Help! Myriad Vista bugs!

So I've installed Vista a few hours ago, and since then I've been busy trying
to get the computer to a working condition for me to accomplish anything
today. All in vain.

I've encountered a few recurring problems and those are:
1. The text on the desktop is blurred. Its not me. I've used the magnifier
to check this. Whats the big idea about giving a small text a shadow twice
its size?
Through some incredible unrepeatable feat, I've managed to launch a dialog
box in which I've unticked one of many options to disable text shadows
(anyone care to help me find that box again?) But now the font is ugly. Its
as if they took the greyscale, and replaced it by white. Super fat letters is
not my thing. At the moment I've switched to the "classic" windows look. The
win98 were not my favorite days, buy hey, at least I can read my icon names!

2.My desktop disappears at will. Pretty much whenever it feels like it. No
error, no prompt, no action taken on my side. I leave the computer for a sec,
come back, no icons, no bar, no nothing. Only the background and the language
bar to keep me company. Thats right, the language bar. It happened to me
before straight after I've restarted the computer. Vista loads, a few other
programs load, everything disappears. Poof! Magic! Restart!

3.Loading is awfully slow. This is tollerable as I don't restart very often,
but moving from a 3 minutes from restart to complete reload of XP + software
to 7 minutes load of Vista alone is a bit over the top. My computer have got
4.8 on the Vista scale. I feel bad for those who have the minimum reqs
computer.

4.My folder all open in a new window. And yes, I've checked the folder
option in the control panel. According to the radio button, all of my folder
open in the same window.

Any help with those would be greatly appreciated. Until then, my trusty
laptop would get to see some daylight.

Thanks,
Itamar

EDIT:Coming to think of it, putting my computer specs here might make some
difference. I doubt it, but it might save some time later.

3.2G dual core, 2 x 1G ram sticks
ran XP home before, got a full (non-upgrade) Vista business
Thats about it. I believe the rest is irrelevant. Just trying to emphasize
that the slow load is not a matter of a weak PC.

first thing you should do is check for new drivers for video, and then for the other devices.







"Itamaram" <> wrote in message news:23D52EFD-B00E-4F37-A459-...
So I've installed Vista a few hours ago, and since then I've been busy trying
to get the computer to a working condition for me to accomplish anything
today. All in vain.

I've encountered a few recurring problems and those are:
1. The text on the desktop is blurred. Its not me. I've used the magnifier
to check this. Whats the big idea about giving a small text a shadow twice
its size?
Through some incredible unrepeatable feat, I've managed to launch a dialog
box in which I've unticked one of many options to disable text shadows
(anyone care to help me find that box again?) But now the font is ugly. Its
as if they took the greyscale, and replaced it by white. Super fat letters is
not my thing. At the moment I've switched to the "classic" windows look. The
win98 were not my favorite days, buy hey, at least I can read my icon names!

2.My desktop disappears at will. Pretty much whenever it feels like it. No
error, no prompt, no action taken on my side. I leave the computer for a sec,
come back, no icons, no bar, no nothing. Only the background and the language
bar to keep me company. Thats right, the language bar. It happened to me
before straight after I've restarted the computer. Vista loads, a few other
programs load, everything disappears. Poof! Magic! Restart!

3.Loading is awfully slow. This is tollerable as I don't restart very often,
but moving from a 3 minutes from restart to complete reload of XP + software
to 7 minutes load of Vista alone is a bit over the top. My computer have got
4.8 on the Vista scale. I feel bad for those who have the minimum reqs
computer.

4.My folder all open in a new window. And yes, I've checked the folder
option in the control panel. According to the radio button, all of my folder
open in the same window.

Any help with those would be greatly appreciated. Until then, my trusty
laptop would get to see some daylight.

Thanks,
Itamar

EDIT:Coming to think of it, putting my computer specs here might make some
difference. I doubt it, but it might save some time later.

3.2G dual core, 2 x 1G ram sticks
ran XP home before, got a full (non-upgrade) Vista business
Thats about it. I believe the rest is irrelevant. Just trying to emphasize
that the slow load is not a matter of a weak PC.

