With most new software releases, there's usually something missing or different from the previous version that annoys at least one user. You can eliminate some annoyances with a few simple changes. Others you have to live with.
During the past year of working with Windows Vista, I have run into several features and changes that get on my nerves. Based on that experience, I've come up with my list of top 10 annoyances in Windows Vista.
#1: No more Boot.ini
Customising the boot menu was much simpler in Windows XP. If you ran multiple operating systems, all you had to do was open the Boot.ini and make your changes. For example, you might change the names of the installed operating systems to make them more recognisable.
It's much more complicated in Windows Vista. You no longer edit the Boot.ini file. Instead, you use a program called bcedit, which is not user-friendly, even for experienced users. A quick glance at this program and you will likely not want to see it again.
#2: Buried display settings
Why change something for the sake of change? That was my thought when I went to modify my display settings for the first time in Vista. It used to be that changing display settings was as simple as a right-click on the desktop.
There is now an added level of complexity. You still right-click on the desktop, but when you select "Personalise", a new window appears with a slew of Appearance and Personalisation options. You have to scroll all the way to the bottom of the window to find the Display Settings option.
As you start using Vista, you'll see that this is not the only instance where it seems there are unnecessary changes.
#3: Control Panel clutter
The Control Panel in Windows Vista is cluttered and more difficult to navigate. It seems to take more clicks to reach your destination. Going back to Windows XP, I now appreciate the simplicity of its Control Panel.
You can eliminate this annoyance by switching back to the old style Control Panel. When you open the Control Panel, select the Classic View option.
#4: Shutdown options
Performing a shutdown in Windows Vista is overly complicated. There are at least nine shutdown choices on the Start Menu — from Switch User to Hibernate to Sleep. Power users will have no problem choosing the appropriate option. However, try explaining how to shut down a laptop or desktop to new users when they're facing nine choices. This is where the real annoyance comes into play.
#5: Application support (or lack thereof)
One of the biggest mistakes you can make is assuming that the applications you run under Windows XP will run under Windows Vista. In fact, there's a good chance that they will not. This is a big reason why I haven't upgraded my working computer to Windows Vista. I've had problems with Paint Shop Pro, McAfee Virus Scan, AutoCAD, and Adobe applications. For testing purposes, I tried installing Office 2000, but it didn't work. And my line of business apps also won't run properly.
Not being able to perform necessary tasks because an application doesn't run right under Vista is frustrating. In all fairness, it is the responsibility of the software vendors to provide support for Vista — not vice versa. However, it is still an annoyance.
#6: Aero hardware requirements
Windows Vista's new Aero user interface is absolutely beautiful — if you have the hardware to support it. Aero Glass is the high-end interface that's available only with the right video card. To enable Aero Glass, your computer must be equipped with a 3D video card that supports DirectX 9 and has a Longhorn Display Driver Model (LDDM) driver. If you don't have that, you're out of luck and must fork out even more money to upgrade your hardware. Also, remember that this feature is not even available in the Home Basic edition.
#7: Too many flavours
Having too many options to choose from annoys and confuses many people. Purchasing an operating system used to be simple because your choices were so limited. You could choose between this or that. With Windows XP, we saw four versions of the operating system. Now, with Windows Vista, things get even more complicated. The latest release of the Microsoft Windows family comes in five versions: Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, Enterprise, and Ultimate.
So which one do you choose? It all depends on what you plan to use it for or what type of environment you work in. You need to do some research and find out what Vista features you need (or want). This will definitely help to narrow down your choices. Who knew choosing an operating system was so much work?
#8: UAC prompts
The new Vista feature that people are grumbling about the most is User Account Control, or UAC. Each time you attempt to perform a task that requires administrative rights, a window appears prompting you for permission. In other words, you tell Vista you want to perform a task, but it needs to ask for your permission before doing so. Although the intention is good (it prevents unauthorised changes to your computer), the window that continuously pops up is annoying.
If you can live with the constant prompting for permission, hats off to you. Otherwise, you can eliminate this annoyance by disabling UAC through User Accounts And Family Safety within the Control Panel.
