January 26th, 2007
Before you go Vista: Advice from nine experts
Not all experts are created equal. In the Windows world, there are a handful who really live and breathe Microsoft operating systems — and whose opinions influence everyone from Microsoft's developers, to its customers.
I asked some of the best known of the bunch for one — just one — piece of advice they'd give to users who have decided to take the Windows Vista plunge. Not the fence sitters. Not Mac users. Not Linux champions. But individuals who have decided they are going to go with Vista, and probably some time soon (if they haven't already.)
Given that a number of Windows experts have been working with Vista for months, if not years, they've already found a few "gotchas" and potential pitfalls to avoid, as well as some hints that might help make the lives easier of Vista users, be they newbies or well-versed techies.
I've listed the experts' tips alphabetically by last names. And here are some nifty Vista screen shots that help illustrate their Vista tips and tricks.
ZDNet Blogger and Windows Book Author Ed Bott
Bott, who has just published his latest of a growing family of Windows books (Windows Vista Inside Out, 2007, Microsoft Press), has a tip for those planning to set up a dual-boot system with Windows XP and Windows Vista.
"If you set up a dual-boot system with XP and Vista, you'll be gotcha'ed the first time you boot up the new operating system, and again each time you switch," Bott warned.
The problem? "The two operating systems use different formats for System Restore checkpoints. When you boot one OS, it looks at the System Restore checkpoints, assumes they are corrupt, and deletes them. This is true even if you urn off System Restore protection in either OS. The check is automatic and there's no way to stop it."
.Net Developer and 64-bit Expert Ryan Hoffman
Given his role as founder of the Extended64.com site, it's not too surprising that Hoffman has been putting the 64-bit versions of Vista through their paces. And here's what he's found:
"One of the biggest Windows Vista x64 'gotchas' is its new signed driver loading policy," Hoffman explained. "Hardware drivers which are not certified by Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL) are not allowed to load into the 64-bit Windows Vista kernel.
"When installing a non WHQL driver, Windows will pop up with a warning explaining that the driver is not WHQL certified, which gives the user an option to continue anyway. Once the driver is installed, Windows tries to load the driver (which fails), and an unhelpful error message is displayed: 'Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware. The driver may be corrupted or missing. (Code 39).'
"Instead of simply stopping the user from installing the driver in the first place, Vista's otherwise improved error messages and diagnostics fail to help the user," Hoffman said.
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