Done. First thing Afer the installation. Second one was to go to windows
updates. I doubt problems 1,3 and 4 are of any relevance to drivers anyway,
but then again, I might be wrong.

"mikeyhsd" wrote:

> first thing you should do is check for new drivers for video, and then for the other devices.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> "Itamaram" <> wrote in message news:23D52EFD-B00E-4F37-A459-...
> So I've installed Vista a few hours ago, and since then I've been busy trying
> to get the computer to a working condition for me to accomplish anything
> today. All in vain.
>
> I've encountered a few recurring problems and those are:
> 1. The text on the desktop is blurred. Its not me. I've used the magnifier
> to check this. Whats the big idea about giving a small text a shadow twice
> its size?
> Through some incredible unrepeatable feat, I've managed to launch a dialog
> box in which I've unticked one of many options to disable text shadows
> (anyone care to help me find that box again?) But now the font is ugly. Its
> as if they took the greyscale, and replaced it by white. Super fat letters is
> not my thing. At the moment I've switched to the "classic" windows look. The
> win98 were not my favorite days, buy hey, at least I can read my icon names!
>
> 2.My desktop disappears at will. Pretty much whenever it feels like it. No
> error, no prompt, no action taken on my side. I leave the computer for a sec,
> come back, no icons, no bar, no nothing. Only the background and the language
> bar to keep me company. Thats right, the language bar. It happened to me
> before straight after I've restarted the computer. Vista loads, a few other
> programs load, everything disappears. Poof! Magic! Restart!
>
> 3.Loading is awfully slow. This is tollerable as I don't restart very often,
> but moving from a 3 minutes from restart to complete reload of XP + software
> to 7 minutes load of Vista alone is a bit over the top. My computer have got
> 4.8 on the Vista scale. I feel bad for those who have the minimum reqs
> computer.
>
> 4.My folder all open in a new window. And yes, I've checked the folder
> option in the control panel. According to the radio button, all of my folder
> open in the same window.
>
> Any help with those would be greatly appreciated. Until then, my trusty
> laptop would get to see some daylight.
>
> Thanks,
> Itamar
>
> EDIT:Coming to think of it, putting my computer specs here might make some
> difference. I doubt it, but it might save some time later.
>
> 3.2G dual core, 2 x 1G ram sticks
> ran XP home before, got a full (non-upgrade) Vista business
> Thats about it. I believe the rest is irrelevant. Just trying to emphasize
> that the slow load is not a matter of a weak PC

Answered inline

"Itamaram" <> wrote in message
news:23D52EFD-B00E-4F37-A459-...
> So I've installed Vista a few hours ago, and since then I've been busy
> trying
> to get the computer to a working condition for me to accomplish anything
> today. All in vain.
>
> I've encountered a few recurring problems and those are:
> 1. The text on the desktop is blurred. Its not me. I've used the magnifier
> to check this. Whats the big idea about giving a small text a shadow twice
> its size?
> Through some incredible unrepeatable feat, I've managed to launch a dialog
> box in which I've unticked one of many options to disable text shadows
> (anyone care to help me find that box again?) But now the font is ugly.
> Its
> as if they took the greyscale, and replaced it by white. Super fat letters
> is
> not my thing. At the moment I've switched to the "classic" windows look.
> The
> win98 were not my favorite days, buy hey, at least I can read my icon
> names!
>

Sounds like a driver problem. What video card?

> 2.My desktop disappears at will. Pretty much whenever it feels like it. No
> error, no prompt, no action taken on my side. I leave the computer for a
> sec,
> come back, no icons, no bar, no nothing. Only the background and the
> language
> bar to keep me company. Thats right, the language bar. It happened to me
> before straight after I've restarted the computer. Vista loads, a few
> other
> programs load, everything disappears. Poof! Magic! Restart!
>

See #1

> 3.Loading is awfully slow. This is tollerable as I don't restart very
> often,
> but moving from a 3 minutes from restart to complete reload of XP +
> software
> to 7 minutes load of Vista alone is a bit over the top. My computer have
> got
> 4.8 on the Vista scale. I feel bad for those who have the minimum reqs
> computer.
>

Help and Support - type in slow startup - amazingly there are some
troubleshooting tips. Help and support in Vista is very good. Tip #3 is very
useful. In almost all case of slow startup see #1.

