We all know Windows Vista got a bit of a bum rap. Its biggest sin was that it shipped earlier than it should and its reputation has never recovered.However, with Windows 7 now out, those of us who have to switch between PCs now find ourselves discovering completely new things about Windows Vista that are annoying -- because they are things that Windows 7 made so much better.
Here's our list...
#1 "Program not responding"
Windows Vista loved to throw programs under the bus for not responding. This was especially true of Windows Explorer which regularly would fade out a window because it was trying to access a network resource.
It was always annoying before but the realization that this is a rare occurrence on Windows 7 makes it all the more annoying when we're forced to use Windows Vista again.
#2 Are you sure? Are you REALLY sure?
Windows Vista was the culmination of Microsoft's goal to have every action have a "are you sure?" dialog. Nothing illustrated this as much as the User Access Control console. In Windows 7, you can now fine tune this and with third party programs like Tweak7 you can even turn off the annoying "secure" desktop whose security remains theoretical.
#3 You want to change your resolution? Then you must go on a sacred quest first.
With Windows XP, a user could right-click on their desktop and go to properties. Windows Vista decided to do away with that and instead send people to personalization which gave quick access to, amongst other things...fonts.
Thankfully, Windows 7 brings back a direct way to change screen resolution for those of us who find themselves occasionally doing so.
#4 The System Tray is a mess.
I had no idea how bad the Windows Vista system tray was until I had the pleasure of working with Windows 7 for awhile.
#5 Windows Explorer -- everything except what you need.
The Windows Vista explorer wasn't bad -- until you got to use the Windows 7 one.
#6 A dark time for skinning
Sure, YOU might not be into skinning. But lots of people are and Microsoft hard coded enough weird graphics into the UI to make it a pain to customize compared to Windows 7.
#7 Cyan borders? Really?
Someone at Microsoft thought it would be a great idea if the borders of Aero on Windows Vista were cyan. I didn't really notice or care that much until after I started using Windows 7 and then that along with the weird glare texture in Windows Vista's aero title bars really started to grate.
#8 Libraries are nice
The user folder is a concept Linux and Mac users have had for years. Windows Vista started moving to this metaphor but Windows 7 really builds on it and the addition of libraries makes things that much easier to organize.
#9 Common sense device management
Adding and managing with common devices on Vista wasn't noticeably annoying at the time because it was actually better than it was on XP. But after having an actual devices folder, it's hard to go back.
#10 Home Groups
I think it's a bit lame that Microsoft didn't backport the new home groups to Windows Vista. As a result, if you have a household of Windows 7 boxes that can now easily work together on a home group, that remaining Windows Vista box (or two or three) that is still painful to simply access a video or an image from is all the more annoying.
Much of this really boils down to the strengths of Windows 7 more than the weaknesses of Windows Vista. But it's been many years since I've loaded up a version of Windows and found the previous version so annoying.
Only posers call people n00bs
With 3 PCs, a Windows Home Server and a 360 as Media Center Extender I assure you Homegroups are quite useful, only a full on noob would assume there is special talent in sharing a folder "the old way" when you are managing several devices. Who are you trying to impress anyway?
Almost couldn't agree more. More proof of the power of the media and the ignorance of people is Firefox, for example.Firefox is to browsers what Vista is to OS's!!
Why do you thnk Vista was nick named VistaMe, right off the bat?
As far as my opinion on Win7 though, have only tried to install it once so far and it threw my machine in a reboot loop from heck!! Thank goodness for backups!!
A homegroup is just a shared set of libraries, and a library is just a glorified folder(s). IMO sharing a folder does exactly the same thing with less ****ing around.
Not trying to flame but why not? You can just share the folder the old way. Browse to the folder on the other pc and open the movie/music?
A homegroup is just a shared set of libraries, and a library is just a glorified folder(s). IMO sharing a folder does exactly the same thing with less ****ing around.
What is easier than joining your PCs to a homegroup with a single password?
only posers call people posers
I agree fully! It's 2 simple clicks to share something now by adding it to a library that is already shared! Windows Vista file sharing was worse than XP.
