Posted by Paul DeCesare on August 6, 2008 at 3:13 PM
Most of us are at that point where our computer is as vital to our photography as anything else, so here's some info about Windows Vista to share. I'll make this concise if at all possible, but I've felt burdened to write a short article about Windows Vista since many folks out there want a new computer, and Vista is the only choice on a mainstream PC if you don't by a Mac.
So if you want a new PC and feel constrained by this Vista nightmare, this article is for you. I'll post it on NPN and TPN.
To start, I'm probably a better Windows programmer than I am a photographer (no, I don't work for Microsoft), and I hold 12 Microsoft certifications, so I'm VERY aware of every inch of XP and Vista. My goal is to help those understand the whole mess a little better (good news: it's not really a mess!).
Disclaimer: I started out on Macs in the 80s, so they hold a special place for me. If you're considering a Mac and can afford it, skip this article and go get one!
OK, nuts and bolts:
Shocking statement of the Day: Vista is the best Windows OS I've used to date, and I wouldn't go back to XP if you paid me. There are features that are superb, especially for photographers. But what about all the horror stories we've all heard? "It's junk, it locks up, it's got annoying popups, my hardware is too old, I can't get drivers for my printer, the navigation is confusing, etc." It's time to give people answers about all that.
I'll list the pros and cons and answer all the questions I listed, but you really need to watch this very short video first, made by Microsoft last month. It addresses the Vista rumours very well. Then see the pros and cons and answers I've written below.
First, The Pros
What are some features that Vista has that XP doesn't?
1. Vista's best feature: all drivers run in User Space Memory, not System Kernel. OK, English Translation: if you're working in Photoshop on XP and your video card driver has a little glitch, XP hangs and you just lost all your work. In Vista, the drivers sit in a separate memory space. If you video driver glitches, Vista detects that and RESTARTS the driver for you. It's a self-healing operating system. Vista then pops up a little note stating what it just did, to let you know! I've had it happen, 30 minutes into a Photoshop edit that I hadn't saved. The PC kept running normally, and I lost no work.
2. User Account Control (UAC): This is the feature that most people gripe about. Every time you start a program, Vista stops everything and asks you if you want to continue. Drives people crazy, although you can turn it off (not suggested). So what's it for? Simple, it's a major guard to keep something from running without you knowing about it. Here's where it will save your skin: Uncle Fred discovers email in his retirement years, and joins the huge army of those who email around every video and picture they come across on the web. Sooner or later Uncle Fred is going to forward you an email with a virus attached, and that virus will execute when you open your mail... must be an ok email, it's Uncle Fred, right? Wrong. XP Users, you'd better have your virus definitions up to date or you're toast. Vista Users: just click NOPE! when that virus tries to execute, and sit back and enjoy a virus-free PC. By the way, I run NO virus software.
3. DRIVERS FOR HARDWARE: Vista SP1 (Service Pack 1 update) to the rescue. Here's where Microsoft got fed up with the manufacturers not providing Vista drivers for existing hardware, even though they had 3 years notice. Microsoft originally counted on manufacturers to provide drivers for Vista, but that didn't happen. SO, Microsoft put over 8,500 drivers in Vista with the SP1 update! The gripes about drivers not available has reduced to almost nill. There are a few items out there that are still without drivers and won't work, such as my boss's Fujitsu scanner. It's 12 years old. Sometimes we need to upgrade our stuff. Does any pro out there still use a Canon D30 as their main SLR? By the way, this driver issue was the same complaint when XP came out. What your scanner or printer manufacturer is saying by not making the new drivers is, "we don't care if you purchased our stuff 10 years ago, we won't support it because it offers us no financial gain, but we do have this shiny new model you can buy." That's not Microsoft's fault.
4. Configure for any hardware: I do have a 2006 Dell laptop (E1705) with a dual-core processor and good video card, but you don't need that for Vista. Vista has a huge checklist where you can turn off any of the eye-candy (Aeroglass, Flip-3D, etc) to make your older system run smooth. Try THAT in XP. If you have a more powerful PC with a good video card, then you can enjoy all the visual goodies. Bottom line: If your PC is powerful enough to run klunky Photoshop CS2, you have MORE than enough horsepower to run Vista. BTW, CS2 does run fine on Vista, but I did just upgrade to CS3 this week and it runs way faster.
5. Navigation in Explorer: OK, I can't show screenshots, but suffice it to say that the filtering options in Explorer are more thorough than Bridge CS3 (2.0). Maybe in the future I can do an article just on that subject.
Once you learn how to use the new-style navigation tabs across the top, you get to things wat faster than the old-style tree in XP's Explorer.
6. Searching your hard drives: Hands down, the searching in Vista is mind-blowing. I can type "Canon" in the search field, and in 2 seconds I'll have all the files listed that say Canon in the title, plus all the emails that even mention Canon in the body text. 'Nuff said. Files can't hide anymore.
OK, I could go on but this is already getting too long. There's other great features built in, such as Defender, speech (you can dictate a letter in Word with 95% accuracy), etc. Also keep in mind that new software versions coming out will be geared for Vista, not XP. Microsoft dropped XP support this year.
The Cons
1. The biggest: you need RAM to run Vista, especially with ram-hog Photoshop. I have 4gb of RAM in my laptop, but 3GB is enough since Windows only sees about 3¼GB of ram anyway for the standard user's setup.
Actually, 2GB is enough if you don't run Photoshop. Good news is, most PC's come with 2GB, and RAM is really cheap right now. I went from 2GB to 4GB for $56. C'mon, who still uses 128MB cards in their cameras? Needing RAM is no biggie.
2. Hardware drivers (See #3 above). If you do have that special scanner or printer you love from 1995, it probably won't work. Otherwise this isn't really a con.
