Are you running Windows Vista Beta 2? Got any questions, comments, tips? Leave them here in the comments section and I’ll try to come up with some answers.
Got any Windows Vista questions?
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51 thoughts on “Got any Windows Vista questions?”
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Ed Bott 
Comments..
1. Windows explorer’s lack of a horizontal scroll bar is aweful. I hate waiting for windows to move over so I can select a new folder to expand. The area to click on the arrow to expand the tree is to tight as well. Plus, it never remembers the size of the folders panel either. Every time I right click the start button and select explore, I need to resize the folder panel. UGH.
2. It’s to bad that MS can push some of the performance enhancements they have made with reported release of the new build out to current Beta 2 users. It would make life easier.
3. Definitely need a way to control the search indexer. So far, you can turn it on or off. Something that is similar to WDS would be great.
4. Don’t install Java, it breaks IE. Just found that out yesterday. Thanks to the Vista forums I was able to figure that out.
5. Windows Live Mail is lame, lame, lame. Come on guys.
6. I really dislike the UAC prompt seems to appear in diffrent places of the screen depending on where the action occured that created it. For example, move to a program files folder and select “organize>new folder.” Why am I prompted to continue in the upper left corner, why not the middle of the screen. It should be in the middle, in my book.
7. I noticed that I can run “appwiz.cpl” from the search box and am not prompted with any UAC boxes, but I am whenever I select the control panel from the start button.
I’ve got more, but I have work to do. 🙂 Maybe I’ll be back.
Love the blog by the way.
I can’t create Shortcut Keys for Start menu Shortcuts, UAC denies me permission to do so. I specifically tried to assign ctrl-alt-R to Remote Desktop Connection, is it just me? I disable UAC and it works.
Great comments, David, thanks!
Gerard, I answered your question here.
Thank you..I’m back with more. 🙂
Ok, so I run with an administrator account, I have no created a limited user. I with the UAC had a bit more flexibility in it’s configuration regarding the prompts I receive. For example. I use an explorer replacement. I’ve checked the box under the shortcut that I want the program to run in admin mode. Why am I still prompted to “allow” it to run. I knew what I did when I checked the box, don’t prompt me.
I can’t install programs from the “add/remove” applet in the control panel. With XP, I click on the icon and it searchs my DVD rom drive and off I go (YIPPEE). So now, I’ve disabled auto run, so when I insert a CD, it doesn’t start in the install routine. So, I need to browse my computer and launch the setup through windows explorer. TO MUCH WORK. If there is a way to launch this through the applet, then it’s not obvious and that’s a problem.
I sure do like how Windows Update is done now. 🙂
I LOVE the new start menu. Not sure if I could get used to XP again.
Why doesn’t the search work with the second word in the program? Example, I type “Calender,” and get nothing. I type “Windows Calender” and there is it. This needs to be better.
Sure would be nice if there was some kind of published info on the rating of the computer. The CPU,GPU, and amount of ram weigh in more influence than a big SATA drive. What’s the grading scale. I know MS is re-working this, so I will be interested in how it rates my machine again. Incidently, I’ve got a 4. The first time it rated though, through my prompting it was 3.8. So, why change to 4 later? HMMMM
Why is MS wanting annonymous feedback? Makes me wonder…
I’m really enjoying Vista. 🙂
Ok, I need to amend a comment I mentioned earlier. I don’t know what the heck I was thinking, but I’m not prompted for any type of UAC when selecting the control panel from the start menu. My bad.
I do wonder why the user isn’t told about known compatibiltiy problems with programs. Two that come to mind are Ghost and Partician Magic. Vista tells me there are known issues; so I think to myself, well let me know, I’m curious.
The network animation needs to be of a higher contrast. I can barely see the animation.
Well, I seem to stand corrected on the “start search” as well. I typed in “calender”, low and behold, Windows calender” appears. I was pretty darn sure I did that before and not a thing showed up. sigh
Why is it that when I got to uninstall a program, part of the dialog box says “run app as a dll”? Not every time mind you, but why…My parents don’t care, uninstall the program.
The flip 3d is a great feature, looks aweful though. The edges are jagged. I also like the new alt/tab replacement.
The sidebar is pretty useless in my book.
What’s the deal with the disk access, seems extreme to me. I would like to know when Vista has decided on indexing again, etc. A little balloon tip from the system tray would be nice.
Did I mention before how much I love hitting start, and then typing the first few letters of the name of the program I’m looking for, just wonderful.