I certainly hope you are not trying to tell people that Internet Explorer is a better browser than Firefox. Because, and while it is my opinion, Firefox is an outstanding browser and getting better with every revision, while Internet Explorer is barely able to keep up, and is by far the most annoying browser that I've used, and I've used plenty.
But I have to agree with you, Vista instantly reminded me of Window ME. It was like they took a steaming pile and then tried to dress it up so that we all thought is was bright and shiny.
You machine reboot could be due to an incompatibility of hardware, or an old BIOS revision. I've installed Win 7 on at least 30 different computers and have not yet had a single problem.
I think microsoft should send a free copy of 7 to every person who wasted money on vista along with a letter of apology.
However businesses which have a pretty modern network of computers are the exception, they need the machine to get the work done even if it took ages but as long as it did it. Kind of a weird concept but its the business' problem.
I saw this and it made me laugh; the reason when there is no other reason. I'm going to post the below analogy against my better judgement but I should note it is purely in humour.
Without HIV antiretroviral drugs wouldn't of been possible.
The cure does not excuse the disease
Windows Vista was a disease?
Okay, now you're really jumping on the bandwagon.
Okay, now you're really jumping on the bandwagon.
Did you even read the whole thread of replies you're responding to? I wasn't even on the bandwagon and you're just repeating a word you heard above (omg, jumping on the bandwagon).
No I was simply stating a bad taste joke that I knew would get some far-too-personally-invested-souls to pipe up. I have no opinion of Vista one way or the other.
The cure does not excuse the disease
What he probably meant and what I would say is that Windows 7 would not have been as good had Windows Vista not cleared the path to it before. Most of Vista's problems were from poor driver and application support. Windows 7, being mostly based on Vista's kernel, benefited greatly from the 2 years during which the Vista ecosystem matured.
PS: it's "wouldn't have" not "wouldn't of".
Sure it was. Compare the system requirements and speed on a 1 GB laptop. An OS shouldn't need 2 GB just to run smoothly.
And Windows 7 proves it wasn't necessary, but just sloppy coding.
And Windows 7 proves it wasn't necessary, but just sloppy coding.
Meh, Vista ran faster than XP from day 1 on my Laptop with only 1gb of ram, go figure. And that was with Aero too
I've been saying the same thing. At least there's a few people who understand life cycles/software development enough to know this basic concept.
Vista would have been like Win 7 if they had worked on it longer. But it's a good chance that 7 is so good because Microsoft needed the kick in the pants! The same thing happened with XP because ME was so bad.
Network Tray Icon -> (wait three full seconds for no reason) -> Connect to a network -> Scroll through VPN/PPPoE/Dialup connections and unwanted wireless networks in a giant window with a tiny scrollable field and enormous list items -> enter WiFi password
and
Network Tray Icon -> select network in a nice flyout list that sizes to fit the available networks -> enter WiFi password.
Yes, that's a very good point, but then the list would have 11 elements. That doesn't make for a nice round title-friendly figure, does it?
are running vista upgrading to 7 is a no brainer.
ZOMG! You are my hero today. I was JUST thinking about how crappy it is that I don't have that feature at work because we are still using Windows XP.
But if we were to make such a list for XP vs 7, it would be "1000 ways XP is more annoying with Windows 7 available".
XP has so many limitations compared to Windows 7, in my opinion. There have been considerable changes to Windows Explorer specifically which make using Windows XP very annoying to me (the breadcrumb, the search bar, larger folder icons)
Seriously, microsoft should force a patch to fix that in all previous versions on windows haha
How about the fact IT'S BRIGHT F'ING BLUE!!!
All things that are easily added to or modified on XP.
Thousands of themes available, plenty are not blue. Though I turn themes off and use Classic myself.
I could come up with a few hundred I'm sure. When I go to work and use a XP computer I want to smash it.
Oh Really? Can you resize ico files without them being distorted? No. You'd have to custom load a whole bunch of icon sizes to even try to get something somewhat similar, which isn't easy.
I HATED fuzzy icons in XP. Ahh... the simple things in Windows 7/Vista are not often talked about.
Classic looks great on XP. On Vista and 7 it looks like an abortion, like mixing classical music with rap.
