Windows Vista Help??

[NautiDuck]

Vista is fine

We use it at work. It is not magic and it not the devil either. It is an OS and a good one. I use a PC at work and a Mac at home. When it comes time to replace the home computer I will get a Vista laptop. I have the latest Mac OS and it is no better or worse than Vista. There are less viruses on the Mac OS because the virus writers don't bother with the Mac since there are so few of them. The key to picking a computer is what software you want to run. Most software, including most nav software, runs on the PC. Apple makes elegant products and their indutrial design is superb. The Mac OS is not some glorious thing, though, it is a take-off on Unix and very similar in operation and reliability as XP or Vista.

 

[Tom S]

Humor Alert off topic-Ya gotta view this its funny

Ok its not 100% on target but its relavent from an "out of left field sort of way". Its so funny I can't resist. Its a short 29 second video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgriTO8UHvs This is a true event that happened when Bill Gates was introducing Windows 98 during a national broadcast Full disclosure I have used Windows and am ok with it and a long time ago used Macs. Both have their place and I would, could, and can use both. (ps Love the Mac commercials too)Viva la' difference

 

[Ralph18414]

Kevin, thanks for the advice. Unfortunately,

I went sailing this weekend without reading this thread first; I forgot the laptop at the boat. I will be looking forward to next weekend so that I can utilize your advice, as it will make my new laptop much more enjoyable to use.BTW, the sailing was awesome Sunday on Joe Wheeler lake in north Alabama. The rail of my old Pearson 30 was burriend much of the time and the speed was often in excess of 7 kts (no folding prop just a big ol 3 bladed prop).As for the religious warfare going on in the thread--its ok; I'm thick skinned. I am a professional software developer working on DOD contracts (C++ using Microsoft Visual Studio 2005). Though I have no intention of giving up on Windows, I am very grateful for the competition that Apple gives Microsoft and would love to see the Mac's market share grow. If the tables were turned, I suspect that the Apple corporation would be just as arrogant as Microsoft.Concerning my Maptech Off Shore Navigator (OSN) software: Maptech was the only company I found (there may be others) that provides electronic maps of the Tennessee River. Those $4 disks advertised on ebay don't have the inland water ways. The rumor I heard (and certainly unverrified) is that congrass cut the Army Corps of Engineers' funding before they could scan their charts. All-in-all, I am pleased with OSN. I like the extra realestate that my wide screen laptop display offers in comparison to the small bulk-head mounted displays. I am tempted to buy an LCD and mount it in some water-proof enclosure on the aft side of my couch house. It would be awesome if Maptech made OSN compatible with touch-screen technology.

 

[BobW]

For the record, Kevin's fix works fine.....

and while Vista has some problems, especially compatibility with existing applications, it seems to work OK.I wouldn't advise upgrading an XP machine except as a last resort (as I did) but if you need a new computer, go for it.The Mac/PC debate is amusing, especially here in a sailing forum. I was a die-hard Mac-man until 2 things happened:1. Windows 95 came out - it was 'almost' as good as the Mac interface... close enough to be usable.2. I left my Mac with my soon-to-be ex-wife (did I feel sorry for her?) and needed a computer. Since Macs were almost impossible to get in Egypt, I bought a PC, got used to it, and have used one ever since.People will fight over anything, and computers are no exception. While the PC may have won the 'war', even PC owners must concede that if there hadn't been a Mac, we'd still be eagerly anticipating the replacement for Windows for Workgroups 8.11 and a new processor to replace the 80486.Competition makes for advancement, that's for sure. Cheers,BobWs/v X SAIL R 8

 

[Ralph18414]

Some on this thread stated that they were

having trouble getting their old XP apps to run on vista. I couldn't get Off Shore Navigator to run at first either. (OSN is based on the old (but tried and true) MFC technology.) I called Maptech and they told me that I should go to the executable image of OSN, right click, select properties, the compatibility tab (I may be wrong in the exact wording here because I am at work and don't use Vista here and I am working from memory). Under compatibility, I was told to select XP or something to that affect (it was intuitive). That solved the problem. I would recommend the same procedure for y'all who are having compatibility issues.

 

[Rich]

geek trick for the boat

I don't think computer questions are at all out of line here, I think nav and communication tools are gravitating to the laptop and we need to be willing and able to talk about them. As a guy with catholic (that's small "c") tastes in computers, I run Windows but have been playing around with Ubuntu linux and found out something recently that could be very handy on a boat setup: it's possible to configure Ubuntu to run entirely from an external hard drive (I've read it's also possible to do this in a more limited way with Mac OS). This means that you could configure an external drive with a complete operating system and Windows emulator to sit safely and dryly in the cabin and snake a USB cable to the cockpit or other locations so that your critical software never needs to leave the boat. It might also be possible to work up some kind of software-controlled "smart boat" setup being run by the remote hard drive. It may also be possible (in the right case) to have the drive talk wirelessly to a laptop. Definitely geek stuff, but worth knowing what's possible...

 

[Jeff]

It's Defender

It's Defender running.Don't kill Defender, it's good for spotting runtime that shouldn't be there. IE: spyware and viruses.You can add the program in question to the Defender "Allowed Items" in the Control Panel.