Better refinement over how IE opens other instances of the a new Windows vs new tabs in the same instance. I hope they are working on this.
The new mobility center is very nice. Good job.
Hi Ed,
I read earlier (probably, not from this site) that Vista is going to include symbolic links. Is this feature implemented? Is it exposed in explorer or cmd.exe?
Thanks,
Kishore
Yeah, symlinks are currently implemented. The command is MKLINK. Just type that at a command prompt and you’ll get an idea of the switches available. But be careful!
David, great comments. I’m going to address them collectively in a new post, soon. Thanks!
Ed: I don’t really have any specific questions at this point, just a general one… I know you’ve been using Vista as your primary OS for quite some time now while writing Vista Inside Out, and I was wondering what you thought about the readiness of the OS as a whole? Is there anything in your day-to-day work that you find more complicated or impossible to do on Vista yet? On the whole, do you think it’s ready to actually be relied upon for a full-time (although not business) desktop?
The last version I took the time to install was an early B1 build that, as expected, didn’t exactly work as it was supposed to. I’m just trying to get a feel for whether it’s ready to go on another install run (wiping my primary XP desktop in the process), or if I should just keep holding out… Any specific issues you’re still having with it on a daily basis?
Ed,
I converted from XP to Vista. Many of my shortcuts will not work. For instance, trying to open an Access database from a network location does nothing. Even double-clicking on the .mdb file at the mapped drive location will not start the application. Now, my Outlook icon has stopped working.
Have you seen this behavior before?
Thanks
Dennis
Have not seen that, Dennis, nor have I seen any other reports of it. Have you tried a repair install of Office?
I really dislike that fact that if I don’t hold shift down while deleting an item, that’s stuck in my recycle bin. If I try to empty the recycle bin, I’m stuck in a loop with Vista telling me the file is 0byte and wanting to create it for me. UG..
I would like to move toolbars around more in IE7+. I would like to move the toolbar with home, RSS icon, page etc up to the same line as the address bar and search bar.
Why, when I click on the “new tab” icon does my cursor not get placed directly in the address bar? I’m ready for a new website. Same thing with press “ctrl-T” for a new tab.
Never could get the Media center extender to work with my Xbox 360. I would love the browse music on my PC and play it on my home stereo. I could get the two to see each other, but the 360 would never show any content on my PC. This works with XP Pro and the connect program they devised.
Ed,
I’m wondering if you can comment on something I just read. In a document found at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=ff3c4f56-561b-4430-b8e2-ea28ed620ab4&DisplayLang=en
it says that Protected mode is only available for Windows Vista Enterprise and Windows Vista Ultimate. Everything else I’ve read says Protected mode is available in Vista, implying it would be part Windows Vista Basic. I’m wondering if this is a typo or what?
Oh, the recycle bin is a known issue, but irritating nonetheless. No workarounds I’ve seen in the newsgroups.
Just installed Vista Build 5384 and am wondering why SELECT.EXE process is constantly running at 85 – 94% of CPU in task manager. What’s going on? Is this normal?
TIA
Hi,
I just converted to Vista 2 days ago, and as far as now, I really enjoy it.
But I have a problem; I can’t get my desktop on which I have Vista to connect to my laptop (XP) via firewire (4-pin). The device manager is saying that the EEE 1394 is working fine, but I can’t find it in the network available.
Any ideas?
Thanks
Julien
Ed, I tried installing pre-Rc1 Vista and the compatibility part of the install tells me “I must unintall Windows Sharepoint Services before I can continue with the install. It instructs me to go to the Control Panel and then to Programs and then remove Windows Sharepoint Services. The problem is there is no such entry in the ADD/REMOVE list? Have you heard of this? Thanks. . .
Bob D.
Bob, do you have IIS installed on that machine? I believe that WSS is an IIS add-in.
Great Posts. I just installed RC-1 and absolutly love it. One major problem im having though is…
Im in a Domain Environment at a Universtiy. We have a win 2003 enterprise server running with group policies. Within these policies are login scrips (.vbs) that map certian drives to certian users. They dont seem to be working at all, which leads me to believe that all of the policies are not working. Is there any kind of magic button to enable this, or will Vista not work in a Domain environment yet?
Nick, Vista will absolutely work in a domain environment. I’m not sure why the scripts aren’t working. Could be permission issues. Will look into it. (Have you tried turning off UAC temporarily?)
Hi, Installed Pre-RC1 a few days ago looks and runs well.
Only 1 problem when opening word documents, sometimes vista says unable to locate and refuses to open doc.
