It's not a bug, it's a feature!

[Aero Ultimate]

I thought I'd compile a list of all the flaws that are really going on my nerves in Vista and that are not likely to be fixed, as they're meant to be this way.

Others are invited to add up onto this if they have more "Broken by design" flaws, and I'll add them to this list.

1. Display Properties paperchase
   In XP, when you right-click on the Desktop and select "Properties", you get the "Display Properties" dialog with all the tabs in one place.
   Not so on Vista, where you only ever get a single tab, and the other tabs are wildly scattered around, so you have to hunt them down individually.
   
2. Explorer toolbar can't be customized
   You only have some predefined items in the toolbar, most of which are completely useless.
   
3. File Properties dumbed down
   Heck, you can't even set custom icons anymore! It's ludicrous!
   
4. Compulsory "Favourites" in Explorer
   Even if you don't use them, you can't turn them off. Changing to "Classical View" doesn't work either.
   
5. Content-based view in Explorer
   If Explorer detects certain file types in a directory, it insists on using a special content-based view. Setting up a folder how you like it and choosing to apply it to all folders doesn't help here either.
   
6. Implementation of Uac
   This is not going against the idea of having a Uac - running as a Standard User only is certainly a good idea. However, the implementation of Uac in Vista is totally botched and interferes far too much with your everyday tasks.
   
7. Windows Defender blocking startup apps
   On every startup, Defender is blocking your startup apps, and you have to tell it every time that yes, you do want to start them. There's no way to make Defender remember this.
   
8. Power button
   The power button is deceptive as it doesn't power the system down, but puts it to sleep instead. The option to change this is buried very deep in the Power options.
   Also, when you click the button, it acts instantly - there's no "Oops, I didn't mean this! Cancel!" possibility, it goes to sleep or shuts down instantly.
   
9. Rebooting Vista
   Even though you'll need to reboot Vista far more often than you will shut it down, it was obviously regarded as totally unimportant, so you have to click on an arrow and select it from a menu.
   No confirmation here either, although you could argue that if you clicked on the arrow, you probably meant to do it.
   
10. "Use IE7, or else..."
    Vista wants you to use IE7 only and nothing else. You cannot set another browser as your default browser, and the special "Low" app level is arbitrarily limited to IE7.
    

[Intelligen]

I agree with you on the Power button and Rebooting Vista. Why MS did this i haven't a clue! Its the easy things that they made so difficult, like trying to find the add/remove programs or even your IP address, you have to dig through different links. I'm better off doing a simple ipconfig!

[dragon2611]

[*]"Use IE7, or else..."

Vista wants you to use IE7 only and nothing else. You cannot set another browser as your default browser, and the special "Low" app level is arbitrarily limited to IE7.

Really... hmm thats funny my deafult browser is firefox :p

Its a permissions problem, most browsers haven't been ugpraded to support vistas extra secuirty features.

close all firefox windows

make sure firefox.exe is not running

goto firefox on the start menu

right click

click run as admistrator

anwser yes when it asks to be deafult browser

then you can go back to running it as normal.

I should imagine the same works for other browsers to.

[Aero Ultimate]

click run as admistrator

Running a browser as administrator would be bloody retarded :x

It's bad enough already that Vista arbitrarily limits the "Low" mode to IE7, you really don't need to go and make it even worse.

[Intelligen]

You only have to run it as administrator once. And you can also go through the Default programs and set firefox as the default without having to run firefox as administrator 1 time.

[Denis W. Veteran]

File Properties dumbed down

Heck, you can't even set custom icons anymore! It's ludicrous!

- You can still set custom icons. :blink: It's only the user icons you can't change (Documents, Pictures, Videos, Desktop) unless you change the hidden desktop.ini files.

[dragon2611]

Running a browser as administrator would be bloody retarded :x

It's bad enough already that Vista arbitrarily limits the "Low" mode to IE7, you really don't need to go and make it even worse.

depends on what you want to do with it and i did say you could go back to running it as normal when your done.

and that makes a vast majority of windows XP users retards then does it? becuase lets face it most people run on their pc as an admistritive user back on xp

[hotdog666al]

If these features bother you so, don't use Vista! :)

[freak_power]

I thought I'd compile a list of all the flaws that are really going on my nerves in Vista and that are not likely to be fixed, as they're meant to be this way.

Others are invited to add up onto this if they have more "Broken by design" flaws, and I'll add them to this list.

1. Display Properties paperchase
   In XP, when you right-click on the Desktop and select "Properties", you get the "Display Properties" dialog with all the tabs in one place.
   Not so on Vista, where you only ever get a single tab, and the other tabs are wildly scattered around, so you have to hunt them down individually.
   
