Curse

Richardt · Jul 31, 2008, 01:49 AM // 01:49

So recently I had a very nasty virus sneak it's way onto my desktop, and I'm consdering several options for the OS:

1) Reinstalling XP and getting Microsoft to reactivate it

2) Installing Vista

3) Installing some form of Linux

Number 1 is the easiest as I have my XP disk somewhere....but Microsoft's customer support is pretty full of FAIL and is frustrating to work with.

Vista I can get for free, however there's several things stopping me from doing so (mostly to do with how frustratingly annoying it is to do anything in Vista). The one technical one is that I hear a while back there were some issues with GW running on Vista. Can anyone comment on this?

Linux is also free, and I've gotten some familiarity with it at work (mostly via console applications...never a GUI). I hear there's a program I can use to run GW with. If anyone can tell me the name and comment on it's performance would be of big help.

Thanks!

Crimson Flame · Jul 31, 2008, 02:17 AM // 02:17

I have Vista on my laptop, and it's nice except for the fact that it kinda screws with how GW runs on my computer - kills the framerate from time to time.

I believe the program for Linux is Wine (a Windows emulator) but I'm not positive, having had no experience with Linux. I would suggest reinstalling XP if you can do so.

Woop Shotty · Jul 31, 2008, 02:35 AM // 02:35

GW runs fine on Vista.

Avoid Vista anyway.

I've had to deal with Microsoft support to activate my Vista installation a few times, and I didn't have any problems with them. I installed the 64-bit version and saw that nothing worked the way I wanted it to, and then I reverted to 32-bit. The inconvenient 10 minutes you might spend on the phone will have been worth it. They were polite and quick for me the times I called.

Only upgrade to Vista if you think the aesthetic appeal is worth the performance drop.

-Lotus- · Jul 31, 2008, 02:56 AM // 02:56

For the time being I would just Reinstall XP. Vista is so full of fail that dealing with microsoft support will seem like christmas morning. once you have your cumputer up and running again you will have plenty of time to research any forms of linux you might want to try.

I got the ubuntu disks, but it dosnt seems to work so well and there are almost as many hardware issuses as there were with vista.

moriz · Jul 31, 2008, 03:06 AM // 03:06

vista is excellent if your computer specs allows for it. once you have good enough specs, vista's efficiency will start to outweigh its larger overhead, and you'll start to get better performance than XP in some cases.

Richardt · Jul 31, 2008, 05:57 AM // 05:57

My desktop can handle vista...when I made it over a year ago Vista was still newish so I wanted to give myself the ability to switch over.

But I've worked with it before at work...and while pretty it was a pain to do anything with it. Call me old fashion, but I like to be able to add a printer without being asked 40 times if that's what I really want to do

I'll take a look at Wine and see if that's something I'd be interested in using. Chances are I might just suck it up and call support to get the reactivation.

zamial · Jul 31, 2008, 12:04 PM // 12:04

If your computer can handle vista, I suggest it. I dual boot with xp. here is a good guide to do it. http://apcmag.com/how_to_dualboot_vi...creenshots.htm

Unless you have 20+ printers to install on a weekly basis the security features are a nice improvement. I have no problems with vista at all, of course I do not pirate music, video or software.

Tarun · Jul 31, 2008, 03:30 PM // 15:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by Richardt

But I've worked with it before at work...and while pretty it was a pain to do anything with it. Call me old fashion, but I like to be able to add a printer without being asked 40 times if that's what I really want to do

If you hate that then you'd hate pretty much any form of Linux.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Richardt

Chances are I might just suck it up and call support to get the reactivation.

It's a lot easier than many people make it out to be. I've had to make these calls before and they take minutes and no hassle at all.

eggrolls · Jul 31, 2008, 05:43 PM // 17:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tarun

It's a lot easier than many people make it out to be. I've had to make these calls before and they take minutes and no hassle at all.

Seriously.

You call them. They ask you to enter your installation ID. If you've activated your copy more than X times, automatic activation fails and you're transferred to an operator. Tell the operator the first (or last?) six digits of the installation ID. He asks you how many computers you installed it on. Answer him and he gives you the confirmation ID. Type it in and you're done.

It's definitely not a pain unless you reinstall your OS daily.

Abedeus · Jul 31, 2008, 05:57 PM // 17:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by moriz

vista is excellent if your computer specs allows for it. once you have good enough specs, vista's efficiency will start to outweigh its larger overhead, and you'll start to get better performance than XP in some cases.

If you uninstall everything, don't run any programs or games you will get better performance than XP.

Any OS that triples requirements is bad. And any OS that after 2 years is not fixed to usability is bad too.

Besides, no point in getting Vista. You might have problems with older programs, you need a very good PC to run it like XP... on a weaker PC. But then again, if you have very good PC, XP will run perfectly.

DirectX 10? Not many games using it, requires MEGAPC to run it so there's a graphical difference, can be used on XP using modifications.

Visuals? Use Launchy or VistaMenu. Or skin modifying programs.

Uhm. Any reasons, really?

SnipiousMax · Jul 31, 2008, 06:10 PM // 18:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by moriz

vista is excellent if your computer specs allows for it. once you have good enough specs, vista's efficiency will start to outweigh its larger overhead, and you'll start to get better performance than XP in some cases.

I'd second moriz on this one. Vista does not deserve the reputation that it as been branded with. Things might be a little different than XP, but in the end it's a Microsoft product, and they aren't that hard to figure out.

Again, I agree with Tarun, if you get agitated at setting up a printer in Vista, then even the easiest version of Linux will give you fits. If you've got many many hours to put into it, you could probally get it to work to the point where you like it... but I think that a single phone call is a LOT less trouble then trying to get all of your hardware to work with unofficial drivers.

moriz · Jul 31, 2008, 09:53 PM // 21:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by Abedeus

If you uninstall everything, don't run any programs or games you will get better performance than XP.

Any OS that triples requirements is bad. And any OS that after 2 years is not fixed to usability is bad too.

Besides, no point in getting Vista. You might have problems with older programs, you need a very good PC to run it like XP... on a weaker PC. But then again, if you have very good PC, XP will run perfectly.

DirectX 10? Not many games using it, requires MEGAPC to run it so there's a graphical difference, can be used on XP using modifications.

Visuals? Use Launchy or VistaMenu. Or skin modifying programs.

Uhm. Any reasons, really?

blatant exaggerations are blatant

Quaker · Aug 01, 2008, 04:58 PM // 16:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Richardt

So recently I had a very nasty virus sneak it's way onto my desktop, and I'm consdering several options for the OS:

1) Reinstalling XP and getting Microsoft to reactivate it

I don't see why you should need to call Microsoft. That usually only happens if you make major changes to the hardware. You should be able to just reinstall XP and it should activate automatically over the Net. (I just yesterday reinstalled XP on a friends computer and it activated over the internet with no problem.)

Quote:

2) Installing Vista

I have no problems running GW on Vista, but then again, unless you like Vista for some reason, there's no real reason to change fron XP. On the other hand, crapping on Vista has become the cool thing to do, but it's really not as bad as some people say.

Quote:

3) Installing some form of Linux

GW can run on Linux using Wine, but the performance suffers drastically. If you want to use Linux, it's better to set up a dual-boot and run GW under XP anyway.

Richardt · Aug 01, 2008, 05:26 PM // 17:26

Wow....I must've had some bad luck with customer support then. Last time I called them to activate something for me it was an hour long affair with someone that barely spoke english.

I decided to go ahead and reinstall XP. I figured I might have had some bad luck with the representative I got, might as well try it again.