Express Upgrade to Windows Vista

Ok, so I got the free disk in the mail for the Express Upgrade to Vista, and I've had the disk for about a month now putting it aside while I save up some money and going out to buy all these hardware upgrades so my PC can support Vista. Now that I've got everything I need and paid for *expensive* services to help install the hardware, I'm a little ticked off that I cannot install Vista.

I inserted the disk, went through all these steps that were mainly based on getting the PC ready for the upgrade, and at the end, it tells me to insert the Vista Installation CD. I was only given one disk, and apparently I need two. Anyhow, the disk I have is "HP Upgrade Utility for Windows Vista". Even the disk says on the front: "This disk will prepare your system and guide you through the Windows Vista upgrade process". Can anyone tell me if maybe I'm doing something wrong, or am I really getting jipped here? I hope I can still contact them and complain as the entire period for requesting the disk is, as of now, over.

I have that disk well mines a dell and I was sent that one as well as another disk that had the vista OS on it.
I do not actually care much for vista as its annoying constantly asking me are you sure you want to do this or run that.

I've not used an upgrade DVD, but I've been using Vista since November, and I must say that I thoroughly recommend it to anyone! It's the best operating system I have ever used.

Amichan, it might be worth noting that you can turn off those security notifications via the Control Panel!

Robbie Goacher said

I've not used an upgrade DVD, but I've been using Vista since November, and I must say that I thoroughly recommend it to anyone! It's the best operating system I have ever used.

Amichan, it might be worth noting that you can turn off those security notifications via the Control Panel!

You do not think I have tried that?  
I work on computers for a living and I could not find any thing any where that would turn it off.

YouTube - Get a mac--security

Here are a list of issues I have seen with vista.

eats battery life faster then xp.
It needs a lot of memory and if you run enough applications over a few hours you will get a blue screen of death saying your out of memory even on a computer that has 2 gigs of ram.
On some antivirus programs that vista does not know any thing about such as the one that comes with system mechanic it will ask you every time the computer starts up if you are sure you want to run this program, and I see no way of allowing it permanently. I have looked and I have been using the system for several months.
You can not change the color of the start bar - I want it pink - had to turn off the vista theme in order to get it pink, stupid thing why have a color changer if you can not change the start bar/ task bar.

Yeah, I'm not upgrading to Vista. Youtube has become my favorite friend over the past few days as I've seen a lot of video's with people actually getting so angry, they're smashing their laptop's and drilling holes in the screens.

Of course, I would never damage personal belongings; *expensive* belongings at that, and these videos are not making it any easier for me to upgrade. Honestly, I'm scared to death that I'll end up messing something up.

I'm not computer-illiterate, however, I'm not entirely experienced with hardware and installing internal parts - so when it comes to actually modifying the PC, I'm scared that I'll end up ruining the computer and not know how to fix it - might I add my PC isn't really "qualified" for the upgrade.

I'm not picky; you give me Vista and let me run it on a low-qualifying PC, I'm happy - I don't need to experience all the core features, I just like the glassy effects and the new windowed layout (the effects of changing the way the windows are viewed).

It's the same thing with Firefox - god, is there something wrong with me? Anyways, give me a browser to surf the internet with, and I'll be happy!

I think what I'll do is wait a few years when I buy a new PC. By then you'll probably only be able to purchase a computer with Vista, as retailers are trying to get what's hot on their shelves and won't carry old, out-dated products.

Ah I my self love playing with stuff.
 I like using linux better then windows and with a linux program called beryl you can do all the fancy eye candy stuff vista can do and more.

amichan said

You do not think I have tried that?  
I work on computers for a living and I could not find any thing any where that would turn it off.

It is very simple. Start -> Control Panel -> User accounts and family safety -> User accounts -> Turn User Account Control on or off. It was very easy to find.

amichan said

eats battery life faster then xp.
It needs a lot of memory and if you run enough applications over a few hours you will get a blue screen of death saying your out of memory even on a computer that has 2 gigs of ram.
On some antivirus programs that vista does not know any thing about such as the one that comes with system mechanic it will ask you every time the computer starts up if you are sure you want to run this program, and I see no way of allowing it permanently. I have looked and I have been using the system for several months.
You can not change the color of the start bar - I want it pink - had to turn off the vista theme in order to get it pink, stupid thing why have a color changer if you can not change the start bar/ task bar.

1. Yes, I probably agree with the battery-life point.
2. I have never got a BSOD regarding memory, and surely if many people did get this, there would have been a massive fuss about it and updates released. I only have 1GB of RAM yet I have no such issues. Besides, even XP has BSODs. I can't even remember experiencing a single BSOD with Vista.
3. If the User Account Control is forcing you to run applications and to click the button, you can simply stop the application from opening automatically using Administrator privilages by right-clicking on the shortcut/executable and going: Properties -> Compatibility -> Show settings for all users -> Privilage level.
4. I just changed by taskbar to pink. It's horrible, but it works.

I think that any new operating system takes a while to get used to, and Vista makes huge improvements over XP. I will never go back to XP.

If I was still using vista I could show you that with the color thing I could not get the taskbar pink.
But I do work on computers for a living and do not think its worth it yet at least not until more of the bugs are worked out.
I am not sure why the few people I talked to who use the vista ultimate (its not with the other versions) get a memory error even with 2 gigs of ram.
My laptop which has both mepis and vista has only 1 gig of ram and I do not have the memory problem but I do have the other problems.