#9: Budget breaker
If you don't like rising prices, you will certainly be annoyed when you go to purchase Windows Vista. Although you can buy Vista for as low as $100 (£50), all you're getting for this price is Windows Vista Home Basic. This version is so basic that most people will not want it. It does not even support the Aero interface (see annoyance #5: Aero hardware requirements). As a result, most people will move to at least Windows Vista Home Premium, which costs $239 retail for the full package. The price only goes up — topping off at a whopping $399 for the full package of Windows Vista Ultimate.
#10: Usability issues
Finally, this one relates back to some of the previous annoyances I have discussed. Windows Vista has managed to make what used to be simple tasks too complex. Tasks that should take one step now take four or five steps. I am a fan of simplicity and this is something Windows Vista lacks.
Talkback
good article but if like me, you don't really know, or care, about the boot.ini stuff then
- i found that it started straight out of the box, recognised the adsl router, connected itself to the internet, and asked me if it was alright to update itself (took me half a day to initially install the router with an XP machine!)
- the screen looks great (Home premium)
- McAfee anti-virus seems to work just fine
- in terms of cost, the new machine, a Compaq with nice 20" screen was £599 for the whole package (at my local PC world!)
so far so good!
OK. I don't understand why everyone is having all of these problems with Vista... Am I just a genius? I don't know. I'm going to try and understand your article. After all, this IS a respectable website. I just don't know how you managed to write for them...
#1: No more Boot.ini
Yeah, you're right about this one. But, it IS only an annoyance. Oh, well. Moving on...
#2: Buried display settings
The Display Settings are not Buried as you put it. They are all there. There are actually MANY ways that you can display many different windows. It's actually about TIME that Windows has all of these options available to their users...
#3: Control Panel clutter
What are you talking about?!? The control Panel in Vista is almost identical to it's counterpart in Windows XP. After using both, it's obvious to me that Vista's Control Panel is much more informative than that of XP's Control Panel. More Options = Better. And, you can always change it back to the Classic View.
#4: Shutdown options
This one I just don't get. You press the Start Button, then you choose Shut Down. How is this hard?
#5: Application support (or lack thereof)
on ANY install application in Vista (Or XP, for that matter), all you need to do is change the compatibility to Windows XP and Run as Administrator. I work for a company that still uses programs that are meant to run under Windows NT Workstation or Windows 2000. I use the Vista Business Edition and I am able to run ALL of the applications that I would run in Windows XP. NO PROBLEMS AT ALL.
#6: Aero hardware requirements
Dude, seriously. Are you still using your 5 year old PC? Either buy yourself a new computer, or just upgrade your Video Card. Technology changes, so should you. Otherwise, turn off the Aero Feature.
#7: Too many flavours
No, not really...
Windows Vista Home Basic = Windows XP Home
Windows Vista Home Premium = Windows Media Center Edition
Windows Vista Business = Windows XP Pro (Stripped Down)
Windows Vista Ultimate = Windows XP Pro (All the Bells & Whistles)
#9: Budget breaker
Yeah, I'll give that to ya, too. It is pretty pricey.
#10: Usability issues
Sounds like the only issues with usability are minor. Not enough to warrant a blog.
I forgot to add in my comment a number 8! Ooops!
Oh, well. No big deal.
UAC (User Account Control) can be turned off until you are done installing any programs or configuring any settings. Once you are done, turn it back on. Or, if you REALLY just don't like having it on, leave it off. It's only a setting, not a jail term.
The bugs still need to be ironed out.
Or did Microsoft finally released a product that doesn't need a SP1?
The current edition of Vista is the stripped down version of the original idea. That means "upgrades" can be expected.
When? Time will tell. Impact? Time will tell.
For how much? Again, time will tell.
Why do you need Vista? Well, because it's more secure, of course.
Don't like the annoyances that brings? Well, turn it off then.
OK, great, and that leaves me exactly where?
Includes built-in DRM functionalities.
Research non sponsored articles as to why you most likely will not like that over time.
If you actually read the new Vista license, totally understand it in it's full legal terms and still agree with it then Vista is the thing for you.
Again. researching non sponsored articles helps.
Having bought a laptop with Home Premium preinstalled where we still use a 56k modem to connect to the internet, the first thing we had to do was to spend 3 hours downloading just the 'critical' updates.
