Summary of My Dilemma
Unfortunately I am running Vista Ultimate on a Dell M1330. It seemed a good purchase at the time, as it has an Intel Core 2 Duo CPU T7500 @ 2.20GHz / 2.20 GHz with 4.00 GB of RAM and a 32-bit Operating System. This was Dell’s 2007 attempt to introduce a thin, sexy laptop with LED-backlit display and a few other bells & whistles, like a fingerprint reader (which I am afraid to use, thus I disabled it).
Fortunately, I purchased the three year full extended warranty, as the M1330 has had two new motherboards since I bought it. Recently the DVD burner works only when it is in the mood. When I am ready to spend hours on the phone and be transferred to a half dozen clueless tech support staff in India, I may get the DVD burner fixed.
My misery: the Dell M1330
As there are only two USB ports on the M1330, I really liked the Bluetooth mouse option – when it worked, which was about half the time. I searched in vain for a new bug-free driver, but the apparently the driver was not the issue, as Dell never updated it.
On one particularly frustrating day I tossed the Dell Bluetooth mouse in the trash, only later to replace it with a Microsoft Bluetooth mouse, foolishly thinking that would be the fix. It was not. I now use a Logitech mouse with the USB port. I gave up on any Bluetooth usage at all on the M1330.
So much for Dell and its cheaply built consumer products. Vista Ultimate is the real nightmare.
Vista Ultimate Hell
The first little annoyance (which I learned to live with) was a little box that would open stating “Error – Called by App” with a little white X inside a red circle. Deleting a shortcut and recreating it would sometimes fix that annoyance, but in time it would come back only for opening certain programs like Outlook or Word. If I click computer, properties, device manager, the same annoying box pops open, with no fix that I know of.
Yes, I did search the Dell forums and the internet for a real fix. Others had such a problem, but no one offered a solution. So I gave up on even caring, as just one annoying mouse click made the box disappear and the programs then opened.
Remember when Microsoft promised its Vista Ultimate Windows user all kinds of added goodies down the road? It never happened as far as I can figure.
I did have a few days of fun with animated wallpaper and Dream Scenes with the Windows Aero Scheme. But after my desktop failed to load the scenes routinely, I just stripped all this bloated garbage off.
Now my desktop background is an enticing hi-res photo of nine Japanese girls which I found on 4Chan’s Beautiful Woman message board. That image beat the hell out of swaying palm trees in a tropical sunset any day! Check it out if you doubt me – it’s G-rated.
OK, Now the Serious Stuff
Of course as soon I got the Dell M1330 running Vista Ultimate I was prompted by Windows to update all kinds of security patches, bug fixes and what not. I was smart enough to turn off the automated update feature, which proved to be a blessing. At first the updates went on without a hitch. I did get through to Service Pack 1.
Then, on one update event (which I always monitor closely), after the required restart, Windows failed to start properly. Some Windows Repair Screen pops up reassuring me that it will find and repair the problem.
I’ve come to find that the Repair Screen is a fraud – it can’t repair anything. Finally I am prompted to do a “Systems Restore” which simply removes the newly installed “critical” updates that Mico$oft says are so very necessary.
At first I believed them, and went on to installing one update at a time – a total waste of my time, but what the hell, the updates are, after all, “critical.” That worked sometime, and sometime not.
Finally I just gave up completely on installing updates. Right now Windows prompts me daily to install them and there are currently 37 “important” updates and 30 “optional” updates just waiting to be installed, only to have “Systems Restore” remove them after the computer fails to start because of them.
I am now perfectly comfortable ignoring that little message that I get daily to install the updates. Sure I know that I can turn it off, but it is more rewarding to ignore it. And yes, I know all good Microsoft computer users should install all their critical updates, but since I got Windows Vista Ultimate – I can’t – Windows Vista Ultimate won’t let me!
The Ultra Slow Shutdown
About the time Windows Vista Ultimate failed to let me install updates, I noticed it took a very only time to shut down the computer – like 4-5 minutes. This is a common problem, and apparently for many reasons, as I have searched for a fix many times.
Worse, during the shutdown, I sometimes get the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD). Just sometime! Then the computer reboots itself and I have to prompt it to shut down again (I’ve since unchecked the restart option).
Of course that is just some pesky hardware or device driver problem that some unknown organization released in a buggy form just to cause me hell as it somehow got on my computer. There is a way to freeze the BSOD to capture some cryptic code that may or may not allow you to fix the problem – but I long since forgot how to do that. And of course there is some error log somewhat which points to some solution buried in a ton of text that a real techie could possibly decipher. Right!
Has anyone come up with a real workable diagnostic software to fix this type of problem automatically? If so, he or she should be the next software billionaire.
I read on some of the Vista “Help” forums of guys that have similar problems with slow shut downs. Sometimes they get it fixed, and sometime not. In any event, it seems it take hours, days or weeks to find a remedy. Some of these guys were so determined to fix such problems that they may have just died in front of their computers, as they are never heard from again in cyberspace! I’d sooner trash the damn computer (as I did with the Bluetooth mouse) before I’d waste days to fix this.
Even though I have a complete extended warranty with Dell that should (I think) cover Vista support, I have even less perseverance to spend hours or days trying to resolve this annoyance with some guy in India, once I find that guy after talking to a half dozen other guys from India.
So my fix – push on the hard button for a fast shutdown (go ahead, cringe). Crap – this is 2009, PC’s have been around for 25+ years – one push of one button should safely shut of a computer just like a TV. Why does it take three mouse clicks minimum Microsoft?
The Final Straw
I recently ordered a wonderful plug-in package for Photoshop called Topaz Photoshop Bundle for Windows. Each of the individual software packages installed effortlessly on both Photoshop CS4 and Photoshop Elements.
The entire bundle works fine until I shut down the computer. The problem: when starting the computer I get nothing but a dark screen. I must do a hard shut down. When I restart the computer for a second time, the dumb Windows Repair Screen opens which then a forces Systems Restore, which removes the Topaz Bundle.
I can reload the Topaz software with no problem and it all works fine (after entering the license key). I thought a fix was simply putting the computer in hibernation, rather than shutting it down. That seemed to work for a time, until a few moments ago, when the computer would not come out of hibernation (same problem as mentioned above). Topaz Tech Support had yet to respond. I can’t blame them!
That problem did me in. I GIVE UP. I am now just going to let my computer run continuously until my salvation date of October 22 – when Amazon promises to have a boxed upgrade to Windows 7 Ultimate at my door.
Will that really be my salvation, or will I be jumping from the frying pan into the fire? I’ll be sure to let you know.
Note to all Apple fanatics: I would have bought a Mac years ago, but for product design I use various solid modeling and NURBS surfacing software that is only available on a PC. That is my excuse and I sticking with it, but a Mac is in my budget for 2010 (sooner if Windows 7 fails to deliver). I love my iPod Touch, and will someday give up my Blackberry.
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
First go get a window 7 RC and install that. Secondly half of these computer manufactures are famous for having poor support if you have the budget you claim to have go buy a good quality custom pc laptop along the lines of alienware. Right now you are getting what you pay for DUH!