I have dreaded this day

[Chewy]

A dj friend of mine got a toshiba floor model laptop from compusa's closing sale for more than half off

http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/tais/su/su_sc_modelLanding.jsp?ProductMenu_0=Portables&ProductMenu_1=Satellite&model_find=&ProductMenu_2=1757721&moid=1757721&rpn=PSPB3U&smoid=true&ct=MH&ListType=Model&x=36&y=10

no xp drivers and a lot of updates for vista and this model

Can it be fixed or is this a hopeless task, seems slow as heck to boot, task bar is a nightmare

spec's attached

[doctorhardware]

Chewy have fun with the driver issues.

[Chewy]

If I can't fix the present install then I will try xp if i can find drivers for everything from the actual sources, if that bails then we have the restore dvd's

the hd player dvd burner looks the iffiest

[doctorhardware]

I would think that XP would be easier to use then Vista. A lot of the time the recovery disks do not have all the drivers. That is where the problems begin. The manufactures web site are all but almost useless, trying to find the drivers.

[Chewy]

to fix the hd player, I have to update bios, apply a specific video driver then download a whole huge new player software to play hd dvd's manufactured after aug 2007

http://www.audioforums.com/windows-vista-optimization.php

here it is, the ultimate vista power user guide, designed for DJ's who don't go online

use with caution, this is pretty heady stuff

[Chewy]

2 last stupid flaws from redmond

1. system restore just keeps building until your hard drive is full

2. it defaults to protecting you from connecting to an unsecured wireless network

try and find that setting!

[dr_ml422]

Chewy I credit you 4 at least taking a look at this. My resolution still stands. vista hasn't really changed since it's inception has it? Insanity. Doing the same thing expecting different results. Didn't Doc and I have a discussion about CompUSA's closing down 4 good? Toshiba floor model? Hey someone's going to have to figure out Vista pretty soon. Good luck. That generic Windows, or Linux is looking really good and promising.

[Chewy]

One of the problems I am having is with classic mode enabled the guides are hard to understand

there have been some changes as some guides(indexing) don't apply as updates seemed to have changed vista back towards xp

[MilesAhead]

I do have to feel bad for Vista newbies on dial-up

One of the problems I am having is with classic mode enabled the guides are hard to understand

there have been some changes as some guides(indexing) don't apply as updates seemed to have changed vista back towards xp

I do have to feel bad if anyone is trying to set up Vista generally with just a dial-up connection. What saved my sanity was being able to type in stuff like "Vista progress bar flicker" and have google find a site with the location of the Vista personalization tweaks so I could turn animation off.. that kind of stuff.

Pisses me off how they play musical chairs with the settings. It's like if you go to an updated website and this sharp new wallpaper is there, but then you notice it has all the same buttons... so the update is just superficial.

[Chewy]

well it's been an intense learning experience, I've applied most of the tweaks, not going to have time or courage to apply a black viper services cleaning

I did turn off restore to clean up the drive, that enabled me to downsize the system partition to 35 gigs, one way or another restores are now limited to ~5 gigs

cleaned up java and did a developer install of the newest

I have got him a 150 gig data partition setup, which eliminates one of his external drives

did a test with dvdflick last night, it blew thru a 1 hour 8 min avi in 35 minutes

did another with ac power disconnected(by accident) drained 90% in 37 minues

for a laptop with vista I consider this a success

[pfloyd]

CompUSA didn't really close down. They are now the NEW Compusa. However, if you go to their new website, it is the spitting image of Tiger Direct.

[dr_ml422]

One of the problems I am having is with classic mode enabled the guides are hard to understand

there have been some changes as some guides(indexing) don't apply as updates seemed to have changed vista back towards xp

hi Chewy. you mean the updates you hooked into are specifically changing vista back to xp on that lap top? or the updates themselves are actually switching vista back to xp across the board w/e they're applied? don't tell me they've actually started to admit vista's screwed up via these revert to xp updates?

[Chewy]

well a lot of the new features and code in vista were flawed, indexing being one of the worst

people reported horrible performance in transfering files, updates are trying to fix this and get performance in line with xp's

the guide for turning off indexing is out of date, one loop told me I couldn't and slammed the door in my face

another branch acted just like xp's

vista is a "work in progress"

[dr_ml422]

Beta believe it. I'll touch base later. Gotta run right now.

[MilesAhead]

biggest flaw

vista is a "work in progress"

The biggest mistake they made when they decided to run all these background services like indexing, network shadowing, defragging etc.. is not taking into account the HD activity when deciding if your system is "busy".
They just look at CPU usage. It's totally bizarre when you are in the middle of a 3rd party defrag and the Vista defragger starts running!!! I mean, ya' think? Jeez!!!