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 (nobody)...and 168 guests Last 5 registered Oplandisks nothingstar N_loop yipe foxtrotromeo Browse members... |
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Hello, I just bought a new PC today with windows vista on it, and I'm having a grand (read: awful) old time trying to familiarize myself with it. I've got a couple questions regarding basic navigation in vista: 1) Where is the 'run' feature now? In XP, you simply click Start -> run. 2) How do I see detailed information on my computer's hardware? before you could simply go to Start -> right-click my computer, and go to properties for the device manager. How do I do that now? Specifically, is there a way I can check the speed/type of the ram in my computer? I was supposed to have DDR2 ram, but so far I can only get it to display how much ram I have, not what type/speed. 3) How do I get to 'msconfig' to remove what I don't want in start-up? 4) Where do I go to change the video resolution? Vista apparently screwed with the NVIDIA control panel, so I can't figure out where to go to change visual settings like resolution and color depth. That's all I've got for now but I'm certain I'll have more questions as the day progresses. Thanks a lot to anyone who can help me understand Vista better. Also, if you have any tips on how to streamline and optimize Vista so that it runs as few processess in the background as possible, please feel free to post those here as well. |
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The best way to optimize Vista is to install XP. *badum-tsj* |
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Hehe, so I've heard. To be honest I don't like anything about Vista, thus far. Granted, I've been using it for just about 10 minutes, so perhaps I'll grow to like it in time. I'm really hoping there are some incredibly helpful features buried under all this flashy nonsense. |
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have you seen the 50+ mins rant of pirillo already? |
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Nah, haven't seen that yet, and I'll probably watch it, but not right now unless it's going to help answer some of those questions I just asked. My old computer's HDD just died so unless I buy a new one on top of this new computer, I'm not going to be reverting to XP anytime soon. |
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Also, is there some checkbox I have to enable somewhere that will turn on like "Vista advanced" to allow more options to appear in all the menus? I just read a tip that says you can turn of the vista Aero graphics and put it on a classic windows set up by going to Start - Control Panel - Themes. The problem is, there is NO themes button/icon anywhere on my control panel, I just triple-checked. So WTF? |
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wish i could help, but i'm on a mac ;p |
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That's ok, with Vista the way it is, I'm starting to wish I had just gotten a Mac instead. |
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there's your real answer. flashy nonsense and functionability! |
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i cant get a computer with vista to download and install windows updates, that sucks. |
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for the Run... command Right click on the orb > Properties > "Start Menu" Tab > [Customize] the start menu > [_] Run command |
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I guess startup programs are all handled in Windows Defender now. Open Windows Defender Tools Software Explorer Choose 'Startup Programs' from the pulldown Click 'Show for all users' button Then you should be able to 'Remove' a program.... results may vary from frustrating to infuriating. |
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to change most of the things about the way it looks... set to classic, change themes & resolution, etc... right-click on the desktop and select 'Personalize'. |
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Thanks shope! |
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"Then you should be able to 'Remove' a program.... results may vary from frustrating to infuriating." lol, just saw that... I basically just want to remove the stuff that I really don't need running, to free up as much RAM as possible. Do you, by chance, know which processes and programs (those that run on all vista systems) that can be safely removed? |
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I don't. Sorry. I've been running Vista for a month or so, and I haven't killed any services. Although, I tried to remove something from startup the day I got the machine and it just kept trying to come back everytime I rebooted, so eventually I let it I think... sorry I can't remember what it was now. I've actually grown to kindof like Vista. |
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I love Vista. To get the Run box up just press the Windows key and the letter R. msconfig still exists. End of transmission. |
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No problem, I asked because you seemed like you had already been through the trial-and-error portion of learning Vista, and I'm hoping to become familiar with it with as little headache as possible. :) I just ran msconfig, and it turns out there really isn't a whole lot loading in my startup on this PC anyway, so I decided not to screw with it. |
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Killer. Bye bye, Dell E-Center. Tell me some more tricks, Lee! |
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Something else you should know about Vista. Don't worry about freeing up RAM. Vista has been designed to constantly use between 50% - 80% of available RAM. If there is RAM available it caches frequently accessed stuff to make it quicker to open if you need it. If you try to open something else it just dumps the stuff it has cached and frees it up as it needs it with almost 0 performance hit. |