3. It's a brand new user environment, so you have to get used to it. Windows 2000 went up to XP with almost no changes in the user interface, so using XP when it was new was easy. Vista's Start Menu and Explorer navigation is different, and phenominally better once you make the choice to tackle it head on. That's what I did in January 2007, and it took about 3 days to get used to where stuff was, and another 2 weeks to actually come to appreciate the better layout. But once I got past start-up pains, it was a joy and has been ever since.
4. To use all of the nifty eye-candy features, you need a decent video card, not a gamer card, but at least a 256mb card mid-range card. They run about $80 if your PC doesn't have one already. BUT, if you only have built in video (shame on you if you're editing images!), you can still tell Vista to not do all the glitter. Vista does NOT use the CPU to do the enhanced graphics, it relies on the graphics card which is nice.
5. You just need to remember to run everything as Administrator (more on this in the next section).
Lastly, Important Tips (a little technical)
1. Adobe products assume you have Administrator rights on your PC. With XP, you automatically have that which is why it's so easy for evil people to run viruses on your PC without your knowledge. With Vista, you can set your account as Administrator, but everything still runs as a standard User (excellent security feature). So when you start up Photoshop, MAKE SURE you right-click and choose "Run as Administrator". Photoshop gets cranky when you don't do that. Tip: in the PS shortcut's Properties, you can check the box on the Compatibility tab to always run as Admin so you don't need to remember to right-click.
2. Once your hard drive builds the search index (in the first hour Vista runs), turn off indexing on the drive. Vista will gripe that searchs are slower, but they really aren't, and your hard drive won't spin on forever everytime you use the PC.
3. OK, a little technical here: If you have a multi-core machine (dual-core, etc), type "msconfig" in the run field to start up the System Configuration. Go to the BOOT.INI tab, click Advanced, and tell Vista that you have more than one processor, and Vista will use them all to greatly speed up boot times. Why this isn't a Microsoft default setting is beyond me.
4. If you have Vista, GET SP1 INSTALLED. You may have it already. Type "winver" at the Run field and a window will pop up telling you if you have SP1 installed.
In closing, if anyone has Vista questions, please email me. I may not have photography tips that you don't know already, but at least I can help with Windows. As far as versions, Home Premium is fine if you don't need to connect to your place of employement and map to the comapny's shared drives, etc. If you need to remotely access your work's network like I do as an IT guy, you need a higher version, such as Vista Business.
My suggestion: go with Ultimate, especially if you have a powerful PC. It has everything. However, you can always upgrade later and all you need to do is input your upgrade product key, and all the features unlock. No software reinstalls!
OK, hope all this was a help to those who have been hearing the rumours and wondering how it affects us photographers who are thinking of upgrading.
THANK YOU! Paul
We have 3 computers in a wireless network with the only desktop being the host or server. My laptop is "Vista Ready" but running XP. My wifes new laptop has Vista. Until I read your post I was ready to throw her's out and find a used machine with XP. Now I have hope that we can actually get her networked so she can print on our Canon photo printers and save her photos on the external hard drive. I even thought it might be a good idea for me to upgrade my machine to Vists. Thanks again.
Guerry
Posted by Paul DeCesare on August 6, 2008 at 5:43 PM
Guerry, shoot me an email through NPN if you hit a snag getting wireless connected, I can give you some things to try. I see my email pretty quickly through my phone ( life and times of working in IT).
By the way, there's probably the best advantage to Vista Ultimate: it supposedly has the best ability to connect to a wireless network. I haven't tested that theory yet though!
That's terrific, Paul.
When I bought my most recent computer, I got it with XP, because I was afraid of Vista, especially all the problems I've heard about legacy devices. After XP came out, I bought a computer with Windows 2000 for more or less the same reason. I still have a SCSI scanner that came with a ISA card, later upgraded to PCI. And I still use an app that came with Windows 3.1.
I don't know when I'll get Vista'd, but it's nice to know that I really shouldn't worry about it.
Posted by Fred Stearns on August 7, 2008 at 12:58 AM
Paul,
Great research! You have an opportunity that few of us have.
I have a question that I think I know the answer to. First, let me say that I had a computer back in teh dark ages that has a pre-95 OS installed. I updated to 95, then to 95SE, then to ME, and finally to XP. Though I never had to rebuild the disk, XP was the only update that went on cleanly the first time I tried. Through this time, had maybe one or two programs that I had to re-install. I have a computer that I bought last fall with XP installed and upgrade rights to Vista, well they advertised it the other way around but XP was installed. I have the disc to update to Vista. I know, I will have to install SP1 before I do anything else after installing Vista after I get my network working again. If what I have read about Vista is correct, I will have to re-install every program on my computer. That will quite an effort., if true. My question, if I choose to upgrade to Vista, will I indeed have to re-install every program I am running? I have three external drives that I use for backup, will I still be able to read them with Vista? Two of these disks are connected through USB and the third is connected using Firewire.
This is an excellent primer!
I will need to upgrade my computer before long and have been hesitant because of perceived issues with Vista. No longer.
Haven't seen the video yet, but will ASAP.
Thank you very much for all of the time and effort you put into this presentation. It will undoubtedly help many.
Posted by Paul DeCesare on August 7, 2008 at 9:44 AM
You're welcome John... I was hoping that the experience I have would be a help to my fellow photographers... not all the answers, but at least a good chunk to start with.
Fred, I've gotten several emails about the XP --> Vista upgrade path. I'm researching that now, because I never use the canned upgrades, I always wipe the drive clean and do a fresh install, then reinstall my apps. Talk about a weekend-long project! Anyway, I'll post back with the upgrade answers, I have a fella at Microsoft I can ask about that. As far as your USB and FireWire drives, sure, they'll all work. Vista also supports E-Sata drives (my new LaCie external has E-Sata)... you want to talk about screaming fast... blows FireWire into the dust as far as file transfers. Makes a perfect scratch disc for Photoshop so your internal drive with the OS isn't taxed.
