The best alternative to Windows Vista may be something you already own:
Windows XP. Microsoft will continue to support XP at least through
2008, when it will release a major security update for XP, Service Pack
3. And don't be surprised if support is stretched well into 2009, since
the response to Vista has been underwhelming and there's a tremendous
demand for continuance of XP. There's no reason not to buy Vista with a
new PC, particularly if you're a gamer or performance freak. But
there's no reason to rush, either, if you're mostly Web browsing,
e-mailing, printing photos and writing the occasional memo. Your
current XP installation just needs a tune-up and minor upgrade with
ad-ins that mimic Vista functions.
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Perform a clean install of XP, ideally on a new hard drive. Spyware,
viruses, rootkits, bogus registry entries, software you should have
thrown out, damaged files, old copies of old copies, even problematic
networking settings - all conspire to slow down your computer.
Yes, you can correct most of these problems by hand or with various
programs, but it's often easier to start over. I have some hints on the
piecemeal approach on my Web page at dolinar.com, and you'll find more
if you browse around the Net. But a clean install is better. I'm always
astonished at how much better a PC runs when I do this.
First:
Delete the programs and files you don't regularly use. (Try an old
favorite of mine, ToniArts EasyCleaner 2.0, to get rid of duplicate
files: personal.inet.fi/busi ness/toniarts/ecleane.htm)
Then
use XP's File and Settings Transfer Wizard (Start/Accessories/System
Tools/Files and Settings Transfer Wizard) to back up all your relevant
files. Pay particular attention to your address book and favorites. The
safest method is to save files across a network to another computer,
although the Wizard also has options for removable disks and even your
hard drive.
If you have particularly valuable files - think photos - copy them off
separately to a CD or DVD and verify the copy by looking through it.
Don't trust automatic software for something this important.
Since
hard drives are cheap (I just picked up a 250-gigabyte model for $69, a
small price to pay for another two years with a PC), it pays to buy a
new one for the new install and to keep your old one intact as a
security blanket until you've "migrated." If you use your old drive to
store the transfer files, you can restore from it. With a laptop,
installing a new hard drive is a lot tougher - you might want to get a
cheap USB hard drive to store your transfer files.
Now comes
the real pain: PCs usually come with a system restore disk that is an
image of Windows plus whatever free software was included. Generally
this will wipe your drive and rebuild your PC to its original software.
At that point, you need to download various updates (in Explorer, see
Tools/Windows Update.) This isn't something to put off, because most
updates relate to security.
Just getting Windows up to snuff
kills most of a day by the time you've sorted out hard drive
installation and downloaded all these files. (Hint: Read the
instructions and look up how to set the new drive as "master" and the
old one as "slave." Hint Two (for advanced users): Do a Google of
"Slipstreaming XP" and you'll find out how to consolidate [your old XP]
with SP2 and other security updates - a real timesaver if you need to
reinstall again.
If you've reinstalled XP recently, you'll note
that one tremendous advantage of Vista is that it is a complete product
[with little updating required]. I saved a couple of hours over an XP
reinstall, even if it did kill my sound card.
Once you have XP
up and running again, it's time to Vistafy it. A lot of the technology
developed for Vista is available for XP as well.
Security is
your first priority, since you want to keep that clean new XP copy
healthy. Download Windows Defender (mi crosoft.com/athome/security/spy
ware/software/default.mspx), Microsoft's anti-spyware solution, along
with a decent antivirus package. I use Alwil's Avast!
(avast.com/eng/avast_4_home.html), which is free for home use.
The
next worthy Vista component you should add is Windows Live Mail
(get.live.com/betas/maildesk top_betas), a long-overdue update to
Outlook Express. It will, of course, import your mail and address books
when you install it.
Live Mail's main new feature, however, is
an excellent and flexible spam filter that quickly sorts incoming mail
into legitimate inbox and junk categories. You can set it to keep all
your mail, reject only the most obvious spam, or nail all the spam,
most likely along with some real mail. However, it is quite easy to go
through the list of new junk mail and restore the "oopsies."
Windows
Live Mail is a godsend for cheapskates like me - I get a half-dozen PR
pitches a day that I want to glance at before tossing. There's a
whitelist option - e.g., e-mail from people you trust is never thrown
out - as well as blacklisting options for people and even countries.
Spam filtering also tends to keep out various digital nasties that
hitch rides on e-mail.
If Microsoft's automatic update doesn't
download Internet Explorer 7 (microsoft.com/windows/prod
ucts/winfamily/ie/default.mspx), you'll want to add it to your
collection, too. Lots of improved security, as well as useful features
like tabs for browsing. But aficionados still give open-source Firefox
the edge.
Vista also includes some new applications that go
beyond security. More on that next week, along with other
possibilities, like a Microsoft-free lifestyle.
A laser printer is no longer a big expense
Laser
printers have always been more expensive to buy, and less expensive to
operate. How much less varies among brands and usage patterns, but,
excluding the cost of the equipment itself, a laser-printed page costs
2 to 21/2 cents versus 4 to 6 cents for inkjet.
I wouldn't mind
the extra cost of the inkjet if it made my life simpler, but it
actually makes it more complex with my HP photo printer. I print a lot
of photos, and not much text, and I'm forever swapping paper stock in
and out (and invariably putting the wrong side up every now and again).
And then there's the black cartridge for text that I have to swap with
a gray one every time I print photos. And I have to change software
settings. It's a given that I'll screw up one or more of these things
every time I print, wasting ink and paper - the latter being especially
pricey when I'm using archival-grade photo paper.
Last time I
was about to head out and buy a hundred dollars' worth of black ink
cartridges, I found an awfully cheap laser printer at my favorite Web
site, hot-deals.org: a Brother HL-2070N printer on sale for a mere $90,
including shipping, at Buy.com. I got two, one for my office in Bay
Shore, one for my home on Fire Island. A great little printer, it
connects to a local area network and runs at a zippy 20 pages per
minute. The best I've seen it on sale for lately is $119, still a
pretty fair price, but it occasionally shows up cheaper as a loss
leader. Now I am a much happier camper who just changes printers rather
than paper, ink, settings, etc.
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