Vista Experience

This is probably obvious to most on the group, but there may be
someone who would benefit from what I have learned running Vista. I
apologize for being so wordy -- it's hard for me to write concisely.

Here is my experience:

- Many programs will not run on Vista. If you are purchasing a
consumer computer from Dell, your only choice is Vista. Go to the
product web sites if you have a set of important apps that you need to
run to see if they are Vista compatible.

- One example is Adobe Acrobat Professional. The new Version
8 has issues that Adobe says they will patch. Adobe Acrobat 7
Professional does not run on Vista and there are no plans to update
it. So if you get Vista and need Acrobat Professional, you will have
to pay for version 8. So, there may be extra software costs. As far
as version 8, I don't want to install software with issues. After the
patch there still may be obsolete registry entries and DLLs. I don't
want to clutter up my system.

- I have found that most of my hardware does not have Vista
drivers. Example: HP 7410 all in one inkjet. I accidentally added
the printer though when I was setting up the network and the printing
part works. Printers, scanners, cameras, PDAs, all may have problems.

- Some programs will not run with Aero Glass. You can select the
Properties for the executable to run the programs in compatibility
mode, or in the case of Aero Glass problems you can check Disable
Desktop Composition.

- A lot of software vendors have not tested with Vista. There is
no information about Vista on their sites, and if there is, it is
often hard to find. Some small software vendors don't even have a
copy of Vista to test with, and on support forums they rely on the
users to post how Vista works for them and any problems they have.

- Vista runs quickly on my laptop which has 2G RAM, and the Core 2
Duo 2Ghz 4M, with a 7200 rpm hard drive. If you want Vista to run
well, you may have to pay extra for higher end specs. The 7200 rpm
drive does not seem to drain the battery faster. Battery time is very
good. You may want to wait until memory prices come down and you can
get 2G of RAM at a good price. If you are using the integrated Intel
950 video, it uses some of the system RAM, so 1G of RAM may run
slowly.

To sum it up: If you only have one PC or laptop, it's likely that you
will run into some problems with Vista. If you just run basic apps
(Microsoft Office 2003 runs fine), then most of them may be supported.
If you run anything more complex, you may be out of luck. If you have
a XP PC now your best bet is to wait until your software and drivers
will work with Vista, and maybe after MS releases a service pack, or
have 2 PC's -- your old one with XP, and your new one with Vista.

On my Vista laptop I have disabled glass, and use the classic theme
(the one prior to XP) which is more "clean" and makes better use of
screen space. I also disabled all video effects (shadows, windows
fading, etc.) except for font smoothing. I have installed a lot of
software and have put the laptop through some stress tests and the
system is very stable. I expected to have a lot more problems and am
happy with Vista.

One other thing -- Remote Desktop works from my Vista laptop to my XP
desktop and vice versa. I have Vista Business. If that's important
to you, check whether your version of Vista works with Remote Desktop.

Thanks Journey for your experiences. They don't sound too different
from others so far. My newer laptops only have 1 gig of ram but from
what I read it will be okay for Vista and my newest pc has 2 gigs.
Anyway I don't plan to go to Vista till at least SP1 at best because
I'm sure at this point I'd have program clashes.

Again thanks for your experiences.



On Fri, 02 Mar 2007 01:32:25 -0600, journey <> wrote:

