Poll : Migrating to Vista ? What version and Why ?

DurkaDurka

Internet Lawyer
Mar 15, 2006
10,385
129
63
Toronto
It's not often a single thread provides the opportunity to respond to several others...

Inspiration of the Holy Spirit...

What happens after you die....

Migrate to Vista...

After you die you go to live in Ontario where you will have to use Vista...ultimate proof of the inspiration of the Holy Spirit....

Vista is the new testament Mikey.
 

MikeyDB

House Member
Jun 9, 2006
4,612
63
48
format for exorcism....I like it!

Say Mr. Resident Windows Guru...

Can I fdisk a second hard disk and reformat it while its installed in my machine as a slave?
 

DurkaDurka

Internet Lawyer
Mar 15, 2006
10,385
129
63
Toronto
format for exorcism....I like it!

Say Mr. Resident Windows Guru...

Can I fdisk a second hard disk and reformat it while its installed in my machine as a slave?

Depends on the operating system I think. If you are running 98/ME you can do that I believe. If you are running Win2K/XP, there is no fdisk.
 

MikeyDB

House Member
Jun 9, 2006
4,612
63
48
Followup to the Guru...

I'm using WIN XP Pro....other than all the security holes...and the endless 'patches' it works OK...

I've used fdisk from a DOS 6.22 disk to fdisk my hard drives before I install a new OS and it seems to work OK...

The slave drive I have I rescued from the dumpster behind my place and it had Compaq's Windows on it ...

Not a fan of Compaq by any stretch of the imagination...

Can I do this fdisk trick from the floppy DOS 6.22 to prepare the slave as a "scratch-pad drive"...i.e. no operating system...just gigs of empty space...

Thanks Durk
 

DurkaDurka

Internet Lawyer
Mar 15, 2006
10,385
129
63
Toronto
Mikey, if the drive you picked up only has one partition, I would just format it within windows. Go to my computer, right clock the drive and choose format. If it has multiple partitions on it, I would boot to dos and fdisk.

Do you plan on moving your swap file on to the drive?
 

MikeyDB

House Member
Jun 9, 2006
4,612
63
48
Hey DurkGuru...

It has Compaq's "recovery" (system software) on a second partition....I've never liked the idea that HP and Compaq et al can get away with not providing a system CD and instead put this "recovery" software on the same drive as a person uses daily...what happens when daily use...picks up a sector virus or some other bad nasty and the drive goes for a dump....you're "recovery" partition is toast too...poor planning in my mind...

Yeah I'm gonna move all my dynamic stuff to that drive and hope that if something evil this way comes....it'll just eat this dumpster drive...
 
Last edited:

DurkaDurka

Internet Lawyer
Mar 15, 2006
10,385
129
63
Toronto
I remember having a compaq about 10 years ago which encountered the exact problem you mentioned. Ended up having to kill all the partitions to get the virus off.

Dell, Compaq etc should provide their customers with real windows disks, none of this hidden partition BS.
 

MikeyDB

House Member
Jun 9, 2006
4,612
63
48
AMEN Durka!

I just prepared a Lenovo laptop....for a buddy. No system CD's but it did have a utility for burning "recovery disks"....

Have you had any experience with this methodology? If you have...does one of the recovery disks actually boot the puter into WIN XP...?
 

DurkaDurka

Internet Lawyer
Mar 15, 2006
10,385
129
63
Toronto
Mikey,

I have never burned a recovery disk, I suspect it will basically copy the contents of the hidden partion on to the cd allowing you to boot the disc and do a system wipe.
 

snowles

Electoral Member
May 21, 2006
324
16
18
Atikokan, Ontario
I'll have to say, the only good thing about computer manufacturers leaving the install files on the hard drive is that when people bring in their computers to get fixed because they've gotten so much ad-ware and viruses from porn sites and dodgy emails, it's easy for me to just format it for them and charge them a buttload of money. Software repairs on computers has to be one of the largest ripoffs I've ever seen; it's all profit, no work at all if you know what you're doing, and can be done without you even being there.