Here are some experiences of my own. I was running Windows XP (Service Pack 2) on my older computer which recently died. My new machine has Windows Vista Ultimate (Service Pack 1) and so far things are working fine. For the most part that is.
I was able to move over Photoshop CS, Dreamweaver 8, etc. without any major issues. The only quirk which needs some getting used to is the behavorial change in PS CS's "Print with Preview" operation. However, that turns out to be more of an Adobe/PS issue than a Vista issue.
I downloaded the Vista drivers for my printer and scanner (Epson 7600 and Epson 3200 respectively) from Epson's web-site and they installed just fine and are working flawlessly. Getting wireless networking to work was a bigger chore, but after I upgraded the firmware on my Linksys router (its a 3 year old piece), there were no more issues.
The one thing that caused me some unexpected grief most recently and which should be mentioned here is the occasional CD/DVD drive problem on Vista (although Microsoft reports that this problem is there on XP too, I have never experienced it myself on any XP system). There are times when the OS won't recognize the CD/DVD drive and you will get strange errors indicating that the driver may be missing or corrupted (Error Code 39). It tends to happen after installing upgrades to the OS. Forturnately, there is a solution, which involves removing certain entries associated with the CD/DVD driver from the registry. The process (described on a Microsoft web-page) isn't that hard, although it might appear to be so for the novice user. I hope Microsoft fixes this issue soon.
As Paul mentions, I don't see a reason to remain on XP.
Posted by Mike Sellers on August 7, 2008 at 1:05 PM
Paul,
Didn`t I read somewhere that you can designate a USB thumb drive as extra ram memory? How does this work? If you install an 4GB thumb drive then you get an extra 4GB ram?
Mike
Posted by Paul DeCesare on August 7, 2008 at 1:35 PM
Hi Anil, I have heard of that issue but never had it happen. It's also possible that the DVD drive firmware needs an update just like your router did. Anyway, it sounds like you got everything else worked out which is nice!
Mike, you're referring to ReadyBoost, which doesn't extend your RAM, it caches the most-read files on your hard drive, so when Vista needs to access that file again for some OS need, it can get to the file faster on your USB key than it can reading it off your hard drive. You can read a more thorough explanation, just search ReadyBoost on Wikipedia. They have a good explanation of it. HOWEVER, there's speculation that it doesn't work all that well, and I'm currently testing it with and without my 2GB key to see the difference. So far it appears I do get a little better response having the USB key plugged in and set for ReadyBoost. The one drawback is that ReadyBoost sometimes needs to copy a huge file onto your key so it can do its ReadyBoost thing, so for a few minutes your hard drive sounds like a geiger counter while it's copying the data to the key. BTW, if your USB key is capable (i.e. fast enough) to do ReadyBoost, Vista will ask you as soon as you insert it, so setup is stupid easy. Don't bother with a USB key bigger than 4GB, that's the max Vista will use.
The issue isn't with the drive firmware. It has to do with a corruption in the registry. The problem most likely happens when a Windows update doesn't play well with some registry entries for the device that were placed by CD/DVD writing applications. The fix suggested by Microsoft invovles cleaning out those app specific entries from the registry. That gets the drive to be recognized by Vista again, but you need to uninstall and reinstall your CD/DVD writing apps if you plan to use them.
Once you know what the problem is, this isn't a big deal. But it took me a while to understand why my DVD drive stopped working all of a sudden.
Posted by Paul DeCesare on August 7, 2008 at 4:14 PM
Excellent solution, good work! I'll add that to my mental list, I wouldn't have thought about the Registry first.
Oy vey, this is a photography site, right?? I feel like we're on a PC forum, but the PC is an essential tool in photography now, we need to know how to deal with it. 20 years ago we would have been chatting about chemical baths.
Just curious...does anyone here use Expression Web to create their websites?
Related to Vista, since I'm not sure which is the problem, Vista, or Expression Web, but boy has it been frustrating for me. I'd say about 2 to 5% of the time, when I want to create/edit a hyperlink for a word or image in Expression Web, I'll right-click that word or image, select "Insert Hyperlink"...and Expression Web will hopeless hang. I have to close it with the Task Manager and restart.
I believe it's Vista, since FrontPage users had the same issue trying to use FrontPage with Vista. This and many other issues are why I am NOT too thrilled with Vista.
I'm no computer dummy. My website of over 3,000 pages is maintained and created entirely by myself, and my "day job" involves modeling of land cover processes with the USGS. But...when I get a PC, I don't want to HAVE to worry about editing registries and the like. And that is my main problem with Vista. I shouldn't HAVE to search all over the place to find out why my Microsoft product (EW) isn't working well with my Microsoft operating system.
Posted by Steve Upton on August 7, 2008 at 4:39 PM
Hi Paul,
This is an informative post but I think you have missed a very important thing. Something that is a show-stopper for serious professional work (IMHO).
Vista has a serious flaw where it clears out the calibration tables from the graphics card whenever UAC dialogs appear (and for other reasons as well).
This means that your monitor calibration is *toast* until you either reboot your machine OR track down the little calibration-loader application that installed with your calibration software and run it.
Ultimately, as far as I am concerned, this means you can't trust Vista's display to remain accurate. And that's why we continue to strongly recommend that people do NOT use it if you calibrate and profile your display and need to trust your display accuracy.
I have written an article in ColorWiki.com which is available if you want any more details.
Posted by Paul DeCesare on August 7, 2008 at 5:01 PM
Terry, I use Expression Web (and recently Expression Web 2) and haven't had that issue, but the surrent site I'm working on isn't a big one, maybe a couple dozen pages. Have you Googled around to see if others have had the same problem?
