Vista, I'm nearing defeat.
 

I've killed the other thread to save bandwidth, but just to say that I'm totally flummoxed with the WP thing...near to slinging Vista or the Sony.

I've spent time on the basis of trying Vista and brushing up on my Windows knowledge, but now the loss of productive work is becoming serious.

Recaping, I mentioned that having got a Sony Laptop Centrino etc, machine, I found that I couldn't run Word Perfect, The aged software was blamed by one and all.

However, following the running of this old software on a new HP laptop -- by clicking on the EXE file and picking 'Run as Administrator.' It has worked perfectly. Never needing this procedure again, despite having removed and re-installed the WP (cos I thought I was returning the machine.) Could this be a clue? But anyway, it's totally robust.


On the Sony, I'm on my 5th re-install, having tried it in C: and now back to D: (One H#!! of a job deleting empty folders after a Coral un-install) I did not have the authority to delete them, so I formatted the drive**. Another clue? But if an Administrator doesn't have the clout, then who does?

Now, because of the way I got it going on the HP, this Authority thing just seems as though it might be relevant.

I've the same Vista, same updates* and similar spec, thought the Sony is an Intel based machine. Her indoors sitting beside me checking setting for setting as deep as we can venture into Vista. We have spent HOURS.

Everything looks the same, but WP will still not SAVE...just a confused 'Save As' menu with the wrong file setting. It just blinks when you Save, but stays put, having done nothing.

This is exactly what the HP did until I ran the exe file by 'Run as Administrator' It was just like a switch.




Compatibility mode does not have any effect.



As I've said...nay, screamed, I do not want to change WPs hundreds of thousands of words into a book. Now, the HP is proving that it is possible...just what could I have missed?


*Would an Update by MS change the 'Details' of the version etc.? Cos these show the same ver numbers on both machines.


**Don't what to cloud the issue, but this has got me going as well, When I put the original FF download into the newly formatted D: and unpacked it, it had my bookmarks on it! Not all of them, but just the few that were on that machine, and that machine alone. How the @$^k did that happen? This was the compact download file straight from FF and had been kept where it landed, in C:

Find something similar to "Enhanced file dialogs" in WP and turn them off:

Tools -> Settings -> Files, uncheck "Use enhanced file dialogs". Click Apply.

Then report back without changing anything else.

Well I'm blessed! It saves.

Doing that has caused a much smaller and simpler Save menu, but it's all I need, so thanks very much. I'm too tired to test drive it very far tonight, but first tests show it saving quite normally.

I was convinced that the only way was to beat Vista into submission, but maybe next lifetime. This is a good work-round.

Wife still sitting at her new toy, and we checked that the full menu was still working on that...it is. I guess now, any further probing will be nothing more than curiosity, though I would like to know exactly what was bulking the system of course.

The Firefox thing is puzzling, it's as though data was left on the formatted disc, but I guess that it stayed embedded in Windows on drive C: even though the bulk of it was deleted from D:. Anyway, my investigative proclivities will be suppressed by the Rivetess for now.

Thanks again LR

That may prove to be one of the best decisions of your life. :ok:

You can still buy XP for the next six months... buy, buy, buy..... :cool:

I must say I have had no problems with Vista. I have completely ditched everything XP since getting the new gear and just went with what Vista was offering. It hasn't set a foot wrong.
It seems to me that using older stuff and fiddling with the operating system creates it's own problems. I understand why people do it, I just think that it's a good part of the problem....
http://www.augk18.dsl.pipex.com/Smileys/spyme_gif.gif

Or maybe upgrade to a new word processor? OpenOffice or Lotus Symphony?

Yes but why should he HAVE to?

Hee hee...Nice to be quoted.


Anyway, I did download the Open Office, but have not really played with it yet. First glance, it does look like a quite pleasant working area. Strangely, the text on the laptop screen at 1280 looks clearer than Word. I'll try swapping fonts to see if this is just an illusion.


I'm still curious about the HP running with the full save menu, while the Sony won't. But it's just that, curiosity.


After hours of looking round Vista, I don't feel quite so lost; like getting to know a big town, but to get to know it properly, I'd have to start again, with notebook and sharp pencil and perhaps even a Dumbo's guide to Vista. It would be interesting, but just more time that I'm not writing.


