Vista Vista bo Bista banana fana foe Fista, mi my moe Mi-sta... Vista.

What do you do when your state-of-the-art OS on a high-end laptop won't connect to the Internet? Ya call CyberMedics.

We just had a laptop come in, exceptionally new laptop, with Vista Home Premium pre-installed on it. The computer was able to get online for a while and then it wasn't able to. Our "Triage" diagnostic (performed by yours-truly) came up with a preliminary report that Norton Internet Security or the built in Windows/Internet Explorer security settings were set so high that they prevented the laptop from getting online. Triage showed that the laptop was able to get online, and was able to ping the router and DNS server, but it wasn't able to ping any domains, use IE7, or utilize any third-party programs to access the Internet.

After working with the laptop for a while, I was confused to say the least. I lowered much of the security related to connecting to the Internet, including Norton Internet Security. I even went through some of the automated diagnostic software included with Windows to check the system over (which seemed to work well, but in turn, revealed nothing of consequence). However, at one reboot of the system, MySpace IM was able to get online, however no other applications were. Thinking there must be a software issue going on, I restarted the computer in safe mode.

It was the first time I attempted to boot Vista into safe mode. I managed to hit the wrong key the first time, which brought up the Windows Boot Loader, much like Grub in Linux, upon hitting the correct key on the Grub screen will allow the user to pass different startup options to adjust how the OS boots. Now, it seems that Windows has a similar feature. I quickly showed by boss who was quite surprised and pleased with this new feature of Vista.

Not to become distracted by a new feature, I moved right along to get the system into Safe Mode. The first thing I noticed about the new "Advanced Startup Options" menu was that there was a "reverse print" title bar at the top that said "Advanced Startup Options," anyone who has used the Linux "man pages" knows what this looks like, the centered black text with the white "bar-like" background stretching from one side of the screen to the other.

There was also a new option, "Repair your computer" [link]. This looks like the Windows XP repair installation that has so many times saved a system that has crossed my bench at CyberMedics. If it is, and I am having trouble finding much details on the "repair your computer" option in the Vista ASO, then it would simplify matters from XP, which always had to be run from the CD after going through the preliminary section of the Windows XP installer. By the way, one should take note that the "Repair your computer" options is not always on the ASO screen, it seems that the option is only available if the system has the necessary system files stored on the computer itself.

The last thing that I noticed about the new ASO screen is that as you move between options, a section at the bottom (in bright white text) displays a description of what the option will do. This should help decrease the number of people that select Debugging or Directory Services Restore Mode... Neither of which are really needed on the average home user's computer.

Oh, and that customer's computer, after entering safe mode, the Internet was working correctly. 10 to 1 odds: the Internet isn't working correctly in Vista because of a conflict in Norton Internet Security.

Over Hauled

It's finally happened, Microsoft has officially released Windows Vista. Computers are now coming with Vista preinstalled, and the IT industry is about to go through a transitional period from Windows XP to Windows Vista (always a painful experience, but usually, it's for the better).

Unlike previous editions of Windows, which were released as server series, sometimes with a business client included with that release (such as with Windows 2000 Server with it's business client Windows 2000 Professional) or in more of a home user series, such as Windows Server 2003 with its client, Windows XP Professional being released two years prior with XP Home; Vista is completely different. From my resources, Vista is the complete package, Vista Enterprise being the "server" series, only coming pre-installed on Microsoft approved servers. To keep current network administrators happy though, there is a version of Windows Vista that functions as a server that can be bought and installed on any compatible hardware (just without the added assurances from Microsoft that it won't crash), called Windows Vista Business (designed for small businesses). At this time, I haven't been able to confirm if Vista Enterprise and Business editions are designed to replace Windows Server 2003 or just supplement it.

Moving right along with this confusing array of software versions, Microsoft has also broken down the home user version of Vista into three groups now instead of the usual two, however, this time, there is no clear "business client" version, such as XP Home and XP Pro. This time, we've got Vista Home Basic, Vista Home Premium, and Vista Ultimate. Each with more features than the previous. Vista Home Basic is designed for the general home user with limited multimedia experience, such as just web and email functions -- this probably will only be seen rarely, most commonly in systems designed for very basic "Internet and Word processing" boxes. Home Premium has more features, and is the most likely candidate to be used in the average home system... But as with all previous versions of Windows, I can't help but wonder if there can be some over-rides applied to add functionality.

With the cost of Vista Home Basic Upgrade starting at around US$100 and Vista Ultimate Upgrade upwards of US$270, the question of "which version is right for me" will suddenly take on a new financial concept, seeing as how there is $170 difference! Also, notice the "upgrade" appendage to each, requiring a version of Windows to be pre-installed before upgrading. This is not the same ol' installing the OS with having an old CD-copy of Windows and it's associated CD-Key. Now, it has to be fully installed. Weather it can be older operating systems (such as 2000 -- which don't require activation) is as yet unknown to me.

And, for the first time that I'm aware of, Microsoft is now releasing it's OS via a "digital locker" (courtesy of Circuit City). The price is approximately the same, but it is yet unclear to me as to how this works (is it a burnable CD? an upgrade .exe file?).

There is much to this operating system that will take much more time to adjust to. Things are definitively going to be interesting in the industry for the next few months.


In protest of all of Microsoft's difficult to understand and highly intrusive software licencing, all of this was proudly written on a Macintosh.

Avoiding Microsoft and in search of Open Source Software?
openSUSE | Ubuntu