Steve, funny you should mention that... I calibrate with a Spyder2Pro, and when I login after boot-up, my profile loads, then when Gadgets load the profile gets wiped. It's easy to put back, with the ColorVision Profile Chooser. I do that first as soon as login is done. I just thought it was a ColorVision glitch. However, once I put the profile back, it stays put and I never lose it until I shut down and login the next time. Sounds like you lose it everytime UAC pops up. That has to be annoying! BTW, do you have SP1 installed? I guess I'm hoping that you don't, and that SP1 would fix the UAC problem you're having. I only get the wiped profile when Gadgets load at login, never after. I'd also like to know if Microsoft is going to fix such a ridiculous situation.
Thanks for posting that article, I'll be sure to read it. Bottom line, we need to learn and defeat these glitches, because Vista is here to stay whether we like it or not. I haven't ruled out a Mac for my Photoshop work, seriously.
Posted by Paul DeCesare on August 7, 2008 at 5:22 PM
Steve, I just read your article, and it is the most detailed explanation I've seen on Microsoft's color management history. I retract my silly claim about knowing every inch of the OS's, I should have said I know the OS's from a developer's standpoint. I'll be making a PDF of that article for my archives, and will re-read it to see how much I can digest and understand!
There is one thing to mention which might or might not affect your research, and I got this from one of the project managers on the Vista team: they claim that when the UAC pops up, you aren't looking at a dimmed screen... for security purposes, you're looking at a dimmed screenshot of your desktop that's loaded into a separate memory space so the thing that's trying to execute doesn't have direct access to your main memory, in case it really is malicious. Would that affect the profile in any way? This sure all gets complex!
The problem was much bigger with FrontPage, with Microsoft pretty much admitting there was a known bug with FrontPage and Vista, where the hyperlink insert caused it to hang. I'm not sure if that ever got fixed or not.
The exact same thing happens with Vista and Expression Web for me, and there are people like me having the same problems. Doesn't seem as common though.
I'm at a loss...
Posted by Fred Stearns on August 7, 2008 at 10:45 PM
Paul,
Thanks for taking the time to read my concerns. Yes, I know that many say to wipe a disk on an OS upgrade, but it sure kills a weekend, if you are lucky. I will be looking for you report.
THANKS!
Posted by Jerry Greer on August 7, 2008 at 11:14 PM
When I ordered my new system I ordered XP Pro and I downloaded SP 3, the last for XP. By the time I upgrade again I think they'll have all the problems fixed with Vista. BTW, I've still had no prolems with any of my systems using XP Pro.
Posted by Steve Upton on August 8, 2008 at 2:46 PM
Paul,
Thanks for taking the time to read the article. I wouldn't feel bad about not knowing all the permutations with color issues. I used to be a 'generalist' and found that the only way to understand color was to start a company and immerse myself in it (almost 10 years ago).
...: they claim that when the UAC pops up, you aren't looking at a dimmed screen... for security purposes... Would that affect the profile in any way? This sure all gets complex!
I am not familiar with the mechanisms behind the screen dimming exactly, all I know is they use the graphic card curves to perform some aspect of it and then don't replace the original curves. It exposes a bit of an architectural problem in that they don't control access to the video card curves. As such anything can change them directly and irresponsibly and the OS is none the wiser. Unfortunate... not that there's a simple solution either, but you'd hope that their own software would be vetted & follow some guidelines. The color group at MS is very small so I'm sure their are resource issues.
Also, I'm disappointed that MS didn't add the very basic feature of loading the calibration curves at startup automatically. Vista, XP, etc rely on calibration tools installing a small loader tool that loads the calibration curves back into the graphics card at startup. Without it the display reverts to its default, uncalibrated state and the benefits of calibration are lost.
The problem is that users' systems evolve over time and they may change calibration tools along the way. Then you are in a situation where you have two (or perhaps more) separate loader tools fighting over who's calibration LUTs are going to be loaded last.
We used to call it LUT wars... back in Mac OS 8!... yes, I said OS 8. Many years ago this problem was solved on the "other platform" and it still isn't solved today on Windows. Perhaps there's a patent preventing them from doing it, I don't know.
Anyway, glad to be of service. thanks for the great post.
Posted by Dan Borzynski on August 8, 2008 at 6:51 PM
By any chance, does anyone know if the problem Steve does a good job documenting an issue with all versions of Vista and/or rights to the machine (administrator vs regular user)?
The reason I ask is that I am partly waiting to upgrade to my machine and to CS4, which is supposed to be able to take advantage of 64 bit processors, other than to simply run on them. I'd pay for Vista Professional, or some other higher version beyond the usual consumer home version if this would not be a continuing issue in that OS environment.
The other reason for upgrading in a year or so is that my machine really doesn't need to now, but more 4x5 scans are coming down the road, beyond what I currently do. Those file sizes do slow things down a bit.
Posted by David Bostedo on August 8, 2008 at 6:57 PM
Dan - I think there's a simple work around to the color calibration issue Steve mentioned, which is to turn the UAC off. Then it never clobbers the LUTs and they stay properly loaded. I haven't used Vista much myself, but know of quite a few photogs using it.
Posted by Steve Upton on August 8, 2008 at 7:38 PM
... there's a simple work around to the color calibration issue Steve mentioned, which is to turn the UAC off. Then it never clobbers the LUTs and they stay properly loaded.
Certainly an option. Beware that you don't do it while running as an admin user (as many tend to do).
From Microsoft:
Microsoft strongly advises against setting the No Prompt option; disabling the UAC prompt behavior removes the ability of a user to approve an application before it runs. As a result, any application can then "silently elevate" and use the administrator's access token, including malware, without the user's approval.
then some of the important new security features of Vista are defeated.
for further reading there's a pretty comprehensive document here:
Posted by Paul DeCesare on August 8, 2008 at 10:59 PM
What a thread... where's the Advil??
