It was my first time to have actually used Windows Vista (poking around display units doesn't count). To be honest, I wasn't disappointed. Why? Because I've read enough bad reviews about it, so I knew what was coming... or what was not coming.
The first thing I did is to configure the wireless network to connect to my home network. It was pretty simple and straightforward so I was done in under a minute.
The real pain in the a** was when I tried to access my desktop. In XP, I would normally go to Start -> Run, type in the network path, then it prompts for my username and password and I'm done.
In Vista, either the Run button is missing, or I'm just blind. Which I am NOT. So I tried it the M$ way, I clicked My Computer, and a "new and supposedly improved" explorer window popped up. I selected a Network icon on the side panel to see which computers are nearby. And the only computer found was itself. I realized that this was a common problem for Windows Networking so I didn't bother to troubleshoot it.
Thankfully, the location bar was still there, but when I typed in my \\hostname, it could not resolve the IP address. This works for my laptop (XP64) and my 2nd desktop (XP32) and I don't understand why it wouldn't work on Vista. Grrrr...
Anyhow, I just used the IP address instead and was finally able to do what I wanted to do. After finishing the transfers, I gave my sister a lecture on how to search and download files through torrents/trackers. I also asked her to put a password on her administrator account. I told her not to use the administrator account, and create a standard user account instead. But before that, I had to scare her by telling her I could easily logon to her laptop and wipe all her files clean. >:)
So I created a standard account for the sake of security. At first, we were satisfied. But after 3 logons/logoffs, we got sick of the security popups asking for the administrator password each time we try to connect to the wireless network after logon, and I ended up changing her account type to administrator. Scr*w the Vista Security!
In the end, we still got to play around with some cool tricks with the built-in camera. Although it was nowhere near the Apple's iSight and Photo Booth. And I mean nowhere.
My encounter with Vista wasn't as good as I expected it to be, but it wasn't that bad too. Maybe I just need to spend some time poking around with it.
I am actually planning to get a copy of Vista soon, specially since Service Pack 1 was already released. Hopefully, it will be better.
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Just a few hours after my sister left, my uncle called, asking for help with his computer...
