Broken Features and Annoyances in Vista

[azz0r_wugg]

About the Windows 3.1 Install Font dialog, it's actually funny and not a problem at all, I don't see why people complain about it... It's like an easter egg.

The only reason I can think of for the MS UI team to not change it was to keep it as an easter egg. Let's hope that Vienna still presents that dialog the same way, as a memory of the 3.1 days :p Maybe it will stay forever that way!

It stayed like that because of backwards compatibility apparently, so the shell team said on shell revealed.

However, I think it was just forgotten about, the deadline was drawing in and then the fuss kicked up about it so they made some bs excuse.

[Lawliet]

YOU'RE WRONG! AND YOU NEVER TRIED IT!

In fact the first time you have to browse for an application, but the next time that application is already placed in "Open with" context menu: this is a new Vista's feature i.e. the used applications are automatically placed in the context menu! And so "Edit with" is not necessary because you have a list of your used applications in the "Open with" context menu: your html editor for editing HTML files, the notepad, etc.

Vista simplified the user's experience because the user is able to add applications for open, edit, print without using a complex window (XP's window was too complex: http://uploads.neowin.net/forum/post-13530...42012_thumb.jpg)

I'm afraid this "feature" already existed in Windows XP. And yes, though I agreed it has simplified user experience, it has, at the same time, taken away some power functions which prompted my usage of the term "dumbed down" which, apparently, irritated some of your Microsoft Fanboy genes. Please, just stop your pointless "arguments".

I can see how that will turn out after SP1: You can change the icon now, but you'll have another totally pointless Uac prompt for doing that rofl.gif

Mind sharing how you did that? :)

Edited March 3, 2007 by Lawliet

[Aero Ultimate]

I'm afraid this "feature" already existed in Windows XP. And yes, though I agreed it has simplified user experience, it has, at the same time, taken away some power functions which prompted my usage of the term "dumbed down" which, apparently, irritated some of your Microsoft Fanboy genes. Please, just stop your pointless "arguments".

Yes, this oh-so-great "feature" is already there in XP, so I don't see why he tries to sell it to us as the super-duper-?ber-Vista "feature":pinch::

I can see how that will turn out after SP1: You can change the icon now, but you'll have another totally pointless Uac prompt for doing that

Mind sharing how you did that?:))

I got access to some secret MS papers with SP1 plans from a reliable source who wishes to stay anonymous:whistle::

[Lawliet]

Oh, I misread your statement. My bad! :blush:

[ZonoBurk]

The whole interface on how you navigate folders feels incredibly awkward and unintuitive. When I first got vista it frustrated the hell out of me, but I figured Id get used to it...I havent. I know for a fact that a hell of a lot of people are going to have problems with this. Im talking normal everyday people...not the people here.

The UAC is a HUGE problem. Im sorry but this is another thing that normal, everyday people are gonna be incredibly confused and/or annoyed by. The average user is not going to know about right clicking to run as administrator and the obnoxiuos way Vista shoves itself in your face. Its a major flaw IMO. Again Im thinking of the normal person that never go to sites like this.

I told my brother to avoid Vista as its gonna kill productivity at his business. How could it not? Between the UAC blurring of the screen and shoving popups in your face at every turn its gonna be a nightmare for the average person/employee.

If I was asked to give a word to describe Vista Id say OVERKILL.

The very last line:

UAC: You are coming to a sad realization. Cancel or allow?

PC: sigh...allow

These 2 things: UAC and the way the folders are designed, complete overkill. Again, Im talking average people.

Oh, 1 more thing, fugly teal folders:

Hate to say it, but I think the snip tool is my favorite new feature

Ha, I didn't even know there was snipping tool. Thanks. I learn something every other day. :p

[Xerxes]

I got one annoyance now :p I discovered (the hard way) you need to be careful with updating your drivers in Vista. When updating certain major components of your computer (i.e. like motherboard drivers) Vista might think you installed it on another computer and will deactivate and will require a phone call to MS to reactivate. While MS were pretty good about and it only took 5 mins to correct, it is rather annoying how MS have reduced the amount of leeway you'd get before requiring to reactivate (i.e. XP didn't require to be reactivated after installing new motherboard drivers etc) While I'm sure MS will say it's part of their "anti-piracy measures" I'm starting to think they are becoming more like "anti-paying customer measures" All that said I'm actually quite happy with Vista, just going to be a little more cautious about updating drivers :p (stuff like updating video card drivers doesn't seem to cause much trouble, which is good)

[Aero Ultimate]

I got one annoyance now :p I discovered (the hard way) you need to be careful with updating your drivers in Vista. When updating certain major components of your computer (i.e. like motherboard drivers) Vista might think you installed it on another computer and will deactivate and will require a phone call to MS to reactivate. While MS were pretty good about and it only took 5 mins to correct, it is rather annoying how MS have reduced the amount of leeway you'd get before requiring to reactivate (i.e. XP didn't require to be reactivated after installing new motherboard drivers etc) While I'm sure MS will say it's part of their "anti-piracy measures" I'm starting to think they are becoming more like "anti-paying customer measures" All that said I'm actually quite happy with Vista, just going to be a little more cautious about updating drivers :p (stuff like updating video card drivers doesn't seem to cause much trouble, which is good)

Yes, that's a real pain... that's why I won't activate until everything (drivers and programs) works perfectly fine. 120 days should be enough for that (and if not, I can stil re-install).