First, I formally apologize for my initial post. It has drawn all of our minds off of photography this whole week. Where's Adamus, did he get that new website up yet?? Time for a visual refueling!
Dan, it seems that the problem Steve mentions come in many flavors, because the issue happens far worse for him (always with UAC) then for me (UAC doesn't affect the profile). Steve obviously has this researched, so it's not like I have a magic machine or version that avoids the issue. It's there and hard to place a definitive label on it.
NOW, if you want to run the 64-bit version of CS4, you'll need the 64-bit version of Vista to do that. Just like 32-bit, 64-bit comes in all the versions. But let's keep it simple, whether you get 32 or 64 bit: Get Home Premium if you don't need to remotely access a corporate infrastructure such as the domain at your place of work. Otherwise, Get Ultimate. Ulitmate is Home Premium and Business combined... yes, Business is another version but it has none of the Multimedia players/recorders/burners and all that which make it fun.
Keep in mind that 64-bit Home Premium only handles up to 16GB of RAM. 64-bit Ultimate handles up to 128GB. Don't even think for a moment that you'll never have need for more than 16GB of RAM. Remember Bill gates' statement in 1981: "640K ought to be enough for anybody."
OK, some helpful links about versions: Here is the 32-bit comparison list.
Posted by Dan Borzynski on August 9, 2008 at 2:56 PM
I'd be running the machine strictly as a Photoshop/photography machine, with absolutely minimal internet exposure. Just enough exposure for CS updates and registration, and other program updates and registrations. Obviously, I'd still need an (antivirus and related crap) software package for when I get on the internet. I would guess that turning off the UAC would be a workable solution for my case, as long as I turn that feature back on when I try to connect. Feel free to correct me!
Right now, I am leaning towards the Vista 64 Ultimate version, for the reasons you list, but since this is an active topic now, it seems like a good time to ask about it. In some sense, I really don't care which version is on my machine, as long as it works for my purposes.
Thanks for the thread and contributions everyone!
Posted by Leann Greene on August 9, 2008 at 11:13 PM
Paul,
Thank you so much for the heads up about needing to "tell" my computer that it has two processors to run from. Maybe now I will experience the benefits!
Discussion
26 repliesSo if you want a new PC and feel constrained by this Vista nightmare, this article is for you. I'll post it on NPN and TPN.
To start, I'm probably a better Windows programmer than I am a photographer (no, I don't work for Microsoft), and I hold 12 Microsoft certifications, so I'm VERY aware of every inch of XP and Vista. My goal is to help those understand the whole mess a little better (good news: it's not really a mess!).
Disclaimer: I started out on Macs in the 80s, so they hold a special place for me. If you're considering a Mac and can afford it, skip this article and go get one!
OK, nuts and bolts:
Shocking statement of the Day: Vista is the best Windows OS I've used to date, and I wouldn't go back to XP if you paid me. There are features that are superb, especially for photographers. But what about all the horror stories we've all heard? "It's junk, it locks up, it's got annoying popups, my hardware is too old, I can't get drivers for my printer, the navigation is confusing, etc." It's time to give people answers about all that.
I'll list the pros and cons and answer all the questions I listed, but you really need to watch this very short video first, made by Microsoft last month. It addresses the Vista rumours very well. Then see the pros and cons and answers I've written below.
First, The Pros
What are some features that Vista has that XP doesn't?
1. Vista's best feature: all drivers run in User Space Memory, not System Kernel. OK, English Translation: if you're working in Photoshop on XP and your video card driver has a little glitch, XP hangs and you just lost all your work. In Vista, the drivers sit in a separate memory space. If you video driver glitches, Vista detects that and RESTARTS the driver for you. It's a self-healing operating system. Vista then pops up a little note stating what it just did, to let you know! I've had it happen, 30 minutes into a Photoshop edit that I hadn't saved. The PC kept running normally, and I lost no work.
2. User Account Control (UAC): This is the feature that most people gripe about. Every time you start a program, Vista stops everything and asks you if you want to continue. Drives people crazy, although you can turn it off (not suggested). So what's it for? Simple, it's a major guard to keep something from running without you knowing about it. Here's where it will save your skin: Uncle Fred discovers email in his retirement years, and joins the huge army of those who email around every video and picture they come across on the web. Sooner or later Uncle Fred is going to forward you an email with a virus attached, and that virus will execute when you open your mail... must be an ok email, it's Uncle Fred, right? Wrong. XP Users, you'd better have your virus definitions up to date or you're toast. Vista Users: just click NOPE! when that virus tries to execute, and sit back and enjoy a virus-free PC. By the way, I run NO virus software.
3. DRIVERS FOR HARDWARE: Vista SP1 (Service Pack 1 update) to the rescue. Here's where Microsoft got fed up with the manufacturers not providing Vista drivers for existing hardware, even though they had 3 years notice. Microsoft originally counted on manufacturers to provide drivers for Vista, but that didn't happen. SO, Microsoft put over 8,500 drivers in Vista with the SP1 update! The gripes about drivers not available has reduced to almost nill. There are a few items out there that are still without drivers and won't work, such as my boss's Fujitsu scanner. It's 12 years old. Sometimes we need to upgrade our stuff. Does any pro out there still use a Canon D30 as their main SLR? By the way, this driver issue was the same complaint when XP came out. What your scanner or printer manufacturer is saying by not making the new drivers is, "we don't care if you purchased our stuff 10 years ago, we won't support it because it offers us no financial gain, but we do have this shiny new model you can buy." That's not Microsoft's fault.
4. Configure for any hardware: I do have a 2006 Dell laptop (E1705) with a dual-core processor and good video card, but you don't need that for Vista. Vista has a huge checklist where you can turn off any of the eye-candy (Aeroglass, Flip-3D, etc) to make your older system run smooth. Try THAT in XP. If you have a more powerful PC with a good video card, then you can enjoy all the visual goodies. Bottom line: If your PC is powerful enough to run klunky Photoshop CS2, you have MORE than enough horsepower to run Vista. BTW, CS2 does run fine on Vista, but I did just upgrade to CS3 this week and it runs way faster.
