Throwing this computer out the window

[Katie Ann]

I'm not really literate on computers, but this is ridiculous. I have not
been able to load one disc on the windows vista. Even if I go to using an
older program I can't figure it out. Help

 

[Rick Rogers]

Hi Katie Ann,

First, is the drive being recognized and the disk being read?

Click start and type Device Manager, hit <enter>. In the DVD/CD drive
branch, does it list your drive? If it does, is there and exclamation point
in front of it?

If it appears to be ok, then open Windows Explorer to "Computer" and double
click the drive with a disk in it, does it react?

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

 

[Mike Hall - MVP]

You have to be a little more specific re problems, or did you just feel the
need to vent?

 

[Malke]

I'm not really literate on computers, but this is ridiculous. I have not
been able to load one disc on the windows vista. Even if I go to using an
older program I can't figure it out. Help

I understand that you are frustrated, but you haven't given us enough
information to help you. Here are links that show you what details to
include in a newsgroup post in order to get focused help:

http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Usenet
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/555375 - How to Ask a Question

A better solution might be for you to have a knowledgeable friend (who
is really knowledgeable and not just saying he is) or a computer
professional come over and help you, diagnose any problems, give you a
bit of training, etc. If you decide to go with a professional, don't use
someone from BigComputerStore/GeekSquad - get recommendations from
family, friends, colleagues. Please understand that I am not saying this
to hurt your feelings in any way; I'm just being practical. If you want
to try in the newsgroup please don't feel turned away, but you really
should read the information at the links above first.


Malke

 

[vista user 43]

Katie, its not your shortcoming...

vista is a very low quality OS that has tens of thousands of bugs and
problems...


dont blame yourself, blame vista

 

[vista user 43]

so many people are venting about vista, that its contributing to global
warming!

thats a lot of hot steam

if only microsoft made an acceptible product

 

[Peggy (newbie)]

We bought this new computer and it came with Windows Vista on it.

It turns out that Checkpoint does not work with Vista and they want me to
use XP. Can I have both operating systems? How do I do that? Can you think
of any other workaround?

(Sorry, I tried to create a new thread but it wouldn't let me, even after I
allowed popups. Another problem, I guess!)

Thank you in advance to anyone who can help!

 

[Rick Rogers]

Sad that they haven't updated their software to be compatible. You have two
basic choices here:

1) Check with the system maker for downgrade rights. Many manufacturers
offer this. You would basically exchange your Vista license for an XP
license and do a clean install with manufacturer-supplied media.

2) If you have a copy of XP you can use, set up a virtual machine within
Vista to install the checkpoint software to. Popular products include
Virtual PC and VMWare, both of which have certain benefits and work fine
under Vista. The benefit here is that you retain your Vista license as XP
phases out in the coming years. Hopefully, the software you want to use will
be updated accordingly.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

 

[NoStop]

Sad that they haven't updated their software to be compatible. You have
two basic choices here:

Sadder is that you still haven't learned how to post properly to Usenet.

1) Check with the system maker for downgrade rights. Many manufacturers
offer this. You would basically exchange your Vista license for an XP
license and do a clean install with manufacturer-supplied media.

That's a "right"? To go back to using an old warn out os like XP?

2) If you have a copy of XP you can use, set up a virtual machine within
Vista to install the checkpoint software to.

Yeh sure. Any other suggestions for a newbie that is hardly capable of
figuring out how to run Minesweeper?

Popular products include
Virtual PC and VMWare, both of which have certain benefits and work fine
under Vista.

Don't lie. I'm sure you're aware of Microsoft's EULA in this regards. It's
doubtful anyone who purchased Fista for home use as preinstalled on a
consumer grade computer is licensed to install and run a VM.

The benefit here is that you retain your Vista license as XP
phases out in the coming years. Hopefully, the software you want to use
will be updated accordingly.

Guess you're automatically ruling out Fista being fixed to accomodate that
software? At least here, you're showing you have a little grasp of reality.

Cheers.

 

[Frank]

Rick Rogers wrote:



Sadder is that you still haven't learned how to post properly to Usenet.



That's a "right"? To go back to using an old warn out os like XP?




Yeh sure. Any other suggestions for a newbie that is hardly capable of
figuring out how to run Minesweeper?




Don't lie. I'm sure you're aware of Microsoft's EULA in this regards. It's
doubtful anyone who purchased Fista for home use as preinstalled on a
consumer grade computer is licensed to install and run a VM.



Guess you're automatically ruling out Fista being fixed to accomodate that
software? At least here, you're showing you have a little grasp of reality.

Cheers.

Get lost doris. You're making a fool out of yourself in public.
Frank

 

[Paul Knudsen]

We bought this new computer and it came with Windows Vista on it.

It turns out that Checkpoint does not work with Vista and they want me to
use XP. Can I have both operating systems? How do I do that? Can you think
of any other workaround?

Checkpoint is just a firewall. If they won't update it, I'd look for
another. Norton came with my new comp and I haven't had any problems.

You can use both OS's on your system (by dual-booting for example) but
your Vista would still have nothing but the limited protection Vista
itself provides.

