I hate Windows Mail and WMP 11

[MorseLady]

I am evaluating Vista Business Edition on a home computer dual booting with XP Pro and although I am impressed with many of the features especially from an administrative point of view there are things I dislike or even hate.

Can I install Outlook Express in Vista as I do like to manage my various accounts individually. Can I use Windows Media Player 9 and where are the card games? I tried to import a copy of Solitaire from XP complete with Cards DLL but it won't run. I can just about live with the new Internet Explorer.

Most of the screensavers are rubbish but the old version of Mystify, and 3D Pipes etc will not run.

I probably won't buy it. It seems to be cluttered and too flashy.

[NooNoo]

No you can't put OE on Vista because Windows mail is OE! What you can do is have outlook type identity management installed to do the same job.

You can turn off all the flashy stuff...
here is a video to show you how to change it to looking like XP.

You have Vista Business - companies don't like employees playing games, so it is normally turned off. so turn them back on again!

Mystify screensaver is on Vista (allbeit an updated version) ... When you say will not run, exactly what happens and is this a 64bit or 32bit version?

[MorseLady]

Thanks Noo. I have found the games and will do the other stuff.

The Vista Mystify screensaver is horrible and thick lines not a bit like the original one and there are no options. I tried to import the XP version but it defaulted to the Vista version. My favourite, 3D Pipes, will not run in Vista.

I will play with Vista until it times out but I will not be buying it and already it is getting on my nerves and if I am going to have to make it look like XP I might as well carry on using XP which from what I have seen of Vista is better.

Thank goodness I was able to try it first or else I would have been very angry wasting my pension on something I can do without.

[NooNoo]

Fair enough.

[Matridom]

if your using the system for home use, you may want to look at evaluating home premium or ultimate as they are more designed for the home user in mind. Both these editions for example have Media Center where as business does not.

Personally i use Ultimate at home.

[MorseLady]

I would have chosen Home Premium but I was offered Business to try and although it has Aero I wonder if it is not as good as in Ultimate and Home Premium? My computing is very graphics intensive as I do a lot of web design and digital photography including photo editing which may include RAW files from my bridge camera.

I am trying Vista out on a computer with 128MB ATI graphics, would it look better on my main one which has 256MB Nvidia graphics?

But what really spoils Vista for me is the mail program and Windows Media Player 11 which cannot be replaced by earlier versions.

[NooNoo]

It's not better or worse, it's just that different things are bundled with different editions read here for a comparison

You can always load a different media player and a different email client.

What don't you like about WMP 11?

[MorseLady]

I am familiar with the differences between the versions what I meant was is Aero better in some versions? I can't seem to find these 3D flip things, despite 128MB video card they all look rather flat and rather big on my screen and clutter it.

I do not like Windows Media Player 10 or 11 for the same reasons all those covers when all I want is a list of my songs. I just think things have become ridiculous with all this fancy stuff.

Yet there is something about Vista that is intriguing me and I wish I could try Home Premium oin my main computer.

Maybe when I am depressed is not a good time to try something out - my course is not running because they cannot get a teacher. I am annoyed

[NooNoo]

a WMP11 review come tutorial It might help you find the bits you want more easily.

The 3d flip thingy is accessed using alt+tab

The video card you have got is the absolute minimum for supporting the clever graphics, so no, it's never going to look as good as it does on a nice pci-e 256mb graphics card.

Sorry to hear your course was cancelled... hopefully they will find a teacher for next term.

[MorseLady]

I have been checking my main computer with the Vista Advisor and it would seem that at least three of my main and not very cheap apps are not supported ie MS Works 8, Norton AV 2006 and Partition Magic 8 and it would cost me more than I could afford to upgrade these and buy Vista. There are other things which are on the list that won't run too.

So that decided it, no Vista for me.

[NooNoo]

Umm how about swapping out the video cards?

[MorseLady]

Swapping out what video cards for what purpose? The 256MB card is in my main computer and it stays there because this computer has a better spec all round but I don't want to mess it up with dual booting just to try something I have already decided I don't want. I have already taken Vista off the other computer and so far as I am concerned Vista no longer exists because it stressed me so much. I think in my current state of mind of severe depression (I am seeing my Doctor about it this week) I cannot take change.

[NooNoo]

So that the vista machine gets the 256mb video card....

[MorseLady]

Sorry I must have been editing my message and crossed with yours.

Just one final question purely out of curiousity. Would doubling the video card from 128MB to 256MB ie using my better machine and using Home Premium instead of Business really have made a difference?

I have since been reading the review of WMP 11 you gave me the link to Noo and I feel that I ought to comment that I am still using WMP 9 and could not get on with WMP 10 and it drove my husband mad when he accidentally downloaded and installed it and I had to restore things for him to quieten him down. I have hated anything over WMP 9 since then for upsetting him as I got the stick as usual.

[NooNoo]

It is the video card that is important. Business and Premium have different abilities, but where the abilities are the same, you will get the same result on the same machine.

The video card you have in the vista machine is the absolute minimum... recommended is a 256mb card. Any gamer will tell you that a game will look horrible where only the minimum video card is used, but upgrading to the better card will make the entire thing behave as it should.