5. Navigation in Explorer: OK, I can't show screenshots, but suffice it to say that the filtering options in Explorer are more thorough than Bridge CS3 (2.0). Maybe in the future I can do an article just on that subject.
Once you learn how to use the new-style navigation tabs across the top, you get to things wat faster than the old-style tree in XP's Explorer.
6. Searching your hard drives: Hands down, the searching in Vista is mind-blowing. I can type "Canon" in the search field, and in 2 seconds I'll have all the files listed that say Canon in the title, plus all the emails that even mention Canon in the body text. 'Nuff said. Files can't hide anymore.
OK, I could go on but this is already getting too long. There's other great features built in, such as Defender, speech (you can dictate a letter in Word with 95% accuracy), etc. Also keep in mind that new software versions coming out will be geared for Vista, not XP. Microsoft dropped XP support this year.
The Cons
1. The biggest: you need RAM to run Vista, especially with ram-hog Photoshop. I have 4gb of RAM in my laptop, but 3GB is enough since Windows only sees about 3¼GB of ram anyway for the standard user's setup.
Actually, 2GB is enough if you don't run Photoshop. Good news is, most PC's come with 2GB, and RAM is really cheap right now. I went from 2GB to 4GB for $56. C'mon, who still uses 128MB cards in their cameras? Needing RAM is no biggie.
2. Hardware drivers (See #3 above). If you do have that special scanner or printer you love from 1995, it probably won't work. Otherwise this isn't really a con.
3. It's a brand new user environment, so you have to get used to it. Windows 2000 went up to XP with almost no changes in the user interface, so using XP when it was new was easy. Vista's Start Menu and Explorer navigation is different, and phenominally better once you make the choice to tackle it head on. That's what I did in January 2007, and it took about 3 days to get used to where stuff was, and another 2 weeks to actually come to appreciate the better layout. But once I got past start-up pains, it was a joy and has been ever since.
4. To use all of the nifty eye-candy features, you need a decent video card, not a gamer card, but at least a 256mb card mid-range card. They run about $80 if your PC doesn't have one already. BUT, if you only have built in video (shame on you if you're editing images!), you can still tell Vista to not do all the glitter. Vista does NOT use the CPU to do the enhanced graphics, it relies on the graphics card which is nice.
5. You just need to remember to run everything as Administrator (more on this in the next section).
Lastly, Important Tips (a little technical)
1. Adobe products assume you have Administrator rights on your PC. With XP, you automatically have that which is why it's so easy for evil people to run viruses on your PC without your knowledge. With Vista, you can set your account as Administrator, but everything still runs as a standard User (excellent security feature). So when you start up Photoshop, MAKE SURE you right-click and choose "Run as Administrator". Photoshop gets cranky when you don't do that. Tip: in the PS shortcut's Properties, you can check the box on the Compatibility tab to always run as Admin so you don't need to remember to right-click.
2. Once your hard drive builds the search index (in the first hour Vista runs), turn off indexing on the drive. Vista will gripe that searchs are slower, but they really aren't, and your hard drive won't spin on forever everytime you use the PC.
3. OK, a little technical here: If you have a multi-core machine (dual-core, etc), type "msconfig" in the run field to start up the System Configuration. Go to the BOOT.INI tab, click Advanced, and tell Vista that you have more than one processor, and Vista will use them all to greatly speed up boot times. Why this isn't a Microsoft default setting is beyond me.
4. If you have Vista, GET SP1 INSTALLED. You may have it already. Type "winver" at the Run field and a window will pop up telling you if you have SP1 installed.
In closing, if anyone has Vista questions, please email me. I may not have photography tips that you don't know already, but at least I can help with Windows. As far as versions, Home Premium is fine if you don't need to connect to your place of employement and map to the comapny's shared drives, etc. If you need to remotely access your work's network like I do as an IT guy, you need a higher version, such as Vista Business.
My suggestion: go with Ultimate, especially if you have a powerful PC. It has everything. However, you can always upgrade later and all you need to do is input your upgrade product key, and all the features unlock. No software reinstalls!
OK, hope all this was a help to those who have been hearing the rumours and wondering how it affects us photographers who are thinking of upgrading.
We have 3 computers in a wireless network with the only desktop being the host or server. My laptop is "Vista Ready" but running XP. My wifes new laptop has Vista. Until I read your post I was ready to throw her's out and find a used machine with XP. Now I have hope that we can actually get her networked so she can print on our Canon photo printers and save her photos on the external hard drive. I even thought it might be a good idea for me to upgrade my machine to Vists. Thanks again.
Guerry
By the way, there's probably the best advantage to Vista Ultimate: it supposedly has the best ability to connect to a wireless network. I haven't tested that theory yet though!
When I bought my most recent computer, I got it with XP, because I was afraid of Vista, especially all the problems I've heard about legacy devices. After XP came out, I bought a computer with Windows 2000 for more or less the same reason. I still have a SCSI scanner that came with a ISA card, later upgraded to PCI. And I still use an app that came with Windows 3.1.
I don't know when I'll get Vista'd, but it's nice to know that I really shouldn't worry about it.
Great research! You have an opportunity that few of us have.
I have a question that I think I know the answer to. First, let me say that I had a computer back in teh dark ages that has a pre-95 OS installed. I updated to 95, then to 95SE, then to ME, and finally to XP. Though I never had to rebuild the disk, XP was the only update that went on cleanly the first time I tried. Through this time, had maybe one or two programs that I had to re-install. I have a computer that I bought last fall with XP installed and upgrade rights to Vista, well they advertised it the other way around but XP was installed. I have the disc to update to Vista. I know, I will have to install SP1 before I do anything else after installing Vista after I get my network working again. If what I have read about Vista is correct, I will have to re-install every program on my computer. That will quite an effort., if true. My question, if I choose to upgrade to Vista, will I indeed have to re-install every program I am running? I have three external drives that I use for backup, will I still be able to read them with Vista? Two of these disks are connected through USB and the third is connected using Firewire.
