Windows Vista...... I AM SOLD!

I have been using Windows Vista Ultimate for approx 2 days now, and it has to be said... I AM SOLD!

I love it!

• It looks great
  
• It works great
• It is easy to use

And most importantly IT WORKS! Bloody well, which is more than can be said for the first few releases possibly also the final releases of Windows XP.

I have now managed to transfer all of my hardware and applications, and my computer is running like a dream!

SO.... if you have a reasonably new computer running Windows XP, run the compatibility check... and if it is compatible UPGRADE!

You will not regret it!

Outlook Express VS Windows Mail

I have always used Microsoft Outlook Express to view my emails from my various email accounts and was pleased to find that there is a very similar version in Vista called Windows Mail.

The only problem is, I cannot work out a way to copy all of my email messages across!!!!

If I had done a simple upgrade from XP to Vista, I do not think that it would have been a problem, as Windows Mail would have automatically picked up the settings and messages from Outlook Express. But as I did a dual boot install, Windows Mail cannot see any previous versions of Outlook installed (obviously).

I was hoping that I would simply be able to import all of the messages from the Outlook store folder, but this to has failed.

I am enjoying Vista SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much that I want to use it as my main OS, but as it stands I have to keep booting into XP to check all of my email accounts which I am sure you can understand is bloody annoying!!!!!!

Any ideas anyone?????

DVD Film Rental By Post

I was tempted to join an online rental service almost 2 years ago, but resisted because my already huge list of Direct Debits was daunting enough!

BUT, a friend of mine (Dave) game me a code whereby I could try the rental service for 1 month for FREE!!!!! But of course I had to enter my Debit details before the trial commenced.

I am not sure, but I think at the time Screen Select was the only service that offered online rentals, certainly the only one I had hear of. Nearly 2 years later, I am still a member (Now called LoveFilm.com) and have the souped up subscription (3 at a time Unlimited) and I must say I love it!

You can add as many films as you want (I have approx 500 currently on my list) and I must say after watching over 200 films, most of which I would never have rented in the shop or watched on the telly etc I LOVE IT!!!!!

I have seen some great movies, some of which I had never heard of!!! I simply searched for films either by director or by actor and then clicked 'Add' to all in the search results. OK I have watched some lemons! but most of them have been great!

So, if you have thought about using an online rental service, LoveFilm.com is a great service... and if you want I can give you a promotional code which will give you a month for free.. and a month for me I think!!!!

I take it all back!!!!!

Not that anyone has actually read my last post about Windows Vista, but just in case you did (or are about to) please read this......

IT WORKS!!!!! Not only that, but it appears that it had been working the whole time!

Yes I know, what an idiot! After I had finished my last post, I thought I would give it another go..... So I shut down Windows XP and then booted into Windows Vista. Same bloody problem again, the monitor went into standby... BUT and this is the key to the door, the computers hard drive appeared to be ticking over quite happily!

So, I tried pressing the 'Num Lock' key on the computer, and this seemed to respond fine!

Then with 1 single finger, FIXED THE PROBLEM THAT HAS MEANT THAT I HAVE BEEN SITTING HERE SCRATCHING ME HEAD FOR THE LAST WEEK AND A HALF.

I pushed the button on my monitor, that switched it between Analogue and Digital output! As if by magic, the Windows Vista Setup screen appeared!

Now I guess there are a few people out there that are thinking WHAT AN IDIOT! But I do have a good reason why it has taken over a week to find this really, really simple fix to my problem!

For as long as I have had this computer, I have not managed to get Windows XP to display on my monitor in Digital Output! Don't ask me why, probably because it is not capable of doing such a thing etc etc..... but for whatever the reason I have not pushed this button since the first week when I got it.

AND NOW WINDOWS VISTA will not display in anything other than Digitally, not on my computer anyway.

So.... here I am not using Windows Vista Ultimate, and my first impressions are that it is GREAT. I am sold so far!!!!

I am now going to have a good look through it and I will report back my opinions in the next few days!

Problems with Windows Vista Ultimate

Having bought myself a new Dell computer about 6 months ago, I thought I would have a crack at the new version of Windows by Microsoft.

There were so many different version to choose from, but I decided to go for the 'ULTIMATE' new version of Windows. Windows Vista Ultimate!

I also decided to install a new SATA Hard Drive to install this version of Windows on and create a dual boot system.

So far so good.... got a great deal on a 400GB Hard Drive and a VERY good deal buying Windows Vista. I installed the new drive with no problems, and was hoping for a smooth installation of the new OS. (Silly Me)

Because Windows Vista is not completely back compatible with both hardware and software, I ran the compatibility check on my computer to see if there were going to be any problems.... Typically there were some known problems with my current hardware, but the checker suggested that with new updated drivers all should be OK.

So I started the installation, it all seemed like everything would be OK. THEN the computer had to restart to complete the installation. When the computer restarted I was presented with the option of Windows Vista, or earlier version of Windows. I thought again that all was well, and selected WINDOWS VISTA!!!!!!

Then the computer began to load..... then the monitor went black...... then the monitor switched off.

At this point I became a little concerned! NOTHING. I tried to reboot, and the same thing happened again! At this point , I felt sure that there was obviously some hardware conflicts. It seemed logical to me to attempt to boot into safe mode and try and disable as much of the hardware from within Device Manager. The computer did boot into safe mode, but it said that the installation could not be completed in safe mode and the computer would have to reboot!

This was a week ago, and still I have not managed to work out if and how the hell I can get this NEW all singing, all dancing OS simply to finish installing.

I have looked on the NET for some kind of solution, and I have not found one!!!!

THIS IS A CRY FOR HELP!!!

If there is anyone out there that knows anything about this new OS and could give me some idea how the hell to sort this out, it would be MUCH APPRECIATED!!!!

PLEASE HELP!

New Blog

I had been writing a personal Blog on this website on and off for about 2 years now, and the comments I was getting were positively NEGATIVE.

So, I though a new year a new blog! Try to keep this one a little less political and see where I end up. There is no general theme, and I am sure the content will be nothing other than my normal dribble.

This along with my general poor spelling and grammar will make for an interesting read, I am sure!!!!! ( Due to tiredness normally, that's my excuse and I am sticking to it! )