2. Explorer toolbar can't be customized
   You only have some predefined items in the toolbar, most of which are completely useless.
   
3. File Properties dumbed down
   Heck, you can't even set custom icons anymore! It's ludicrous!
   
4. Compulsory "Favourites" in Explorer
   Even if you don't use them, you can't turn them off. Changing to "Classical View" doesn't work either.
   
5. Content-based view in Explorer
   If Explorer detects certain file types in a directory, it insists on using a special content-based view. Setting up a folder how you like it and choosing to apply it to all folders doesn't help here either.
   
6. Implementation of Uac
   This is not going against the idea of having a Uac - running as a Standard User only is certainly a good idea. However, the implementation of Uac in Vista is totally botched and interferes far too much with your everyday tasks.
   
7. Windows Defender blocking startup apps
   On every startup, Defender is blocking your startup apps, and you have to tell it every time that yes, you do want to start them. There's no way to make Defender remember this.
   
8. Power button
   The power button is deceptive as it doesn't power the system down, but puts it to sleep instead. The option to change this is buried very deep in the Power options.
   Also, when you click the button, it acts instantly - there's no "Oops, I didn't mean this! Cancel!" possibility, it goes to sleep or shuts down instantly.
   
9. Rebooting Vista
   Even though you'll need to reboot Vista far more often than you will shut it down, it was obviously regarded as totally unimportant, so you have to click on an arrow and select it from a menu.
   No confirmation here either, although you could argue that if you clicked on the arrow, you probably meant to do it.
   
10. "Use IE7, or else..."
    Vista wants you to use IE7 only and nothing else. You cannot set another browser as your default browser, and the special "Low" app level is arbitrarily limited to IE7.
    

It's not Windows Defender but UAC. UAC is blocking all your startup apps. Disable it and you will be ok.

[Mordkanin]

Running a browser as administrator would be bloody retarded :x

It's bad enough already that Vista arbitrarily limits the "Low" mode to IE7, you really don't need to go and make it even worse.

That's a known firefox bug. Running it as admin once will set it as default. Then you never have to run it as admin again.

I glanced at mozilla's bug report on it, and I think it might be fixed in 2.0.0.2...but I don't know, Firefox has always been my default browser, since I run it as admin once, and it's never bothered me.

[xapollostarx]

Use the organize menu to turn off the navigation pane and explorer favorites disappear.

[Slimy]

1. Yep, annoying. But it's still the same amount of clicks. I just wish some of the links didn't open up a new window.

2. At least there is Organize > Layout.

3. I set custom icons on folders, so I don't notice this missing.

4. Do you mean Favourite Links? I use them, so once again I don't notice the lack of customizability. It can probably be changed in the registry. It's stupid how it doesn't disappear if the folder is empty.

5. Definitely a feature :p

6. Agreed. Hopefully UAC will work better in SP1.

7. I don't have this problem.

8. Microsoft did this so that people would use it to save power ... instead of just leaving their computers on. It's annoying though and is definitely the first thing I change on a clean install.

9. I don't find this a big deal.

10. Can't you just use the "default programs" in the control panel?

[LyteByte]

Yeah my default browser is also Firefox 2.... I never ran anything as admin.... I opened firefox options under main->system defaults, I checked the option always check if firefox is default browser.... restarted firefox and it asked do you want to set firefox as default browser? I said yes and thats it done.....

I have to do this because IE7 is not working with my vista.....Its really bugging when I have loved to use IE over Firefox till now...

[raskren]

1. This is designed to replace the old desktop properties applet. It is organized more neatly, textual labels are more descriptive, and it is organized better than before. Why is usage of this window so hard for you to figure out?

2. What exactly needs to go in there that is limiting your usage? Back, forward, and refresh are completely useless?

3. I see the same information in file properties as XP...and I can set custom icons...gee...I must be a power user.

4. XP also contained My Network Places, My Computer, etc... in file save windows. At least you can customize the list now.

5. XP did the same thing. This has never been a reason to bitch for me.

6. If UAC bothers you to perform everyday tasks theres a problem with the software you're using or your concept of everyday tasks differs from the rest of the world.

7. No idea what you're talking about here. I can allow startup apps through Windows Defender and I'm never prompted again. Maybe you should read a book or look through the help documentation.

8. It takes the same number of clicks to shutdown Vista as it does XP assuming you haven't changed the button behavior. What's the big deal? Change the behavior once and be done with it!

9. See #8. Big deal.

10. Again, go read the help documentation. A PC user 101 class might be of some help to you. Often, they'll show you how to set default programs.

This will most likely be of help to you.

[acido00]

What is the new boot in VISTA final edition?

