Vista Problems

[scarletandgrey]

Anyone having issues with Vista recognizing USB devices?

Yep I have to plug them in then unplug then plug them in again to get them to work.

Also sometimes when I start IE it'll start up in Japanese (or some other form of asian) but will go away after I change webpages.

 

[The KSB]

I thought it would be a good idea to start a thread on Vista, since most are using it now(including me).

My issue right now appears to be some sort of incompatibility between Internet Explorer and Vista. Say, like when I'm going between pages on a BP and IE stops working/hangs up. Then I'm restarting IE.

The problem is not Vista, it's the Interweb telling you that it doesn't want you. you should listen to it.

 

[Muck]

what do you guys recommend for AV and Firewall?

Check my post from the thread stickied at the top of the page.

I personally would avoid Norton and McAfee antivirus or security products at all costs these days. They have both become bloated with "extra" features, most of which you do not need and neither is at the top of the charts for detection anymore either.

If you are cheap and want to go the free route there are three programs I would recommend:

Avira AntiVir
avast! Home Edition
Grisoft AVG

AVG is probably the most popular but AntiVir currently does the best in tests w/avast! at #2. All offer real time protection although AntiVir does not scan emails (the others do). Still it's better scanning engine more than makes up for it.

---Independent antivirus comparison.

The free version of ZoneAlarm is no longer among the better free firewalls out there (although the pay version is still recommended as is their antivir program).

There are only a few free firewalls I would recomend:

Comodo Firewall
Jetico Firewall
Online Armor Personal Firewall

Comodo is probably the best bet for most folks. It is relatively easy to setup and use for the non-techie. Jetico has great potential but takes a lot more tweaking.

I have never used Online Armor, it is a newer product but it is getting glowing reviews from everyone who has used it so far.

Edit: I went ahead and downloaded Online Armor and installed it on my test box to fiddle with it. So far so good. The interface is pretty straightforward and easy to understand. It passed all the security tests I've thrown at it as well. All in all I have no problems recommending it right along with Comodo.

---Independent firewall comparison & comparison.

...

If you don't mind a little bit of work an even more effective solution is to build your own firewall...

Take an old PC you have sitting around and throw something like m0nowall, Smoothwall or IPCop on it.

It's a bit more complicated than that but not unreasonably so. If you can build your own PC and install an OS you won't have too many problems setting up and configuring a PC/Unix based firewall.

 

[Taosman]

I'm not pushing a product, but most of my problems have gone away because of running "Perfect Optimizer" every morning on start-up.
USB issues have gone away. System hangs up rarely.
http://www.perfectoptimizer.com/

 

[sandgk]

I'm not pushing a product

I think I found a long lost picture of Taos ...

 

[Best Buckeye]

With that robe it could only be Taos .

 

[scooter1369]

What in God's name do you people do to your PC's. Two years with Vista, not a single problem.

 

[jwinslow]

What in God's name do you people do to your PC's. Two years with Vista, not a single problem.

Vista is far too buggy and laggy right out of the box... waiting for it to create a new folder, the blasted User Account Control issues, etc.

 

[VprHis]

Never had the folder wait problem, and it took all of 5 minutes to figure out how to get rid of user control...?

Sorry, but Vista actually cleared up a lot of driver issues I'd been having in XP.

Guess I'm the exception that proves the rule.

 

[jlb1705]

Automatic Updates just notified my of Vista SP2 a couple days ago. I downloaded, but did not yet install. I thought I'd check to see if anybody else has installed this yet, and if everything worked out OK.

 

[scott91575]

Automatic Updates just notified my of Vista SP2 a couple days ago. I downloaded, but did not yet install. I thought I'd check to see if anybody else has installed this yet, and if everything worked out OK.

I installed the day it came out. Works fine (at least so far).

 

[BuckStocksHere]

I too have never had a problem running Vista. Has worked like a charm.