 

[Mike Hall - MVP]

Peggy

If you want to use a 3rd party firewall, try Comodo..

http://www.personalfirewall.comodo.com/

 

[MICHAEL]

I had two recent Comodo firewall installs do nothing but
produce blue screens on two different Vista machines.
I think there may have been a conflict with NOD32.
NOD32 stayed, the free Comodo went.

I do use and recommend another free product from
Comodo, BOClean.
http://www.comodo.com/boclean/boclean.html


-Michael

 

[Mike Hall - MVP]

Ouch!! That would be my course of action too. To be honest, 3rd party
firewall popups annoy me, but some people don't feel protected without them.

--
Mike Hall - MVP
http://msmvps.com/blogs/mikehall/default.aspx

I had two recent Comodo firewall installs do nothing but
produce blue screens on two different Vista machines.
I think there may have been a conflict with NOD32.
NOD32 stayed, the free Comodo went.

I do use and recommend another free product from
Comodo, BOClean.
http://www.comodo.com/boclean/boclean.html


-Michael

 

[MICHAEL]

I agree. Not since the early days of ZoneAlarm have
I really cared too much about third party firewalls
and their little popups. Now ZoneAlarm is bloated
and messy. I used Sygate for several years until it got
bought up by Symantec and they killed it.

I tried using Vista Firewall Control, but under heavy
traffic it seems to choke a bit. http://www.sphinx-soft.com/Vista/index.html
It's not a firewall itself, but an add-on to Vista's Firewall that
does application control. But, I've seen some folks much smarter
than me say "outbound control is a myth". I reckon it's good
for marketing, though. Some users really "feel" better/safer about
having it.... which, in the end, may not be such a good thing.

So, I just use Vista's Firewall on my machines and sit behind
a NAT router with SPI.


-Michael

 

[The poster formerly known as 'The Poster Formerly]

We bought this new computer and it came with Windows Vista on it.

It turns out that Checkpoint does not work with Vista and they want me to
use XP. Can I have both operating systems? How do I do that? Can you think
of any other workaround?

(Sorry, I tried to create a new thread but it wouldn't let me, even after I
allowed popups. Another problem, I guess!)

Thank you in advance to anyone who can help!

Hi Peggy, what version of Checkpoint are you using right now?


--
Priceless quotes in m.p.w.vista.general group -
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"Fair use is not merely a nice concept--it is a federal law based on
free speech rights under the First Amendment and is a cornerstone of the
creativity and innovation that is a hallmark of this country. Consumer
rights in the digital age are not frivolous."
- Maura Corbett

 

[mayayana]

I found an interesting site from the Comodo site:
http://www.matousec.com/projects/windows-personal-firewall-analysis/leak-tes
ts-results.php

It listed the Windows firewall as the very worst of
all tested, though I never found any detailed description
of exactly what the test were.

I don't know how thing work through your router, but
for anyone connected directly online, outbound control
is no myth! First, it can warn you of a virus/worm that's
trying to get out. (Virtually all malware is going to try to
go online once it's set up. Second, it can control/identify
spyware when it tries to go out. Third, it can control
the increasingly numerous Microsoft functions that go online
without asking, many of which qualify as spyware in that
they send info. from your machine clandestinely without
asking. Fourth, it provides further protection against
incoming calls. Windows NT systems are high risk in that
the RPC service cannot be shut down and numerous risky
RPC-related services that should rarely be enabled are left
running by default. (DCOM attacks were one of the first
of many unnecessary security problems faced with XP when
it first came out.) Outgoing control can block local software
from responding to an incoming request.

Many people don't care much about privacy and don't
really care if much of their software is calling home. (It is.)
But those people should still at least appreciate an early
warning system for malware "infections".

 

[dennis@home]

I found an interesting site from the Comodo site:
http://www.matousec.com/projects/windows-personal-firewall-analysis/leak-tes
ts-results.php

It listed the Windows firewall as the very worst of
all tested, though I never found any detailed description
of exactly what the test were.

Shame they didn't test vista.
it has outgoing control if you enable it.
It should score 100% if its set to block outgoing.

 

[Alias]

Shame they didn't test vista.
it has outgoing control if you enable it.
It should score 100% if its set to block outgoing.

Windows "Firewall": fox guarding chicken coop.

Alias

 

[MICHAEL]

The outbound application control that many software
firewalls have may be useful. However, it really is rather
trivial for some of the better critters to fool/disable this
sort of protection, and one could easily argue that if your
firewall alerts you to suspicious outbound traffic, you're already
owned. Of course, that might enable you to limit/stop the damage.
A better solution might be a real HIPS program. But, if you have
UAC turned on, an AV that does Heuristics/Advanced Heuristics
(like NOD32) then it's really about the same thing. NOD32
does monitor internet/network traffic, by the way, and the newly
released Smart Security Suite from Eset also includes a firewall.

Comodo Firewall 3.0 has HIPS, as does their anti-virus. Their AV
is not Vista ready, however. SSM Free is very popular, I think it
works with Vista... I've not tried it.

Securing your computer should always be taken seriously.
However, I do believe that many of the same folks that sell
security products are also the ones trying to scare everyone
to death. Some users end up with multiple products on
their computers that only lead to other problems.

I've not been infected on any of my machines in years.
Not counting self-inflicted infections while testing.


-Michael