One reason not to get a “home” version of Vista

Turns out that despite the fact that at home I’ve got an x64 quad-core PC with 6GB of RAM I can’t install the Windows 7 beta via Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 because I’ve got Windows Vista Home Premium and Virtual PC won’t run on anything less than Vista Business. :-(

However, I do have Vista Business at the office and I was able to successfully get Windows 7 Beta running via this method.

The first 72 hours with 64 bits -or- Taking the Ferrari to the corner for milk

As some of you may have read on FriendFeed and Twitter, after six years, I finally replaced my aging home desktop computer. The old one ran Windows XP at 2.0GHz with 1GB of RAM. The new computer (shown right) runs Windows Vista 64-bit with a 2.66GHz Quad-core processor and 6.144GB of RAM. I've nicknamed it "The Beast". (Full specs can be found on the Gateway site.)

First, some background.

Whenever someone asks me, "Should I get a new computer?" I ask them "Well, does your current computer do what you need it to do without an undue burden on you?" In other words, does it work without going too slow, or needing regular (daily) reboots? If the answer is yes, then it isn't time for a new computer. If no, then it is.

Readers, it's been that time for me for about a year now.

I knew that this computer was never going to be upgradable to Vista. I looked into doubling the RAM (which is generally a stop-gap measure at best) and found that the old Gateway used some sort of obscure RAM and that all my slots were full so upping it to 2GB was going to cost me something in the neighborhood of $300. That wasn't going to fly.

So, I've been looking. I've been trolling the NewEgg and TigerDirect flyers and RSS feeds and figured that I'd be purchasing a bare-bones kit (case, power supply, CPU, RAM) then customizing it with a graphics card, hard drive, and OS. This was looking to cost me about $900 for something in the neighborhood of a dual-core 3GHZ with 3GB of RAM.

Then, this past Thursday, Gateway sent me an e-mail.

The e-mail listed a deal on a laptop and The Beast via Office Depot. I posted a message to FriendFeed and Twitter to get opinions and most were "go for it". The one from @stephenk was memorable: "Do you really need a Ferrari to go to the corner store for milk?"

The simple answer is of course no, but I'm glad I got the Ferrari. (I ended up driving 50 miles out to LaVista, NE to pick it up at the store so I'd have it to set up over the weekend.)

I'm not a serious gamer (as can be shown by the fact that The Beast doesn't contain the greatest graphics card in the world,) but I have been known to encode DVD video. Did I "need" 6GB or RAM and a quad-core processor, probably not. But for this price, I'm glad I didn't pass it up.

Here's an example from the weekend:

At one point I had Firefox, Outlook open, BitTorrent downloading and seeding some video, a bunch of background software running in the system tray, I was burning a DVD-ROM, AND streaming a tv show up the the livingroom over the network.  All at the same time, and yet was still using only about .45 of the CPUs and .40 of the available RAM.

That's what I need my computer to be able to do and it did so with enough headroom to be able to handle anything else I could think of throwing at it. Oh, and did I mention that it boots in about 30 seconds?

As for the 64-bit version of Vista, I was hesitant but Paul Thurrott over on the Windows Weekly podcast says that it's ready for prime-time and the 64-bit hardware drivers are no longer a problem. So, how's that working for me? Just fine.

I did have to hunt through the Dell Web site for a 64-bit driver for my Dell 1100 laser printer but once I found that, it printer works as it should.

The only continuing problem is with my Ultra USB hard drive enclosure. Which, most unfortunately, contains my music. So far The Beast refuses to recognize this USB device even though it works fine on the old computer. I contacted Ultra and they insist that it should work just fine in Vista 64-bit, it's a Windows problem, and I should contact Microsoft. I'm thinking I'll just replace the enclosure with a different brand. Right now that decision is coming down to wether I'd rather spend time with Microsoft technical support or just shell out $30 for a replacement.

So, yes, I'm glad that I bought the Ferrari. Sometimes a little overkill is worth not having to walk to the store.

Cloning Windows Vista using the Sysprep tool

So I've previously cloned the thirteen Vista computers in out lab without any significant problems. Well, problems that I can point to the cloning process as the cause of the problem anyway. What have I been using to do the cloning? That would be the free linux-based Clonezilla. Just boot from the CD and follow the prompts. But, there's been this issue nagging at the backs of the minds of our computer team that we'd been ignoring since they're our computers in our control so until there was a problem, we could ignore it.

Then came ten new computers as part of a Gates grant that are going out to small rural libraries here in Nebraska. Hey, I'll just set one up and clone the other nine. But, in this case, once we've set the machines up, they'll be sent out across the state and out of our hands. Ah, that nagging problem starts shouting at us again. That problem is the issue of Security Identifiers (SIDs). What are those? Let's ask Microsoft:

"Security identifiers (SIDs) are numeric values that identify a user or group. For each access control entry (ACE), there is a SID that identifies the user or group for whom access is allowed, denied, or audited."

Yeah, that's a lot of help...

The gist of this is that for certain security features of Windows Vista this unique SID is used. The SID is generated as part of the initial setup of Windows. i.e. When you first boot the computer after you take it out of the box. If you have more than one computer with the same SID, this could cause problems. The trouble is, cloning a hard drive also clones the SID. Bingo! I've now got ten computers all with the same SID. In fact, Microsoft has a Web page that specifically tells you not to do what I did. It's title: Do not disk duplicate installed versions of Windows. Here's what it says:

"Computers that are running the Windows operating system use a Security ID (SID) to uniquely identify themselves. When you use disk-duplicating software, it is important to take steps to ensure the uniqueness of these Security IDs."

