i recently installed AIM 6.5 and the new Yahoo messenger…8.0 i think it is…
anyways…i lost sound…on any of my players…WMP 11, VLC, Quicktime, DivX…to name a few…it'd play video for things that had video but wouldnt play any audio….at all…

after searching the net, i found this to be quite a common problem…and after about 3 hours of intense searching i found a niche thread, that said it had something to do with the User Account Control. Mine was turned off, so i turned it on, but still nothing. i removed The messengers. still nothing, then i reinstalled them. and now i have audio back…so if you come across that problem try this quick fix….now i'm going to try and turn it back off..

You should of never gotten Vista. It has tons of problems.

All new Microsoft programs suck in the beginning. XP had the same problems when it came out. It just takes time for them to work out the kinks. Everyone will need to switch to Vista eventually.

…Remember the hell we all went through when Service Pack 2 came out? An old boyfriend of mine lost all of the data in his computer because of that stupid thing. Although, it probably didn't help that he downloaded a virus from a German porn site…

I heard tablets don't work right with Vista. Is that true?

I don't know about all tablets, but my old Intuos works fine. It helps to disable all the Tablet PC functions you can find though, that stuff is stupid and GETS IN THE WAY!

Generally Vista works ok when you get used to it. I don't think it's quite as good as XP is yet though. Funnily enough, Vista irritations for me are akin to Mac irritations: a lot of hidden functionality, the OS having mostly a simplified interface, having to do a lot of things the OS's way and not your way. etc. it's hard to put into words…

But like with a Mac, you can get around a lot of it in the end.

BlueFlame_Studios
You should of never gotten Vista. It has tons of problems.

Vista is just as good as Windows XP with some flaws of the previous OS fixed. The real shitter is that it requires a good computer to run. I've had Vista for a while and hated it until I upgraded my computer, then I saw it in a new light.

I like it better than Windows XP. All flaws that one would find are exactly the same as the ones in XP with some fixed. People that say that downgrading to XP from Vista are bullshiting, it's the exact same thing except with less stress on the RAM.

SarahN
I heard tablets don't work right with Vista. Is that true?

Most of that OH MY GOD NOTHING WORKS ON VISTA HURF DURF is bull. Granted, some stuff doesn't work, like say, I dunno, Photoshop Elements 3.0, but for the most part, everything works (…everything I've used from XP.) And if not, all you need is a driver.

Wacom also has support for Vista, in fact, Vista installed my tablet without needing to go online and find the correct drivers for doing so.

Biggest tip for a vista user, don't be a vista user.

Unless you're like Terminal and have lots of money.

I was prepared to be very unhappy with Vista, but it's working in a perfectly civilized manner on my new computer. True, I'm still waiting with baited breath for the other shoe to drop, for the submarine to surface on the grinder, for the monster under the bed to fart during the still of the night, but so far so good.

At the moment I run XP on my two older machines (very good older machines), and Vista on my brand new much better machine. XP still starts up and shuts down faster… that's one of the main differences lol!

The other big thing is that Vista tries to fence you off from tweaking all the various settings and things to an extent. That's great for security and noob users but a continuing annoyance for me.

some of us are poor….and buying a labtob with an OS already installed then buying another OS might break the bank….so they just went with what came with the computer…

Meh. I still think I'll just wait for the next Windows version.
Windows P.U.

As I recall in a head to head, Ubuntu Linux beat the socks off of Vista.

Personally, I would rather use Win ME than use vista. I supported it while working for an ISP…not fun.

Viva la Linux!

Save A Penguin, Format a M$ box….

For any software concerns, there is always the myriad of virtual machine programs.

I just need to find one that supports hardware.

Other than that, Vista is quite the good OS, it just takes a wile to update and get used to it.

artcurmudgeon
M$ box….

HURF DURF I'M WITTY.

Jesus, I hate when people think it's witty to replace the S in Microsoft with a $, cause, like, it totally repents that they are only in it for the money, amirite? It's bigger bullshit than saying that Macs don't play games when in fact, they can.

Terminal
It's bigger bullshit than saying that Macs don't play games when in fact, they can.

With your mind. :P
“Hurf DurF” == M$ ;)

Seriously though, Vista 32 bit is known to be slightly slower than XP 32 bit at some tasks, running on an equivalent machine that is. And Vista 64 obviously isn't as good as XP 64 because of the lack of hardware support right now.

But, I find that Vista 32 bit runs on my new machine quite nicely.
Hey, maybe I'll even try Linix one day as a second OS on it if I can work out how… One day.

ozoneocean
But, I find that Vista 32 bit runs on my new machine quite nicely.
Hey, maybe I'll even try Linix one day as a second OS on it if I can work out how… One day.

There's where virtual machines come in, i installed XP on one of those and ran some programs that Vista didn't, pretty good for test drives and better than dual booting.

But the virtual hard drive got infected, which i find kind of amusing.

You can find one at Microsoft's Widows's site which is quite easy to use and it's free.
There are others, but i would have to try them first before i can tell you anything.

Good for testing and running progs, certainly! But doesn't that run within the host OS? That means Vista will be using the resources too… you don't get all the benefit.

