Windows Vista support is officially dead–how to stay protected?

[Doobeedoo]

9 hours ago, tmcclelland455 said:

I genuinely don't see why people still hate on Vista. So long as you have all the service packs and at least a Core 2 Duo/Athlon 64 X2 with 2GB of RAM, it'll run perfectly fine...

Ikr. I remember I installed it on release on my 4GB RAM Athlon X2 5200+ and it ran great. Yes was buggy for like 2-3 months but after it ran normal. 
Many had it with very underpowered machines though, so probably such bad taste.

9 hours ago, Nicholatian said:

Because Vista used to suck, and nobody cared after that even though it was basically just as good as 7 with SP2. Shame.

I've heard  many used machines that barely had minimum requirements though. Specially lack of RAM

6 hours ago, dalekphalm said:

 

This.

 

@Djole123, saying Vista is "the most unstable OS besides ME" is very misleading.

 

Windows Vista, on release day, was a buggy OS, yes. But most of the problems were driver issues.

 

Vista w/ SP2 is basically just as stable as Windows 7.

 

Do people forget that when Windows XP came out, it was BY FAR WAY WORSE than Vista ever got?

 

With that in mind, yes, people should ditch Vista. But that's because it's very old and is no longer supported... NOT because of any stability issues.

I remember once I installed XP on my PC that came with Win 98 and oh it felt sluggish for some time.

[Dabombinable]

1 minute ago, M.Yurizaki said:

I mean I don't doubt you anecdote. I had two friends who used Me on their computers with no problem. Their only catch though was their computers weren't connected to the internet.

It probably helps to have all of the updates as well. But either way, even now I still can't get 98SE to run as well as ME. Though I'll be forced to use it for the legacy games+programs rig that my Mum wants.

[Sauron]

14 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

You realize that Windows XP was literally exactly the same? Worse, even?

 

Upon release, XP was a buggy absolute pile of garbage. I did some work at a Computer Shop during that time frame, and the owner would pre-load computers with Windows 98 SE instead of XP (unless a buyer went in and specifically asked for XP) because of the much better stability on 98 SE.

 

While it did get better w/ SP1 and SP2, it wasn't really the "awesome" OS we all remember until SP3... which, of course, was released 2 years AFTER Vista came out.

 

So one could literally use the exact same argument you used, against XP.

 

Vista wasn't just "ok" after patches. Vista SP2 was a VERY SOLID OS, with stability that matches Windows 7. The hardware requirements for a good experience were definitely high, and Microsoft should have been more strict, but hardware caught up. Manufacturers caught up with Drivers. And things became pretty good.

I had windows 2000 when xp hit. That said sp1 was a better os than vista at launch (for the hardware of the time). And unlike vista, it wasn't followed by a significantly better version. I'm also not a fan of operating systems that are heavy for the sake of being heavy - even if the hardware can keep up there are other things it could be doing instead of feeding the beast in the background.

[dalekphalm]

1 minute ago, Sauron said:

I had windows 2000 when xp hit. That said sp1 was a better os than vista at launch (for the hardware of the time). And unlike vista, it wasn't followed by a significantly better version. I'm also not a fan of operating systems that are heavy for the sake of being heavy - even if the hardware can keep up there are other things it could be doing instead of feeding the beast in the background.

Windows 2000 was a very solid OS in my experience. Didn't get a chance to use it too much though.

[flibberdipper]

25 minutes ago, Dabombinable said:

Or at least dual CPU+2GB of RAM. I had it running better on 2x Pentium III 1000EB@1.13GHz/SDRAM @ 150MHz than it did on a Pentium 4 HT 3.2GHz/DDR 330. Despite the Pentium 4 benchmarking as approximately twice as fast multithreaded. Then again, I was running 2GB of RAM as well (the Apolo Pro 133A is a really good chipset).

mmmmmm dual PIII <3

 

I'd kill to get my hands on a board that has AGP with a pair of GHz chips for an XP gaming machine.

[Dabombinable]

Just now, tmcclelland455 said:

mmmmmm dual PIII <3

 

I'd kill to get my hands on a board that has AGP with a pair of GHz chips for an XP gaming machine.

I'll say this-it feels weird for a system with a HDD that tops out at around 70MB/sec to run like it has an SSD.

[Sauron]

5 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

Windows 2000 was a very solid OS in my experience. Didn't get a chance to use it too much though.

It was, unlike 98 and the dreadful ME it was based on NT (which is used in xp, vista and 7). Since it was meant for the enterprise it was more stable than its consumer counterpart (of course it didn't help that its counterpart was ME). I still have the disc, I use it to play age of empires 2 on linux with a vm.

[ARikozuM]

20 minutes ago, Sauron said:

It was, unlike 98 and the dreadful ME it was based on NT (which is used in xp, vista and 7). Since it was meant for the enterprise it was more stable than its consumer counterpart (of course it didn't help that its counterpart was ME). I still have the disc, I use it to play age of empires 2 on linux with a vm.

