Tannishblog

Call me a fool. Go ahead. I am one of the few early adopters of Windows Vista. I may be foolish, but I left work early yesterday to thin my wallet on Windows Vista Ultimate.

Like any consumer that plunks down 4 Franklins for a new tech toy, I feel a little buyers remorse. So I troll the web reading every new article on the new OS. Unsurprisingly, people are skeptical. Microsoft has earned it's "love-it or hate-it" reputation. Like our president, few people are ambivalent on the subject. I remember the skepticism when XP was released. Many web site and news sources warn against upgrading now, just like they did last time. The reasons - poor driver, security issues, bugs - are still valid. Nonetheless, as Microsoft well knows, everyone who doesn't adopt Linux or join the Apple Cult will eventually upgrade. It's a no-lose proposition for them. What clinches the deal, especially for any one who plays computer games, is DirectX 10, which is poised to raise the bar on graphical capabilities for years to come.

Sure, the operating system loaded fine: I had wiped the drive of my four-month-old XP gaming box, the computer I built with this upgrade in mind, then installed Vista "clean." After a quick search, I found the hardware drivers and installed them okay. Some, though, as still beta versions. Vista does much of this automagically, but it fails to inform you of exactly what it's doing. I'm the type that wants to know…

Vista has this thing that "rates" your machine for, um, Vistability. Mine scored a 4.8 on the Windows compatibility index (or whatever it's called) and, well "Wow" is the right word. Eye candy galore! Again, that's what I thought last time around. It'll become passe all too soon.

What irked me was the lack of support from the two largest anti virus vendors, Symantec and McAfee: I have fresh versions of both security suites, and Vista wouldn't let me install them without claiming a "compatibility conflict." A user can click right through, if he has administrator privilege, and install any way. I tried this with McAfee Internet Security - don't go there. Something weird happens when your try to uninstall the program, and parts don't leave. the only way I could stop it from loading (and crashing) at startup was to rename the folder. Some sub-folders would let me delete them. After that, I didn't bother with Symantec (I've already had problems with them.) Another click at the "Welcome Center" and I'm taken to a Microsoft.com page listing approved AV vendors. Most you pay for, but Avast!4 is free to home users. It works flawlessly.

So, was I wrong to jump on the bandwagon? That's like asking if it was wrong to jump off a cliff: moot. For an overwhelming majority of PC users, even I council patience. But for nuts like me who scrounge for old parts just to recombine them - What're you waiting for? It's only money, they'll make more and so will you.

UPDATE: Matt's Blog mentions a work-around for Symantec Internet Security 2007 owners.