>This is probably obvious to most on the group, but there may be
>someone who would benefit from what I have learned running Vista. I
>apologize for being so wordy -- it's hard for me to write concisely.
>
>Here is my experience:
>
>- Many programs will not run on Vista. If you are purchasing a
>consumer computer from Dell, your only choice is Vista. Go to the
>product web sites if you have a set of important apps that you need to
>run to see if they are Vista compatible.
>
> - One example is Adobe Acrobat Professional. The new Version
>8 has issues that Adobe says they will patch. Adobe Acrobat 7
>Professional does not run on Vista and there are no plans to update
>it. So if you get Vista and need Acrobat Professional, you will have
>to pay for version 8. So, there may be extra software costs. As far
>as version 8, I don't want to install software with issues. After the
>patch there still may be obsolete registry entries and DLLs. I don't
>want to clutter up my system.
>
>- I have found that most of my hardware does not have Vista
>drivers. Example: HP 7410 all in one inkjet. I accidentally added
>the printer though when I was setting up the network and the printing
>part works. Printers, scanners, cameras, PDAs, all may have problems.
>
>- Some programs will not run with Aero Glass. You can select the
>Properties for the executable to run the programs in compatibility
>mode, or in the case of Aero Glass problems you can check Disable
>Desktop Composition.
>
>- A lot of software vendors have not tested with Vista. There is
>no information about Vista on their sites, and if there is, it is
>often hard to find. Some small software vendors don't even have a
>copy of Vista to test with, and on support forums they rely on the
>users to post how Vista works for them and any problems they have.
>
>- Vista runs quickly on my laptop which has 2G RAM, and the Core 2
>Duo 2Ghz 4M, with a 7200 rpm hard drive. If you want Vista to run
>well, you may have to pay extra for higher end specs. The 7200 rpm
>drive does not seem to drain the battery faster. Battery time is very
>good. You may want to wait until memory prices come down and you can
>get 2G of RAM at a good price. If you are using the integrated Intel
>950 video, it uses some of the system RAM, so 1G of RAM may run
>slowly.
>
>To sum it up: If you only have one PC or laptop, it's likely that you
>will run into some problems with Vista. If you just run basic apps
>(Microsoft Office 2003 runs fine), then most of them may be supported.
>If you run anything more complex, you may be out of luck. If you have
>a XP PC now your best bet is to wait until your software and drivers
>will work with Vista, and maybe after MS releases a service pack, or
>have 2 PC's -- your old one with XP, and your new one with Vista.
>
>On my Vista laptop I have disabled glass, and use the classic theme
>(the one prior to XP) which is more "clean" and makes better use of
>screen space. I also disabled all video effects (shadows, windows
>fading, etc.) except for font smoothing. I have installed a lot of
>software and have put the laptop through some stress tests and the
>system is very stable. I expected to have a lot more problems and am
>happy with Vista.
>
>One other thing -- Remote Desktop works from my Vista laptop to my XP
>desktop and vice versa. I have Vista Business. If that's important
>to you, check whether your version of Vista works with Remote Desktop.

On Fri, 02 Mar 2007 01:32:25 -0600, journey <> wrote:

>I have installed a lot of
>software and have put the laptop through some stress tests and the
>system is very stable.

I did a stress test tonight. I had 25 applications open. I had 4
file transfers from an external drive to the laptop drive running at
the same time. As all of this was going on, I played a song in
iTunes, and it handled it perfectly, then while that was playing I
played a different song in Windows Media Player. Both songs played
perfectly -- no gaps. No matter what I threw at it, it handled it.

I do see some annoying svchost.exe processes that hog CPU, but it
doesn't affect what I am doing. At one point there were 3 svchost.exe
processes using a lot of CPU time. I will have to research them to
find out what they are.

On Mar 2, 12:20 am, journey <rain...@oasis.com> wrote:
> On Fri, 02 Mar 2007 01:32:25 -0600, journey <rain...@oasis.com> wrote:
> >I have installed a lot of
> >software and have put the laptop through some stress tests and the
> >system is very stable.
>
> I did a stress test tonight. I had 25 applications open. I had 4
> file transfers from an external drive to the laptop drive running at
> the same time. As all of this was going on, I played a song in
> iTunes, and it handled it perfectly, then while that was playing I
> played a different song in Windows Media Player. Both songs played
> perfectly -- no gaps. No matter what I threw at it, it handled it.
>
> I do see some annoying svchost.exe processes that hog CPU, but it
> doesn't affect what I am doing. At one point there were 3 svchost.exe
> processes using a lot of CPU time. I will have to research them to
> find out what they are.

XP and win2k both use multiple instances of svchost, for, well hosting
services. one per service.