Infact had ME had the NT kernel, it could have been very successful, oh wait, they called that XP.
No
#1 still happens in Win7 from time to time......but to be fair its more of a app issue than OS. Because you will find the same app's hang in win7, vista and xp and even 2000.
#4 wow I've never let my system try get that messy, guess some people have no idea how to tweak the notification area lol
#5 Ummm sure there was no shortcut, but you could always press the ALT key
and that would make the file/command toobar appear and you could select New Folder from the file section
eg: http://www.atsag.net/images/linked_2_forum..._new-folder.jpg
and that would make the file/command toobar appear and you could select New Folder from the file section
Ummm just click Organize, then you have a New Folder command, don't you?
eg: http://www.vistax64.com/attachments/tutori...er-organize.jpg
Another thing. You have a folder with mp3 files. Explorer is showing me Title, Artist, etc. even though I didn't ask it to do it. OK, whatever. Then I delete all mp3 from the folder and copy normal files in there and guess what - it's still showing me Title, Artist, etc. (emty ones of course) but no file size, last update date.
And another thing which already started in Vista.
Instead of asking plain and simple (from left to right)
Yes,No,YesToAll,NoToAll,etc.
it is asking in Top-Down order (which get me confused all the time. I'm just not used to read from top to down, I prefer left to right)
Replace/Copy
Ignore
[ ] Apply to all
etc.
This is the reason I'm touching it as a very last resort
Are you referring to imgburn as a crapware?
More importantly: is here referring to imgburn as default?
anyone else have this issue? (and i clean installed from the disc to so that cant be the problem)
and before anyone says anything... i DO have CCleaner installed BUT i UNCHECKED the thumbnail clearing stuff so that's not clearing it. (i.e. this cant be the issue)
p.s. and doing a random google search there seems to be at least 1 other person who has the same issue i got here... tinyurl dot com/yfuzkze (seems it's been in the early beta's to from what he said)
Last edited by ThaCrip on 05 Nov 2009 - 08:23
+1 with that cringe worthy cyan border. In fact I didnt even notice it in 7 until this article brought it up again. But then again I was using skins, which then came to that strange 'swish' logo that didn't really work for an operating system.
Plus too much green and yellow in the default backgrounds. erk!
XP doesn't mess up on the 2nd boot it has and make itself inoperable
Disabling automatic restart in XP works, in 7 it still restarts
Windows 7 litters 4GB of files onto your drive that you can only remove if you format
Windows 7 uses some kind of... I don't know what it is, but some kind of **** so you're not able to delete the program files, program files (x64), windows or users directory from another OS (including windows XP)
XP doesn't mess up on the 2nd boot it has and make itself inoperable
Disabling automatic restart in XP works, in 7 it still restarts
Windows 7 litters 4GB of files onto your drive that you can only remove if you format
Windows 7 uses some kind of... I don't know what it is, but some kind of **** so you're not able to delete the program files, program files (x64), windows or users directory from another OS (including windows XP)
Ugghh, yes, just throw best practices out the window. These are not issues.
XP doesn't mess up on the 2nd boot it has and make itself inoperable
Disabling automatic restart in XP works, in 7 it still restarts
Windows 7 litters 4GB of files onto your drive that you can only remove if you format
Windows 7 uses some kind of... I don't know what it is, but some kind of **** so you're not able to delete the program files, program files (x64), windows or users directory from another OS (including windows XP)
1. Neither does 7.
2. Works in 7, as well.
3. What are you talking about?
4. Those are called ACL's (Access Control List), something even XP has...
2) And it didn't work because it still automatically rebooted
3) Go get winhex and see how 4gb is used in 'un-named directories' and you can't free the space
4) Evidently not, you can't delete them because there is something about that does NOT comply with the NTFS standard. XP can't remove them (I'm trying to remove 7 off my other drive because it messed up on the 2nd boot) and neither can linux. That's when you know you shouldn't ever be using it.
1) I've not yet had a Windows 7 machine do this.
2) It doesn't reboot here.
3) Where is this hidden 4GB? I don't see this :/
4) Format the drive?