Yep, the computer team's fears were based in fact. I even double-checked by downloading a small program named PSGetSid to verify the duplication of the SID in question.

"Have you performed a rollout, only to discover that your network might suffer from the SID duplication problem? In order to know which systems have to be assigned a new SID (using a SID updater like our own NewSID), you have to know what a computer's machine SID is. Up until now, there's been no way to tell the machine SID without knowing Regedit tricks and exactly where to look in the Registry. PsGetSid makes reading a computer's SID easy, and works across the network so that you can query SIDs remotely. PsGetSid also lets you see the SIDs of user accounts and translate a SID into the name that represents it."

So, now the ultimate question: How to clone a computer and yet still have unique SIDs on each of the clones. After way to much searching and reading I found a handy little program from Microsoft that supposedly solves this problem. That program is Sysprep.

"The System Preparation (Sysprep) tool prepares an installation of Windows for duplication, auditing, and customer delivery. Duplication, also called imaging, enables you to capture a customized Windows image that you can reuse throughout an organization."

Turns out that Sysprep comes with Vista. You can find it at C:\Windows\system32\sysprep. (Don't run this on your computer! ONLY run this on a master that you plan on cloning. If you run it on a computer you actually want to continue to use, you might just mess it up a smidge.)

So more reading and more reading and I finally found the following from Microsoft:

Creating a Build-to-Plan (BTP) Windows Image

In the build-to-plan (BTP) scenario, you create a single Windows reference image to install computers that use the same hardware configuration. You customize the single Windows reference installation by installing Windows and then adding additional drivers and applications. You then capture the Windows image and use it to install your computers. No additional modifications are made to this image.

This scenario comprises the following stages:

1. You install Windows on a reference computer.
2. After the installation is complete, you boot the computer and install any additional device drivers or applications.
3. After you update the Windows installation, you run the sysprep /oobe /generalize command. The /generalize option instructs Sysprep to remove system-specific data from the Windows installation. System-specific information includes event logs, unique security IDs (SIDs), and other unique information. After the unique system information is removed, the computer shuts down. The /oobe option instructs the Windows installation to run Windows Welcome the next time the computer boots.
4. After the computer shuts down, you can boot to Windows PE or another operating system on the computer.
5. You then capture the Windows installation with ImageX, [I'm using Clonezilla instead, M] by creating a reference image with which to install computers with the same hardware configuration.

Well, that sounds like what I want to do so I gave it a shot. I set up one computer just how I wanted it (a full set up updates, installed Firefox, AV software, Steady State, and created the accounts I needed,) then ran Sysprep on that computer. Here's what the program looked like:

What you see here are the setting that I used. I chose the OOBE option to get the cloned computers to act like it just came out of the box when first booted, and checked Generalize to reset certain settings, most importantly the SID which was central to why I was going through all of this.

I clicked OK and the computer did a few things and then shutdown. Next, I hooked up my drive to clone to and ran Clonezilla. When that was done I removed the cloned drive from the master computer, popped it back into it's original case and booted up the cloned computer.

I was told the the computer was setting itself up and it rebooted itself once during this process. I was then Welcomed to Windows, asked to accept the licenses, set the time, and create a new account. The account creation bit worried me a bit since I'd already created the accounts I needed but I had to follow through. So, I created an account named "m" with a password of "m" just to make things simple.

Once setup completed I was presented with the Windows logon screen which contained the two previously created accounts and the new "m" account. I logged into the admin account and found that all of my updates, settings, and software were exactly as they should have been. I just deleted the "m" account and I was pretty much all set. There were just two other things:

First, I ran PsGetSid on the cloned computer to make sure this one had a different SID from the original. Yes, it did.

Second, I did have to delete and re-create the second account that was on the cloned computer that I'd originally created on the master. I'm not exactly sure why but I have two theories.

• Theory one: It had something to do with cloning a computer that had Windows Steady State installed and locking that account. If this was the problem the solution would be to not clone a locked account, but to lock the account on the cloned computers.
• Theory two: The Sysprep tool doesn't like computers with multiple accounts. This theory is based on the idea the OEMs like Dell and Gateway don't ship computers with multiple accounts (if any) pre-installed on a computer. If this was the problem the solution would be to have just one account created on the master and then create additional needed accounts on the clones.

UPDATE 03 Nov 08: Turns out theory one seems to be the correct one. I've since cloned other computers where the public account wasn't locked by SteadyState and the account came through the cloning process in tact.

Despite this final "problem" it was more just an annoyance. This whole process was still much shorter than if I'd had to boot all ten computers and install all the software and updates individually. Also, each time I did it, the process took a little less time as a result of the repetition of the process. I've got another 30-40 computers I'll be doing this to in September and plan on following this process. If I find any additional details then, I'll be sure to post them.

The Mojave Experiment

It's been said that most people who think that Vista sucks haven't actually used it.

Boot Vista faster with multiple cores

If you've got a multi-core computer (2, 4, 8, whatever) and you're running Vista, here's a great way to decrease your boot time by instructing Vista to actually use more than one core during the boot process.

1. Click on the orb, type msconfig, and press enter
   
   
2. Click Continue a UAC window appears. (If you're not logged in as an admin you'll probably need to give your admin password too.)
   
