Vista isn't so bad after all

[cavillas]

  Hik! 

[zappaDPJ]

There was a time, when trains ran on steam, that I used to enjoy hacking (for want of a better term) into an operating system to see what what I could improve upon or generally break. These days I want an operating system that simply gives the best possible interface between me and the infernal machine. I installed Vista on this PC in full knowledge of the criticisms but in general I like to move with the times and felt Vista was the way to go.

My initial reaction on booting up for the first time was a little bit hmmm, so much drive space taken for so little to see. Like a lot of users I cursed the perpetual nag screens that are part and parcel of the UAC and clenched my teeth in frustration as I searched for that elusive file I'd just saved. However I also had this overriding feeling that there was something missing and it wasn't until I read this thread that I realised what.

Aero!

One Google later, a few clicks and up it pops. While it does very little to improve productivity it does in my opinion give the UI a much more visual appeal and a general feeling that things have moved on a little from XP. Now this PC is fairly well specified so it did strike me as odd that Aero wasn't automatically set as the default interface but then again I built the PC myself and installed Vista. However since I made this discovery I've already found three people with new, well specified, off the shelf PCs (pre installed with Vista), who also never knew Aero existed. In fact none of these systems had 'Show window contents while dragging' enabled.

It seems to me we are living in a world were hype and imagery often triumph over substance so I find it hard to understand why Microsoft have chosen to not have Aero as the default UI. I'm sure this must be the case because I've just installed Vista on my daughter's PC and again no Aero or windows content dragging by default.

It just makes me wonder how many other users there are out there that are sitting in front of a fairly bland interface on PCs that could easily cope with Aero's overheads. It also makes me wonder why Microsoft has buried the facility to switch on all the visual bells and whistles so deeply. Try and find the switch to enable/disable windows contents while dragging and you'll seen what I mean.

I'll climb down from my soap box now. Thanks for listening if you got this far

[Gary]

Windows makes sure your graphics card can cope with Aero interface and is compatible by testing the performance of all areas on install, ram performance, harddrive performance cpu performance and GPU performance, then gives you a score, if it considers aero will tax your system to much it shuts it down, what's your windows experience base score? Mines 5.7 and all features were enabled by default the gpu score is is 5.9 along with the ram at 5.9, lowest being harddrive at 5.7.

See this link for why show windows content while dragging may be disabled to increase performance http://www.msfn.org/board/Vista-tweaks-t112029.html&pid=737717 in fact google it and you will get lots of answers, its all performance related

[zappaDPJ]

It's 5.9 across the board for me. I also had one of the other users run the base score test and he got the same result, 5.9. Perhaps there's a common component that's not reporting back to the test procedure correctly? These are the major parts in my PC:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 LGA775 'Yorkfield' 2.66GHz 12MB-cache (1333FSB) Processor - Retail
Asus Maximus Extreme Intel X38 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard
OCZ 2GB DDR3 PC3-16000C9 2000MHz Platinum Enhanced Bandwidth (2x1GB) Dual Channel DDR3
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 4870 512MB GDDR5 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail
Samsung SpinPoint F1 750GB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM

[Gary]

It's 5.9 across the board for me. I also had one of the other users run the base score test and he got the same result, 5.9. Perhaps there's a common component that's not reporting back to the test procedure correctly? These are the major parts in my PC:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 LGA775 'Yorkfield' 2.66GHz 12MB-cache (1333FSB) Processor - Retail
Asus Maximus Extreme Intel X38 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard
OCZ 2GB DDR3 PC3-16000C9 2000MHz Platinum Enhanced Bandwidth (2x1GB) Dual Channel DDR3
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 4870 512MB GDDR5 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail
Samsung SpinPoint F1 750GB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM

Similar specs to mind I have a QX 9650- Nvidia 790sli ultra mobo, 4GB corsair dominator DDR3 at 1666mhz and a Nvidia  GTX280, with two seagate 500gb perpendicular drives, all soon to be changed for the x58 when it hits the shelf thanks to my pc manufacturer as Nvidia boards are pants, and I have many issues with it so by December it will be new proc new mobo and new gpu at no extra cost , really odd yours was not set to enable all effects as it should have been

[Lona]

I always thought Aero was a chocolate bar.

Can somebody please enlighten me to what Aero is in relation to pcs in dummy language please.?

[Rik]

It's that Apple-esque 'rotating windows' display, Lona.

[Lona]

It's that Apple-esque 'rotating windows' display, Lona.

I'm none the wiser, Rik. I've never had a rotating windows display.

[Rik]

Mmm. As I don't use Vista, I'm not the best person to describe it probably, but afaik, you need to activate it and it only works if your machine can cope with the graphics demands.

[Steve]

I've got it enabled but as far as I am aware only ever used it once

[Rik]

It's always been one of those things that I've looked at and thought, "what would I actually use it for...", Steve.

[Steve]

In my case squinting at open windows which are sideways on,its like trying to read a book which is half shut.

[Rik]

I'm good at that.

[Steve]

I'm good at that.

Time for Vista then

[Noreen]

Lona, this might help. http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/features/experiences/aero.mspx

[Lona]

Thanks Noreen. I don't think I will have aero as it's only available for premium or business vista.  I only have vista home edition.

[Steve]

There is a registry tweak to activate aero in vista basic http://www.computing.net/answers/windows-vista/vista-home-basic-aero-glass/931.html

[Lona]

Thanks Steve. What happens if I do this then don't want to use it.?

[drummer]

Have a look at this Lona, just to give you some idea about Aero.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=63cCGM_le-Y

There's no dialogue, so you can turn the audio off if you want.

[Steve]

Thanks Steve. What happens if I do this then don't want to use it.?

I wonder if the reg hack changes the basic to a premium product which may have future licence issues???

If you don't like aero you just change to  a non aero desktop

[Lona]

It appears I had aero all the time as I home premium.  I don't see any difference except having flip3D.

Dunno what this glass screen is that's being referred to.

[Steve]

The edges of windows are said to have glass like effect

[Lona]

Maybe I need glasses then as windows just looks the same to me. 

[Noreen]

You can see through the borders of the windows. Examples shown on that link that I gave above.

[Simon]

It's just a bit of transparency round the edges, Lona.  I'm not sure, as I'm not on the Vista machine at the moment, but if you go into Desktop Properties > Personalisation, you might be able to adjust the 'see-through-ness' of the window borders.