It doesn't matter how many times you say "Bring all of the CDs the computer came with," or "Bring the Windows Setup Disk," they never do, or they bring just the disk and not the serial number on the sleeve. At least this way with the streamlined version I can just set it and get on to selling other stuff.
 

Niflmir

A modern nomad
Dec 18, 2006
3,460
58
48
Leiden, the Netherlands
Despite their 'minimum' claims, you pretty much have to have a dual-core, 256mB video card, 2 gigs of RAM and a buttload of hard drive space for it to run even reasonably well.

That is exactly the system my wife is running and Vista is amazing on that, not just passable, I mean fantastic. There are a few minor nuisances, which are basically the equivelent of having to have a root terminal opened up in linux (so you can install stuff without hastle), but I have never seen an operating system load up in ~2s before. Even linux using twm takes more time than Vista.

Its almost like they told the truth: they went out and asked a bunch of people what bothered them about windows, and then they fixed it as best they could.

I vote for Vista. It runs amazingly smooth, and by ensuring that more people are running genuine, maybe the number of windows users will decrease and the virus writers will start targetting linux.
 

allen_p

Nominee Member
Feb 4, 2007
52
1
8
@MikeDB
New breed laptops have two or more hidden partitions - Usually One partition is for Diagnostics and second partition is for Holding Restore points(Like Ghost) or Operating System Driver Disk. so Check at least dozen times before you delete/format any partition. just my 2 cents.
@Niflmi r

Good you like Windows Vista, But for People who have a lesser hardware - Do they deserve lesser computing/functionality. Dunno.

@durkadurka
A few years - say about 2000 - Industry Experts (OS/Software) predicted that MS was gonna launch its own version of most popular softwares in Market - Symantec too was in list - MS has now its own Anti Virus and with forthcoming releases of Windows - Symantec wont even be compatible. Netscape(IE) was first to take bow. Then came Wordperfect(MS Word), then it was novell netware (Windows NT), then it Virtual Machine/vmware, Right now we have SQL Server vs Oracle, Linux vs Windows,Apache vs IIS and more . But worst part was when MS started charging Software Vendors for MS compatible Logo. MS was also charging Hardware vendors for bundling drivers for related hardware. MS also had Visual C++ or Visual basic and more.

But again its just me.
 

allen_p

Nominee Member
Feb 4, 2007
52
1
8
one of the reason for starting this thread was to analyze the usablity of given tool(in given case - Vista) and if pricing/ecnonomics had anything to do with choice, since MS is already a big player. What are the motivating factors - Functionality, Price, or other. Later on that.
 

eh1eh

Blah Blah Blah
Aug 31, 2006
10,749
103
48
Under a Lone Palm
one of the reason for starting this thread was to analyze the usablity of given tool(in given case - Vista) and if pricing/ecnonomics had anything to do with choice, since MS is already a big player. What are the motivating factors - Functionality, Price, or other. Later on that.

MS is the only OS besides Mac. Please don't say linux because the only kernels I know how to compile are the ones I ate yesterday. I really wish someone else would devlop an alternitive OS. I guess I should just break down and try Mac. I'll have to buy new equipment to run Vista anyway. My newest machine is an AMD 2600, and I'm maxed out at a gig of ram. Not quite going to do it for Vista. If they are supporting XP for some time to come, 2015 I heard, then I will just stick with that. To me and many current computer owners Vista is out.
 

allen_p

Nominee Member
Feb 4, 2007
52
1
8
@eh1eh

hmm... Considering Apple's OS X, based on FreeBSD - :) considering FreeBSD does use considerable GNU code - Dunno what to say :)
 

DurkaDurka

Internet Lawyer
Mar 15, 2006
10,385
129
63
Toronto
I ran Vista RC2 on my old machine which was a Athlon 64 3200, 1gb of DDR400 & a Ati x800. With those modest specs, Vista ran fine with the glossy interface etc. Users with older hardware can always consider upgrading to vista home basic, which strips off the eye candy.
 

allen_p

Nominee Member
Feb 4, 2007
52
1
8
apart from Eye-candy

hmmm What about Bitlocker - Thats just to get started with comparision feature. MS has weird sense of differentiating Home users security and Business users security. More on that.