3. Select the Boot tab and then click the Advanced options... button.
   
   
4. Check the Number of processors: option and use the drop-down list to select the number you wish to use.
   
   
5. Click OK.
   
6. Back on the Boot tab check the Make all boot settings permanent option. (If you don't do this step, you'll be forced to undo it once you reboot. So, ok, if you're not sur about this process, skip this step, confirm it works, then redo all this including this step.)
   
   
7. If you did step six answer the "are you sure" question by clicking the Yes button.
   
   
8. Reboot your computer.

I saw about a 30% boot time reduction by changing from one to two cores for boot.

Only Twhirl annoyance solved

I use Twhirl as my Twitter client. I love it. The only problem I found was it's insistence that links be opened in IE instead of my default Firefox browser. Well, turns out it's not a Twhirl problem it's an obscure Vista setting. (Non-Vista users have not had this problem.) So, if this is happening to you here's the solution with screenshots. (Originally from twhirl's blog.)

First close Twirl if its running and open up the control panel, switch to classic mode if you haven't already and select "Default Programs".

Next, select "Set Program access and computer defaults". (You may need admin access for this.)

Lastly, expand the "Custom" group and under "Choose a default Web browser" select Mozilla Firefox.

Click OK and get yourself back to the desktop. When I started Twhirl my links now opened in Firefox.

Your OS is no longer valid

One of the things I learned at IL2007 (I'll get to that post eventually) was that "all OSes suck" and yesterday morning this was only reinforced. Here's what I saw on my laptop's screen when I woke up Sunday morning and went to watch the latest episode of Bionic Woman:

How's that for a scary error message. Basically, something happened overnight that caused my Vista installation to believe it was no longer a valid installation. So, I went to learn more...

Microsoft's first suggestion was to run the online Genuine something-or-other tool that validates your OS installation. Yep, it failed. I "officially" have an "invalid" (read "illegal") version of Vista on my laptop.

Then they presented me with a list of incompatible software that I should uninstall. I didn't have any of those programs on my laptop so scratch that.

Next it suggested I run CHKDSK to see if there's any problems with the hard drive. (The theory being that if the right OS files get corrupted Vista could invalidate.) Run CHKDSK, no errors. Next.

I found lots of others who have reported this problem but most of those were people who had been playing with beta versions last year. I did however find a link to a Microsoft page in which I could report my error and get a response within 24 hours. I filled out their form, downloaded the diagnostic tool, ran that to collect the relevant data, and sent my report off to Microsoft. (I'm still waiting BTW.)

Not willing to give up I kept searching and found another Microsoft page that suggested it might be my anti virus program and I should uninstall that. (I've been using Avast! on the laptop since I upgraded and I've not liked it, too slow, so that sounded like a good plan regardless.) The trouble was, when you're running an "invalid" copy of Vista it locks you out of certain OS features, most importantly in this instance, the control panel. So, how to uninstall a program without the control panel. (No, there wasn't a standalone uninstaller to be found.)

Ah ha! I remembered MSCONFIG. Launch that and instruct Avast! not to load at startup. Apply the changes, reboot, and my OS is valid again! I quickly uninstalled Avast! and downloaded/installed the latest (now Vista compatible) version of AVG. System running smoothly again.

Granted, it was Vista that was yelling at me and it's Microsoft's "fault" that their DRM is touchy but right now I'm placing the blame at the feet of the makers of Avast! I suspect that it updated itself overnight as it should but that something in the update was incompatible with Vista enough to cause it to invalidate. Well, I won't be recommending that product in class any more.

New things in Vista

I'm going to start posting semi-regularly about the sometime subtle yet wonderful changes from XP to Vista. To start here's the screen you get when you attempt to move or copy a file into a directory in which a file with the same name already exists. Not only is this screen helpful but the new third choice to "Move/Copy, but keep both files" is a great "I'm not sure" option.

Logitech diNovo Edge Keyboard

Last week I realized that there was a down side to how I'd hooked up my laptop to my HDTV. The laptop ended up connected to the TV and on top of my stereo cabinet, forcing me to stand at the computer to use it, or in my lap on my sofa, but not connected to the TV. So, I started poking around for wireless keyboards and mice. Thinking that a mouse wasn't going to work all that well, and that would just be one more "remote" in my livingroom, I shopped for a wireless keyboard with a built in trackpad. What I found was the Logitech diNovo Edge Keyboard.

At $149 this keyboard is a smidge on the pricey side but it's worth every penny. It's light, it's thin, it doesn't need AA or AAA batteries due to the built in Li-Ion batteries and charging station, and it's on board "touch disc". The batteries are quoted as being able to last a month or more on a single charge and based on other reviews I have no reason to doubt that. The "touch disc" is a round touchpad but with two special spots on the disc that allow for both vertical and horizontal scrolling once you get the hang of it.

Stylistically, this is a gorgeous piece of equipment. It's sleek and black, and had many backlit icons for special functions. (For example, the ring around the touch disc lights up when your using it and slowly fades out when you stop.) And, as other reviewers have said, it even looks great when sitting in the charging station.

The wireless connection runs on Bluetooth and this is where I ran into some problems. My Vista Ultimate laptop has built in Bluetooth but I'd not used it in the past as this is my first Bluetooth device for a computer. So, I went into the Bluetooth configuration settings and instructed the computer to find the device. I'd pressed all the right buttons and read all the instructions a dozen times but computer continually failed to find the keyboard. So, as a test, I plugged in the USB dongle for computers that didn't have Bluetooth and everything connected almost instantly. Therefore, the problem was with my computer, not the keyboard.