> 4.My folder all open in a new window. And yes, I've checked the folder
> option in the control panel. According to the radio button, all of my
> folder
> open in the same window.
>
> Any help with those would be greatly appreciated. Until then, my trusty
> laptop would get to see some daylight.
>

If the Folders pane is active then folders will open in the same window. If
it's not then that option has no effect.

--
Kerry Brown
Microsoft MVP - Shell/User
http://www.vistahelp.ca

Itamaram wrote:
> So I've installed Vista a few hours ago, and since then I've been busy trying
> to get the computer to a working condition for me to accomplish anything
> today. All in vain.
>
> I've encountered a few recurring problems and those are:
> 1. The text on the desktop is blurred. Its not me. I've used the magnifier
> to check this. Whats the big idea about giving a small text a shadow twice
> its size?

You're using an LCD screen and you've not set the display resolution to
the resolution of the screen?

Alun Harford

1. I must have complained too much if I have lead you to believe the problem
is in the drivers. I am unhappy with the font. I was unhappy with the
shadowed font, I've somehow managed to make the shadow disappear. I am now
unhappy with the new font.
So this boils down to:"How do I change the font on my desktop to the one
which is identical to windows XP?" and "How do I choose which fancy Vista
graphics to enable?"

2.Possibly. How do I see which is the problematic driver? As I said, as far
as I know all of my drivers are updated. (Also, I've found a solution: Task
manager, terminate explorer, new task "explorer" voila! No need to restart!)

3.I will give it a try. Sounds promising.

4.The folder pane is open. This is most certainly a bug, not a feature.

"Kerry Brown" wrote:

> Answered inline
>
> "Itamaram" <> wrote in message
> news:23D52EFD-B00E-4F37-A459-...
> > So I've installed Vista a few hours ago, and since then I've been busy
> > trying
> > to get the computer to a working condition for me to accomplish anything
> > today. All in vain.
> >
> > I've encountered a few recurring problems and those are:
> > 1. The text on the desktop is blurred. Its not me. I've used the magnifier
> > to check this. Whats the big idea about giving a small text a shadow twice
> > its size?
> > Through some incredible unrepeatable feat, I've managed to launch a dialog
> > box in which I've unticked one of many options to disable text shadows
> > (anyone care to help me find that box again?) But now the font is ugly.
> > Its
> > as if they took the greyscale, and replaced it by white. Super fat letters
> > is
> > not my thing. At the moment I've switched to the "classic" windows look.
> > The
> > win98 were not my favorite days, buy hey, at least I can read my icon
> > names!
> >
>
> Sounds like a driver problem. What video card?
>
> > 2.My desktop disappears at will. Pretty much whenever it feels like it. No
> > error, no prompt, no action taken on my side. I leave the computer for a
> > sec,
> > come back, no icons, no bar, no nothing. Only the background and the
> > language
> > bar to keep me company. Thats right, the language bar. It happened to me
> > before straight after I've restarted the computer. Vista loads, a few
> > other
> > programs load, everything disappears. Poof! Magic! Restart!
> >
>
> See #1
>
> > 3.Loading is awfully slow. This is tollerable as I don't restart very
> > often,
> > but moving from a 3 minutes from restart to complete reload of XP +
> > software
> > to 7 minutes load of Vista alone is a bit over the top. My computer have
> > got
> > 4.8 on the Vista scale. I feel bad for those who have the minimum reqs
> > computer.
> >
>
> Help and Support - type in slow startup - amazingly there are some
> troubleshooting tips. Help and support in Vista is very good. Tip #3 is very
> useful. In almost all case of slow startup see #1.
>
> > 4.My folder all open in a new window. And yes, I've checked the folder
> > option in the control panel. According to the radio button, all of my
> > folder
> > open in the same window.
> >
> > Any help with those would be greatly appreciated. Until then, my trusty
> > laptop would get to see some daylight.
> >
>
> If the Folders pane is active then folders will open in the same window. If
> it's not then that option has no effect.
>
> --
> Kerry Brown
> Microsoft MVP - Shell/User
> http://www.vistahelp.ca
>
>
>

Missed a line. Graphics card is nVidia GeForce 7600GS.
Also, the help and support didn't help. No performance issues were noted,
and as far as I can tell (with assistance of some software that is) my
computer is clear of outside infections. Most of the loading time is being
wasted on black screens and such, from the moment I see the Windows logo
there is less then a minute until I can start working.