It sounds like they are putting things in the wrong spots why put a yes start this every time windows under users.
that makes no since its like putting phone tools under look and feel.

Vista's quick-search should yield immediate results, should you be unable to find configuration options yourself easily. Why didn't you try that?

To get my taskbar more pink, I manually altered the settings such as saturation, which can be found on the colour-picker settings page.

I must completely refute your comment about Vista "not being worth it". Apart from the few issues you have pointed out in this topic, of which many you say you don't experience, I can't see any evidence for your reasoning for not using the operating system. In fact, I spent about 3 minutes and found work-arounds for the issues you had experienced.

Vista is simply the easiest, most powerful, and most secure home-orientated operating system out there.

Using XP rather than Vista, when you already have Vista, just seems as silly to me as using a horse-and-cart when your hydrogen-powered car is sitting in the driveway!

Well I did find this start up thing that was talked about but no options in there to stop windows from asking you if I wanted to start it but it was listed in that menu. I forgot which program that was. I was not msconfig but some thing else.
I do use that search just like with ocPortal if its not named what you think it should be named your not going to find it.

I just opened the Control Panel, typed "user account control" in the search box, and the first result/link that appeared:

• User accounts (turn User Account Controls (UAC) on/off)

It took less than 5 seconds.

Robbie Goacher said

I just opened the Control Panel, typed "user account control" in the search box, and the first result/link that appeared:

• User accounts (turn User Account Controls (UAC) on/off)

It took less than 5 seconds.

Umm I would rather not repeat my self.
Any way I am not using xp I am using linux which is way more powerful then windows.

Robbie Goacher said

I just opened the Control Panel, typed "user account control" in the search box, and the first result/link that appeared:

• User accounts (turn User Account Controls (UAC) on/off)

It took less than 5 seconds.

Thought of a way not to repeat my self.
How are you to know to search for that if thats not what your looking for.
1. I am not looking for any thing to do with user accounts
2. I am looking for some thing that says always allow and there is no way thats going to lead me to users and why should it even though that is where you just showed it is at.
3. why annoy people more by putting thing where they do not belong, makes things easier to find if you put them in the right spot.
I think one of the things I did search for was start up manager.

well you can turn it back on the expected way but you can not turn it off the expected way.

From what you said I dislike windows even more. I mean I know I like ocPortal and ocPortal is known for putting things where you least expect them to be.
Normally when running ocPortal and when I can not find some thing I first look in a location where I would not expect it and by what your saying windows vista is the same way.

So now that I know when looking for some thing on vista I need to search for some thing unrelated to what I am looking for.

So by what your saying I could potentially find phone tools under look and feel/ theme manager.

next time I need to find some thing on here I will look for things that have nothing to do with what I am looking for like the user thing you showed me.

Well, to be fair, 'User Account Control', the security function that we were discussing, is located in the 'user accounts' section, and that seems logical to me.

Like I said earlier, any new operating system will have differences from the previous one, and it's all about getting used to where certain functions are. At least with Vista it is very easy to search for things, including settings and controls, as demonstrated earlier. I'm sure when the first Vista Service Pack is released, they'll build on the advances they've made already to improve the operating system.

Well I did not know it was even called user account controls and did not figure out it was even called that until you showed me how to turn it off. I am not even sure how you found how it was called that.
I noticed something when turning it off, it no longer asks you but thats not at all what I want. I want it to ask me but have an option to always allow or always disallow.
I guess I was expecting to much from microsoft.
I will just turn it off and install a program that does the same thing but better like all the security features of microsoft.

Robbie Goacher said

Well, to be fair, 'User Account Control', the security function that we were discussing, is located in the 'user accounts' section, and that seems logical to me.

Like I said earlier, any new operating system will have differences from the previous one, and it's all about getting used to where certain functions are. At least with Vista it is very easy to search for things, including settings and controls, as demonstrated earlier. I'm sure when the first Vista Service Pack is released, they'll build on the advances they've made already to improve the operating system.

To you it is logical but you some how know what the program was called. I did not know what it was called.
If I knew what it was called it probably would have been simple to find. As I said I was looking for for that feature under a different name and when I could not find any thing that matched the name I was thinking it should be called I figured it did not exist or was hidden some where. I know that I at one time found a program which listed the start up items and if they were granted permission to start with out asking but it had no options to give an item permission to always start up with out asking. If I could find that program again I would show you.

Also I am used to changes as I switch linux distros a lot. I could list all that I have used but its a long list and each one is different.

Also I am sorry I got upset at you I just felt you were not listening to me, even though I still a little bit feel that way I hope this post clears things up.

I just sent microsoft an email about this feature with the wrong name.

Why in the world did you create some thing with the wrong name?
I have been searching every where on vista on how to turn off the notification saying are you sure you want to run this program because your stupid system kept asking me if I wanted my antivirus to start every time windows started.
It really started to frustrate me specially not finding how to turn that off or allow my antivirus to always be allowed to start up.
I find later on that the program used for this notification is called "User Account Control" I was like what the why is it called some thing unrelated to what it does. It makes no since.
Why not call it some thing that is related to what it does?

You shouldn't have sent them an email with such haste.

I know that it's called User Account Control because it says so on the title bar of all the security prompts…

What Linux distribution to you suggest for someone to experience a better-than-Vista experience?