On the first sight I thought the same as you about the control panel usage. But my opinion changed radically when I discovered (rather quickly actually) that you just have to shortly describe your need in the search textfield (the focus is on it by default) to almost instantly get access to it. Want to change your proxy settings? Simply type "proxy" in the search field and it gives you direct access to the Internet Settings, and also selects the right tab! Ok, it doesn't select the network settings button for you but it's definitely more user friendly than digging into the several control panels then tabs to get access to the setting, mostly when you don't have a clue where to start looking for, isn't it?
With the various versions of Vista and the relatively high cost of a functionally rich version, I will be considering Linux as my next migration!
My annoyance is that Windows Vista takes a much longer time to carry out certain basic routine tasks compared to Windows XP and I quote for example copying files, installing hardware, installing software, etc.
Just because you get moist over Vista doesn't excuse you taking a personal potshot at the opinions of a fellow professional.
Your "After all, this IS a respectable website. I just don't know how you managed to write for them..." comment is absolutely inexcusible.
I personally dual boot Vista and XP and I have to say that I agree wholeheartedly with Ms. Higgens' annoyances. All of the points she raised annoy the hell out of me as well.
You are obviously one of the lucky ones for whom Vista is the be all and end all, and for that I congratulate you. However for the vast majority of us there is more to dislike than applaud.
Sorry, but You're unprofessional. Story of a lazy child. Vista isn't perfect, that's true, but most of things were done for the sake of users. If You're unpatient, lazy or dummy, it's Your Problem, not Vista's.
And about compatibility issues. It's new OS, for new programs, new options, and new hardware. If You like Office 6, and Windows 95, use them. But don't say these programs aren't working with Vista or are to complicated. They are for You, for your small brain. It's impossible to create something without drawbacks or limitations. Simply be modern. Go in step with Life.
Maybe some basic spelling primers and a quick course on punctuation would enhance your argument.
At the moment I'm afraid you are the one left looking like an idiot by your poor command of the basics of the English language.
Really sorry for these silly mistakes. But that doesn't correlate with your post.
The point is that most of your annoyances are nothing more than a childish attempt to attract some attention to your person. This is what you do: You talk about things not as a tech, but exceptionally as a child that can't tolerate incoming changes. What Microsoft did in Vista was a result of years tests. Microsoft’s intention wans’t making our work more complicated. And you, without even trying to realize why they did it this or that, start screaming and shouting: "Ah, that was simple in XP and annoying in Vista." - It’s foolish.
Just couple examples:
annoyance #1. Not only it isn't annoyance, as you say. But it was absolutely necessary to make a new way the system boots. You can read about BCD here: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/technetmag/issues/2007/03/VistaKernel/. And if you can't handle it, the stupidest thing is to say that it's to complicated and more - write about it. Sorry.
annoyance #4. Shutdown is complicated. Man? Are You from Mars? Even child can turn off Vista, reboot it, or lock. I don't know what head is you for, possibly eating, nothing else. And where did you get nine choices. A have Vista Ultimate on my desktop and at maximum I found only 7 options (including locking, switching user, etc.).
annoyance #6. If you try to setup XP on Pentium with 64megs of Ram - what will you get? See? Absolutely silly annoyance, isn't it?
Most other annoyances look the same. They aren't annoyances at all. It's new OS and some changes have to be.
But of course, I agree with You on two positions.
annoyance #8: UAC prompts. This really makes people mad. And disabling it isn't such a perfect idea.
annoyance #9. Ultimate is costly. That's true and that's bad.
I agree that updates are not practical across a dial-up internet connection (especially if using per-min billing!). It is wrong to assume that world + dog has a broadband connection; I am astounded by the number of websites that are unusable on anything less than 512mbps!
Tony.
I am a programmer, a bit of a geek, I am a beta tester, I love gizmos and gadgets and I have been using the Windows Operating System since the days of Version 3.1.
But this.... Argh! Is the first time ever that I:
- Don't *need* another newer version of Windows, such as Vista.
- Didn't like what I used to read about the new version of Windows. I never even saw one good review that I can think of right now.
- Don't even want to install it. I got it for free and I don't want it. XP works perfectly totally fine.
