Vista VS XP Pro

Discussion in 'other software & services' started by Metal425, Sep 21, 2007.

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  1. kennyboy

    kennyboy Registered Member

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    I am finding a lot of people coming here (Asia) from the US etc who have bought a Vista specific laptop with them (because it is cheaper in the west) but when they discover the problems with Vista, try and get it changed to XP.
    Problem is the computer shops here say it can not be done because XP just doesnt have the drivers for their hardware. Must say Vista is getting a pretty bad name here, although this area is quite behind the times in terms of technology.

    Ken
     
  2. Mrkvonic

    Mrkvonic Linux Systems Expert

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    Hello,

    dogbiscuit, thanks for the links.

    After reviewing the links, here's what I have found:

    - A pair of articles discussing things in general about a vulnerability affecting a very old version of Firefox (more than a year)
    - PoC code - not good enough (I'm not interested in what-ifs)
    - The code was posted about half a year after the bugzilla report, by the same person prompting the developers to escalate the severity from moderate to critical, not a bad thing, but far shot from malicious code.
    - The would-be code affected version 1.0.5 and was discovered about a year after the release of the specific version.
    - The flaw was fixed in 1.0.6, according to release notes.

    To say nothing that this exploit required JS to work.

    How is this anything else than just a very tiny and miscellaneous problem...?

    Mrk
     
  3. Peter2150

    Peter2150 Global Moderator

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    Same here.
     
  4. midway40

    midway40 Registered Member

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    Turning off window animation helps a lot. The transition is too slow and it makes it appear that the system is sluggish. It sure helped me anyway.
     
  5. appster

    appster Registered Member

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    How do you enable ClearType?
     
  6. ErikAlbert

    ErikAlbert Registered Member

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  7. zapjb

    zapjb Registered Member

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    I use ClearTweak in XP. ClearTweak™ is FREEWARE.

    Q - What is ClearTweak?

    A - ClearTweak allows you to change the contrast setting of the ClearType setting for Windows XP. ClearType is designed to enhance LCD displays. It may appear slightly blurry on standard desktop monitors. It does not hurt to try ClearTweak on a CRT monitor. Even though ClearType is designed for LCD's, some people see an improvement on CRT's.

    http://www.ioisland.com/downloads/
     
  8. midway40

    midway40 Registered Member

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    I used this tool from MS to enable and tweak ClearType:

    ClearType Tuner

    [must use IE to do this]
     
    Last edited: Sep 24, 2007
  9. gkweb

    gkweb Expert Firewall Tester

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    Hello,

    I don't understand, I always enabled ClearType on XP Pro from the UI, without any tool.
    Right-Click on the Desktop -> Properties, then from memory it should be something called Appearence tab, then the "Visual Effect" button. There you can select "ClearType" in the combo list.

    Can you find it ?

    Regards,
    gkweb.
     
  10. appster

    appster Registered Member

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    Yes, and the tuner midway40 suggested helps to optimize the effect. :thumb:

    Thanks!
     
  11. appster

    appster Registered Member

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    Getting back to the main topic, I am now dual-booting WinXP Pro and Vista Home Premium. While there is no doubt that Vista consumes quite a bit more resources than XP, so far I have not experienced any difficulties running apps on Vista. Other than being resource-hungry, the biggest complaint I have about Vista is that it's overly secure (it's User Account Control is rediculous)!
     
  12. gkweb

    gkweb Expert Firewall Tester

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    Hello,

    What do you consider ridiculous in UAC ?

    Do you know that UAC sets all of your running processes with restricted rights, enable you to elevate privileges temporarily when required per application (not globally) without the need to input a password (behavior can be changed to request one) unlike XP, UAC also enable the virtualization for program not compatible (by making them believe they write to protected folders or registry while in fact they do not). Finally, UAC enables the IE "Protected Mode" which sets IE to a Low Integrity Level, making it unable to modify or send Windows messages to any other processes (even to the other default restricted), or to write to any critical directories, in a more restrictive way than a simple restricted process.

    Anyway, if you consider UAC "not suiting your needs", you can turn it off :)

    Regards,
    gkweb.
     
    Last edited: Sep 25, 2007
  13. appster

    appster Registered Member

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    The pop-ups are a real pain in the butt - and I did turn it off. ;)
     
  14. gkweb

    gkweb Expert Firewall Tester

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    Hello,

    Ok I see :) There is two ways of preventing UAC popups : the first and the most obvious is to turn off UAC. The second, is to configure UAC to automatically elevate privileges for applications that need it, without prompting you. This way you still benefit from other UAC's advantages, without being annoyed.

    Setting up UAC :
    https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=185220

    Check the "ConsentPromptBehaviorUser", or you can do it from the UI if you have a version above the Home edition.

    Regards,
    gkweb.
     
  15. appster

    appster Registered Member

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    Thanks for the link on 'Setting up UAC' (btw, I'm running Home Premium)! ;)

    This is not to bash Vista, but as I already implied in post #36, the same apps on the same machine run faster on XP.
     
    Last edited: Sep 26, 2007
  16. gkweb

    gkweb Expert Firewall Tester

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    Hello,

    This is not bashing that giving out facts. I have no hard time believing you that a program designed for XP, when Vista didn't exist yet, is running faster on XP. I could see many reasons to that :
    - Vista takes much more resources and consequently there is less left for you program
    - your program is conflicting with something on Vista such as Aero. You may try running it with XP SP2 compatibility mode.
    - Vista's services are intensively using your hardrive : Indexing, Superfetch, Scheduled tasks, etc... disabling them may help.

    I know for a fact (just search the net about XP VS Vista) that video games generally have less frames per second on Vista. While it may be caused by drivers not being mature, that is an example. However there is exceptions too, for instance on my computer, Firefox opens faster on Vista than on XP.

    I think XP consumes less resources and is generally faster than Vista.

    Regards,
    gkweb.
     
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