Vista Beta 2 Review:
After installing Vista Beta 2 (build 5384), it definetly had its good bits and its bad bits. Please note that this is not the latest build, build 5456 is (which I hope to get shortly).
I'll start with the programs I installed and if they worked/installed or not and a quick word about them.
Vista, install was a success (its a bit hard to write a review if it didnt), took about a hour and was relavity simple. All of my hardware was identified and a driver provided (I hav'nt tried my webcam, remote control (never used anyway) or the onboard soundcard (not used often) yet)
The 1st thing after installation was to d/l all the avaliable updates (8 of them totaling 10MB)
The 1st bug I encountered was during the d/l of updates, the moniter (21" CRT) appeared to flicker as if it was change reesolution (resolution stayed the same before and after flicker). I let the updates install and rebooted. The flickering is seemingly random and unrelated to anything im doing (ie, does'nt happen after I click something or open a program, etc) and flickers when im not using the computer. Sometime, it will flicker and then flicker again within a second (double flicker). Also sometime it will make the hardware disconnect sound, and then make the hardware connected sound, but this is rare. I headed over to the Nvidia site and d/l the Vista Beta display drivers, installed them, but the flicker continued. I then proceded to install the ASUS enchanced drivers and ASUS Smart Doctor (used to overclock my gpu and graphics memory). Smart doctor would not load at the system start up or when run from the start bar.
One of the security devices in Vista is to make sure that any operation that could change your system is actually requested by you. This double cheaking is bloody annoying and it can take a while to do simple things. Installing any program (such as winamp or firefox) bring up a security check, im guessing ive seen about 150 of these in the last 6 hours and so far thay have all be legimate. For some programs it tells you something is happening but it doesnt have clue what. This could be the sign of a worm or virus trying to run, but in this case it was MSN Messenger installing.
- Winamp 5.24, works fine
- Firefox 1.5.0.4, works fine
- BitLord 1.01, works fine
- Telstra BigPond Assist, install success, crashed on startup when Vista is rebooted, works when manualy run from start bar but crashes several minutes later
- Logitech keyboard and mouse drivers, installation initially fails, saying that the drivers are only for xp, Vista then realises that the intallation has failed and asks you if you would like, to try again with different setting. This time both drivers install succesfully
I'm assuming this intervening program is simular to the program compatability wizard in me and xp, however the Vista one this actually works. I might do further testing on olders programs designed for 98, 95 and DOS (if i have any).
- AntiVir, installs and runs except the updates does'nt work. I click on update it does nothing, so essentially the program is useless as i cannot d/l virus defintion updates etc.
- DirectX 9, installs with no problems however i have no idea if installing DirectX is necessary as Vista is ment to be released with DirectX 10 which will only be avaliable in Vista and beyond
- ZoneAlarm 6.5.722.000, fails on the install, I've tried it twice and it fails at different points. Currently the only firewall my computer is currently running is the windows fire wall, which i havnt looked at and I think I turned off later
I think thats all the programs I've tried to install at this point, and as Vista has broken many important programs, i wont be install everthing i normally use. Despite Vista being yet to crash (which is a good sign), I feel it is still too buggy for my everyday use. It does have a lot of good of everyday features and shows a lot os potential if the code can be cleaned up. I'm told (Paul's windows website) that the next built along (which is pre-rc1 and is not next in the beta2 build tree) is more stable and more feature reliable/friendly.
Networking has'nt worked for me yet and im unable to network to my laptop (earth) which im currently using as my primary computer while my desptop (heaven) is being os upgraded/tested/whateva.
I will next try to obtain build 5456 and do another review hopeing that it will be stable/useable enough for my everyday needs.
This system that I am testing on is:
AMD Athlon 3000+
1GB ram
Nvidia G-Force FX 5900
VIA chipset (dont ask me which as im not sure off da top of my head)
32GB partition used for install
external SoundBlaster sound card
AC97+ soundcard (not tested)
About my computing knowledge: 1st & partial 2nd yr computer science @ Adelaide Uni as part of my BSc. (High Performance Computional Physics) (Honours) degree.
