Annoying Windows Vista

Decided to write this blog in English so that it will benefit most of you.

For those who are thinking of upgrading to Windows Vista, please, think twice.

Recently, I had “upgraded” (but honestly, I would consider it as a downgrade instead) my computer from Windows XP to Windows Vista. Besides getting a lot of software and drivers incompatibility issues, I’m starting to get pretty annoyed with the stupid Microsoft “act-smart” issues.

A few days ago, I was figuring out where to find all the neccessary updates for most of my softwares so that they work in Vista environment. After much trouble and effort, I can finally get to enjoy the fancy features of Vista.

2 stupid and major problems occurred (of course, there were other problems but not as annoying as these 2):

1) I have the habit of hiding some of my “personal” files (you know what kind). Once in a while when I need to open these files, I would unhide them. After which I would hide them again.

Here’s where the problem occurred.

When I try to hide those files, the taskbar and all my icons suddenly went missing. There wasn’t anywhere for me to exit the window except using Alt-Ctrl-Del.

Solution:
Press Alt-Ctrl-Del, select “Log Off”, and then log on again. The taskbar came back.

Stupid bug.

2) I am using Creative Audigy sound card and I always love the CMSS surround sound feature. However, it doesn’t work in Vista.

Worst still, I am using 5.1 speakers. After setting up and testing the speakers one at a time (I could hear sound coming out from all speakers, so they all work fine), I realise all mp3, aac and mpeg cannot be played in 5.1. Instead, only the front two speakers work.

I went through some forums to look for solution, but the attempt was futile.

In Vista, 5.1 speakers only work with those DVD that comes in 5.1 surround sound. Hate this “act-smart” technology.

Now I cannot enjoy my 5.1 speakers and CMSS from Creative. So disappointing.

3) Minor but annoying bug: Language bar always floating on desktop on startup even though I had tried to set it to dock in the taskbar.

Windows XP is still the right choice to stay onto. I would advice those buying Windows Vista to hold on for awhile before installing it into your system, till Microsoft come out with a good update service pack.