An hour later, having read many a support document, it seemed that Bluetooth was "running" (at least there was a Bluetooth icon in my system tray) but it was "turned off". Using the function keys to turn it on didn't work since, ultimately, the laptop was refusing to recognize the built in Bluetooth hardware. My guess is that something happened in the upgrade to Vista.

I found updated drivers from Gateway, downloaded them, and ran the install program. The install program informed me that I had to first uninstall the old version. Off to Add/Remove Programs to uninstall Bluetooth. Upon reboot, Vista found the hardware, reinstalled the (original) drivers, and before trying to install new drivers, I tried again. This time, the keyborad connected as it should.

(I don't blame the keyboard or Logitech for this at all. I mention it since others might have a similar problem.)

I then installed the Logitech software which seems to give me some additional options and customizations but I'm in no hurry to investigate those since so far I've been able to do everything I've needed to do.

The only other odd thing I've noticed is the keyboard's volume control. Using the keyboard to raise and lower the volume seems only to work within a small range, not silent-to-blearing like you'd expect. I'm sure this again has something to do with the OS' volume settings and not a problem with the keyboard itself. This is also something I'm not all that worried about as I'll probably use the TV remote's volume control more than anything else.

For those interested, a slideshow of the unpacking, Bluetooth installation(sans screenshots of the hour of troubleshooting) and Logitech software installation, can be found in my Flickr account.

Aero & batteries

I've heard many complaints about running Vista's Aero interface and the negative impact it has on laptop battery life. I've not noticed this in particular but I mostly run my laptop plugged in. Well, Clint decided to solve the problem and created the Vista Laptop Battery Saver V 1.0.0.1. Just unzip the program, dump a shortcut to it in your startup folder and it sits in your system tray. When you're plugged in, Aero runs. When you unplug you're automatically switched to the lower-power-consuming Vista basic theme. Plug back in, and Aero returns. I tested it last night and it worked as advertised.

Internet Connectivity Evaluation Tool

Internet Connectivity Evaluation Tool: "The Internet Connectivity Evaluation Tool checks your Internet router to see if it supports certain technologies. You can use this tool on a PC running either the Windows Vista or Windows XP operating system. If you're planning to run Windows Vista, this tool can verify whether your existing Internet router supports advanced features, such as improved download speeds and face-to-face collaboration using Windows Meeting Space."

Game makers excited about Windows Vista

Game makers excited about Windows Vista - CNN.com: "The latest improvements, many believe, far surpass even the very best of what the consoles are capable of. Case in point: the upcoming PC shooter 'Crysis,' where players take the role of a battle-savvy soldier who has to uncover the secrets behind an asteroid that has smashed into Earth."

CL2007: The WiFi Situation

WiFi in the rooms is $10 a day through T-Mobile unless you're running Vista. If you are running Vista, T-Mobile is offering free access through the end of the month. Find the right link on the T=Mobile home page for the free access.

In the main ballroom, and I assume in the other conference rooms, there is free WiFi! Just look for the SSID "CIL1"

Package Tracking Widget

Here's a great new Vista sidebar widget that allows for near-real-time package tracking. This is even better than doing is via RSS. It's available from the Windows Live Gallery.

Installing fonts in Vista

Well, here's something that hasn't changed in Vista. Get yourself to the "Add Fonts" dialog box and you'll see the exact some screen we've been looking at since Windows 3.1 (or maybe even earlier). The insanity of this is easily discovered when you attempt to browse for the file you dumped on your desktop. You do know the DOS path to your desktop, don't you? Come on Microsoft, why couldn't you bother to update this to use the same browsing interface the rest of the OS uses?

When it comes to Vista, updated drivers are very important

I've seen the article Speed Up Windows Vista from ExtremeTech blogged about several other places so I wasn't going to mention it here. I did read it though and agree with the criticism regarding the section of the article dealing with Windows services. But the one thing that I got from the article was the importance of making sure your drivers are up to date; especially if you're upgrading from XP to Vista.

First a little background: In my workshop Tech Support on the Fly I talk about Windows update and the different categories of updates you'll find there. One category in XP is "optional hardware updates" and I stress that you should only install hardware (i.e. driver) updates when you're having trouble with said hardware or if the new driver gives you new features you want. This advice spawns from the times that I've had to rollback video drivers on computers where I can no longer see anything on the screen. That is not fun!

So when I upgraded my laptop to Vista I updated as many drivers as I could but was unable to find the updated driver for my video card. (As blogged earlier.) My laptop was running but it seemed a little more sluggish than I would like. I was poking around in the computer's properties last weekend and found something called the "System Rating".

The one pictured here is from my second office computer with known issues so don't worry too much about the low score. In the case of my laptop the score was 2.8 out of five. Looking for a little more detail I clicked on "Windows Experience Index" and found the detail and explanation I was looking for.

It turns out the the rating is based on the lowest score in five categories: Processor, Memory, Graphics, Gaming Graphics, and Primary Hard Disk. In my laptop's case, the graphics rating was 2.8. This may just have been the reason for the sluggish performance of my machine.