"Kerry Brown" wrote:

> Answered inline
>
> "Itamaram" <> wrote in message
> news:23D52EFD-B00E-4F37-A459-...
> > So I've installed Vista a few hours ago, and since then I've been busy
> > trying
> > to get the computer to a working condition for me to accomplish anything
> > today. All in vain.
> >
> > I've encountered a few recurring problems and those are:
> > 1. The text on the desktop is blurred. Its not me. I've used the magnifier
> > to check this. Whats the big idea about giving a small text a shadow twice
> > its size?
> > Through some incredible unrepeatable feat, I've managed to launch a dialog
> > box in which I've unticked one of many options to disable text shadows
> > (anyone care to help me find that box again?) But now the font is ugly.
> > Its
> > as if they took the greyscale, and replaced it by white. Super fat letters
> > is
> > not my thing. At the moment I've switched to the "classic" windows look.
> > The
> > win98 were not my favorite days, buy hey, at least I can read my icon
> > names!
> >
>
> Sounds like a driver problem. What video card?
>
> > 2.My desktop disappears at will. Pretty much whenever it feels like it. No
> > error, no prompt, no action taken on my side. I leave the computer for a
> > sec,
> > come back, no icons, no bar, no nothing. Only the background and the
> > language
> > bar to keep me company. Thats right, the language bar. It happened to me
> > before straight after I've restarted the computer. Vista loads, a few
> > other
> > programs load, everything disappears. Poof! Magic! Restart!
> >
>
> See #1
>
> > 3.Loading is awfully slow. This is tollerable as I don't restart very
> > often,
> > but moving from a 3 minutes from restart to complete reload of XP +
> > software
> > to 7 minutes load of Vista alone is a bit over the top. My computer have
> > got
> > 4.8 on the Vista scale. I feel bad for those who have the minimum reqs
> > computer.
> >
>
> Help and Support - type in slow startup - amazingly there are some
> troubleshooting tips. Help and support in Vista is very good. Tip #3 is very
> useful. In almost all case of slow startup see #1.
>
> > 4.My folder all open in a new window. And yes, I've checked the folder
> > option in the control panel. According to the radio button, all of my
> > folder
> > open in the same window.
> >
> > Any help with those would be greatly appreciated. Until then, my trusty
> > laptop would get to see some daylight.
> >
>
> If the Folders pane is active then folders will open in the same window. If
> it's not then that option has no effect.
>
> --
> Kerry Brown
> Microsoft MVP - Shell/User
> http://www.vistahelp.ca
>
>
>

"Alun Harford" <> wrote in message
news:%...
> Itamaram wrote:
>> So I've installed Vista a few hours ago, and since then I've been busy
>> trying to get the computer to a working condition for me to accomplish
>> anything today. All in vain.
>>
>> I've encountered a few recurring problems and those are:
>> 1. The text on the desktop is blurred. Its not me. I've used the
>> magnifier to check this. Whats the big idea about giving a small text a
>> shadow twice its size?
>
> You're using an LCD screen and you've not set the display resolution to
> the resolution of the screen?
>
> Alun Harford

Hey, you stole my answer

That's exactly what I was thinking too. Vista is clear and stunning on my
1920x1200 24" widescreen.

