I now have five PCs in the office with Windows Vista. Overall, I’m pleased. Not deliriously happy, and not stewing with anger. Let me go over what I like and don’t like about Vista.
Things I like about Windows Vista
1. The new Windows Explorer has an Address Bar feature that makes it easy to navigate between folders. It’s spiffy. You can access subfolders instantly from the Address bar’s triangle menus. For an organized, folder-driven fool such as myself, that’s wonderful.
2. The troubleshooting tools are tremendous. The Problem Reports and Solutions page specifically has charmed this PC Troubleshooting nerd.
3. It’s stable. I’ve not had to restart Windows as much as with Windows XP and certainly as much as in Windows 98.
4. Security. Yes, the warnings are obnoxious. But that’s only when you configure Vista. For normal operations, those UAC warnings don’t appear hardly ever. When they do, and you know that you’re not doing anything to modify the system, then they’re serious.
5. Networking is much easier. Sure, file sharing takes a while to get right, but otherwise setting up and using the network is simple. Being on the road with a Vista laptop is far better than using XP with wireless networks.
Things I hate about Windows Vista
1. It’s slow. I believe that newer software should be faster than what it replaces. I believe that part of the update/upgrade process should always include optimization of code.
2. It’s bulky. There are just too many add-on programs, tools, utilities, and optional junk that I don’t need and will never use. This most likely adds to the slowness.
3. Confusing versions. Why not just one version of Vista and then several add-on paks? Oh, probably because I don’t work for Microsoft and am allowed to make sense in the real world.
4. Automatic Updates. I recommend them, but occasionally an automatic update restarts the computer. That’s annoying. Just happened yesterday; the computers (which I leave on all the time) each showed the logon screen. I’d prefer to restart Windows myself, thank you.
5. They keep changing things. Sure, some changes are for the better. But then there’s change for change’s sake, not to mention Microsoft’s horrid habit of having to provide several dozen different ways to accomplish the same task. For example, I can rattle off 12 ways to copy a file. Why do we need so many different ways to do the same thing?