You do realize that AoE 2 HD is out, right?

http://store.steampowered.com/app/221380/

[flibberdipper]

29 minutes ago, Dabombinable said:

I'll say this-it feels weird for a system with a HDD that tops out at around 70MB/sec to run like it has an SSD.

cough 8.1 on a decent 7200RPM HDD with a decentish CPU cough

[comicsansms]

10 hours ago, Djole123 said:

 

Any PC with a Pentium 4 or higher and at least 2GB of RAM will work with Windows 10 just fine.

Umm, no.

Some Prescott LGA 775 Pentium 4s (But not all)

[HelplmChoking]

How to stay protected? Stop using obsolete operating systems.

[Jito463]

57 minutes ago, Dabombinable said:

BTW, those saying Vista and Windows ME are unstable are either lying, or they used it on machines right at the edge of the recommended specs. I still haven't been able to kill Windows ME with a failed driver install unlike 98SE, and when a program screws up I can simply use system restore. Also the system doesn't become any where near as unstable if a program crashes as it does with 98SE.

I worked for CompUSA when ME was first launched, and we all got free copies from Microsoft so we could evaluate it to provide feedback for customers.  I had that on my system for one week, and it crashed more often than any other OS I've used.  It may well have been driver related, but that board was perfectly stable when I put 98SE back on.

[Andreas Lilja]

13 minutes ago, ARikozuM said:

You do realize that AoE 2 HD is out, right?

http://store.steampowered.com/app/221380/

AoE 2 HD used to blow online until 3-4 months ago. Massive input lag, disconnects, other issues. 

 

The community is also highly divided due to balance changes and features that AoE 2 HD doesn't have conversely to the original after patched with the community patch. For example, in HD a spectator fills a player slot, so you can't do 4 versus 4. Original with community patch can have hundreds of spectators.

 

[ARikozuM]

4 minutes ago, Raskolnikov said:

AoE 2 HD used to blow online until 3-4 months ago. Massive input lag, disconnects, other issues. 

I've enjoyed it since launch. I've run into a few issues but none that I would say should keep a potential player away. 

[Dabombinable]

42 minutes ago, Jito463 said:

I worked for CompUSA when ME was first launched, and we all got free copies from Microsoft so we could evaluate it to provide feedback for customers.  I had that on my system for one week, and it crashed more often than any other OS I've used.  It may well have been driver related, but that board was perfectly stable when I put 98SE back on.

That was before the majority of updates, people also had stability issues on these as well before a large amount of updates were released:

• Windows 2000
• Windows XP
• Windows Vista
• Windows 7
• Windows 8/8.1
• Windows 10

[Jito463]

1 minute ago, Dabombinable said:

That was before the majority of updates, people also had stability issues on these as well before a large amount of updates were released:

Maybe, but your post never mentioned that.  You simply mentioned people lying, or using incompatible hardware, nothing about the lack of updates for the OS.  I was simply basing my comments around your argument that ME wasn't unstable, save for those two variables.

[Treemasterx]

How to stay protected? Well first you need to get some... protection 

[ARikozuM]

Just now, Treemasterx said:

How to stay protected? Well first you need to get some... protection 

What does a ph33r face have to do with anything?

Spoiler

I know there's text. Please fix for dark theme users.

 

[AlTech]

4 hours ago, M.Yurizaki said:

If Vista meets my needs and Windows 7 doesn't offer anything compelling, then there's no reason to upgrade despite there being "better" features.

Software support.

 

Any program which uses Chromium or CEF (a surprisingly large amount TBH) are no longer supported on Windows Vista.

 

That means:

Uplay

Steam

Rockstar Social Club

Spotify

Origin

Discord

Google Chrome

Chromium Browser

 

and numerous other software are no longer supported. 

[Sauron]

10 hours ago, ARikozuM said:

You do realize that AoE 2 HD is out, right?

http://store.steampowered.com/app/221380/

You do realize it doesn't run on linux, right? If you're asking why I don't use a newer windows for it, the answer is that 2000 is way more lightweight and runs better in a vm.

[leadeater]

Omg no, the free copy of Vista that I never opened is now useless!!

[leadeater]

10 hours ago, Sauron said:

It was, unlike 98 and the dreadful ME it was based on NT (which is used in xp, vista and 7). Since it was meant for the enterprise it was more stable than its consumer counterpart (of course it didn't help that its counterpart was ME). I still have the disc, I use it to play age of empires 2 on linux with a vm.

I used Windows 2000 Professional for so long, amazing OS. Only reason I went to XP was for Windows XP Professional x64 Edition.

[captain_to_fire]

20 hours ago, Djole123 said:

How to stay secure?

 

1) Move away from Vista right now. 

 ? This reminds me: 

 

 

[captain_to_fire]

14 minutes ago, leadeater said:

I used Windows 2000 Professional for so long, amazing OS. Only reason I went to XP was for Windows XP Professional x64 Edition.

I agree ?? 

[AlTech]

19 minutes ago, leadeater said:

Omg no, the free copy of Vista that I never opened is now useless!!

It can still be used.

 

It's just that many apps no longer support Windows Vista.