- Don't like it after installing it. Every other version back to 3.1 that I installed made me go wow... But with Vista? I'm totally nauseated by nearly e-v-e-r-y thing about it.
- Don't like it after running it for months. I've googled many HOURS at a time looking for tweaks n tips n fixes and there is still way too much that I am stuck with that is annoying, broken and almost unbearable about it, for example:
- I have window borders that I went in and set to a width of 1 because i found them way too big by default and they still look like they're at 3 or 4... They're still too big for my liking and I can't set them to 0.
- The title bar of every window now looks 1.5 times the height that it was under XP and I can't change it. When you change the "Active Title Bar" size from the default of 19 to 17 (the lowest it will go) all that it does is reduce the size of the x and square buttons on the top right; while the height of the title bar itself remains unchanged.
- To get to that setting you now have to: Right click on the desktop > A big window comes up and you click on "Window Color and Appearance (even though it's not obvious against other available settings like "Themes" and "Display Settings", while your view is cluttered by non related items like "Sound" and "Mouse pointers" where I don't think they belong) > Your click now moves you to the next page with big colored squares and a fine print of a link at the bottom that says "Open classic appearance properties for more color options", now even though it says it's for more color options - and i don't want more color options - it'll actually get me to where i want to go, which is not about colors > Now the first thing that happens after you clicked that is your big window goes back to the first screen (!?!?!?) for some unexplicable reason so that if you need to go back there later you have to reclick that fine print link > Only now does it pop up the window that you were used to seeing in XP to finally be able to change the height of your title bar...
- Aero just plain is blah. It doesn't look good and it doesn't even do anything more for you, it's not better nor is it better looking! It looks more like Aqua than anything else... Edges of things have a murky, glossy, semi transparentness to them that is nauseating. I KNOW YOU CAN TURN AERO OFF BUT WHY PAY 399$ CDN RETAIL FOR A NEW VERSION OF SOMETHING THAT IS CLUTTERED WITH STUFF YOU DON'T NEED OR WANT???
- Windows Explorer is cluttered and littered with absolutely useless elephantesquish distractions like big buttons, options and text that do not make your job either better, more fun nor easier... Not only is it not the status quo when compared to XP but it actually is WORSE !!!!! Everything is now sluggish in Explorer. Selecting files is like swimming in transparent gel, moving and copying files is an operation that takes much MUCH more longer than (pouring a barrel of molasses) it did under XP... I estimate that file operations now take between 5 to 10 times longer than they did under the older OS. And I've been using it about 3 months! Finding your way around Windows Explorer via the Treeview listbox on the left is like sabering your way through thick bushes in the amazon jungle. Can I paste a screenshot in here? Because I cannot describe how much too big the top part of my Windows Explorer Window is... Hrm about... Let me measure it... Ok i
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... I cannot describe how much too big the top part of my Windows Explorer Window is... Hrm about... Let me measure it... Ok it's about an inch and a half heigh! Why oh why can't I customize it back to something more sensible so that it only takes 3/4 of an inch maybe? I don't need it any bigger! Also, everytime I end up in a folder Vista displays a bunch of Columns that I DON'T NEED! Rating? Come on... Now it's relatively easy to remove the columns, add the ones I want, save that setting under "apply to all folders" but NO! It doesn't do it to all folders! A few days later I will go to a folder and bam the columns I have removed will be back. Oh another gripe I have is the sorting... When I sorted huge amount of files in Explorer under XP I got an hourglass until it was done; now you sort? Nothing happens... You may start to think that Vista is not doing anything and so you may reclick incessantly because of that which is a bad idea because it will reset your attempted action. Then after a while poof! It's sorted! No sound, no visual feedback no sort of indication whatsoever... If you blinked? You missed it. (The exact same behavior occurs when you bring up the Add/Remove programs window from the control panel and you only see a few items.... then some delay... then a few more items... then more delay... You just don't know when it's actually done displaying to you the whole list of installed programs on your system).
- Now in Vista when I click on Start I actually have to click on "all programs"... Then it shows me my start menu items (program groups) in a tiny claustrophobic inducing rectangular listbox... But if I have an item in there who's name is too long? Forget it! It's displayed truncated! And you can't make the listbox any bigger!