A commenter to this blog had recently pointed out where I could find the driver and a few days ago I download and installed the update. I then went to Windows update and noticed there was an "optional" update to my video driver so I took a chance and installed that next. After all the required reboots I went back to look at my computer's score. The score hadn't changed but it did inform me that it had "found new hardware" and needed to rerun the tests to recompute my score. I clicked OK and waited about five minutes. The score was updated to 3.8 and I was told that I could even comfortably run the Areo interface now.

I switched Aero on and started to play. My laptop is now back to the speed it was running at with XP. (Unfortunately, Second Life still won't run and my iTunes problems still exist but I've ruled out my video driver as the source of the problem.)

So, the bottom line, if you're running Vista, my current advice is to install those driver updates as soon as they become available. Might your system die as a result? Sure, but I'd say the benefits outweigh the very small risks in this situation.

Vista: Problem Reports and Solutions

Vista: Problem Reports and Solutions
Originally uploaded by Travelin' Librarian.

When a program crashes in Vista, the OS attempts to "find a solution" to the problem. For the first time yesterday a "solution" was found to a Firefox crash. The "solution" presented was to upgrade to the newer version of Firefox. A handy link to to the Mozilla site was even given to me. Here's the rub, I'm running the latest version of Firefox; no upgrade is available. Does Vista know something I don't? Don't get me wrong, this is all a great idea but it needs to work in order to be helpful. I was sure to click on the "Provide Feedback" link and let Microsoft know just what I thought of their "solution".

iTunes & Vista

iTunes & Vista
Originally uploaded by Travelin' Librarian.

Well, I updated to version 7.1.1 today which said addressed "minor compatibility problems". Despite the fact that I don't view any of the problems I've been having "minor" updates rarely do damage so I had hope. The result: no noticeable change. The display problems have not gone away.

iTunes & Vista

Just when you think the display "problems" can't get any worse, exhibit A:

Vista doesn't "help"

It turns out that Vista Windows Help files (.hlp) any more as they're too old. (They've been around since Windows 3.1. Those needing the ability to read such files need to download the Windows Help program (WinHlp32.exe) for Windows Vista from Microsoft.

iTunes & Vista - Part 2

Over the weekend I finally upgraded iTunes to version 7.1, the one that supposedly solves most of the problems in Vista. (Notice the important "supposedly" in that previous sentence. Well, here's my results:

I downloaded the update and ran the installation program. (Side note, why can't iTunes update itself from within the program like most other software today. Why oh why do I have to re-download the program every time there's an update?) The first oddity was the fact that I was required to shutdown Microsoft Outlook in order for the install program to continue. I was also running the Outlook widget in the Vista sidebar and I was required to shut that down too. (Oh wait, I just realized that I had set iTunes to sync my Outlook contacts and calendar so maybe that's why...) Other than that the install worked but seemed to take twice as long as it usually did. (More on speed later.)

Once the install was completed I was given the option to run iTunes automatically. I chose that option and waited a good ten minutes, disk thrashing the whole time, before finally giving up and running iTunes via the desktop icon.

I was asked to accept the license (typical of the first run of iTunes after any update) and was then informed that it was "updating iTunes library..." Twenty minutes later, this was complete. (I don't have the largest iTunes library in the world, just 3712 totaling 16.47GB so this seemed to take much longer than it should have.)

Once I was actually able to use iTunes I started to update my podcasts. Every few minutes I would receive an error that said it couldn't update my library due to not having the correct permissions. I continued to click through the errors and once the podcasts were done downloading I closed and restarted iTunes and this error has not come back since.

As for the display problems, some of them seem to have been solved. For example, the add artwork bug has been fixed. However, all of the other display problems do still occur but after a longer period of time than before. According to Apple, "iTunes may display text or graphics incorrectly on your screen. Resizing the iTunes window should correct this issue." However, I've noticed that once the display problems start, the only solution is to close the program (which does then crash) and restart. Any attempt to resize or minimize locks the program forcing me to go to the Task Manager to kill the process. My theory is that iTunes is incompatible with the Aero interface that I'm running. However, running iTunes in XP Compatibility mode doesn't solve these problems and since compatibility mode turns Aero off, this may not be a logical conclusion.

I eventually noticed that since I chose to make iTunes my default player during the installation process, the default player error has not returned.

Finally, having made sure I followed all of the warnings on the Apple site, I decided to actually connect my iPod to the laptop. The short answer is that it synced as it should. The longer answer is that it seemed to take forever to start the syncing process. Seriously, I plugged it in, Vista made it's horrid "bonk" indicating the presence of a USB device, and my iPod appeared in iTunes within seconds as it should. But, it all just sat there for the better part of ten minutes before any syncing actually started to happen. (I've since synced my iPod a few more times with the same wait each time.) My iPod is in working condition and I lost no data that I've noticed.

So, my conclusions: It's better but serious problems still exist. The known display problems are something that need to be fixed immediately. (I'm assuming that fixing the display problems will solve the crashing issues since it only seems to crash after the display goes wonky.) The other item that must be fixed is performance. I now feel like I'm working under water while in iTunes. Importing works at normal speed but everything else either is or just feels slow, especially the sync function.

Vista Librarians

As an experiment I've set up a Ning social netowrk for the impatient librarians who are implementing, or attempting to implement, Windows Vista. Join Vista Librarians today.

iTunes & Vista - Update from Apple

As of yesterday, Apple has released iTunes 7.1 which supposedly addresses a number of compatibility issues with Windows Vista. I'll test it out tonight and report back.

iTunes & Vista

Some of you have been waiting for this post and I've finally got around to writing. So, how's iTunes working with Vista in my case? No so well. Here's the details based on what I've been experiencing.

