Windows Vista Is A Bad Joke

My user's old Windows 98 computer is in mothballs, a nice new laptop in its place. We tried to get the laptop with Windows XP, but alas, only Windows Vista was available on the model my user wanted.

I'm not a PC "expert," though I do know my way around, in an office with five networked computers, and have found Windows XP to be a huge improvement over Windows 98 (or ME, 95, etc). However, I've literally spent days trying to figure out how to configure this new Vista machine for my user. Windows Vista is thoroughly obscure.

Changes are to be expected, of course, along with a learning experience. Indeed, Vista is a new operating system, and I didn't take any kind of course to learn about it. Many of the features of XP are there, but are presented in a different way; that's to be expected. In particular, Windows Explorer is used widely as the engine for many of the functions that were separate applications in XP, such as Network Connections and Add/Remove Programs (both now with new names). Hence, many of those functions now have a new look. Okay, things change, we'll adjust.

Yet Vista has serious problems, mostly due to the increased "security." Here are some examples:

• Protected Mode: This is a new mode which monitors and prevents such things as internet downloads, even for a user with administrator privileges. It took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out that there was a little note in the bottom bar of Internet Explorer saying "protected mode." Then it was only a matter of switching that mode off in Internet Options. With it on, I couldn't even download an antivirus program, without which the computer was NOT secure. Does Microsoft assume that real users will turn protected mode off only when necessary? Real users will turn it off and leave it off, because it's a pain in the butt.
• Wireless Connections: This has been changed so much as to be unrecognizable. Configuration of new wireless networks is even more awkward than it is in XP, and particularly so when connecting to a network with no broadcast SSID. Yet hiding your SSID can be a basic component of wireless security.
• Every User is Admin: Many MANY functions that a standard user (without admin privileges) would wish to perform can only be done by an admin user. To get around this problem, Vista prompts the standard user for an admin password before performing the function. As a result, every standard user will eventually come to know an admin password. Some security!
• No Write Access from Network: I have tried for hours to figure out how to place new files on a Vista standard user's account from an XP machine. I've enabled everything that I can think of on the Vista machine, and the protections seem correct (everyone allowed to do anything!) but I can't put files in that user's folders, even though I can put files in the admin user's folders. From the XP side, write privileges always appear disabled. This is an important issue, and I haven't solved it. Microsoft's help, as usual, is nothing more than instructions for how to do the things that are self-explanatory anyway.
• Windows Defender: I have been using a beta version of this on XP machines for some time now, with no problems. It comes standard with Vista, but it's goofy. It yells about some of my startup programs, but doesn't let me click "allow," with the result that it yells again at the next logon.

If Microsoft's purpose is to make the system more secure, they may have succeeded. Time will tell. Vista may also have new functionality that some users will need, and which I have not yet discovered. But it is certainly not easier to use; it is awkward and obtuse, especially when networking between computers. I wish I could have bought the new machine with XP, and I certainly won't try to upgrade any machines already running XP.

Can you tell I'm frustrated? No matter, in the long run Windows Vista is only a small bump in the road of life. Next post will be more cheerful, I promise.