- Maybe you're an IT person like me and liked to have the Run box right there when you click start.... But noooo... Where is it? Haha good luck! I found it hidden somewhere tucked away real nice... You can Google around for 10 mins like me and find out where it's at yourself... *wink* :)
- I'm trying to give real life examples of totally absurd, crazy, useless meaningless stuff that Vista is crammed with that does not justify the name "upgrade" or "better".. And certainly does not justify the astronomical price! Vista does NOT improve on XP ! XP is actually better in so many ways, tried tested and true and so obviously so that I should probably be spending my time elsewhere than on write a long post like that but you know what? I've had it under my necktie way too long and now I'm going to write it down and email it to myself and I'll post this all over the world to every postable place; including my webpage called flooductions.
- What annoys me also is this: All these entries in the "Accessories" program group that start with "Windows"... Windows Calendar... Windows Contacts... Windows Defender... Windows Explorer, Windows fax and Scan... Windows Live Mail... Windows Live Photo Galleray... and 5 Other ones.... And i'm only running the Business edition! Talk about self advertising... This is way too over the top. Its like having a classmate that walks around saying constantly look at me i'm kewl... And he's not.
- Here's another reason I don't like Vista after running it for months... There is a whopping load of programs I used to run on a regular basis under XP that no longer work on Vista... Starting with a biggy: Ati Mulimedia Center 9.06 (for my TV Tuner Card)... I click on it and I get an error.. I've tried reverting to old versions of that software... reading the FAQ, the ATI support page, google.. newsgroups...blogs.. you name it... probably spent about 4 to 5 hours alone just trying to get that program to work and it doesn't work... As a workaround I am using the VLC player to watch TV on my PC and it doesn't play well at all and it doesn't
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As a workaround I am using the VLC player to watch TV on my PC and it doesn't play well at all and it doesn't record video well either. I've tried Virtual Dub, Adobe something, even Nero and they all can get a live feed from my card but all have some weird display problem... Result? Hours wasted and not a functionning video card... I know i can get a new one.. But why would I want to do that? It worked perfectly fine under XP.. PERFECTLY! Next program that doesn't work is PowerDVD ... I even already have the vista update for it.. And when i start up the program? It crashes.. Then I'm told by a Vista popup that PowerDVD has compatibility issues and has an update and do I want to install it.. I say yes... It redownloads my update... It installs it... I reclick PowerDVD? Crashes... Then I get the Vista popup again... Oh... my... dear... lord.... Now, like I said before I'm a programmer and I use Visual Studio 2005... OMG... You have to get some updates "just for Vista" and then? You still get popups that say "this program is incompatible with Vista please get the update" *sigh*... But the worst of all is that I wrote a bunch of software and utilities in Visual Basic 6 that no longer work properly without immense and lengthy code fiddling, modifying, googlling and recompiling. Especially any software I wrote that uses the Speech Recognition SDK 5.1 from Microsoft no longer works even though I downloaded the new AND the old versions and I can't get it to work and I don't know why!!!!!!! ARGH!!!! Imagine if I had a software company!!!!!
- Other software that does not work well? Propellerhead Reason. I have no time to look for why on earth it crashes anymore..... who knows? I click on it? It crashes.... There's more but I wanna talk about hardware:
- You know... There aren't 50+ pieces of software that I use regularly... There are probably only a dozen... And when a third of them don't work it sucks you know?
- As you already know my TV tuner card is prety useless to me right now... But the sound in Vista is ATROCIOUS??? Yes... huh huh... Here's the problem: Every program that has sound now gets its own slider in the new Windows Sound Mixer... When it's the first time you start a program that has sound the slider for it is WAY UP TO THE TOP! That's right get ready to blow your speakers or get scared to death along with your family members in the wee hours of the night because the thing's gonna blow baby!!!! After a while you will remember to jump, rush and cringe as you bring up the mixer in haste when you've just launched a new program that you know has sound... But that is not the biggest sound problem I have on my Vista system. The biggest problem is that every sound on my system has WAY TOO MUCH BASS !!! THAT'S RIGHT !!! I dwelt again in dark corners of the Vista settings and found the one for the Treble and BASS... And after putting the treble to the maximum and the bass to the absolute minimum... Guess what? LOL I still have bass through the roof that make my speakers screech even if i put my sound really low they still screech !!!!!!! (it's called clipping in the music jargon) Now Guess what... Me being a geek I googled HOURS at a time to the farthest reaches of the internet - HOURS I SAY - and you know what? I'm not the only one with this Vista sound problem and we're stuck with it!!!!! I have to play movies in Winamp (and not all movies play well in winamp) because it actually has an equalizer that allows me to finally KILL that dumbass bass !