Have done a repair on office 2003 no difference. A re-boot cures the problem until the next time.
It appears that Windows Explorer is causing the problem, as sometimes i get a check box come up which tells me windows is trying to sort out the problem, and it restarts windows explorer problem solved temporarily.
When i get the problem all word docs and some programs in start menu show a small shield in bottom right of icon. These disappear on windows explorer restart. Weird.
RE: Bob Desrosiers: September 1st, 2006 at 5:42 pm.
I have the same issue. & IIS has been removed (and folder deleted) & no Sharepoint Service is installed, but I still have the same issue & cannot upgrade.
But, I have found a Sharepoint Service subcomponent in Office 2007 beta which I am removing now…
After uninstalling this component & rebooting I still get:
“You must make the following changes before installing Windows
Close Windows installation, go to Programs, and uninstall the following programs:
Windows SharePoint Services”
“Windows SharePoint Services” are a part of Vista (& cannot be uninstalled).
Therefore; you can’t upgrade to Vista RC1 from a previous Vista and must do a fresh install.
Nice of Microsoft to make that so clear!
Peter, you can indeed upgrade to RC1 from Vista Beta 2, so I am not sure what the issue is here. Perhaps once you’ve installed IIS (which is an optional component) you can no longer upgrade. I’ll have to check that out.
I do not have IIS installed…
this is the frustrating thing about the “Windows SharePoint Services” Upgrade Error
On the Vista Newsgroups there are lots of statements that say ‘you cannot upgrade from Beta2 to RC1’.
Microsoft Suck. Leading people on with the false promise of ‘Upgrade’ only to give a misleading error message.
I am having the same issue arouns WSS and the upgrade. My machine has never had a version of Vista on it. It does however have Office 2007 Technical Refresh which is meant to be compatible with RC1.
Look on your PC for “SMIGRATE.EXE”. You prob have the Windows Sharepoint migration tools installed (look in \Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions). Upgrade compat checker is mistaking that for WSS
I’m interested to know whether the new copy protection scheme in Vista will affect its usability.
I regularly from time to time reformat my hard drive and re-install my OS, software and settings.
My question is, would this still be possible in Vista, or are you limited by the amount of times you can do this? Are you also limited to a certain number of different hardware changes?
I also like re-installing via images, such as Ghost, Drive Image etc. Would thid software be limited in uts use at all?
How do I move the C:\Users folder to my D drive?
So, I solved the problem of having to uninstall Windows SharePoint Services off Windows XP before upgrading to Vista and not being able to figure out how to do so.
After banging my head on this for hours, I finally figured it out. I don’t remember the exact name of the folder (since I already deleted it and was all excited that my install had finally begun) but do a search on your computer for any file beginning with the letters ‘sts’. The extensions don’t matter. In my case, I found the file in a folder which was under the ‘Program Files’ folder. I also found a ‘setupsts.exe’ file in that same folder. Essentially, that folder contained the install for ‘Windows SharePoint Services 2.0’ and the Vista installer, seeing that, thought you had the program installed.
A short-cut, if you will, would be to look for a folder beginning with the letters ‘sts’ directly under ‘C:\Program Files’ or where ever your program files directly lies. Then delete the folder beginning with ‘sts’ and it should fix your problem. It did for me any way.
The “revome Sharepont services iS ther althoufg un typical MS fashion their direction could not be less confusing :
You must open add/remoeve programs
Click Add/Remove Windows Components
in the list click IIS (it should have a check mark but the bx should be grayed) and then click Details
within the details of IIS sharepoint appears ! Uncheck it. and THAT is what THEY meant!
I cannot seem to install any of my former programs without getting error messages. Just got this computer today with VISTA software and am having a TON of problems. Getting a message that says THE REQUESTED OPERATIONS REQUIRES ELEVATION when trying to install MS Office 2003. Help !!!
P.S. I only created one signon and it was for “me” and “I” am the administrator. Help.
Hi There!
I minipulate and organize my files with the Windows Explorer. Every time I pull it up, the folders are all set (default) in a position that I don’t like. I need to close some files and open others. Is there a way I can default the explorer’s folders so that they are in a starting mode that I like? Is there something is the options that I can check or un-check.
Many thanks for your help!
Mark
I just bought a new HP laptop with Windows Vista Premium on it, and Vista has locked up while shutting down. It’s had a message “logging off” on the screen for a couple of hours (I’m writing as I wait for the HP support staff to get to me) and nothing frees it up. Not Cntl-Alt-Del, not pressing the on button again. It’s locked. It’s a laptop, no power cord to pull. What do I do? And what does Vista do on shutdown? If it’s writing stuff to the hard drive, I could have some messed up system files when I get this restarted. This laptop is brand new, only a couple of programs loaded on it, not even been connected to the Internet yet, so I’m totally sure the problem is with Vista.
