Vista

[Mirrorball]

The screen on my laptop sometimes goes black and looses the picture. Is this a boot problem? or Vista's fault? The damn welcome centre is now taking 5 minutes to open and conflicting with my palm software. I'm this close to stamping on it and running over it with my car.

[Tina TV]

Well it's been widely reported in the trade press that there's been a pickup in sales of older and even second hand systems because they still come with XP.

Of course you could always install linux or similar and then get a refund on Vista as not being "fit for purpose".

[PlasticAnnArbor]

The screen on my laptop sometimes goes black and looses the picture.

this sounds like the power saver is powering down like it is suppose to ,or the screen saver is coming on ( 10 min.) but none are selected to start?

The damn welcome centre is now taking 5 minutes to open

is Norton AV installed , however with that starting vista should need 10 min to get the user account up and running. how fast was it before , and WHAT has changed to make it slower?
have you ran "spy-bot-search and destroy " or "Ad Aware" to check for and remove any malware ( spy software and tracking cookies )
have you updated and ran your anti virus scanner ?

and conflicting with my palm software

conflicts how uac? or what ?
is this a MUST need to start up at boot if not( most likely not) then remove it from the startup folder or
hkey/localmachine/microsoft/windows/run
in the system registry
-------
have you searched Google for " vista boot speed "
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&clie ... ision&cd=2

1)
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/70563-boot-up.html
2)
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1 ... 267,00.asp

[Mirrorball]

The screen on my laptop sometimes goes black and looses the picture.

this sounds like the power saver is powering down like it is suppose to ,or the screen saver is coming on ( 10 min.) but none are selected to start?

The damn welcome centre is now taking 5 minutes to open

is Norton AV installed , however with that starting vista should need 10 min to get the user account up and running. how fast was it before , and WHAT has changed to make it slower?
have you ran "spy-bot-search and destroy " or "Ad Aware" to check for and remove any malware ( spy software and tracking cookies )
have you updated and ran your anti virus scanner ?

and conflicting with my palm software

conflicts how uac? or what ?
is this a MUST need to start up at boot if not( most likely not) then remove it from the startup folder or
hkey/localmachine/microsoft/windows/run
in the system registry
-------
have you searched Google for " vista boot speed "
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&clie ... ision&cd=2

1)
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/70563-boot-up.html
2)
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1 ... 267,00.asp

It has an anti-virus, but has started going black when I open software programs for some reason. Welcome centre used to open immediately, but always messed up with the toshiba flash card, but has now started taking 5 minutes to show up. When it does, it prolongs the mobile phone software which follows it. Will try ad-ware

[Mirrorball]

Well it's been widely reported in the trade press that there's been a pickup in sales of older and even second hand systems because they still come with XP.

Of course you could always install linux or similar and then get a refund on Vista as not being "fit for purpose".

When I went and bought this laptop, I wanted XP, but all the laptops came with Vista, is so unfair.

[Tina TV]

When I went and bought this laptop, I wanted XP, but all the laptops came with Vista, is so unfair.

If it wasn't what you wanted, why did you buy it ?

Tell the salesman you're going elsewhere because he doesn't have what you want.
There are plenty more shops about but if they can get away with selling crap they will do so.

If enough people tell them where to stick it perhaps they will change their act.

Recently PC World were only selling the XP version of the Asus EEE, after a brief demo I asked the salesman if they had the Linux version since I wanted the extra storage for the same price. He said no, so I thanks him for the demo and told him I would have to buy it elsewhere since he didn't have what I wanted. He seemed most put out. I went home and brought _ for the same price delivered.

[Mirrorball]

When I went and bought this laptop, I wanted XP, but all the laptops came with Vista, is so unfair.

If it wasn't what you wanted, why did you buy it ?

Tell the salesman you're going elsewhere because he doesn't have what you want.
There are plenty more shops about but if they can get away with selling crap they will do so.

If enough people tell them where to stick it perhaps they will change their act.

Recently PC World were only selling the XP version of the Asus EEE, after a brief demo I asked the salesman if they had the Linux version since I wanted the extra storage for the same price. He said no, so I thanks him for the demo and told him I would have to buy it elsewhere since he didn't have what I wanted. He seemed most put out. I went home and brought _ for the same price delivered.

PC world are so overpriced, you can get the same stuff for a fiver on Ebay from China. I bought it quickly because my desktop emachine computer broke and I needed a laptop that week. So the only one's they had all came with Vista, looking back I should have got a macbook, but I needed the pc laptop for microsoft office and photoshop.

[PlasticAnnArbor]

but I needed the pc laptop for microsoft office and photoshop.

i am running a pc ,linux installed you can install mac os10 on a pc ( was ppc olny)
so you needed a "MS Windows" pc to run MS office ( runs on a mac too) but i use Open Office ( http://www.openoffice.org/ ) and love it .Photoshop is over priced ( unless you are a pro and write it off on the taxes, Gimp 2.6 ( http://gimp.org/ )is a nice open source tool for photos

----------------
but back to the slow boot and start up.

going black when I open software programs

that might be the laptop running out of ram , vista must have 2 gig of ram MIN. to run properly, MS says 512 meg. min (home basic) -- that is a lie -- and 1 gig for Home Premium
the desktop needs 385 meg just to open " my documents" then if , say start" MS Office" that is ~ 200 meg more .