I WOULD try that out though if I was going to try out Linux for the first time and get used to how it works, sounds like a nice safe option! :)

Sort of along those lines, I used the remote desktop feature to connect to my old machine using my new one. It's so fun to do that and a much better way to transfer files than shared folders and such ^_^

i use linux at work….the only reason i dont have it at home is for gaming purposes…

ozoneocean

Terminal
It's bigger bullshit than saying that Macs don't play games when in fact, they can.

Seriously though, Vista 32 bit is known to be slightly slower than XP 32 bit at some tasks, running on an equivalent machine that is. And Vista 64 obviously isn't as good as XP 64 because of the lack of hardware support right now.

Wait, what?

From what I've seen, Vista 64 blows the pants off of XP 64 because it has drivers - nobody wanted to support XP 64 because there was such a tiny base of users for it. With Vista more companies are putting out drivers for Vista 32 and 64, since it's the new OS on the block and more people are starting to move that way (what with the lack of RAM support with the 32 bit OSes, and the fact that Vista requires a metric buttload of RAM to run well).

Just from what I've seen, of course. I still prefer XP because I don't feel like upgrading yet. I'm waiting for SP1 to see how it handles.

Not from what I've seen with the drivers man… Newer top of the line hardware just doesn't do Vista (in ANY version) as well as XP, even now.

Windows ME is the worst version of Windows ever cursed upon humanity. :gem:

Vista is paranoid but infinitely more functional. Just have 2 GB of RAM if you want it to work… :)

artcurmudgeon
As I recall in a head to head, Ubuntu Linux beat the socks off of Vista.

Personally, I would rather use Win ME than use vista. I supported it while working for an ISP…not fun.

Viva la Linux!

Save A Penguin, Format a M$ box….

ozoneocean
Not from what I've seen with the drivers man… Newer top of the line hardware just doesn't do Vista (in ANY version) as well as XP, even now.

That could be true - I'm just noting the availability of drivers, not the quality of them.

To be honest, as soon as more software companies make the jump to being more accessible to 64 bit OSes I'll seriously look at upgrading and moving on to Vista 64. The minimum requirements for Vista just don't make sense to get it in the 32 bit flavour - when the OS has the same requirements as most games, there is a freaking problem. :|

Manga Studio EX3 doesn't work on Vista. So if I ever upgrade, I won't be able to draw with Manga Studio, meaning I wouldn't draw =(

doesnt work on vista. doesnt work on vista. Its like a broken record.

Most of the shops here (futureshop, best buy, etc.) have already vista pre installed in their systems. Whats worse is the drivers for xp are NOT TO BE FOUND!!!

That means if you try reformat it and reinstall windows xp, you wont be getting sound or decent video screen resolution.


So the best bet is to buy new systems from the small computer shops. Those places install windows xp. I have a friend who works at a computer store and he said that 95% of people who buy computers from their store REQUEST WINDOWS XP installed on their machines.

save your eyes from the ugly display that windows has pieced together and buy a mac.

teedomoonstrider
The minimum requirements for Vista just don't make sense to get it in the 32 bit flavour - when the OS has the same requirements as most games, there is a freaking problem. :|

So very, very true… That is the stupidest thing about Vista right there. The requirements. It's just an OS for goodness sake… Why in the world?

It's like making a word processing program that has speccy 3D effects, dynamic transparency, flashing lights and stuff that needs 3 gig of ram to run: A pointless waste of resources.

We only get Vista (most of us), because we know it will be the new OS standard for PCs.

alexhatzia
save your eyes from the ugly display that windows has pieced together and buy a mac.

That's not a good selling point. I find the Mac OS display even more irritating.

And as to the hardware, Macs have way better features than how they look, which I generally find rather standardised and dull. They're like the Ikea version of comps in that regard.

From OEM tech perspective, we love Vista. It practically fixes itself and it comes pre-configured to shepherd the children and stop inexperienced users from breaking it. In others words its a lot like a mac. Yes the reqs are high but thats ok because its not meant for the older computers. Microsoft will keep XP around for the older systems.
The bugs? Having witnessed the launch of other Windows versions I was amazed. It was the most stable OS out of the gate that I've ever seen. The big bugs worked out within 2 months and the first service pack is slated for release this spring.

Altogether Microsoft can go screw itself for having too much money.
Yet Vista is a good OS for new systems, and I've no bones with it.

imshard
In others words its a lot like a mac.

Altogether Microsoft can go screw itself for having too much money.
Yet Vista is a good OS for new systems, and I've no bones with it.

Which is the only problem I've had with it so far. If I wanted a fucking Mac, I'd have brought a fucking Mac.

Yeah, screw Microsoft. IT'S LIKE THEY THINK THE POINT OF RUNNING A COMPANY IS TO MAKE MONEY OR SOMETHING.

Oh I've no problem with that. We just like to hate the alpha of the pack in this country. “We build up our heroes wherever they're found,
just to spend the rest of our lives tearing them down.” -John McCutcheon

P.S.
tip: add too much RAM, then tag a line into your system .ini files specifying the extra as a RAM drive. Move the page file onto the ramdrive. Biggest boost you'll ever see on a 32-bit system.

No idea what I just said? Then don't try it.
And no I will not help you if call in, neither will anybody else at HP since its an “unsupported configuration”

I like nachos.