Thanks for your help.
I will need to upgrade my computer before long and have been hesitant because of perceived issues with Vista. No longer.
Haven't seen the video yet, but will ASAP.
Thank you very much for all of the time and effort you put into this presentation. It will undoubtedly help many.
Fred, I've gotten several emails about the XP --> Vista upgrade path. I'm researching that now, because I never use the canned upgrades, I always wipe the drive clean and do a fresh install, then reinstall my apps. Talk about a weekend-long project! Anyway, I'll post back with the upgrade answers, I have a fella at Microsoft I can ask about that. As far as your USB and FireWire drives, sure, they'll all work. Vista also supports E-Sata drives (my new LaCie external has E-Sata)... you want to talk about screaming fast... blows FireWire into the dust as far as file transfers. Makes a perfect scratch disc for Photoshop so your internal drive with the OS isn't taxed.
Here are some experiences of my own. I was running Windows XP (Service Pack 2) on my older computer which recently died. My new machine has Windows Vista Ultimate (Service Pack 1) and so far things are working fine. For the most part that is.
I was able to move over Photoshop CS, Dreamweaver 8, etc. without any major issues. The only quirk which needs some getting used to is the behavorial change in PS CS's "Print with Preview" operation. However, that turns out to be more of an Adobe/PS issue than a Vista issue.
I downloaded the Vista drivers for my printer and scanner (Epson 7600 and Epson 3200 respectively) from Epson's web-site and they installed just fine and are working flawlessly. Getting wireless networking to work was a bigger chore, but after I upgraded the firmware on my Linksys router (its a 3 year old piece), there were no more issues.
The one thing that caused me some unexpected grief most recently and which should be mentioned here is the occasional CD/DVD drive problem on Vista (although Microsoft reports that this problem is there on XP too, I have never experienced it myself on any XP system). There are times when the OS won't recognize the CD/DVD drive and you will get strange errors indicating that the driver may be missing or corrupted (Error Code 39). It tends to happen after installing upgrades to the OS. Forturnately, there is a solution, which involves removing certain entries associated with the CD/DVD driver from the registry. The process (described on a Microsoft web-page) isn't that hard, although it might appear to be so for the novice user. I hope Microsoft fixes this issue soon.
As Paul mentions, I don't see a reason to remain on XP.
Didn`t I read somewhere that you can designate a USB thumb drive as extra ram memory? How does this work? If you install an 4GB thumb drive then you get an extra 4GB ram?
Mike
Mike, you're referring to ReadyBoost, which doesn't extend your RAM, it caches the most-read files on your hard drive, so when Vista needs to access that file again for some OS need, it can get to the file faster on your USB key than it can reading it off your hard drive. You can read a more thorough explanation, just search ReadyBoost on Wikipedia. They have a good explanation of it. HOWEVER, there's speculation that it doesn't work all that well, and I'm currently testing it with and without my 2GB key to see the difference. So far it appears I do get a little better response having the USB key plugged in and set for ReadyBoost. The one drawback is that ReadyBoost sometimes needs to copy a huge file onto your key so it can do its ReadyBoost thing, so for a few minutes your hard drive sounds like a geiger counter while it's copying the data to the key. BTW, if your USB key is capable (i.e. fast enough) to do ReadyBoost, Vista will ask you as soon as you insert it, so setup is stupid easy. Don't bother with a USB key bigger than 4GB, that's the max Vista will use.
The issue isn't with the drive firmware. It has to do with a corruption in the registry. The problem most likely happens when a Windows update doesn't play well with some registry entries for the device that were placed by CD/DVD writing applications. The fix suggested by Microsoft invovles cleaning out those app specific entries from the registry. That gets the drive to be recognized by Vista again, but you need to uninstall and reinstall your CD/DVD writing apps if you plan to use them.
Once you know what the problem is, this isn't a big deal. But it took me a while to understand why my DVD drive stopped working all of a sudden.
Oy vey, this is a photography site, right?? I feel like we're on a PC forum, but the PC is an essential tool in photography now, we need to know how to deal with it. 20 years ago we would have been chatting about chemical baths.
Related to Vista, since I'm not sure which is the problem, Vista, or Expression Web, but boy has it been frustrating for me. I'd say about 2 to 5% of the time, when I want to create/edit a hyperlink for a word or image in Expression Web, I'll right-click that word or image, select "Insert Hyperlink"...and Expression Web will hopeless hang. I have to close it with the Task Manager and restart.
I believe it's Vista, since FrontPage users had the same issue trying to use FrontPage with Vista. This and many other issues are why I am NOT too thrilled with Vista.
I'm no computer dummy. My website of over 3,000 pages is maintained and created entirely by myself, and my "day job" involves modeling of land cover processes with the USGS. But...when I get a PC, I don't want to HAVE to worry about editing registries and the like. And that is my main problem with Vista. I shouldn't HAVE to search all over the place to find out why my Microsoft product (EW) isn't working well with my Microsoft operating system.
This is an informative post but I think you have missed a very important thing. Something that is a show-stopper for serious professional work (IMHO).
Vista has a serious flaw where it clears out the calibration tables from the graphics card whenever UAC dialogs appear (and for other reasons as well).
This means that your monitor calibration is *toast* until you either reboot your machine OR track down the little calibration-loader application that installed with your calibration software and run it.
Ultimately, as far as I am concerned, this means you can't trust Vista's display to remain accurate. And that's why we continue to strongly recommend that people do NOT use it if you calibrate and profile your display and need to trust your display accuracy.