On 2 Mar 2007 08:41:19 -0800, "" <> wrote:

>XP and win2k both use multiple instances of svchost, for, well hosting
>services. one per service.

What is a hosting service? Is that like a web server? I'm not sure
what I would be hosting.

Can I turn svchost off in some way?

Note: I will Google on this, but am interested if you have any more
info.

On Fri, 02 Mar 2007 12:44:53 -0600, journey <> wrote:

>What is a hosting service? Is that like a web server? I'm not sure
>what I would be hosting.
>
>Can I turn svchost off in some way?
>
>Note: I will Google on this, but am interested if you have any more
>info.

No need for anyone to answer. I am checking into it via Google. If I
find any good information I will post about it.

I've used Vista for a few hours, and afterwards I'm always glad to
return to Windows XP.

On 2 Mar 2007 08:41:19 -0800, "" <> wrote:

>XP and win2k both use multiple instances of svchost, for, well hosting
>services. one per service.

I found out the following. I don't know what it means other than the
services used don't look malicious in nature.

C:\Users\Journey>tasklist/svc

Image Name PID Services
========================= ========
============================================
System Idle Process 0 N/A
System 4 N/A
smss.exe 408 N/A
csrss.exe 624 N/A
wininit.exe 684 N/A
csrss.exe 704 N/A
services.exe 736 N/A
lsass.exe 748 KeyIso, SamSs
lsm.exe 756 N/A
winlogon.exe 860 N/A
svchost.exe 948 DcomLaunch, PlugPlay
svchost.exe 1036 RpcSs
svchost.exe 1168 Audiosrv, Dhcp, Eventlog, lmhosts,
wscsvc
svchost.exe 1208 AudioEndpointBuilder, CscService,
EMDMgmt,
hidserv, Netman, PcaSvc, SysMain,
TabletInputService, TrkWks,
UmRdpService,
UxSms, WdiSystemHost, Wlansvc,
WPDBusEnum
svchost.exe 1224 AeLookupSvc, BITS, Browser,
CertPropSvc,
EapHost, gpsvc, IKEEXT, iphlpsvc,
LanmanServer, MMCSS, ProfSvc,
RasMan,
Schedule, seclogon, SENS,
SessionEnv,
ShellHWDetection, Themes, Winmgmt,
wuauserv
audiodg.exe 1340 N/A
SLsvc.exe 1376 slsvc
svchost.exe 1464 EventSystem, FDResPub,
LanmanWorkstation,
netprofm, nsi, SSDPSRV, upnphost,
W32Time,
WebClient
svchost.exe 1564 CryptSvc, Dnscache, KtmRm, NlaSvc,
TapiSrv,
TermService
WLTRYSVC.EXE 1672 wltrysvc
BCMWLTRY.EXE 1684 N/A
spoolsv.exe 1760 Spooler
svchost.exe 1788 BFE, DPS, MpsSvc
aswUpdSv.exe 1984 aswUpdSv
ashServ.exe 2000 avast! Antivirus
svchost.exe 312 BthServ
MDM.EXE 636 MDM
svchost.exe 692 PolicyAgent
stacsv.exe 1216 STacSV
svchost.exe 1444 WerSvc
SearchIndexer.exe 2076 WSearch
XAudio.exe 2112 XAudioService
ashMaiSv.exe 2368 avast! Mail Scanner
taskeng.exe 2424 N/A
ashWebSv.exe 2540 avast! Web Scanner
taskeng.exe 3424 N/A
dwm.exe 2180 N/A
explorer.exe 1056 N/A
SynTPEnh.exe 3508 N/A
jusched.exe 580 N/A
WLTRAY.EXE 3084 N/A
sttray.exe 3468 N/A
PCMService.exe 3316 N/A
MmReminderService.exe 3968 N/A
igfxtray.exe 3352 N/A
hkcmd.exe 3672 N/A
igfxpers.exe 3848 N/A
ISUSPM.exe 2992 N/A
qttask.exe 3800 N/A
iTunesHelper.exe 1140 N/A
ashDisp.exe 3952 N/A
sidebar.exe 2012 N/A
DSAgnt.exe 3708 N/A
GoogleToolbarNotifier.exe 3704 N/A
BTTray.exe 3032 N/A
Hotsync.exe 3664 N/A
quickset.exe 3132 N/A
sidebar.exe 1484 N/A
iPodService.exe 2040 iPod Service
BTStackServer.exe 1424 N/A
mmc.exe 4796 N/A
mstsc.exe 4160 N/A
cmd.exe 4232 N/A
tasklist.exe 5796 N/A
WmiPrvSE.exe 5328 N/A

