Well, it’s been nearly 2 weeks on my new laptop which came with Windows Vista (almost past the return period). The 14 day return/exchange period is coming to an end, and I think I will keep it. Well, I have no choice. My experience with a MacBook Pro was not very positive (which resulted in a lot of flame from iFags), and I cannot get a laptop with Windows XP on it anyhow. So, if I really really really wanted to revert back to XP, I could do a custom-installation on this machine and it’ll do. My old laptop is toast anyhow, and I cannot order one from Ebay – I can’t go a day without my laptop if I don’t want to mess up my business.

So anyhow. In today’s review of Windows Vista, I will get a bit critical on Vista, going beyond its fancy looks, great navigation and user interface.

• Network Problems – This seems to be a somewhat common problem with Windows Vista – it has trouble connecting to the internet via ethernet (LAN) cables!!! It was most frustrating when I had to try to tinker with this problem. This happened to me in 2 different locations, and both times I verified that the cable and the Router was fully functional as it should be.Please don’t write in the comments about how to troubleshoot it – I know my computer stuff and I’ve tried it all. Reboot, resetting the router, disabled/enabled the device, uninstalling and re-installing the driver, turning teh wireless OFF to avoid conflicts with the Ethernet LAN, etc. And of course that was AFTER the Windows Vista’s self-diagnose/repair tool failed. miserably.
  Basically, I get a proper IP given by the router, and the connection between the router and my computer is fine. But the router will not connect my computer to the internet, although all other computers on the router are fine. And even if I switch cables – same thing. The other computers work, my laptop does not.

  It fixed itself after a while. I don’t know why it was caused or how to fix it. I looked it up on Google and experts-exchange.com – I saw 4 identical cases without resolution. And they happen on all computers with Vista – so it wasn’t the hardware on my HP laptop. It’s one of those bugs that Microsoft will have to deal with.

  Thankfully, the wireless network has no problems, so I have no risk of losing internet connection at home or at cafes.

• Screen Resolution Messes up on Wake Up – After my computer is in hibernate and then woken up again (i.e. when I close my laptop and open it later), it often screws with the screen resolution. It reduces it to 800X600 upon wake-up, and I need to go to the display settings again to set it to 1440 X 900, which is what it should be.
• Keystrokes get Crossed – The keystrokes get messed up after a while. I still haven’t figured out a logical course of how this error comes along – which software causes it, or what keystrokes cause it etc. But, it gets quite annoying when / returns the e with an accent at the top (the French accented e), and { returns a blank while } returns a `. And the quotation marks get messed up as well. This input error applies to the URL bar of Firefox, my text editor (Homesite 4.5), any Windows pane where I save or load files through. However, MSN messenger is free from it, and so is this text field on Wordpress that I’m writing on right now.

Those are the 3 major pet-peeves I have with Vista, and need to be fixed by Microsoft. Read this, Bill Gates.