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Transmission received and decoded. Yeah, Vista doesn't seem too bad yet, it just takes a little getting used to. The thing I'm worried about is driver support. as I haven't swapped my videocard or my soundcard over into this PC yet, I'm afraid the real test with vista will be how easily I get my hardware (audigy 4 and geforce8800 cards) up and running. |
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I see. That's interesting! I won't worry about freeing up RAM then, but I'm still wondering if there's a way to tell if I have DDR2 ram. Is it safe to assume that a new intel Q6600 PC wouldn't use anything but DDR2? |
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Vista's Windows Explorer is nice, and the way search indexes and categorizes files, apps, and help is cool. But, I sortof hate the way they tried to jam that down your throat by making the All Programs menu so clumsy that you basically HAVE to use search to find your less frequently used programs. Windows Explorer is probably the only feature I'd say I love... but, there's not much I'd say I hate either. Overall its a step up from XP but not exciting at all. I cranked my window borders up to like 50 pixels and giggled about that for an afternoon, then set them back... used to change up the log on screen. That's about it. |
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I was about to install 3dMark06 on my computer, but it needs direct x 9 to be installed, and I guess this PC only came with the DX10 components... will it mess anything up to install them both at the same time? |
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It shouldn't cause any harm because it should only update components that need updating. |
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Yeah, you just confirmed what I read on a forum somewhere. I think it should be okay. |
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Is there anything specifically I should do in Vista before taking the vid card it came with out and swapping my 8800 card into it? I've got the drivers for the 8800 ready to go for when windows boots up again, but do I need to disable the current card before pulling it out and putting the 8800 in? |
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just make sure the computer's off. :P |
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hehe... so this new PC only came with a 300watt power supply, going to have to swap over my 600watt from my old PC as well as the video card. I'm debating taking it to a tech now, as I really don't want to inadvertently fry something while I'm swapping all the stuff out. I'm great at swapping out video and sound cards, but doing all the power wiring in a cramped space is not much fun and I'm afraid I'd screw something up. |
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the helicopters have been sent out. hang in there. |
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but they're never going to find me in.... the Jungle!! |
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I got Vista today as well. I dont have a clue what the fuck is going on but theres some giant clock in the corner and a slideshow with a picture of some bulls. seems crap so far. will all my musics software work on it? |
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dude, dont worry about replacing your ps at all. its just as idiot proof as installing a new video card with a few screws added. of course, when you start making your own extension power cables like i do you begin to accidentally swap a couple wires and make your cd-rom go "pop pop click sizzzlllleeee." true story. |
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You can change the sidebar "gadgets". I've got rid of the clock and slideshow and just have the weather and a couple of RSS feeds. It's pretty nice. |
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first thing i did was turn the sidebar off. it seems like the kind of thing you'd use once every 3 days, and the rest of the time it's just taking up space. |
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does the sidebar take up much resources? I've just got the CPU monitor running on it right now, but I'll most likely add some Feeds to it sometime soon. |
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What brand of PSU is it? Yes, it matters... probably more than the wattage. "Comes with the case" ... that's not very good quality, then (from experience and reviews). It just helps with system stability. The PSU is one of the most highly looked-over components in a PC, in terms of quality / stability. You still have the box for the vid card? Does it state how many watts min. to run it? I hope 300W is enough. I suggest that you remove the card from your device manager and just to be safe, uninstall the drivers as well. |
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I'm still wondering why the fucking hell Vista is cheaper in price than Windows XP, at least the "system builder" versions... Makes no sense whatsoever. |
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The 8800 requires a 400w PSU. The PSU im switching into it is the one that I was already running the 8800 on. I checked how much power it supplied to the 12v rail (what the PCI-e uses) before I bought it, and it's enough. Thanks anyway, though :) |
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no, i doubt it takes up many resources. well, i suppose it depends on which widgets you have installed. but i'd guess the ones that come by default probably use built-in windows functions (like, the clock & calendar), so there's not much overhead. i'm totally just guessing there, though. |
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IT WAS ALL A DREAM! |
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lol, I wondered why this had been bumped... |
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