First, when I run the program I'm told that it's running in compatibility mode. Trouble is, I've not set that option so I have no idea why I'm being told this.

Next, I'm informed that iTunes is no longer my default audio player and offered an option to go to the screen that will change these settings.

However, once I get there I see no way to make iTunes my default.

There may be a way to fix this but I'm not seeing it. Why can't I just tell iTunes to set itself as the default like I can with other programs?

Once iTunes is running it usually works for several minutes. Then, the display problems start. They're inconsistent but these are some of the problems I usually see.

Here I've inserted a CD and the window that you can see through is the one that's asking me if I wish to import the CD:

Here the vertical lines separating the tracks have disappeared and the vertical lines have gone bold.

In this example I've selected a single track. Instead of highlighting the track, the track's information disappears.

Here we have all tracks but one selected. Only the unselected track shows information.

When I try to import album artwork, it doesn't show up in the right place, it appears in the upper-left corner of the window instead.

Sometimes when I try to update track information (this is the result off adding the previously illustrated album artwork) I'm told that the data can't be saved. The data does appear to be saved regardless of this message.

Lastly, on close, the program crashes.

I've not tried to actually sync my iPod yet. I'm using this as an opportunity to get caught up on my podcast backlog. Here's hoping apple releases an upgrade soon.

To Vista or not to Vista?

Ok, so, what's my official advice on upgrading to Vista? I did it, so should you? Well, let's keep in mind a few important items:

• Some would consider me a bit of a geek and willing to futz around with my computer and change all sorts of settings just for fun.
• I specifically bought this laptop with the specifications needed to run Vista Ultimate edition and planned on upgrading it once Vista was released.
• I get paid to do this first and warn everyone else about the potential pitfalls.

So, with those things in mind, my official advice and this time is the following:

1. If you're going to be buying a new computer, get Vista. (Really, you won't have a choice but if you did I'd still say go with Vista.)
2. If you have a recently-purchased machine with one of those free upgrade coupons, go for it. I'm assuming you haven't had the computer long enough to customize it too much and you're probably not running any highly-specialized programs. (Check with vendors if you are. Hell, OCLC software had some problems with IE7. Who knows how they're reacting to Vista.)
3. You've got an older computer and the Windows Upgrade Advisor says the hardware can handle it, don't unless you're a masochist like me.
4. The Upgrade Advisor says you can't run at least Home Premium, don't even consider it. If you can at least run Home Premium, see #3.

To be honest, I love it despite the problems I'm having. (Second Life won't run, iTunes is fracked, I'm having some issues sharing files between the Vista computer and my XP computer, (let's not even consider the NT4.0 box,) and there's still an outstanding issue with upgrading my BIOS.) The bottom line, is that if everything's running fine on XP and you're considering upgrading everything in the library to Vista "because I can" or "because it looks cool" don't bother. Wait for the next round of computer purchasing and bring it into your system then. You'll be much better off in the long run.

Vista Window Switching

ALT-TAB still works in Vista but now gives you live previews of what's going on in the windows. It also gives the desktop as one of the switch-to-able options.

Additionally, Vista also gives you live window previews when you hover over a button in the task bar.

Lastly, if you're running Aero, you can get 3D-based window switching. I only wish there was a way to set this as the default so it works with ALT-TAB. (If there is, let me know since I can't seem to find the setting.)

Vista and Second Life - Part 5

Uninstall. Download new version. Reboot. Install latest version. Reboot. Run... Crash. Does anyone have Second Life running under Vista?

Vista and Second Life - Part 4

Nope, rebooting didn't solve the crashing problem. Next attempt will be to uninstall and reinstall the SL program.

Vista and Second Life - Part 3

Well, the video drive upgrade went smoothly and I wasn't even required to reboot. (Kudos to Vista for that one.) When I start Second Life I no longer get the video driver error. However, before I reach the login screen it crashes without specifying why. I'll try rebooting anyway, just to see if that might solve the problem.

Vista and Second Life - Part 2

I looked at the AMD site for a driver update to my Radeon X1400 video card and found no X1400 series listed as having available driver!

So, I took a look in Windows Update and I'm told there's an update available.

Let's see if that solves my problem...

Vista and Second Life

Well, I tried to run Second Life in Vista a got this:

I clicked Yes and then got

Who's fault is this? Well according to Linden Labs, it's ATI's fault:

Question
Under Windows Vista, my graphics card reports as a GDI Generic. Why is that?

Answer
Second Life requires that the Windows drivers for the system's graphics card fully support the OpenGL graphics standard. Any graphics card whose installed driver does not support OpenGL will detect as a "GDI Generic" instead. This message means that Second Life has detected no hardware OpenGL support.

It is up to the graphics vendor (Nvidia or ATI) to provide drivers that support both OpenGL and your operating system. As of this writing, we have successfully run Second Life on Vista under several PCs equipped with Nvidia's Geforce graphics cards. However, it does not appear that ATI has provided Vista drivers with OpenGL support. (Check ATI's website; they may have updated drivers since then.)

If you receive this message under Vista, are running graphics hardware that meets our Minimum System Requirements, and cannot find a driver provided by your graphics vendor which provides OpenGL support, you will be unable to run Second Life under Windows Vista on that computer.

