Submitted by “We often wonder if we are getting the most out of our computers, especially as we sit drumming our fingers waiting for some process to begin or end. But what can you do get the system into shape and keep it that way?
“ Here’s what you need to know about Vista’s performance tools, the new Windows Experience Index, Problem and Health Reports, and routine maintenance (including Disk Cleanup and Defragmenter), to get your OS humming along.
You could install Linux. Hey, I’m just beating the zealots to the punch this time
well thanks a lot… that is my party well and truly pooped
System Maintenance with Windows (including Vista) Guide
1. with MINOR problems –> REBOOT
2. with MAJOR problems –> REINSTALL
Reformat and reinstall not just reinstall
I was going to say the same thing about:
Fedora
SUSE
Ubuntu
Debian
Tried them all. Downloaded an update, kernel panic [whatever that is…must be when the kernel has too much to do and gets anxiety?]. Or change the resolution on the screen, and then you can’t get X to start.
Linux is one of those free things that’s fun to play with, but not very useful in the workplace, like a PS2.
I was going to say the same thing about:
Fedora
SUSE
Ubuntu
Debian
Tried them all. Downloaded an update, kernel panic [whatever that is…must be when the kernel has too much to do and gets anxiety?]. Or change the resolution on the screen, and then you can’t get X to start.
Yes, you can “fix” Linux by reinstalling. It’s a pretty daft thing to do unless you’re just completely lost, however. And I find it pretty hard to believe that “apt-get dist-upgrade” would cause a kernel panic.
Linux is one of those free things that’s fun to play with, but not very useful in the workplace, like a PS2.
Or indeed Windows.
Scratch that. “Fun to play with”?! What am I saying?!
(And yes, for the things I do in the workplace, Linux would be an acceptable substitute for 95% of them. Once Photoshop is programmed for the web, I can’t see a reason why that percentage shouldn’t rise to 100%. If it weren’t for viruses and spyware. But I somehow manage to cope without those.)
“And I find it pretty hard to believe that “apt-get dist-upgrade” would cause a kernel panic.”
Your right, as that will just pretty much trash your system. I can repeat that each and every time I run ‘apt-get dist-upgrade’. People say it works, yet I have never seen it work. I do believe it must work for some people as I see it praised often, though I can guarantee it does not work all the time. Not when just by running the command the machines dies until a re-install is completed. *shrugs*
On topic, Vista seems to work extremely well and needs very little tuning. The boot time on Vista with a 2 year old machine is about 25 seconds from initial turn on until usable desktop, which includes putting in your password. I have yet to see any issues whatever. Once the system is set up the way you want it, UAC goes away. The machine was purchased to last as a power user setup. Pentium D 840 Extreme dual core, 4 GB Ram, 256 MB Nvidia GeForce 6800 PCI Express video card. Purchased in May 2005.
I had a very good experience with older hardware.
– AMD 3200
– 1 Gig RAM
– NVidia 5200 128 Meg RAM
Installed and performed flawlessly first time. My card gets a rating of 2 out of 10 but aero works well on it the poor expose ripoff – forget the name – did not work well with this graphics card though.
The system feels very solid. I ran it for a couple months without anti-virus. Then decided in install the free grisoft anti-virus application. I did a complete scan and no problems. Maybe Alchin is right and you don’t need anti-virus.
“The system feels very solid. I ran it for a couple months without anti-virus. Then decided in install the free grisoft anti-virus application. I did a complete scan and no problems. Maybe Alchin is right and you don’t need anti-virus.”
It’s possible I suppose. There are however 8 vulnerabilities for Vista, though with only being out since November last year for business, and the public only for 2 months, I would still be very careful about running with no anti-virus. 2 of the vulnerabilities remain unpatched, both minor.
http://secunia.com/product/13223/?task=advisories
I’ve done it often, and I’ve never trashed my system with it.
On a related note, the new Distribution Upgrade manager for Feisty works very well. I upgraded my laptop from Edgy to Feisty and everything worked. Brillant.
Not to nitpick, but 4GB of RAM is hardly standard, whether it’s a two-year old system or one that just came out of the store…
“Not to nitpick, but 4GB of RAM is hardly standard, whether it’s a two-year old system or one that just came out of the store…”
For my systems it is. True that the majority of people would not have that much RAM. I have not tried to boot Vista on a 1GB machine, so can not speak for that. 2 years old from the store would still be 512, though I do imagine the booting would be much slower on those.
Like I said in my post, ‘apt-get dist-upgrade’ supposedly does work for a lot of people, and I am not denying it does. I just pointed out that on any system I have used it on, it does not. Could it be user error? Very possible. Not a hard command to type though, and normally what I see is it uninstalling everything on my system, and then just dying. And yes, I followed the how-to to the letter.
