Windows Vista... 2 thumbs down

[Rich 10]

Bought a Mac for my daughter, I'm SICK of Gates and won't give him another penney!

The unit works flawlessly right out of the box, no worries of viruses and the programs are EASIER than ANY windows based or Office based programs.

 

How is Mac with trading ???

[Reaver 10]

*whispers* get a mac.....get a mac........

 

 

ha ha leave it to you to step in on mac's behalf!

 

But I'll have to say I am leaning that way myself, man.

[PYenner 10]

Vista Home OS uses 1Gb of ram, trading platforms use nearly 1Gb so a 2GB Vista computer is just too small to run a single platform.

 

Recently got a 4GB computer with Vista Home and a faster than average processor and it runs MT4 at least 4 times faster (visually) than the 2GB XP computer.

 

Up to a few months ago I could run the live account plus two MT4 demo accounts on the 2GB XP computer but the MT4 rebuilds seem to be making it more and more resource hungry. It is now so slow that I get "invalid price" when running just one MT4 demo plus the live account when prices start moving fast.

 

Hence the shift to 4GB plus fast processor and I actually like Vista despite a very long term loathing for M$ and Win, bottom line is that it finally seems to work for me. Never thought I would be saying that.

 

I think with Vista, you have to spend the money, budget computers will not be good enough anymore.

 

Task Manager does not seem to fully report ram usage, I get the impression it ignores swap file and handle impact on memory usage. Charts use handles and handles use memory. XP seems to run out of memory when Task Manager says it has 1/4 to 1/2GB spare. "Disk Full" is the message XP gives me when it runs out of ram and can no longer allocate file handles for the word processor that serves as a journal, good old M$ sigh.

 

Incidently a 20" widescreen monitor set to high definition is brilliant if you use lotsa charts but you need a graphics card with its own ram, avoid the budget approach that has graphics sharing system ram.

[TinGull 10]

Rich, I use a 20inch iMac for my trading and love it...for the most part. I run Parallels to execute trades via TransAct and as for charting....it's really tough. I've finally come to a point where I think I need to go to the windows side of my Mac for all my trading stuff, and then at the end of the day switch back to sanity land.

[Reaver 10]

Man last night my computer (Vista) kept freezing up. I swear I was about to go off in the woods and blow my brains out! It is frustrating as all get out when that happens. Does anyone know what may be causing my browsers (I try IE and FF and they both screw up) to freeze all the time? Is it just glitches or is there parhaps another reason this is occuring?

[TinGull 10]

Yup, I know!! Its called Windows Sucks.

[Reaver 10]

You got that right man!

[PYenner 10]

Reaver

 

I've had no problems with IE on Vista.

It was Win Mail that took ages to get going.

When I'm having a Win problem that no one else on the planet is having, yeah right, I google until I find a techie forum with some relevant discussion.

Like everything else it only sometimes helps.

 

Selectively disabling addons like Adobe can sometimes help to isolate a fault from them. Seems odd that FF also locks up, what do IE and FF have in common? Adobe, Java, arghhh?

[Reaver 10]

hmmm good idea. I am gonna try to troubleshoot. Thanks for the info!

[drlicks 10]

Rich, I use a 20inch iMac for my trading and love it...for the most part. I run Parallels to execute trades via TransAct and as for charting....it's really tough. I've finally come to a point where I think I need to go to the windows side of my Mac for all my trading stuff, and then at the end of the day switch back to sanity land.

 

TinGull,

 

I am looking at getting a new laptop with duo core for my trading and am deeply afraid of Vista now thanks to this thread and others haha. How do you find the iMac for trading. Yours is a laptop? Does the PC conversion software have any lag time? Have you used it with Tradestation or Infinity platforms?

 

Thanks!!

[MC 10]

I'm running vista ultimate on a laptop with 2gb and a dual core intel processor.

Runs fine and Tradestation is smooth on it. Hp DV9220us is my model.