No. Just no.
The fonts are exactly as they should be. My problem is that they are ugly.
MY prbolem was solved by doing the following (painstakingly found by trial
and error):
right click computer, properties, performance, visual effects, and then
untick smooth edges of screen fonts. The fonts are just plain. no silly
shadow, and not over boldness. Is the issue solved then? No. Not really. The
fonts are still unlike what I'm used to. Can someone please tell me how to
modify the system font? (I know how to change it for a few subcases, such as
menus, and textboxes. Sadly the above dialog does not allow me to change the
font for my desktop)

"Tom Scales" wrote:

>
> "Alun Harford" <> wrote in message
> news:%...
> > Itamaram wrote:
> >> So I've installed Vista a few hours ago, and since then I've been busy
> >> trying to get the computer to a working condition for me to accomplish
> >> anything today. All in vain.
> >>
> >> I've encountered a few recurring problems and those are:
> >> 1. The text on the desktop is blurred. Its not me. I've used the
> >> magnifier to check this. Whats the big idea about giving a small text a
> >> shadow twice its size?
> >
> > You're using an LCD screen and you've not set the display resolution to
> > the resolution of the screen?
> >
> > Alun Harford
>
> Hey, you stole my answer
>
> That's exactly what I was thinking too. Vista is clear and stunning on my
> 1920x1200 24" widescreen.
>
>

I was getting all sorts of inconsistent errors and blue screens until I read
on here that Vista handles RAM differently.

So I pulled my RAM and took it to a friend who has a RAM tester and let him
run diags on it and sure enough...I had some bad RAM!!

So, I replaced my RAM and now all is well!

Note that under XP everything was fine, all the time so it was the new way
of Vista which found the bad parts of the RAM.

I'd bet you have the same issues!

Go get your RAM tested!

Also, the old memx86 or whatever it is does NOT detect errors well enough!

Find someone who has a RAM testing machine instead.

Good luck!


"Itamaram" <> wrote in message
newsA54FE14-AE62-48F3-BED4-...
> Done. First thing Afer the installation. Second one was to go to windows
> updates. I doubt problems 1,3 and 4 are of any relevance to drivers
> anyway,
> but then again, I might be wrong.
>
> "mikeyhsd" wrote:
>
>> first thing you should do is check for new drivers for video, and then
>> for the other devices.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> "Itamaram" <> wrote in message
>> news:23D52EFD-B00E-4F37-A459-...
>> So I've installed Vista a few hours ago, and since then I've been busy
>> trying
>> to get the computer to a working condition for me to accomplish
>> anything
>> today. All in vain.
>>
>> I've encountered a few recurring problems and those are:
>> 1. The text on the desktop is blurred. Its not me. I've used the
>> magnifier
>> to check this. Whats the big idea about giving a small text a shadow
>> twice
>> its size?
>> Through some incredible unrepeatable feat, I've managed to launch a
>> dialog
>> box in which I've unticked one of many options to disable text shadows
>> (anyone care to help me find that box again?) But now the font is ugly.
>> Its
>> as if they took the greyscale, and replaced it by white. Super fat
>> letters is
>> not my thing. At the moment I've switched to the "classic" windows
>> look. The
>> win98 were not my favorite days, buy hey, at least I can read my icon
>> names!
>>
>> 2.My desktop disappears at will. Pretty much whenever it feels like it.
>> No
>> error, no prompt, no action taken on my side. I leave the computer for
>> a sec,
>> come back, no icons, no bar, no nothing. Only the background and the
>> language
>> bar to keep me company. Thats right, the language bar. It happened to
>> me
>> before straight after I've restarted the computer. Vista loads, a few
>> other
>> programs load, everything disappears. Poof! Magic! Restart!
>>
>> 3.Loading is awfully slow. This is tollerable as I don't restart very
>> often,
>> but moving from a 3 minutes from restart to complete reload of XP +
>> software
>> to 7 minutes load of Vista alone is a bit over the top. My computer
>> have got
>> 4.8 on the Vista scale. I feel bad for those who have the minimum reqs
>> computer.
>>
>> 4.My folder all open in a new window. And yes, I've checked the folder
>> option in the control panel. According to the radio button, all of my
>> folder
>> open in the same window.
>>
>> Any help with those would be greatly appreciated. Until then, my trusty
>> laptop would get to see some daylight.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Itamar
>>
>> EDIT:Coming to think of it, putting my computer specs here might make
>> some
>> difference. I doubt it, but it might save some time later.
>>
>> 3.2G dual core, 2 x 1G ram sticks
>> ran XP home before, got a full (non-upgrade) Vista business
>> Thats about it. I believe the rest is irrelevant. Just trying to
>> emphasize
>> that the slow load is not a matter of a weak PC