[Doli]

Compulsory "Favourites" in Explorer

Even if you don't use them, you can't turn them off. Changing to "Classical View" doesn't work either.

In explorer, Organize -> Layout -> Navigation Pane

I think favorite links in explorer is a nice add-in, you can change the links in the "Links folder".

And the option to change the power button from sleep to shut down is only 4 clicks, its not that deep.

Edited March 4, 2007 by Doli

[TokyoKiller]

What is the new boot in VISTA final edition?

You mean the boot screen? Its just a black screen with a loading bar.

[XerXis]

give me one example of an everyday task uac interferes with?

And yes you can make defender remember, put you file in the trusted application list, look before complaining! You can find it under the defender tools tab, have fun.

I installed opera, it asked me if i wanted to make it default, i clicked yes, it's my default browser! must be firefox vista problem

You can change the default icon.

But thank you for spreading more fud

[Brandon Live Veteran]

"Use IE7, or else..."

Vista wants you to use IE7 only and nothing else. You cannot set another browser as your default browser, and the special "Low" app level is arbitrarily limited to IE7.

That is completely and utterly false. Firefox has a bug in that they try to set the default browser for every user on the system which of course requires that you be running as an admin. However, they just need to fix that to do what it should do and change the user's default browser like Maxthon and others do.

Furthermore, any process at all can be run with Low IL (assuming UAC is enabled). In fact, I've been thinking of writing a blog post titled "When will we get Protected Mode Firefox?" The application developer simply needs to mark the executable to run with the Low integrity level. There are tools that would let you run it this way on your own. The problem with that is, it will undoubtedly break extensions and other parts of Firefox, as processes running with Low IL, like protected mode IE, are very restricted. Basically the application installer will have to mark any directories (like internet cache, if FF has a seperate one) and registry keys that it needs to write to as being accessible from low IL processes.

It's likely that Firefox would need to write a medium IL marshaller of sorts, like "ieuser.exe" in IE, that allows the user to open other applications, save files, etc.

[micro]

I believe that microsoft should allow users to set the level of security with UAC just like the internet explorer security options, a custom setting if you will..

[Ghostdraconi]

I thought I'd compile a list of all the flaws that are really going on my nerves in Vista and that are not likely to be fixed, as they're meant to be this way.

Others are invited to add up onto this if they have more "Broken by design" flaws, and I'll add them to this list.

[*]Compulsory "Favourites" in Explorer

Even if you don't use them, you can't turn them off. Changing to "Classical View" doesn't work either.

You can't turn them off but you can hide them by dragging the seperator bar all the way to the top. I did that and now they never appear. You can also switch to them quickly by clicking on the folders title.

[ThisSiteHasLostItsCharm]

1. don't mind the layout, quite like it actually, i had to problem finding the features.

2. not bothered about explorer toolbar customization.

3. no problem with file properties, guess i never missed the features in xp.

4. don't give a t*ss about the favorites in ie, don't use them and only use ie for some sites.

5. yea its annoying sometimes, but im sure turning off thumbnails stops this action?

6. yea annoying feature but its not exactly hard to disable and is not need, imo

only needed if you must let microsoft control your user experience.

7. useless tool, disable it, just another piece of bloat and there better alternatives.

8. shouldn't of been fooled that the button is not red like the xp shutdown button!

kinda gave it away that it was something else, i just reckon microsoft changed the colour so u'd know its not shutdown.

9. got no problems with the startmenu placement of items.

don't do much rebooting anyway.

10. firefox is default for me. at no point has ie taken control of my browsing.

11. all in all, i think you are over reacting, nothing is broken, there not bugs. just altered features.

the only bugs in vista are the ones that are fixed by hotfixes.

[+virtorio MVC]

1. The window that is displayed has links on it which take you to the replacement windows/tools to the old style dialog. In actual reality it?s not much different to the tabs on the old window.

2. Agreed, that is a bit of a pain.

3. I can, don't know what you're doing wrong.

4. Maybe true, don't know as I like the Favorites.

5. Same as above.

6. If you don't like it turn it off. Personally I hardly even see any UAC prompts and can't figure out why people keep getting so many of them.

7. I haven't experienced this problem myself.

8. Agreed

9. Agreed.

10. Opera managed to set itself as the default browser just fine.

[Brandon Live Veteran]

I believe that microsoft should allow users to set the level of security with UAC just like the internet explorer security options, a custom setting if you will..

What do you mean? Users have full control over file permissions. What else would you change?

[winXpert]

Content-based view in Explorer

If Explorer detects certain file types in a directory, it insists on using a special content-based view. Setting up a folder how you like it and choosing to apply it to all folders doesn't help here either.

See post #5

::winXpert::