 

A major key for cheaper systems is they may have shared video ram which eats into the physical ram. My laptop has 256mb dedicated video ram so I have no speed issues at all.

 

The major issue I have had is getting certified software or updates for older software. If your software isn't vista certified you can run it in "xp compatibility mode" with some luck usually. Speed issues are usually from lack of system resources though, and IMO vista isn't a tremendous hog really.

 

As for office 2007...I love it. It takes some getting used to but once you do and realize you don't need to go through 100 pulldown bars to change a font color...AND it changes in preview mode to show you what you change and doesn't apply till you click so you can try options without non stop clicking.

 

Most hate these new products because of the learning curve, taken out of the comfort zone puts people on the defensive.

 

And to tingull...MACS RULE! I wish I had the cash for a 17" macbook pro.

[AbeSmith 10]

I'm also running vista on my laptop. It was slow at first but improved alot after removing some junk programs that came with it and also blocking some programs from starting up automatically. But for some reason when I type on my keyboard it doesnt recognize some of the letters. It's getting really annoying. I sent it back to Sony and they found no problem with it. But the problem is still there and I don't know what else to do. Also, one time the uninstall button in the Add/Remove Programs just dissapeared one day and I was not able to uninstall programs from there. Some of the program names n the Add/Remove list also disappeared. It got fixed when I restored my computer to a pervious restore point.

[NeoTrader 10]

I'm upgrading to Windows 3.11 myself. Windows went to hell when they introduced the Start Menu :o

[brownsfan019 17]

I had my first real experience with Vista after purchasing a new laptop for my dad this weekend.

 

Here's a non-techie review...

 

I like it.

 

To me, it just looks like a dressed up, more 'gui' friendly XP. And for someone that doesn't like huge, monster changes to windows, this upgrade works for me.

 

I realize Vista has it's shortcomings, but for the non-techie, this is not too bad to get used to. I could easily see myself using this in 08 or 09 on all my machines.

 

Now, would I pay to upgrade from a computer running XP? NO.

 

Would I just get it on a new computer purchase? Yes.

[brownsfan019 17]

Follow up to my Vista experience - everything appears to be good until it goes into Sleep Mode or just not even used for awhile.

 

When the computer comes out of Sleep Mode, it actually never comes out of it... The stupid thing just freezes up.

 

So I then turned the Sleep Mode function off (when laptop lid is shut) and while it looks like the computer is running as normal, again, when opening it up and using again the damn thing acts all funny and freezes up again.

 

I have never seen a version of windows freeze so freakin much. Talk about frustrating. I'm about ready to tell my dad just shut it down each and every night. That should be unnecessary, but apparently not.

 

If anyone has any ideas or suggestions, please let me know as I am not versed in Vista at all.

 

Example from tonight - I was trying to simply unmute his volume from the system tray and by double clicking the volume thing, EVERYTHING froze up. EVERYTHING. I lost my desktop, system tray and bar at the bottom. This was from trying to unmute the damn laptop. If this is what vista offers, then I am going to stay far away from this for as long as possible. I can't believe just trying to unmute the laptop caused a massive freeze... :crap:

Edited January 30, 2008 by brownsfan019

[MC 10]

BF...I bet it has conflicts with some of the crappy bundled software pc's ship with nowadays. I did a fresh install with no laptop "bundled" garbage and had no issues at all.

 

That's my thought anyhow.

[brownsfan019 17]

BF...I bet it has conflicts with some of the crappy bundled software pc's ship with nowadays. I did a fresh install with no laptop "bundled" garbage and had no issues at all.

 

That's my thought anyhow.

 

Here's the problem MC with that - I did not receive actual Vista disks with the computer. What they offered was the ability to create a backup copy of Windows after I customized it. I deleted as much garbage as I could, but... So the best I have right now is an image of what it looked like after I cleaned it up the best I could.

 

Is there a way around this to get a fresh Vista Install w/o all this trash on it? I believe I can order a recovery disk from Compaq, but not sure if that will just have all the same junk on it like it has now...