2) Does here
3) You don't see it because it's hidden. Get winhex and open your drive to see the 'NOT IN A DIRECTORY' files.
And no, you can't delete them unless you format
4) I don't see why I should format my drive (put it back to windows xp using the Old folder) when it decided to corrupt my drive and install **** I didn't authourise.
I have installed 7 on 4 machines. None have problems. To deal with undeleteable files, just go into the ownership dialog and take ownership of them. You will then be able to delete them! Magic!
I could upgrade to 7 at work, but its a DEV PC and right now it works and don't want to screw around with it.
#2 can be debated, given the known admin elevation exploit to run arbitrary stuff as admin without questions despite UAC in the default setting. This wasn't possible in Vista.
It's also missing the number one thing for me -- speed.
How messy the taskbar now is in Windows Vista (not just the system tray, but the taskpane also).
Text labels, not grouping all Windows, a 'Quick Launch' seperate to running instances, not being able to move taskbar items around... Also, the taskbar looks ugly to me because I cannot make icons larger, like they are as default in Windows 7. Another thing that I dislike after using Windows 7: we are unable make the taskbar fully transparent like it is in Windows 7...
I thought the taskbar was ugly and cluttered in Vista before I saw 7, but now, after using 7 for so long, it seems even worse to me.
2# This problem persist, but it's the same like in linux, so don't thing that your Ubuntu will let you do anything administrative without prompts..
3# Changing sreen resolution is only one more click away in Vista. No problem here and W7 got it wrong. Almost nobody will use it..
4# Completely nonsense. W7 tray in not better in any way. In Vista you can also hide every specific icon.
5# I agree, however also W7 explorer sucks in this part. You may miss New Folder button, other miss Delete button. Those commands should be fully customizable from beginning.
6# I don't feel a need to customize or change beautiful Aero interface and 99% user neither.
7# Another flame point. There is nothing wrong with Aero windows borders.
8# Libraries are mixed bag. I don't need them myself.
9# Nothing really amazing, must have, killer feature. Just different.
10# Same like 8#
Overall is this article cheap wanna-flame bunch of nonsense. Vista SP2 is excellent OS and only drawback may be a need for more tweaking after installation and disabling some services, but it is not worse than Windows 7. I could compile myself similar article about things in Windows 7 what are worse than Vista...
2# This problem persist, but it's the same like in linux, so don't thing that your Ubuntu will let you do anything administrative without prompts..
3# Changing sreen resolution is only one more click away in Vista. No problem here and W7 got it wrong. Almost nobody will use it..
4# Completely nonsense. W7 tray in not better in any way. In Vista you can also hide every specific icon.
5# I agree, however also W7 explorer sucks in this part. You may miss New Folder button, other miss Delete button. Those commands should be fully customizable from beginning.
6# I don't feel a need to customize or change beautiful Aero interface and 99% user neither.
7# Another flame point. There is nothing wrong with Aero windows borders.
8# Libraries are mixed bag. I don't need them myself.
9# Nothing really amazing, must have, killer feature. Just different.
10# Same like 8#
Overall is this article cheap wanna-flame bunch of nonsense. Vista SP2 is excellent OS and only drawback may be a need for more tweaking after installation and disabling some services, but it is not worse than Windows 7. I could compile myself similar article about things in Windows 7 what are worse than Vista...
I love Vista too...
but sorry, it's nowhere as great as Windows 7.
2# This problem persist, but it's the same like in linux, so don't thing that your Ubuntu will let you do anything administrative without prompts..
3# Changing sreen resolution is only one more click away in Vista. No problem here and W7 got it wrong. Almost nobody will use it..
4# Completely nonsense. W7 tray in not better in any way. In Vista you can also hide every specific icon.
5# I agree, however also W7 explorer sucks in this part. You may miss New Folder button, other miss Delete button. Those commands should be fully customizable from beginning.
6# I don't feel a need to customize or change beautiful Aero interface and 99% user neither.
7# Another flame point. There is nothing wrong with Aero windows borders.
8# Libraries are mixed bag. I don't need them myself.
9# Nothing really amazing, must have, killer feature. Just different.