- Dumbass bass... I should copyright that... Like Trump did for the expression "You're fired!"
- Eh Vista? You're fired you and your dumbass bass *wink*.
- Ok i'm ok... Imagine how livid I would be if i actually had to have paid 400 buckaroos for that piece of junk of an Operating system that took more than 6 years to develop.. I know
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- Ok i'm ok... Imagine how livid I would be if i actually had to have paid 400 buckaroos for that piece of junk of an Operating system that took more than 6 years to develop.. I know you don't get the irony of it like i do... If you only knew that it was probably 3 years too long in the making... Oh and I didn't pay for Vista because it's licensed from Work...
- I have 2 Network cards on my PC... One no longer works since I installed Vista.... Why? I don't know... Probably because I haven't spent another half a weekend googling that around too!
Another big Vista hardware victim? My PDA..... Boohooo mwaaaaa! Mommy! My Toshiba e380 PDA is shot to hell on Vista. It doesn't sync and it's not recognised. I can't use it and I don't know why! When I call Toshiba I'm told it's not supported on Vista... I ask them why since I've only had it 2 years and they said they're sorry it's not supported... But it was working PERFECTLY FINE BEFORE!
- This is the first new version of the Windows operating system that I didn't need, didn't want, had to have and had to use, tried to use, tried to fix, tried to like and you guess what I DONT WANT IT ANYMORE !
- I can't do what I'm used to as easily as before. Stuff I used to do easily before I now have to do more difficultly ! I've upgraded to newer versions of Windows before (oh and I say "upgrade" but I have Vista installed on a reformatted hard drive... it's a brand new install!) And for the times when I upgraded in the past where i couldn't do what i was used to do the way I was able to in prior versions at least i was able to do it quicker, stronger, better with the newer versions of Windows that I upgraded to... But with Vista? Forget it... It's an unreacheable dream... An incessant nightmare.
There's one good thing with Vista though: When I installed my VPN for work I used something akin to a Wizzard that was able to connect me almost immediatly and effortlessly whereas in XP I had to go into advanced settings of the TCP/IP entry of my VPN connectoin and modify alot of settings there; I also had to add static routes to the LMHosts and Hosts files... But not on Vista... Woohoo.. Big whoopy doo... (
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There's one good thing with Vista though: When I installed my VPN for work I used something akin to a Wizzard that was able to connect me almost immediatly and effortlessly whereas in XP I had to go into advanced settings of the TCP/IP entry of my VPN connectoin and modify alot of settings there; I also had to add static routes to the LMHosts and Hosts files... But not on Vista... Woohoo.. Big whoopy doo... (
Good feedback! I'm afraid the Talkback feature isn't designed for such long posts. Have you considered posting a blog entry for longer comments? All members have their own blog--just click on My Blog in the account box in the left column to get started. Then you can just make a Talkback pointing to the blog post. It also means you can tag any posting on Vista for our Vista Upgrade Blog too.
*chuckles* Yes I need to find the right spot for my posts indeed, thank you for the pointer !
I've been in the IT industry for over 12 years. This seems to be one of the biggest jumps for Windows, from XP to Vista. This is such a huge leap, that it's leaving us with all of these problems. This article also points out that Vista is costly. This is very true, and what's more is that Vista can probably be thought of as "beta" software. Even Microsoft has admitted that Vista has been a "learning experience". Great, so when Windows 7 comes out, are users going to again open up their wallets? Not me. I've scrapped Windows completely and gone to Linux both at my personal business as well as at home. And it's the best move I've ever made. I've even posted an article explaining my move:
<a href="http://members.apex-internet.com/sa/windowslinux">http://members.apex-internet.com/sa/windowslinux</a>