Something happened to my windows vista PC and explorer.exe has become corrupt. I’ve tried system restore and just about anything else you can think of, but nothing works. PLEASE HELP ME! Does anyone know where I can download a Windows Vista Home Premium 32 bit explorer.exe file?
Bryan, copying that file won’t do you any good. You might have a hardware problem, but the best thing you can do is get your Vista media and reinstall. Just choose an “upgrade” over your existing copy.
Ok, but does anyone know where i can obtain a windows vista home premium explorer.exe file anyway? I would like to make a backup of it just in case i ever need it
Bryan, Explorer.exe is the same in all Vista editions. You can get it right off the Vista DVD or from your installation cache. But it won’t do you any good.
You can’t replace the file in Vista manually and you can’t run it directly. So having a backup copy won’t really solve a problem for you.
HAVEA PROBLEM DOWNLOADING A VERSION OF ADOBE READER 8
AFTER DOWNLOADING IT I ATTEMP TO RUN IT ONLY TO BE TOLD THE TEMP FOLDER IS INACCESIBLE, YET I AM NOT USING IT. I AM ALSO THE USING AN ADMINSTRATIVE USER STATUS, WHAT CAN I DO TO GET ADOBE READER ON MY NEW MACHINE (WAS SO EASY ON XP)
I cant figure out why when I do a copy and replace off my flash disk (or any other media for that matter) the file is not replaced. Exactly the same file is still there. I have an MDB file in my program directory c:\program files\seafactory
and it was missing a few fields in a couble of tables and a couple of queries. So i copy the good MDB from my development PC onto a flash drive, take it over to the other PC say I want to copy it, then im prompted for what action I wish to perform – copy and replace, then Im prompted to ensure I want to complete this action – Yes. All good. but the file hasnt been replaced. I delete the file then copy in the new one. The old one is still there. I delete the file and run my program, works fine becuase the file is somehow still there. I delete my whole program folder. Run the program it still works becuase somehow it’s still there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
hi I heard that with windows vista the security will not let you download Limewire and Kazaa type programs. Is this true?
Yea, hi i havea reallly really big problem……….i’ve locked myself out of windows Vista and i dont remeber my password and i didn’t make a reset disk. Is there any possible way to get back in?
Recently installed the Vista home premium upgrade…everything works fine, But…I can’t get my bluetooth dongle to load…every time i try to load the install program, Vista tells me I don’t have admin rights, eventhough I’m the only user and admin…what am I doing wrong…signed blueless and toothless
I downloaded vista on my hp dv9035. Icant find my lightscribe, where is it
I have a question. I have a Japanese version of Vista Home Premium (for my wife) but I would like to install an English version for me. Do I need to dual boot or is there a really easy way to have both that I don`t know about? Thanks.
CAN ANYONE HELP ME PLEASE.
WHEN I HAVE WRITTEN A DOCUMENT IN WORD I CANNOT SEND IT BY EMAIL. WHEN I ACCESS THE SEND FOLDER IT ONLY ALLOWS ME TO SEND VIA FAX. ANY SOLUTION AS TO HOW I CAN SEND MY DOCS.
MANY THANKS.
I just bought a computer and it’s a windows vista home premium edition. It’s pretty cool, yeah, but sometimes trouble gets on the way. This time it’s about changing the monitor’s brightness/contrast settings. The monitor doesn’t have the buttons to change the settings like most computers do. And I can’t do it by right-clicking the desktop either. How can I change them then? In my keyboard there’s this picture of a sun with a minus (-) sign in F5 and one with a plus sign (+) in F6, but i can’t get them to work and I’m not sure those are responsible for the brightness settings.
Thank you
hi
im trying to install the talk talk software onto my windows vista pc,but when i try to launch the cd it says i need to be logged on as an administator,so i set myself up as an administrator and still it says you are not logged on as an administrator and to log out and log in again as an administrator,but it wont recognize me as such,very frustrating,any help on this matter would be greatly appreciated,thankyou for your time
carl.
Carl, open the CD in Windows Explorer. Find the Setup file. Right-click and choose Run As Administrator from the menu.
If that doesn’t work, the program is not compatible with Windows Vista, or you may need to tweak the Compatibility settings. But try Run As Administrator first.