[nevets]

While I'm sure MS will say it's part of their "anti-piracy measures" I'm starting to think they are becoming more like "anti-paying customer measures" All that said I'm actually quite happy with Vista, just going to be a little more cautious about updating drivers :p (stuff like updating video card drivers doesn't seem to cause much trouble, which is good)

I would guess the policy is that if you didn't pay for every single install or got it free from a legit means... it's pirating ;)

Then again, if you buy a system with Windows installed and you install same version of different language, that's also illegal. Getting the install is also illegal since they don't even sell it in the country.

I wonder how many people who did pirate will convert over to paying customers?

The "anti-piracy measures" sure is doing a good job squeezing more money from paying customers. (looking at the new enterprise policy of having customers pay for reactivation of a computer that probably needed motherboard replaced)

"Microsoft will also support the activation of Windows XP and will likely provide an update that turns off activation at the end of the product's life cycle so that users would no longer have to activate the product. " :whistle:

[Xerxes]

Yes, that's a real pain... that's why I won't activate until everything (drivers and programs) works perfectly fine. 120 days should be enough for that (and if not, I can stil re-install).

Yeah, that is the better way of dealing with that issue. However, I got the Academic Version of Home Premium and it only gives you 3 days and you have to activate. Obviously because you get it at a reduced price, MS decided to reduce Activation grace period too :unsure:

EDIT: I just hope I don't have to reactivate Vista every time I upgrade my Video card drivers (I always keep my video card drivers up to day as I find 90% of the time each new release gets a little more performance out of my card)

Edited March 5, 2007 by Xerxes

[Aero Ultimate]

Yeah, that is the better way of dealing with that issue. However, I got the Academic Version of Home Premium and it only gives you 3 days and you have to activate. Obviously because you get it at a reduced price, MS decided to reduce Activation grace period too :unsure:

I did get the Oem version of Vista Business, because there is no Academic version of Vista Business, and it has the usual 30 days.

If I look at that (and the fact that Academic is only Upgrade, resulting in more inconveniencies), I'm glad I got the Oem version :)

[nevets]

Explorer: When moving (actually "merging") a folder into another folder of the same name, the original folder is not deleted; the empty folder and any empty subfolders are left in place.

I was just testing a few machines and took the drivers out before I re-installed Vista again.

I reproduced exactly what happened to you. I right-click to drag then "move here"

Here's what seemed to happend.

0) plain folder... (subfolder1 with xml files under more subfolders).. (subfolder2 with driver extracting program and subfolders with drivers)

1) there were no locked files. a few confirmations to move files. all yes.

2) all files were moved, but folder containing a driver inf and every folder above it remained intact.

3) I right clicked and "moved here" again and it would ask me to overwrite folder and ok. takes two moves. cut and paste... ctrl+x/ctrl+v... same.

4) Only happens when moving from different partitions. (makes for conclusion there's nothing wrong with file)

This is really weird. All files and folders were copied over intact, but layers of empty folder still not moved.

Tested with clean install and upgrade. Latest iso from MS. Home premium and ultimate. All fully updated today.

I was dumbfounded when it happened... i kept moving and moving it. :blink:

report as bug?

[johnathonm]

I was just testing a few machines and took the drivers out before I re-installed Vista again.

I reproduced exactly what happened to you. I right-click to drag then "move here"

Here's what seemed to happend.

0) plain folder... (subfolder1 with xml files under more subfolders).. (subfolder2 with driver extracting program and subfolders with drivers)

1) there were no locked files. a few confirmations to move files. all yes.

2) all files were moved, but folder containing a driver inf and every folder above it remained intact.

3) I right clicked and "moved here" again and it would ask me to overwrite folder and ok. takes two moves. cut and paste... ctrl+x/ctrl+v... same.

4) Only happens when moving from different partitions. (makes for conclusion there's nothing wrong with file)

This is really weird. All files and folders were copied over intact, but layers of empty folder still not moved.

Tested with clean install and upgrade. Latest iso from MS. Home premium and ultimate. All fully updated today.

I was dumbfounded when it happened... i kept moving and moving it. :blink:

Do they still even have a bug reporting area? I know they had a decent tool during betas but now it seems like we only have access to the problems reports and solutions option in the control panel. That only lets you report "crashes" etc.

[nevets]

Do they still even have a bug reporting area? I know they had a decent tool during betas but now it seems like we only have access to the problems reports and solutions option in the control panel. That only lets you report "crashes" etc.

