Antinormal

Windows Vista Beta 2

I haven't been posting updates for a while due to the fact that I've been busy with a lot of things. I finally got to install my Beta 2 download on Wednesday. There was a bit of a problem with the installation though. When the setup program reached the Completing Installation stage, it got stuck there. I rebooted about 4 times and waited for about an hour and a half before I decided to go online to search for help. Meet Google (oh, I bet you already have). Anyway, I was able to get some pointers to disable some hardware as this may result in Windows setup not going past that point. Apparently, it's at this stage that Windows tries to add your hardware. It turns out that my PCI Realtek 8139 NIC card was the culprit. Therefore, I can conclude that the most important thing that's needed from Windows setup is feedback! Anyway, after removing the card, I rebooted my system and everything else went smoothly. I later plugged in the card after my first boot and Windows detected the hardware succesfully.

My impression after the first boot, "Wow!" I'll have to make it clear at this point that eye-candy is a very good thing. I was a bit skeptical about the new Aero interface, but now, my mind has changed, completely. I like it. It's a bit sluggish on my current system configuration, though, probably due to the fact that I haven't purchased my graphics card yet, and my RAM isn't up to the initially desired 2GB. I believe the performance can be improved with a few tweaks, and I'm currently looking into some useful ones.

I've been able to find my way through the whole system without much trouble. I think the Start Menu is a very huge improvement over what we have before. Also, I like how the Control Panel has been reorganised, the Welcome Center is a neat idea, and the Performance Rating and Tools is also nifty. I can even set my local language (Yoruba) in Regional and Language Settings ffs! I find that rather beat.

The only beef I have now is with the in-your-face security. It's getting in the way. Hopefully, eventually, the restrictions can be lowered so that I can run my antivirus update program (I use Avira AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic), and install programs that I need.

Overall, I'm very impressed. And here are some screenshots

In other news, the Post Comment functionality for blog entries is available for use now. Cheers.