As far as I can tell my driver's up-to-date so I'm stuck. Anyone got an answer that will actually help?

Visualize the blogosphere

The recently released Twingly Screensaver displays live blog headlines from around the world, with the source location visualized on an interactive 3D globe. The video below shows it in motion but be aware of two things. First, the video is sped up, your copy will not work this fast. Second, it takes a while to download the data a first so you won't see actual headlines for a little while. Third, some of the headlines may by NSFW. Fourth, it doesn't seem to totally like Vista. It'll run for a while then Vista will inform you that it has stopped working, despite it seeming to still work.

Of Time Zones and Appointments

Well, this is a problem I've finally solved and it has nothing to do with Vista. It seems that when you change Windows' time zone setting (as I've moved from Mountain to Central) Outlook reacts by adjusting the times of everything in your calendar. So, an appointment for April that I said was from 10-11am that I set while in MST was moved to 11am-12pm CST since that would technically be correct. Trouble is, the meeting still being held at 10am local time. (This gets worse when an "all day" appointment gets changed to 1am on one day to 1am the next day.) Well, a quick search and I found not only an answer but also an explanation of the issue. Check out Outlook, Appointments and Time Zones if you're interested.

Vista and AVG redux

It seems that my problems with AVG Antivirus were not solved in the long run. Whenever I rebooted the computer, the resident shield stopped working until I did a repair reinstall of the program. I figured that was a problem I'd deal with eventually since I didn't reboot the laptop all that often anyway. (I usually put it into hibernation when I shut it off.) Well, this morning, AVG ran it's automatic update and as part of that process it game me a blue screen of death! I don't blame Vista, I blame AVG. After that unpleasant reboot so long AVG. I went hunting and found Free antivirus - avast! 4 Home Edition which is free for home use. And, according to the site, "avast! antivirus fully supports Windows Vista". So, it's installed, and running as I expect it to.

Vista and Azureus

Well, my Bittorrent client Azureus had a bit of trouble with Vista a first. There were two problems. First, all existing torrents continued to work as they should but all new torrents told me that they didn't have permission to write to whatever folder I tried to put them in to. Second, the program was leaving what I can only call artifacts on the screen. For example, I would click File, then Exit and the Exit menu item would stay on the screen hovering in place in front of everything else unless I either rebooted or chose to switch users and just logged back in as myself. (Both of these totally refreshed the desktop thereby removing the artifact.) So how did I solve these problems?

1. I typically save my torrents to a external hard drive (F:). What I found (through a bunch of online searching) is that Azureus under Vista will only save new torrents to a shared folder that is not marked as read-only. So, (since I couldn't change the read-only setting on the rood of a drive,) I created a new folder (F:\Torrents), set it as shared on my network, and then unchecked the read-only attribute. I can now save torrents to that directory.
2. The artifacts was solved by updating my video driver through Gateway's support site. (As I did with my sound card driver.) A reboot, and the artifacts stopped appearing.

I've got another issue with updating my BIOS that I'm working with Gateway to solve byt that's not really a problem as everything's working fine (as far as I can tell) and the "issue" isn't causing any additional problems. I'll post more about that one once the issue has been solved.

Vista Upgrade Photos

The photos have been uploaded and are available in a flickr set. I'll see what I can do about putting titles on all of them sometime in the next few days.

Vista Upgrade and Antivirus Software

This post mostly relates to my experience with AVG AntiVirus and it's sudden non-working state after Upgrading to Windows Vista. However, anyone considering an upgrade should at least read through the next paragraph.

According to the booklet that comes with Vista one of this things you should do "before you begin" is to "update your antivirus program (if necessary), run it, and then disable it." To this I would add, uninstall it. I say this due to all of the Web pages I've read trying to solve my AVG-specific problem.

What happened to me has happened to many others from the sound of it. After upgrading to Vista, the free version of AVG insisted that the license code wasn't legit. Funny, since you don't generally need one for a free version. Every time it started (at boot) it asked me to reactivate my license with a code I didn't have. Because I couldn't fulfill its request, it failed to load and then continued to mess with Outlook since it wasn't running. So, off to the Web for a solution I went.

There were several suggested solutions that I found:

• Reinstall AVG over itself.
  This didn't work at all.
• Uninstall AVG then reinstall it.
  I, along with others, was unable to uninstall the program via any of the suggested methods.
• Delete the directory containing the AVG files then try to reinstall.
  I moved the files (so I could replace them if it didn't work) yet was unable to perform a successful reinstallation.
• Install an old version of AVG, then reinstall the current version.
  None of the previous versions I could find would install over the current newer version.
• Find an illegal license key online and try using it.
  None of them worked as a key & a user name were both needed. I no username so none of the keys would be accepted.

During one of the reinstall attempts I noticed that there was not only the "repair" installation option but also a "total reinstall" option. When I used the total option, a license key was displayed. So, I got that far and copied the license key. I then stopped the installation and reran the original program to force it to ask me for a key again. I pasted in the key but it still insisted that I needed a user name. I tried my name thinking I might have used it when I installed AVG way back when but that didn't work. Taking a chance, I tried the user name "free" and it suddenly worked!

I rebooted to make sure everything was alright and AVG did start as expected. However, the resident shield wasn't working. I performed a repair install and the problem was solved.

I hope someone else who has this problem finds this post and the solution works for them.