Don't know... If there are any MS people here who would care to give those who like to improve Windows... how to contribute to finding small bugs and improvement suggestions? I'm not sure even if MS has a clear channel for users to contribute. I hope there are those who can, and might have an area they discuss this.

Sometime attempts are bombarded by flaming and opinions and leaves little room for discussion of real solutions. :/

[Lawliet]

Has anyone seen Backup/Restore centre popping up onto your recently used program when you've never used it before? Seems to always happen to me whenever I run a control panel applet. Happened across two systems as well. Weird.

[towtol]

I've been having an annoyance for the last couple of days in which the taskbar will flash briefly 4 to 5 times per minute while hidden. The ferquency seems to be determined how many programs I have open. This will happen whether I have other software open or not and whether I have open software windows minimized or not. This does not happen when the taskbar is not hidden.

Specs:

AMD Athlon 64 X@ 4200 @ 2.475GHz

NVIDIA 7600 GT

2GB 3-3-3-8 Kingston

Vista Ultimate 32-bit w/Bitlocker enabled (build 6.0.600)

WEI = 5.1 - 5.9

Normal ram usage idle: 650MB

Video driver doesn't seem to be the problem. I have used 100.65 and 101.41 (beta). Aero is smooth. Dreamscenes work with a minimum of cpu usage (use wallpaper most of time).

Checked system out with Everest Ultimate 2007. Normal processes and services in the background.

I have uninstalled software, disabled updates, and disabled non-essential services as much as possible.

I searched MS website for clues. It's possible that another program(s) is wanting focus. I have cycled through the software that I normally have running in the background (Avast AV, Network Magic, etc..) with no change.

Any ideas on this would be a great help. Thanks!

[Lawliet]

Yes, I've experienced this a few times as well. But it seemed to have just gone away on it's own. Don't know the cause and cure, if it is indeed cured, either.

[ozgeek]

There appears to be a missing or faulty feature:

When you view your recycle bin, you are only informed of how many files are pending deletion, but gives you no information on how large these are unless you highlight every file in the bin.

[solardog]

Has anyone seen Backup/Restore centre popping up onto your recently used program when you've never used it before? Seems to always happen to me whenever I run a control panel applet. Happened across two systems as well. Weird.

Yes. In fact its sitting there right now:

There must be a setting I enabled recently that causes that because Im sure I never saw it until about a week ago.

[nevets]

Yes. In fact its sitting there right now:

There must be a setting I enabled recently that causes that because Im sure I never saw it until about a week ago.

I get that too. My assumption is system restore calls it up, or maybe MS just did that to advocate backing up. ;)

[TR1GG3R]

Yes. In fact its sitting there right now:

There must be a setting I enabled recently that causes that because Im sure I never saw it until about a week ago.

I get that too. My assumption is system restore calls it up, or maybe MS just did that to advocate backing up. ;)

i have this problem too hope they do something about it

[nevets]

i have this problem too hope they do something about it

Though I wouldn't be surprised if that's the way they wanted it. If you notice MS has been pretty aggressive with making people try out the "new and improved" features in Vista, and is pretty much trying to shove it down you, "nannying" you, or plain burying options deep in the UI. A compulsive backup link on your start menu goes right into this theme.

I Updated OP with this issue. Just collecting a big list =). But if there's a fix for this, i'll add it on too. (for me, i just turn off recent documents and programs)

personal comment and rant:

Vista has beta written all over it... that's how I personally feel. My snippet function just disappeared? The hell?

[Budious]

personal comment and rant:

Vista has beta written all over it... that's how I personally feel. My snippet function just disappeared? The hell?

I tend to agree with you that by all outwards appearances from what I have read across the Internet on a daily basis that Vista may have been released too early. Personally, I think they should have stuck with synchronizing the desktop and server releases. Windows 2000 Professional/Server were both very reliable when they were released aside from minor hardware compatibility and security updates. XP Professional marked the beginning of the trend to seperate the code base from the server base as XP Professional code was locked and released while server side development continued from the release date. Every bug that popped up in XP was subsequently fixed or recode and the base matured into Windows 2003 Server. This design philosophy is probably preferable to the average system administrator who prefers having a stable product upon release but it comes at the expense of the desktop user who basically gets to extensively beta test the release candidate until SP1 is released.

[Lawliet]

Don't know what just happened. I accidentally clicked an email link in Excel and Internet Explorer starting spewing windows like crazy.

[raskren]

Don't know what just happened. I accidentally clicked an email link in Excel and Internet Explorer starting spewing windows like crazy.

Owned

[Lawliet]

Here's something new:

I shutdown my notebook, closed the lid and woke up the next day to find out my notebook is still on! I open the lid and to my horror/amusement/annoyance I saw the "Shutting Down" screeen appear. Looks like Vista fell asleep in the middle of shutting down. Intriguing.