Windows Vista in October 2008
Mon 27 Oct 2008Filed Under: Computers, Windows Vista | Comments Off on Windows Vista in October 2008
My Vista experienced has – improved!
Yes after a year of living with a sluggish new PC the warranty has expired and I’m free to open the insides and do what I like. It actually expired a few months ago but I just didn’t have enough time to deal with it. So with a free day it was time to see what I could do about getting to to work faster!
After trying all the various software settings – so may I lost count it was clear that hardware changes was the only way to go. The diehard Window fans will say why not turn off the Aero interface – I say why bother with getting Vista then?
Opening the computer was easy and you only need to open one side. The internals are neatly arranged and tidy but a bit cramped. There where 4 memory slots but obscured by the hard drive frame. It has 2 unpaired 512MB memory cards hmmm on the cheap. Anyway I moved them to the most inaccessible slots and put in my single 2Gig memory card in the easy to reach one! It uses 4200PC spec memory BTW. Very cheap.
So put it all back and turned it one. Still takes a long time to boot up… log in and there you! Checked the specs and it says over 3000MB! Ran the performance progam and the windows index said that there was a change in hardware and I needed to re-run the Index. So I did and a few minutes later and the performance score accounding to windows was 4.7. Previous ly it was 4.5
So did I notice any improvement in real life? YES watching TV and surfing the internet, running iTunes and other programs work easily without the jerkiness experienced wihout the extra memory. Operations seemed to take a little less time to run.
So adding extra memory to the computer does make Vista run faster. It doesn’t become obviously fast but its the little things that appear to run without extra waiting time.
I say that 3Gigabytes of RAM in a PC is definitely required to run Windows Vista properly. Of course you’ll need a fast CPU harrd drive or main board too but that’s a given.
VMware Fusion 2 September 2008 Update
Sun 28 Sep 2008Filed Under: Apple Computers, Computers, VMware Fusion | Comments Off on VMware Fusion 2 September 2008 Update
It’s been awhile since I posted an update. Simply very busy with real world duties.
Anyway VMware has just release a significant update to Fusion for the Mac OSX and I’ve just done the update. The version 2 update is free for version 1 owners like myself! So has made any difference?
Yes but at a cost. It takes longer to boot the virtual versions BUT the additional functionality would appear to be worth it. For example it can access your vitrual files without the operating system running.
Another thing I worked out was the error I was having with Microsoft Frontpage 2003! I still use the old program because it sorts out my file renaming and sorts out which files have been updated and so forth. However I use it as my FTP program rather than Frontpage extensions. The error used to occur after uploading a few files on the remote server. Very annoying.
The Frontpage error message was ‘500 won’t open a connection to 192.168.0.169 (only to xx.xxx.xxx.x) 500 unknown command’. The solution was to tick the use ‘Passive FTP box’.
So if you’re still using Frontpage for what ever reason through the virtual XP this may solve your problems.
Windows Vista in August 2008
Mon 18 Aug 2008Filed Under: Computers, Windows Vista | Comments Off on Windows Vista in August 2008
My experience with Vista has not improved. Yes it has been stable – but slow and stable. The issues I have with it include:
– Every time there is an OS update or patch the media center reorganizes all my TV channels.
– The current version of Internet Explorer 7 is NOT a good experience. It still has a mind of its own.
– Internet Explorer 7 is not compatible with at least 2 major banks.
– To stop me complaining about it I’ve stopped using it.
– It is still very slow on a modern PC with a ton of memory and CPU power. Yet it does not do anything more than XP except a slightly prettier interface. More to the point it costs twice as much if not more.
– I’m using Mcafee Anti-virus suite now and by gosh it’s made the PC notably faster then when installed with Norton. When I say ‘faster’ it’s relative.
– It still isn’t compatible with all the software I’m using. However I guess it’s the fault of the software developer rather than MS.
On the bright side of things Windows File Explorer is still better than the Mac OSX Finder!