
increase in RAM should not be required. In fact 32 bit will only recognize
3gb.

--
Regards
Bob J
If advise given from anyone, solves problem or not, or if solved from
another source,post back & let us know.
Then we all benefit.