C:\Users\Journey>

"journey" <> wrote in message
news:...

> - One example is Adobe Acrobat Professional. The new Version
> 8 has issues that Adobe says they will patch. Adobe Acrobat 7
> Professional does not run on Vista and there are no plans to update
> it. So if you get Vista and need Acrobat Professional, you will have
> to pay for version 8. So, there may be extra software costs. As far
> as version 8, I don't want to install software with issues. After the
> patch there still may be obsolete registry entries and DLLs. I don't
> want to clutter up my system.
>
Are you saying this from actual experience, or did you just read it
somewhere? I installed Acrobat Professional 7.0.5 on Vista Ultimate 64-bit
without a single problem, and did 4 subsequent updates to version 7.0.9
suscessfully. The only known issue is with the Acrobat update manager when
it tries to create a printer. I suggest you check this link for more
accurate compatibility issues:
http://kb.wisc.edu/helpdesk/page.php?id=5175

Because HP hasn't released any 64-bit all-in-one tools for the Photosmart
3210, Acrobat Pro 7 has been my lifesaver for scanning documents to create
pdf files. Distiller 7 and LiveCycle Designer 7 also work flawlessly on
Vista 64-bit. I can't imagine why it would be any different for Vista
32-bit.

On Sat, 3 Mar 2007 00:29:41 -0500, "Tom" <>
wrote:

>Are you saying this from actual experience, or did you just read it
>somewhere? I installed Acrobat Professional 7.0.5 on Vista Ultimate 64-bit
>without a single problem, and did 4 subsequent updates to version 7.0.9
>suscessfully. The only known issue is with the Acrobat update manager when
>it tries to create a printer. I suggest you check this link for more
>accurate compatibility issues:
>http://kb.wisc.edu/helpdesk/page.php?id=5175

(Small world, I live in Madison near the University)

That is from the Adobe website, so I got it straight from the source.
The link is provided first followed by the relevant text copy / pasted
from the PDF document explaining Acrobat compatibility.

http://www.adobe.com/support/product...dows_vista.pdf

>>>>>>>>>>
ADOBE ACROBAT AND WINDOWS VISTA
Q. Does Adobe support Acrobat 8 on Windows Vista?
A. Prior to shipping in November 2006, Adobe tested Adobe Acrobat 8
software on
prerelease versions of Windows Vista. We are now actively testing
Acrobat on the shipping
editions of Windows Vista. Customers can install and run Acrobat 8
today with some
known issues. (To find out more about these issues, visit
www.adobe.com/go/support and
search on the keyword Vista in the Adobe knowledgebase). In the first
half of 2007, we
expect to issue a free update to Acrobat 8 to support Windows Vista.
Acrobat 7.0 and earlier versions do not support Windows Vista. Adobe
does not plan to
release updates to Acrobat 7.0 and earlier for Windows Vista
compatibility.
<<<<<<<<<<

I don't install software that isn't compatible with Vista according to
the software maker. I think the UW must have done its own internal
testing with Acrobat 7 Professional.

I have Acrobat 8 Professional on my XP machine, and will install it on
my Vista machine when Adobe releases its update.

One of the reasons that my Vista PC hasn't had any errors is that I
avoid potential problems by installing only items that have been
vendor tested, and for those that "work with issues", I am waiting
until the issues are worked out.