Taking Vista for a Spin

[Ishcabittle]

As a side note, I threw Vista Ultimate onto a virtual machine the other day to troubleshoot a customer issue, and I became annoyed very quickly by the, "Hey, you just clicked on a shielded control panel item, is this really you wanting to change this setting? Cancel or Allow" windows that popped up with every change I made.

I wasn't really super annoyed by the actual windows, I was more annoyed by the frequency of the dialog box - I know that pretty near most users are going to get used to clicking "allow" every time they see that, and the one time it's a malicious piece of software, they aren't going to stop to check what change is being made, and pow. Infected.

Is there a way you can turn that off?

 

[The Question]

Yes, it can be turned off, but that basically just shortcuts directly to the "wide open for infection" result, except that:

IE 7 on Vista runs in a "sandbox", a feature that, combined with good AV and anti-spyware, should keep you well enough protected that you'd have to be trying to get your rig infected to do so via common threats, and which combo should provide a near 100% effective backstop against anything that does manage to land in your system. Note, please, the use of "near." Nothing is 100% armored, not even Linux or Mac.

 

[The Question]

Another note on UAC: having been involved in the official betas, I suggested several times to several ears that UAC should have a scalability feature similar to the Security settings in Internet Explorer, with Low, Medium, High default levels as well as customizability via an "Advanced" tab. That's not a feature of the current incarnation of Vista's UAC, but we can always hope -- since it makes sense and since IE 7, again, sports a similar system -- that such a feature may be introduced with the Codename "Fiji" service pack.

 

[Mentalist]

UAC can fuck itself up its ass. It may be fine for your average user but for anyone who moves a lot of files and, oh, I dunno, actually uses their computer beyond chekcing E-Mail every once in a while will hate it within about 0.34 seconds.


I turned it off immediatley.

Another note on UAC: having been involved in the official betas, I suggested several times to several ears that UAC should have a scalability feature similar to the Security settings in Internet Explorer, with Low, Medium, High default levels as well as customizability via an "Advanced" tab. That's not a feature of the current incarnation of Vista's UAC, but we can always hope -- since it makes sense and since IE 7, again, sports a similar system -- that such a feature may be introduced with the Codename "Fiji" service pack.

This is maddening, what's worse is that you can't teach it to allow certain actions at all. So moving a bunch of pictures from one folder to another brings up the fucking UAC over and over again. It's more trouble than it's worth.


But that said I've been using Vista Ultmate since RTM release and I have no wish to ever return to XP ever again.

 

[The Question]

This is odd -- the reports I'm getting from y'all regarding UAC are at odds with my own experience. Granted, that's only as recent as the RC1 milestone, where UAC was far less a nuisance than you two are indicating. Am I right, then, in assuming that they actually regressed from the relatively unobtrusive UAC of RC1 back to the overbearing incarnation seen in the Beta 2 milestone?

 

[Friday]

Actually, my Mac choice has changed fairly recently, but not in any serious way just yet; whereas I'll be using a Dell XPS for a desktop solution, there are a couple contenders for the Mac:

Either a Mac Mini (for cost-to-use ratio) or a MacBook Pro for mobility. And since there are Mac versions of Power Structure, MS Office and Final Draft, shouldn't matter too much which one I finally go with.

Number_6 has a MacBook Pro if you want to ask him about it. He's thrilled with it.

Is Vista an operating system, like 0SX? Is it better than OSX?

Still contemplating buying a PC laptop, but feeling guilty...like I'm cheating on my Mac. I could have a new laptop 3 months sooner if I went that route, but the MacBook Pro does sound awesome, as well. I really only need a MacBook, but the screen is too small for me (13 in).

 

[Friday]

See, you guys dragged your heels and lost the window of opportunity.

I've decided to purchase the 17 in. MacBook Pro. My loyalties won out. Of course, I won't have the money saved until the end of the summer, so you have awhile to convince me to turn to the Dark Side.

 

[Grandtheftcow]

See, you guys dragged your heels and lost the window of opportunity.

I've decided to purchase the 17 in. MacBook Pro. My loyalties won out. Of course, I won't have the money saved until the end of the summer, so you have awhile to convince me to turn to the Dark Side.

As long as you aren't worried about the latest PC game releases you should be fine with a Mac. Besides you're already used to the Mac style interface.

Do macs still have only one button on the mouse? WTF is up with that?

 

[Friday]

As long as you aren't worried about the latest PC game releases you should be fine with a Mac. Besides you're already used to the Mac style interface.

Do macs still have only one button on the mouse? WTF is up with that?

LOL Why have two buttons when one will work just as well? That right/left click nonsense is just a waste of physical and mental energy, IMHO.

Yeah, I'm already planning on purchasing my MacBook Pro in August, as a birthday present to myself.

I never was much of a gamer. Didn't even do the video arcade thing in the '80s.

 

[Eggs Mayonnaise]

As a more often than not Mac defender, I have to stop you about the one-button mouse. This is an area in which Mac has always been the big doofus.

The one (or in the case of the lucite puck, no) button mouse would have been great if they had managed to program common functions around it. But it never got better than holding down the Ctrl key for functions which are usually a right-click. Which is easier and only takes one hand.

Mac makes a multi-button mouse as an option, heck it may be standard now. They're slowly coming around.

 

[The Question]

LOL Why have two buttons when one will work just as well?

Ah -- two words: Context menu. And yes, I'm sure a Mac will do that, as well, but mousing actions should be something that can be handled with... well, you know... the mouse. And in fact, I'd go so far as to say that most PC OEMs are even behind on the mouse button count, now that web browsing is the staple computing activity that it is. The standard now should be a three-button mouse.

1. Left-click for selection/open/drag.
2. Right-click for context menu.
3. Thumb-click for "Back."