 

What do you think?

[MC 10]

Here's the problem MC with that - I did not receive actual Vista disks with the computer. What they offered was the ability to create a backup copy of Windows after I customized it. I deleted as much garbage as I could, but... So the best I have right now is an image of what it looked like after I cleaned it up the best I could.

 

Is there a way around this to get a fresh Vista Install w/o all this trash on it? I believe I can order a recovery disk from Compaq, but not sure if that will just have all the same junk on it like it has now...

 

What do you think?

 

You can order a restore dvd. I did so for my HP laptop just to have, but I also had 3 copies of Vista ultimate from quizzes at work (about the only perk to my job...LOL). So if I were to use the HP restore it will put all the software back on like when I first opened the box. I used the microsoft disc so I had no added crap.

 

Short of buying a full vista you have to install the added crap.

[MC 10]

http://neosmart.net/blog/2006/vistas-hideous-wakeup-support/

Try these patches and see if it helps any.

 

Also go to the computers vendor site and look to see if there are any driver updates for the notebook...bios or firmware especially.

[brownsfan019 17]

Thanks MC!

 

Our resident computer guru!

[MC 10]

Thanks MC!

 

Our resident computer guru!

 

Too bad I'm not a people person...I could make a crapload doing private computer consultant work. I work in the industry but on the phone for reseller support...so I can make faces and flip off the customer. LOL

[Lugopt 10]

Hi.

 

This thread started almost a year ago and I hope people solved their problems with Windows Vista (without changing back to Windows XP).

 

I've Windows Vista Ultimate on the computer I used for Trading. If you have a recent computer or buy a new one I would recomend you use Windows Vista as long the software from your broker is compatible with Windows Vista.

 

Regarding Office 2007 I'm using it since Beta 2 and I've had to admit that in the first coupple days I was a little bit lost. But it was only two days. After that it seems pretty intuitive and I can't miss the Conditional formatting on Excel 2007 to analyse my trades.

 

For the people new to Office 2007, Microsoft has Interactive: Excel 2003 to Excel 2007 command reference guide that will show where are the old commands in the new Ribbon UI (in an Flash interactive guide). Please take a look at them. There are Interactive help guides for all the new 2007 versions.

 

Interactive: Word 2003 to Word 2007 command reference guide

Interactive: PowerPoint 2003 to PowerPoint 2007 command reference guide

 

By the way, if you install Windows Vista, please install the Service Pack 1 Release Candidate (RC) as it speed your machine a lot.

 

If you need any help on Windows or Office, please just say so.

 

Thanks,

[brownsfan019 17]

 

By the way, if you install Windows Vista, please install the Service Pack 1 Release Candidate (RC) as it speed your machine a lot.

 

If you need any help on Windows or Office, please just say so.

 

Lug - is it ok for the normal person to download the 'RC' of SP1? I'm not looking for a beta or anything like that, so not sure if I should be downloading RC or not.

 

Thanks.

[Lugopt 10]

Hi Brownsfan.

 

That's a good question. It really depends on the user. If someone has only the basic IT knowledge and doesn't want to try new thing, don't try the RC stuff. Is much more stable than a typical Beta release (I've been using it for several weeks) but it's not final.

 

Otherwise, take a look at Windows Vista Service Pack 1 RC Refresh Public Availability Program.

 

Thanks,

[james_gsx 16]

Alright I got a new computer and it came with Vista premium. Here are the specs before I go into my review.

 

AMD 9500 Quad Core Processor

3gb of ram

500gb hard drive

 

So far... I like it. I couldn't stand it on the laptop because it was too slow, but on this machine I do like it. I like the layout better, and aesthetically everything looks better IMO. So far I haven't had any issues with it, but if I do I will post them in here. Like Brownsfan, I won't go out switching everything to Vista but I will get Vista with any machines if they are fast enough to handle it.