10# Same like 8#
Overall is this article cheap wanna-flame bunch of nonsense. Vista SP2 is excellent OS and only drawback may be a need for more tweaking after installation and disabling some services, but it is not worse than Windows 7. I could compile myself similar article about things in Windows 7 what are worse than Vista...
I completely agree!! This article is extremely weak. Most of the points are non-points. When one point is complaining about Cyan window edges you know your clutching at straws.
I had W7 on my laptop but after a few days I went back to Vista.
And since I've worked/work tech support I can say: "YES, 90% of people need pictures to figure out what they have!"
uh yeah
i ran vista for 2 years w/o major issues
perhaps you should move from the pentium 2 with 128 megs of ram
Vista was developed in 2 years (2004-2006).
The other 3 years went to Longhorn.
The OS that lets you get your work done and doesn't get in your way. Perfection will thus vary from person to person.
When I first switched to Windows Vista I had some performance problems at first but well I added in another 1GB stick and all went well.
Having been on the Windows 7 beta program, I admit that Windows 7 feels better than Windows Vista. But then again at the start I had problems adapting to Windows 7. For one, I would much prefer to have a opaque taskbar and a opaque fully-maximised window as in Vista; it was kinda distracting with Windows 7 at first. In the end I had to change my wallpaper to one that wouldn't stand out too much in the background. Of course, I didn't want to disable transparency completely.
But what I'm getting at is that I believe Vista wasn't THAT bad of an OS, in fact there are hardly any new groundbreaking features in 7 as there were in Vista, apart from maybe say the library. It's just whether you want to force yourself to adapt to it. If Vista had all the good publicity Windows 7 had, I think most of us would've been used to it and wouldn't think it's such a bad OS.
It's true. Vista was the first OS to display transparency and thumbnails in the taksbar (while hovering).
About publicity. I don't think so, Vista had a lot a lot but a lot of publicity. If you feel that 7 had more is because they needed to recover from that loss. The problem was that computer's at that time they barely could run Windows Vista at its full power.
1 GB computer in 2006 was a rarity, you needed to spend thousands of dollars to get one.
I guess where Microsoft went wrong was that towards the end, they were already far, far behind schedule and had to rush it out quickly rather than later.
As a result, at launch, there were still certain teething problems and issues of poor drivers to be sorted out. It's just a pity that when SP1 and subsequently SP2 came, the perception of Vista was such that no one could trust it anymore.
With Windows 7, I guess Microsoft did a great job in making sure that it runs well out of the box.
Furthermore, Windows Vista probably upset a great deal of tech enthusiasts. What was outlined during PDC 2003 and what we eventually got in 2006 was way off. WinFS? Dead and Gone.
You can hide some of the icons just like Windows 7 but without the popup windows in 7 while Vista just covers them with the " > ". You just set if you wanted the icon to always show, hide, or show notifications.
It appears that Windows 7 has somehow put together that my integrated web-cam is my HP Office-jet Pro 8500 printer, because it has 'scan capability'.
Windows 7 overall though is a HUGE improvement over running Vista.
In my opinion I would stick with 7, why? IS FASTER. That's what casual computer users look for.
Why has several people moved from Vista to Mac or to Vista to XP? Because it was slower and it, without any reason at all, programs stopped working. That's why Windows 7 has come lately with bad fame at all.
But, is time to change, computers can handle both OSes very good.
What ****s them is the pre installed crap ware and startup programs. Ccleaner and Advanced System Care is the antidote for that.
Windows 7 is Microsoft's most compatible system making it the best OS that is better user friendly and easier in almost every way to use than the previous OS (Now anyone can format a computer, win 7 possess a bunch of drivers in its core, making it easier to use all of the computer's hardware as if it were pre-installed).
Ending it here, I must say that everything has its Pros and Cons. Either 7, Vista, Linux, Mac. Is your choice, but XP user or 2000 user (if anyone) is time to change.
In performance, Windows 7 is quite equal to windows Vista plus they fixed the file problem.
vista has been a real learning experience for me. it made me upgrade my pc, no make that bought a new setup, that now i'm in windows 7 it payed. 5.9 on a two year old pc
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