Vista Upgrade not without any glitches

It hadn't dawned on me how "quiet" the upgrade process was until I went to play a video and realized that my laptop was no longer emitting sound of any kind. Turns out I needed to go to Gateway, simply enter my laptop's serial number, then download and install the updated drivers for my sound card. All my audio is now playing as it should.

Vista Upgrade

I'm running vista now. Photos to come shortly. Screenshots in the next few days. In case you're wondering, no problems yet.

Upgrading to Vista

I've backed up and cleaned off. Defrag is running now and I'll give it one last reboot to run scandisk. Then the Vista upgrade DVD goes in and the laptop gets an upgrade. I'll report back when it's done.

Want Vista and XP?

Here's a set of instructions for installing Vista in dual-boot mode with XP. (It looks like the hardest part is partitioning the hard drive. Installing a second drive might be easier.)

Windows Vista Myths

There's a lot of FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) about Windows Vista out there these days. Here's a great article debunking 10 Windows Vista myths.

iTunes and Windows Vista

According to Apple, Inc. the current version of iTunes is bascially incompatible with Windows Vista. The document describing the problems offers several "solutions" for those that insist on upgrading to Vista before an updated "Vista compatible" version of iTunes is released. Worst case scenario: "Ejecting an iPod from the Windows System Tray using the "Safely Remove Hardware" feature may corrupt your iPod. To always safely eject an iPod, choose Eject iPod from the Controls menu within iTunes." Apple is also offering an iTunes Repair Tool for Vista 1.0 that will also supposedly solve some problems.

IMHO this is totally unacceptable. Vista has been gold since something like early December yet Apple has yet to solve the problem. I'm glad I ran across this before upgrading as I run my iPod off the same laptop I'll be upgrading. Hopefully, Apple will release the updated version in the next two weeks before I get the time to install Vista.

Vista? Mac?

Vista? Mac?
Originally uploaded by Travelin' Librarian.

It looks like Apple is jumping on the Vista bandwagon, just not in the way Microsoft would hope for.

Vista & Office 2007

They've arrived! I'll be upgrading my TabletPC but I may end up waiting a little while as my laptop is my only computer for the next two weeks. In the mean time, I could download and read the Vista release notes...

Vista has been released to manufactures

What does this mean. Well, it means that shortly you will be able to purchase computers with Vista pre-installed. Those wishing to purchase Vista to upgrade existing hardware will need to wait until 30 January 2007. Here's Microsoft's official Q&A regarding the release and Paul Thurrott's full review from his Windows Super Site.

Windows Vista delay?

Yesterday morning I got to share a table with an employee of the Microsoft marketing department. Eventually, I had to ask the obvious question: "Do you think Vista will be delayed yet again." Their response: "Probably."

Windows Vista for TabletPC

Microsoft has put up a page titled "Improve Your Tablet PC Experience with Windows Vista" covering how an upgrade to Vista will effect TabletPC features. "Flicking" seems to be the coolest feature.

"Flicks are gestures that help you to use your pen more effectively. A quick flick of the pen can scroll a window up or down or navigate forward and backward on the web. Flicks can also perform common actions such as copy, paste, delete and undo."

Vista Torrent Update

Following-up on my post from yesterday, it seems that Microsoft doesn’t like the Vista torrent and has sent “cease and desist” letters to the two sites hosting it. One has taken it down the other hasn't. Just for that, I feel like downloading it myself.

Windows Vista Torrent

Not only is beta 2 of Windows Vista abailable but it's available as a torrent. Unfortunately, it wasn't officially torrented by Microsoft but it is a step in the right direction.

Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor

Microsoft has made a Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor available for download. "The Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor is a small beta application that you can run on your current Windows XP-based computer to find out if it's ready for an upgrade to Windows Vista." Sounds like a good idea if you're computer is more than a year old.

Planning for Vista

Microsoft has put up the "minimal requirements" for Windows Vista on the Get Ready Web site. Here's what they say:

A Windows Vista Capable PC includes at least:

• A modern processor (at least 800MHz¹).
• 512 MB of system memory.
• A graphics processor that is DirectX 9 capable.

A Windows Vista Premium Ready PC includes at least:

• 1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor¹.
• 1 GB of system memory.
• A graphics processor that runs Windows Aero².
• 128 MB of graphics memory.
• 40 GB of hard drive capacity with 15 GB free space.
• DVD-ROM Drive³.
• Audio output capability.
• Internet access capability.

The bottom line, even if you're thinking that you'll get the basic version of Windows Vista, get as close as you can to the higher-level specs if not more than that if you can.

Windows Vista: The Versions

Microsoft has put up pages describing the different versions of Windows Vista you'll have to choose from. This should help those who are unclear. One rumor I have heard is that when you install it, you will actually have everything but access to only the level you paid for. If you want to upgrade at a later time, you just do it online and it unlocks the additional features. That is a great feature.

Many a Vista

Microsoft has officially announced the list of "editions" of Windows Vista. There are going to be eight to choose from. (And you thought three versions of XP were two too many...)

Disney ownes Corman

Here's a match made in... Well, I'm just not sure where this match was made, but I'm guessing Hollywood...
Buena Vista Home Entertainment Acquires Rights to Extensive Roger Corman Library

First views of Windows Vista

CNET News.com has five screenshots of Windows Vista. (It's looking pretty slick.)

There are more avialable from Microsoft and ActiveWin.com.

Photos

Buena Vista University

Storm Lake

Storm Lake Public Library