The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #116664 Message #2506354
Posted By: JohnInKansas
02-Dec-08 - 06:55 PM
Thread Name: Tech: 64-bit Vista - CAUTION for Computer Buyers
Subject: RE: Tech: CAUTION for Computer Buyers
Richard -
I've got Vista (32-bit) on two machines, and have found very little software that I moved from WinXP that doesn't run ok. Programs brought along since Win98 or before probably won't run, since they're largely 16-bit compilations.
Nearly all 32-bit programs will run on Vista. The only real problem is the absence of hardware drivers that are compatible with the "protected mode" in Vista, that does not allow direct hardware access to the devices.
I did lose a very good flat bed scanner for which there is no driver for Vista, and my large format (Super B, 13"x19") inkjet printer is forced to use a driver from another (newer) printer that loses a few options.
Most recent hardware is beginning to find Vista-compatible drivers, but my lost devices are "old" or "not very popular" and no driver updates have been (or will be) made by the builders.
The frequent "access denied" popups are annoying, but mostly you can work with them either by disabling them (questionable, maybe) or by learning which ones are just completely inaccurate and have fairly simple - although not always obvious - workarounds.
The biggest failure in Vista is the total absence of a useful file search. By default, your System drive is "indexed." You CANNOT do a detailed search of an indexed drive, and unless you speak illiterate baby-talk, terms you (or a literate person might) use will not be indexed. A search of an indexed drive returns "zero files found" or a list of all the files on the drive - regardless of what search term is used. None of the files found will contain the search term.
For drives that are NOT INDEXED, you can actually "search," but my F:\ drive takes about 3 hours to run a search for "file(s) containing the word "mudcat"" and returns several hundred files, none of which contain mudcat either in the filename or within the files, and it can't find any of the 3,842 files that do contain the word, either in the filename or in text in the file, or both.
Vista does require some rather steep learning curve, but mostly it works okay, and runs nearly all 32-bit programs.
Even the 32-bit Vista may be a problem for those with fairly old hardware devices, since drivers simply may not (ever) be available. The driver problem may be somewhat worse with 64-bit Vista, but I haven't seen any "trustworthy" comment on that.
What they've done to Office 2007 (which came out during WinXP times) is certifiably CRIMINAL, but nobody seems to have noticed that clunker.
John