vista business ed notes and using...

well, so i've prob ran the last 4 versions of the vista betas and finally this weekend got Vista Business Ed RTM up and going on my main pc.  my initial impressions of vista were luke warm due to the super long install times of the betas. i was anxious to see how the final release of vista and its aero style would run or crash. this is my first real attempt at using vista as my main os, but i have my xp prof sp2 still dual booted and setup just in case.

i'm only on day 3 of running vista and so far things have been so, so.  basically reminds me of when XP first came out.  silly cd/dvd burning software crashing the os, features from the prev OS that seemed to be left out, horrible vista compatible driver support, and the newb-ness of the OS itself.

so here are a few things i've noted about Vista thus far and think may help other virgin Vista users out.

1. older Nero 7 versions will crash Vista.  there is a video encoder in the installation that makes vista crash over and over again.  however, there is an alternative solution.  a few geeks have made a custom installation, micro and lite nero 7, that will work with vista.  i'm using the Nero 7 Lite and it lets me do everything i did w/the full version (never/hated the stupid showtime player, always took over all of my video/audio extensions).  check that out over here: http://www.updatepack.nl/ 

2. ATI video drivers DO NOT allow fullscreen overlays like in prev versions.  this was a biggie for me since i use my dual monitor setup mainly for movie/video watching and i always have my ati settings setup to have fullscreen overlay video on my secondary when i have video going in the primary.  very nice for movies while surfing, etc. we can only wait til Ati updates/adds this feature back to their drivers or someone hacks the current one.  i've heard you can use older RC1 betas but i'm a bit skeptical on using even older ati drivers.

3.  Where's the My Pictures slideshow screensaver??? seriously, i loved that screensaver!!  it worked w/multi-monitor setup (pics would alternate between my two monitors) and let me use my monitors/pc as a digital photo frames in my room (have a hotkey setup to turn on my screensaver, i love you ultramon!). i found a MUCH better alternative.  Google's Picasa has a screensaver function.  once you activate in Picasa, it will add a screensaver into windows display properties > screensaver area.  Choose it and click on the settings button and then choose which folders you want (you can do multiple folders, folders in picasa (starred/tagged) or even from picasa webalbums).  Jackpot and another point for Picasa! get it over here:  http://picasa.google.com/

so for the time being, i'm still using my XP  setup for movie watching at night and my vista setup during the day.  so it seems i'll prob be dual booting for some time to come. anywho thats about all for now, more to come (hopefully cablecard tv tuners and vista ultimate!).  oh yea, here's my latest desktop, vista styled.. :P  (doh, wp won't let me upload... so.. coming soon? hehe)