also the first time you start MS office it will auto setup the " fast start"- aka-"quick launch" ( oxymoron).MS office now will start at boot and be ready to launch ( already loaded into the system ram) sitting there waiting for you to launch it .This will KILL your system performance . IE 7 will also do this .
so if you have any quick launch tools in the system tray this might be the problem.

can you post the system specs for
cpu ?
ram ?
graphics chipset( if there is a 3d chip on the mobo )
---
spybot SD
http://www.spybot.com/index2.html

AdAware
http://www.lavasoft.com/
and the free( home/not for profit use) version
http://www.lavasoft.com/products/ad_aware_free.php

[Mirrorball]

but I needed the pc laptop for microsoft office and photoshop.

i am running a pc ,linux installed you can install mac os10 on a pc ( was ppc olny)
so you needed a "MS Windows" pc to run MS office ( runs on a mac too) but i use Open Office ( http://www.openoffice.org/ ) and love it .Photoshop is over priced ( unless you are a pro and write it off on the taxes, Gimp 2.6 ( http://gimp.org/ )is a nice open source tool for photos

----------------
but back to the slow boot and start up.

going black when I open software programs

that might be the laptop running out of ram , vista must have 2 gig of ram MIN. to run properly, MS says 512 meg. min (home basic) -- that is a lie -- and 1 gig for Home Premium
the desktop needs 385 meg just to open " my documents" then if , say start" MS Office" that is ~ 200 meg more .

also the first time you start MS office it will auto setup the " fast start"- aka-"quick launch" ( oxymoron).MS office now will start at boot and be ready to launch ( already loaded into the system ram) sitting there waiting for you to launch it .This will KILL your system performance . IE 7 will also do this .
so if you have any quick launch tools in the system tray this might be the problem.

can you post the system specs for
cpu ?
ram ?
graphics chipset( if there is a 3d chip on the mobo )
---
spybot SD
http://www.spybot.com/index2.html

AdAware
http://www.lavasoft.com/
and the free( home/not for profit use) version
http://www.lavasoft.com/products/ad_aware_free.php

You're right, it could be running out of ram, I never thought of that. I recently bought a mac book but can't put photoshop so this is why I keep the pc laptop, as it has a larger screen. Haven't been running the anti-virus for a while, so probably has loads of viruses. Will try that too.

[PlasticAnnArbor]

anti-virus
MUST be started at boot and run in the background ,and have the definitions UPDATED DALY .Norton and McAfee both do this and so do almost all others.
and a FULL system scan once a week

[DanMc]

You're right, it could be running out of ram, I never thought of that. I recently bought a mac book but can't put photoshop so this is why I keep the pc laptop, as it has a larger screen. Haven't been running the anti-virus for a while, so probably has loads of viruses. Will try that too.

You can not be serious!

[Mirrorball]

You're right, it could be running out of ram, I never thought of that. I recently bought a mac book but can't put photoshop so this is why I keep the pc laptop, as it has a larger screen. Haven't been running the anti-virus for a while, so probably has loads of viruses. Will try that too.

You can not be serious!

I've got AVG anti-virus but everytime I use it, it never finds anything, which is strange because I used to run it and loads of red alerts would come up.

[DanMc]

You're right, it could be running out of ram, I never thought of that. I recently bought a mac book but can't put photoshop so this is why I keep the pc laptop, as it has a larger screen. Haven't been running the anti-virus for a while, so probably has loads of viruses. Will try that too.

You can not be serious!

I've got AVG anti-virus but everytime I use it, it never finds anything, which is strange because I used to run it and loads of red alerts would come up.

Suspicious - there is malware which can disable antivirus software. I take it you do update it on a regular basis and it should be running all the time. Try an 0nline scanner such as the (free) ones offered by Panda or Trend Micro. Or you could disable Norton and try another antivirus program (I like Antivir but opinions vary), but don't have two antivirus programs active at the same time or bad things may happen

I'm not a computer expert and I don't use Windows that much these days so I'll leave it to Plasticann to advise you further.

[PlasticAnnArbor]

and here is a good example about keeping your system UP TO DATE
"New Windows worm builds massive botnet"
http://www.computerworld.com/action/art ... Id=9121958

excerpt

The worm exploiting a critical Windows bug that Microsoft Corp. patched with an emergency fix in late October is being used to build a new botnet, a security researcher said today.

the FIX is out there just do a update and you will not be affected by this worm
That is if you are not already infected .

[Mirrorball]

You're right, it could be running out of ram, I never thought of that. I recently bought a mac book but can't put photoshop so this is why I keep the pc laptop, as it has a larger screen. Haven't been running the anti-virus for a while, so probably has loads of viruses. Will try that too.

You can not be serious!

I've got AVG anti-virus but everytime I use it, it never finds anything, which is strange because I used to run it and loads of red alerts would come up.

Suspicious - there is malware which can disable antivirus software. I take it you do update it on a regular basis and it should be running all the time. Try an 0nline scanner such as the (free) ones offered by Panda or Trend Micro. Or you could disable Norton and try another antivirus program (I like Antivir but opinions vary), but don't have two antivirus programs active at the same time or bad things may happen

I'm not a computer expert and I don't use Windows that much these days so I'll leave it to Plasticann to advise you further.

Thanks Danmc, will try Panda or Trend Micro...thanks PlasticAnnArbor, I might reinstall my mobile software or delete the welcome cente or buy a mac phone instead, that would make it easier.