Windows Vista

Windows Vista

So far I’m not digging Windows Vista.  I don’t use it but my mom got her first PC ever and I’ve been helping her with it.

Yesterday I helped her remove all popup windows that appear on bootup.  First there was the McAfee Security Center nagware.  I decided to completely uninstall.  Virus, spam, firewall, everything.  I figured the Vista security features would cover her.  I hate nagware that doesn’t make it easy to disable and I’m at a point where I will uninstall any software with annoying nagware policies.  It’s my computer and I decide what I SHOULD do.

It was not easy finding the Add/Remove programs in Windows Vista.  Why is it so hard to find?  There are tons more icons and commands.  Commands that were more easily available  have been pushed down further in the control panel hierarchy.

Second, her brand new Dell came with some Roxio Drag and Drop service that appears in the system tray.  Windows Vista doesn’t like it and warns about it.  Dell ships a brand new computer and installs crapware that is incompatible with the OS. Nice.  Rather than uninstall it I did a search and found that upgrading it would make the warning go away.

I haven’t completely cleaned up the warning related to the Netgear wireless USB receiver.  I tried adding it to the firewall exclusion list but that didn’t do it.

I had read about the fact that Vista defaults everything to untrusted and forces you to give it permission to run.  How is someone like my mom suppose to decide?  Dell does a disservice by installing this crapware without your permission and not letting the person that ordered choose what to include/exclude on the install image.

Maybe we should have gone with a Mac for my Mom.

3 thoughts on “Windows Vista

  1. Yep, you definitely should have gone with a Mac. ;-)

    Seriously though, my parents got an iMac last year and it’s been smooth sailing. I always recommend Macs for the non-technical/non-tinkerer types (or for those who don’t want to play tech-support for their non-technical family).

  2. It really was my Dad’s decision and since he’s familiar with a Windows box I expected that’s what they would get. I actually think my mom would adapt equally to either one. The mac has its own idiosyncrasies in my opinion.

  3. I’d have to agree that Vista is awful. I have seen it a number of times and used it twice. No, thank you. You are correct that the Mac has it’s own little annoyances but as a longtime user of both it seems Microsoft tried to out Apple Apple and missed the mark badly.

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