I have written an article in ColorWiki.com which is available if you want any more details.
ColorWiki.com Article on Vista Color Management
regards,
Steve Upton
CHROMiX.com
Steve, funny you should mention that... I calibrate with a Spyder2Pro, and when I login after boot-up, my profile loads, then when Gadgets load the profile gets wiped. It's easy to put back, with the ColorVision Profile Chooser. I do that first as soon as login is done. I just thought it was a ColorVision glitch. However, once I put the profile back, it stays put and I never lose it until I shut down and login the next time. Sounds like you lose it everytime UAC pops up. That has to be annoying! BTW, do you have SP1 installed? I guess I'm hoping that you don't, and that SP1 would fix the UAC problem you're having. I only get the wiped profile when Gadgets load at login, never after. I'd also like to know if Microsoft is going to fix such a ridiculous situation.
Thanks for posting that article, I'll be sure to read it. Bottom line, we need to learn and defeat these glitches, because Vista is here to stay whether we like it or not. I haven't ruled out a Mac for my Photoshop work, seriously.
There is one thing to mention which might or might not affect your research, and I got this from one of the project managers on the Vista team: they claim that when the UAC pops up, you aren't looking at a dimmed screen... for security purposes, you're looking at a dimmed screenshot of your desktop that's loaded into a separate memory space so the thing that's trying to execute doesn't have direct access to your main memory, in case it really is malicious. Would that affect the profile in any way? This sure all gets complex!
The problem was much bigger with FrontPage, with Microsoft pretty much admitting there was a known bug with FrontPage and Vista, where the hyperlink insert caused it to hang. I'm not sure if that ever got fixed or not.
The exact same thing happens with Vista and Expression Web for me, and there are people like me having the same problems. Doesn't seem as common though.
I'm at a loss...
Thanks for taking the time to read my concerns. Yes, I know that many say to wipe a disk on an OS upgrade, but it sure kills a weekend, if you are lucky. I will be looking for you report.
THANKS!
Thanks for taking the time to read the article. I wouldn't feel bad about not knowing all the permutations with color issues. I used to be a 'generalist' and found that the only way to understand color was to start a company and immerse myself in it (almost 10 years ago).
I am not familiar with the mechanisms behind the screen dimming exactly, all I know is they use the graphic card curves to perform some aspect of it and then don't replace the original curves. It exposes a bit of an architectural problem in that they don't control access to the video card curves. As such anything can change them directly and irresponsibly and the OS is none the wiser. Unfortunate... not that there's a simple solution either, but you'd hope that their own software would be vetted & follow some guidelines. The color group at MS is very small so I'm sure their are resource issues.
Also, I'm disappointed that MS didn't add the very basic feature of loading the calibration curves at startup automatically. Vista, XP, etc rely on calibration tools installing a small loader tool that loads the calibration curves back into the graphics card at startup. Without it the display reverts to its default, uncalibrated state and the benefits of calibration are lost.
The problem is that users' systems evolve over time and they may change calibration tools along the way. Then you are in a situation where you have two (or perhaps more) separate loader tools fighting over who's calibration LUTs are going to be loaded last.
We used to call it LUT wars... back in Mac OS 8!... yes, I said OS 8. Many years ago this problem was solved on the "other platform" and it still isn't solved today on Windows. Perhaps there's a patent preventing them from doing it, I don't know.
Anyway, glad to be of service. thanks for the great post.
regards,
Steve Upton
CHROMiX.com
The reason I ask is that I am partly waiting to upgrade to my machine and to CS4, which is supposed to be able to take advantage of 64 bit processors, other than to simply run on them. I'd pay for Vista Professional, or some other higher version beyond the usual consumer home version if this would not be a continuing issue in that OS environment.
The other reason for upgrading in a year or so is that my machine really doesn't need to now, but more 4x5 scans are coming down the road, beyond what I currently do. Those file sizes do slow things down a bit.
Certainly an option. Beware that you don't do it while running as an admin user (as many tend to do).
From Microsoft:
then some of the important new security features of Vista are defeated.
for further reading there's a pretty comprehensive document here:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/aa906022.aspx
regards,
Steve Upton
CHROMiX.com
First, I formally apologize for my initial post. It has drawn all of our minds off of photography this whole week.
Dan, it seems that the problem Steve mentions come in many flavors, because the issue happens far worse for him (always with UAC) then for me (UAC doesn't affect the profile). Steve obviously has this researched, so it's not like I have a magic machine or version that avoids the issue. It's there and hard to place a definitive label on it.
NOW, if you want to run the 64-bit version of CS4, you'll need the 64-bit version of Vista to do that. Just like 32-bit, 64-bit comes in all the versions. But let's keep it simple, whether you get 32 or 64 bit: Get Home Premium if you don't need to remotely access a corporate infrastructure such as the domain at your place of work. Otherwise, Get Ultimate. Ulitmate is Home Premium and Business combined... yes, Business is another version but it has none of the Multimedia players/recorders/burners and all that which make it fun.
Keep in mind that 64-bit Home Premium only handles up to 16GB of RAM. 64-bit Ultimate handles up to 128GB. Don't even think for a moment that you'll never have need for more than 16GB of RAM. Remember Bill gates' statement in 1981: "640K ought to be enough for anybody."
OK, some helpful links about versions:
Here is the 32-bit comparison list.
Here is the 64-bit feature page.
Right now, I am leaning towards the Vista 64 Ultimate version, for the reasons you list, but since this is an active topic now, it seems like a good time to ask about it. In some sense, I really don't care which version is on my machine, as long as it works for my purposes.
Thanks for the thread and contributions everyone!
Thank you so much for the heads up about needing to "tell" my computer that it has two processors to run from. Maybe now I will experience the benefits!