<p>[Man</a> gets Windows Vista to work with printer](<a href=“http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/microsoft/archives/141343.asp?source=mypi]Man”>http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/microsoft/archives/141343.asp?source=mypi)</p>
<p>wow- it must suck worse than W95</p>
<p>It’s just like XP when it first came out…you HAVE to use the Premium version, otherwise you’re screwed.</p>
<p>Never had problems with XP (or even with the infamous ME), but Vista - a whole 'nother deal. Went to Costco, bought a cool HP all-in-one, hooked it to a Vista-powered laptop (Vista Business, yeah), tried to install the software, uninstalled, tried to re-install (repeat n times), called HP service, tried some tricks… 5 hours later, the printer went back to Costco. The old HP laserjet did not even need the original disks - got the driver off the web, and it works with Vista. I’m afraid to buy another printer, even though Costco takes anything back.</p>
<p>Actually, I didn’t have any problem at all with my Vista laptop, despite all the horror stories I had heard. I simply started by downloading the latest, Vista compatible drivers for my printer from HP, and it worked fine… more consistently than it ever worked with XP, actually. </p>
<p>Every single problem I’ve had with Vista so far can be easily traced to a software incompatibility with some third-party software. If you read the article linked above, the problem was with Dell software that would not uninstall.</p>
<p>Yeah, Vista seems to be perfectly fine, it’s just the reluctance of so many device manufacturers to support it. I’ve got a 64-bit processor now, but I can’t take advantage of it because a number of my devices don’t support it. Heh, I remember one of my friends got a 64-bit processor when they were brand new technology and the HP drivers still hadn’t (and I don’t know if they ever have) been released. So in order to print he had to also install WinXP-32bit and dual boot into that whenever he wanted to print.</p>
<p>I’ve been running Windows XP x64 edition since 2004 and getting the drivers can take a little effort. It took me about two weeks to get the drivers that I needed for my Compaq Presario r3000z (HP support wasn’t very helpful but PlanetAMD64.com was). It’s a little easier to get XP x64 running on desktops as you can just replace or supplement devices that don’t have driver support.</p>
<p>Of course the easiest way to go today seems to be Mac OSX.</p>
<p>* course the easiest way to go today seems to be Mac OSX.*</p>
<p>It’s always worked right off the bat for me since system 6.0.7
;)</p>
<p>I bought a used computer with the intent to have the “remote access program” installed because I know that Dell got into the computer and corrected whatever they did when it was new. I hate new computers because of the clutter and adjunct stuff that I know I would never use.</p>
<p>* I hate new computers because of the clutter and adjunct stuff that I know I would never use.*</p>
<p>I hate that too & in my excitement over getting a new piece of hardware I always forget what a PITA it is, to uninstall it.
Mac OSX installs languages & voices that I don’t ever use & if I don’t clean my previous folders out , I am just transferring unneeded crap that slow down my new 'puter 
( including all those printer and modem drivers)
[Peachpit:</a> Take Back Your Mac’s Hard Drive: The Best Ways to Reclaim Disk Space > Remove Language Translations](<a href=“http://www.peachpit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=761745&seqNum=2]Peachpit:”>http://www.peachpit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=761745&seqNum=2)</p>
<p>Dell allows you to deselect software options on their website now so that you don’t have to remove all of the crud that comes with their computers by default. For some reason, Apple has been able to resist loading up their new computers with all of the crapware typically found on Windows machines.</p>
<p>I don’t know if additional files on your hard disk slows processing down. There may be more disk indexing costs but they should be localized to the directories involved. My current MacBook Pro came with a 250 GB hard drive which is more than plenty. My daughter’s came with a 120 GB Hard Drive and she complains about space but I need to do some repartitioning to fix that. I just bought a Western Digital Caviar 320 GB drive from Circuit City and threw that in my desktop and there’s no more disk space shortage there. Disks are getting rather huge these days with 1/2 to 1 TB as the sweetspot. The 320 I bought was on clearance.</p>
<p>I cannot believe the size of hard drives nowdays-
( of course I had my first computers long before itunes or dvd drives)
I just bought a 1 TB time capsule so I can give my lacie to my daughter-</p>
<p>D’s 1TB external HD is almost full :eek:. What the heck can take so much space? Then I remembered that she’s been going through her video collection and digitizing our old home videos, too.</p>