One thing that popped up with Vista, was Corals...erm, Photo / Paint Pro ???? Something like that. I toyed with it for a while, and found it fun, before being warned that I had just so many days left before it would become a mas of detritus on my disc. Well software people, if you want to P s your customers off, don't tell them it's a 'purchase or else' deal, until they have unloaded it. Having said this, to have the paint on a brush run out gradually, and see colours mixing like oilpaints so realistically, was an eye opener.



Another thing, A lot of MS updates I notice, seemed to be aimed at the Office suite. I hope that now I stripped the (unopened) suite off the disc, that these updates will stop. Anyone know if that's the case...I mean, they're updating a packed program as it is, I wouldn't put it past them to update a program that isn't there at all.

I had the problem of continuous updates on the wife's new laptop but once I'd removed the office suite it stopped having anything like as many, mind you I learnt a few new words while my wife got used to open office. :E

Note: This is meant to be a humourous post, please take it as such!:ok:

Hey, I bought a new camera yesterday, but there doesn't seem to be a door on the back of it to load it up with my Fuji Velvia 35mm film. There's a really small slot in a door in the bottom that says SD, and I can see there's a battery.....how am I meant to take pictures without film in the camera? Can anyone help?

Gonzo,

I appreciate the humour, but I think it would be a fairer comparison if you had said something like:

"I just bought a new digital SLR from Canon, and I was really pleased that I could re-use all the lenses from my film SLR".

Because to me a lot of the Vista problem people have is like saying:

"only some of the lenses from my old camera still work, but I didn't know that in advance and the manufacturer obviously thinks they can screw more money out of me by making me replace some or all of my existing kit when I upgrade my camera".

Interestingly, a lot of the positive Vista reports seem to be along the lines of:

"I've never had an SLR camera before, this new Digital SLR is the dogs whatsits".

SD

Very aptly put Saab

SAAB,

Well, not quite the same really, because you have two companies involved (Corel and MS), and not just one (Canon).

Using your analogy, I've had a succession of DSLRs, and I knew some of my well used and favourite lenses would not work with my newest DSLR, so I kept an older camera too, so that I could still use it as a spare body. That's until I eBay them and use the cash for an even better lens! 200-400 VR here we come! :E

Gonzo,

Indeed, no analogy is perfect! Neither is life! :)

SD

... in other words, stop moaning and p**s off?
 

Putting SD's post another way, Mr Gates is saying to us:

"I know that you have invested some hundreds of bucks in software & hardware which you have tuned to do the work you routinely need to do, but you really really need to use my nice OS with lots of bells and whistles on it. (What d'you mean, you hate them?)."

"You'll buy XP for my new machine to make them work? Well, sorry, the days of XP are over. So I shan't sell it to you, so there!"

If someone could convince me that Vista (and, yes, I can dual boot to V and play with it sometimes - but I still can't get bluetooth to work reliably with it, even tho' I bought new "vista-approved" kit.) So I'm still on XP, and prob will be until Msoft tell me they ain't going to support it no more.

(But no, I don't have a third machine with Windows 3.1 to drive my dot-matrix printer...:))

Jim

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat? I've just replaced the ruby in my 9pin dot-matrix, are you telling me that it won't work with Vista? ;)



When I come back into the den and work with XP, I feel strangely deprived...a child who's toy box has been purged. So many of the things that are in that toy box, I would discard, but there are a few that I would keep. And that's the main gripe, is it not? If only we could have a powerful OS and add the toys as required. What's more, do the adding from the CD rather than a box that's plonked onto the hard-drive.

I guess this all started with fonts. Who sits down and designs these trillions of different ways of writhing the alphabet? I used to purge fonts with a passion.

Now, I need to get to grips with purging the start list. As I've mentioned, I have goofed with one or two deletions in my time. I see that Vista has a descriptive library of these devises -- I wonder if I'll ever be able to find it again.

LR:

Going back a bit
Are the WP installs patched to the same level? Maybe there's a service pack missing.

Well, certainly the Sony downloaded - uninvited - the latest software from MS shortly after kicking off from new. The HP seemed to be downloading stuff, but there is the possibility that it is not like for like, though both are showing 6.0.6001 service pack 1 Build 6001

Abstraction layer - whatever that is - 6001 18,000



I was concerned that the HP would update and not work anymore! Anyway, since the above advice about the lesser menu, I'm back in business.

Mmmm....watching a program on PBS tonight about writers, up at 5 and 5 or 6 hours a day with no excuses. Not quite part of my cunning plan.