So I bought a new laptop...

[Mittens]

...but it has Vista installed on it.
What should I look out for and what can I do about it?
I've heard its glitchy and slow, and theres some bullshit about piracy involved, so how do I get around all that ass-mongery?

[Swede]

Works fine for me >_>

[haterllnation]

Keep with the updates, keep your porn watching to sites that won't destroy you, and have a good anti-virus/trojan/spyware/adware program on board. Some people try running Vista on computers that can't handle it. It's new, so it shouldn't be an issue.

The piracy issue, I believe, had to do with registering your product. Read more here (http://www.mydigitallife.info/2008/02/24/windows-vista-sp1-new-black-desktop-anti-piracy-experience/).

[Roxie]

I haven't had a problem with Vista

[blank slate]

You could just get a copy of Windows XP. If you're in college then you could probably get it from your school for really cheap. You could also just install some flavor on linux, too.

[Mechs]

Keep with the updates, keep your porn watching to sites that won't destroy you, and have a good anti-virus/trojan/spyware/adware program on board. Some people try running Vista on computers that can't handle it. It's new, so it shouldn't be an issue.

The piracy issue, I believe, had to do with registering your product. Read more here (http://www.mydigitallife.info/2008/02/24/windows-vista-sp1-new-black-desktop-anti-piracy-experience/).

QFT.

Oh and I would suggest disabling windows defender when you get that good antu-virus program. Windows defender sucks.

[stsparky]

Hehehe. Go for Linux.

[jindojim]

I had Vista on my new laptop for about 2 hours...then I got fed up with it at about the 4th "Not Responding" sequence. So I wiped the hard drive, downgraded to XP from the installation CD from the previous laptop, and everything works so smoothly now.

[haterllnation]

I haven't had a problem with Visa

I'm more of a Mastercard fan myself. :innocent:

/fanboi OKAI!

Hmm, I haven't really used Vista on my personal computers but use it elsewhere. I stick with XP Pro until the next gen of Windows comes out and Vista will end up being the better version. I have Vista in a package that I got from school, but am still waiting it out a bit. Plus, if it's not broken, why fix it? I'm content with XP Pro. That's just me. It shouldn't deter you away from Vista. What I've said above in the previous post should help though.

[Mittens]

Thanks a lot for the info guys, s'pecially you hater.
The machine I'm running vista on is ridiculously powerful, so performance is awesome (considering i've disabled every non-essential shiny thing). I'll probably install McAfee in a couple of days, and windows defender DOES suck balls.

Once again, thanks muchly <3

[Plekto]

Linux is a godsend for laptops. Really. Because they often lack the memory, sound, or graphics to play any newer games, but have fast CPUs, it's like you're running in an emulator anyways. But for the rest of your needs, it's fast, clean, nearly crash-proof, and will run 3-4x faster than Windows at the same task. Just what a portable device requires. :) The last laptop I had got a worthless 5fps in most games, so I gave up even trying other than basic stuff like Mame or old DOS type games.

What flavor, though... trickier. But it's free to try. If you're invested in Windows, I'd suggest a product like Xandros, because it comes with commercial level emulators and loads of hand-holding.(not all are free though much cheaper than Windows) If you're into DIY a little bit - no worse than, say, learning a typical new OS is... just get Ubuntu, since the user base is enormous and help is plentiful. Just ditch the base/normal shell - it's as bloated as Windows is now.

http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/
A nice site.

Gnome is crap. KDE isn't much better, IMO - both are insane bloated.
Note - Gnome is gorgeous - like Vista. KDE is more Mac-like(IMO), Neither really feel like Unix, though - the speed and raw power is just not there any more unless you have a nearly XP or Vista desktop spec machine.

I like Xfce for laptops. Your desktop will look and feel a lot like an older Mac or Next type computer from a decade ago, but you're trading tons of eye candy for speed as well. When I had that laptop, I honestly used it to run 10-20 applications, so 90% of the crap in the O.S. was meaningless - it almost could have worked like Windows 3.11 for all I cared. Click - web. click - watch a video. click - do email. Not doing CAD or Photoshop on it, after all...

Xubuntu is the version that comes with it standard, so it's not like a total DIY setup - it's also just as supported as the other two main environments. You'll be setting it up more as a dedicated device though - ie - install your 10-20 apps and get it set up right(2-3x more work to get running right). But then pretty much just use it and forget it once it's done. I found it to be almost exactly like installing XP, actually - which is pretty cumbersome at times. But the benefit once it is running is jaw-dropping. It's so damn fast. All the same apps run on all versions - it's just than the "lite" versions are installed by default on Xubuntu. (like using Wordpad vs Word - for my uses, it's no different - I don't even have Office installed on my desktop for this reason)

All can be burned to "live" CDs - which means you can boot and try without a real install. Nice bonus. :)

http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/kdegnome
A simple comparison between Gnome and KDE.

http://www.xubuntu.org/
http://www.headshotgamer.com/review.aspx?id=75

Requirements to boot and run. One app, only. Twice this is recommended if you are running games or A/V and so on, of course.

Xbuntu 256 400 MHz
Kubuntu 384 1.0 Ghz
Ubuntu 512 1.2 GHz

Half a gig to boot and maybe run one app is no better than XP. Try each one and see what you think. A lot of laptop users like the extra hand-holding, though, especially if they are using it as a giant PDA or cellphone/blackberry online.

NOTE - I wrote most of this before your most recent response. Try Gnome if it's a really powerful/new laptop. If it's sluggish, then try a lighter environment.

[Mittens]

Until performance becomes an issue, this OS will do for now, but I will check out some of those OS you've mentioned if shit starts getting choppy.

This laptop though has 2.5ghz dual core processing speeds + 800 MHz FSB, 6 MB Cache (intel centrino), 512mb of graphics memory and 1080mb of shared graphics memory (nVidia GeForce 8800M GTS), 4 gigabytes of RAM and 250 x 2 disk drives (dont know the rpm on them yet).

I just hope it doesnt pull a fujitsu and start fucking up in 2 months time.

[Scarabomb]

I have Dual-Boot Vista Ultimate 64 (It uh...came with my laptop) and Ubuntu's 8.04LTS which is Hardy Heron (don't get the animal names personally).

Only reason why I use Vista as my primary OS is because Linux has terrible ATI grafx cards support and I'm a gamer. I did use wine on my other Laptop (HP Something... I sold it) but for being an NVIDIA card, it was actually really low end. The Grafx card could barely handle Vista Home (my laptop I'm using now has all the pretty flashy going on without all the excessive slowdown but that's because that's just how powerful the laptop is).

Anyway, I actually enjoy Linux a lot (save for the crappy grafx card support they have for ATI's) as you have a bit more control with your operating system than you would with say... Windows. Also, you don't NEED an anti-virus using Linux.

[darighaz]

Hell you dont need AV on windows.. i dont...

Just be smart about what you install and click.

[Plekto]

http://xpeqfe.blogspot.com/2005/07/time-to-infection-12-minutes.html

Try 34 minutes at most, 12 minutes on average. Literally 10 million bots are out there now pounding away on every DNS range of every major provider looking for victims. So far, in the last year, my firewall alone has bocked over a hundred THOUSAND attempts.

AV for PCs is like a condom. Always use it.(even for Linux)