That’s not what apt-get dist-upgrade does, though. It doesn’t uninstall without installing the replacement package at the same time.
There must have been something very wrong with the system you tried it on. I find it even stranger that it would happen on more than one system.
In any case, the new dist-upgrade manager does more than apt-get dist-upgrade…in the case where a package cannot be installed and would prevent other packages from being installed, it actually does a rollback to the last safe upgrade.
“That’s not what apt-get dist-upgrade does, though. It doesn’t uninstall without installing the replacement package at the same time.”
Agreed on that score, that it is not supposed to uninstall without installing the replacement. The systems I have tried it on are what I call ‘explodeable systems’. I have 5 around for experimenting with, all older, that if I do blow them up they are of no consequence. I’ll try the new one as it has been awhile.
“Downloaded an update, kernel panic [whatever that is…must be when the kernel has too much to do and gets anxiety?].”
It is unfortunate that you had that experience. I haven’t seen a kernel panic on any of my systems in years (and then it was always me futzing with something that caused it). The only time I’ve had problems with an update was when Ubuntu broke X with a patch.
I use linux every day in the workplace, and I find it quite useful. It’s too bad that you had negative experiences with it.
Now, back on topic (this is a Windows thread): I find it interesting that they mention disk defragmentation…it is my understanding that Vista does this in the background by default anyway.
Tried them all. Downloaded an update, kernel panic [whatever that is…must be when the kernel has too much to do and gets anxiety?]. Or change the resolution on the screen, and then you can’t get X to start.
Wow, what a horrible experience! Now, what about if you tell us what really happened? Please.
On topic, an interesting read indeed, I guess I have to get used to those tools, sooner or later most of us will end up repairing Vista PCs don’t you think? That, or buy one of those “No, I will NOT fix your computer” t-shirts
“On topic, an interesting read indeed, I guess I have to get used to those tools, sooner or later most of us will end up repairing Vista PCs don’t you think?”
I fear we will. “Why should I pay you to work on my computer?!”
“That, or buy one of those “No, I will NOT fix your computer” t-shirts
“
Thanks for this tip, I’ll soon have to get some of these. I hope “Vista” will bring new errors, new problems and new strange settings, so it’ll be some fun playing around with this to get it work, not the usual stuff like “my printer does not work” or “where are my files”.
BTW, I did not encounter any kernel panic until today, what am I doing wrong?
i’ve never seen a kernel panic
“Linux is one of those free things that’s fun to play with, but not very useful in the workplace”
That’s exactly Microsoft’s words, after they switched from “Linux doesn’t exist” and “Linux is evil”, “Linux doesn’t work at all”, etc.
I don’t care for MS’ and your bullshit, as I see people here using Linux daily (and most of them exclusively) on their workplace and being very productive with it. Since 2002, when I got here.
“Linux is one of those free things that’s fun to play with, but not very useful in the workplace, like a PS2.”
Funny, for me it’s exactly he opposite. Windows is kinda fun to play with, or at least play games with, but not very useful in my work.
System Maintenance with Linux
1. With Minor Problems –> Spend 8 hours on google only to find out it is a hardware issue, but thats ok because its the vendors fault.
2. With Major Problems –> Spend 12 hours on google only to find it since the bug is a boring one, it has remained untouched for 2 years now and will most likely only disappear when the devs decide to do their next complete re-write.
problems with ubuntu check ubuntuforums
I would rather spend 12 hours on fixing something than reinstalling my whole system, which is some of the most stupid tasks I know of, and doesn’t really fix the problem.
Edited 2007-04-12 09:12
Just install some trojan horse (those interesting Hotmail attachments from some stranger who really interested in your health) and let your “internetfriend” do the maintenance for you for free!
“Just install some trojan horse (those interesting Hotmail attachments from some stranger who really interested in your health) and let your “internetfriend” do the maintenance for you for free!”
I don’t think the OS can be blamed in such a case. Most of the problems reside between keyboard and chair, the best antivirus and system security programs cannot help here.
Finally, after reading the article, I’ve got the opinion that “Windows” finally is catching up in the field of system diagnostics and maintenance using the preinstalled standard tools coming with the OS distribution (what we in Germany call “Bordmittel” – use everything and only what is preinstalled). Of course no comparison to Linux’s or UNIX’s possibilities, but at least you don’t get strange hourglasses and do-nothings. This will lead support assistants (usually on the phone) to get faster a clue of what the problem seems to be. And in the case of minor problems, average users can find the problem by theirselves. I may add politely that there are users who are unable to tell what they did and what happened. Maybe the new “Vista” tools can help here and tell more. Always interesting: Who is sending the error message, what error occured, what caused the error, which noteable circumstances did take place at this moment? And as a nice addition: What could be the underlying problem and how can it be solved.
I’m going out for a kernel picnic now.