Windows 7 Arrives

Well, my Windows 7 upgrade disc finally arrived today. I plan on installing it this weekend; I hope all goes smoothly. Better make a system backup disc first, just in case. I'll report how it goes.

I Still Hate Macs

It's been a while since I've vented about how much I hate Macs. But every day as use one at work, I ask myself, "Why can't this thing just work?"

What's my gripe today? The fact that the machine won't read a dual-layer DVD.

How long have those things been around? 10 years? Ugh.

Looks like I'll have to go scrounging around the Internet for a workaround or something. What a pain. Macs are very dissatisfying. Much like an overproduced Hollywood blockbuster that looks kinda cool, but leaves you feeling like you wasted your time and money when the show's over.

Why can't everyone just use a PC?

Windows Vista and Quicken: My First Hangup

It seems the fine folks at Intuit aren't so fine at keeping Quicken 2007 current with Microsoft's new operating system. I tried installing Quicken 2007 on my new machine last night, and the install failed when it tried to install the software patch. Worse, the uninstall doesn't completely work. I did find this workaround on a Quicken forum:

"I have been struggling with the same issue all day with installing Quicken 2007 in Vista. I was unable to uninstall Quicken 2007 after the install did not work properly.

My solution. 1. I installed Quicken 2006. 2. I uninstalled Quicken 2006 through Windows "Uninstall Programs". 3. I then uninstalled Quicken 2007 through Windows "Uninstall Programs" (It actually worked which amazed me.) 4. I reinstalled Quicken 2007 from the hard drive (although I don't know if this was necessary but I read it from another post). Finally, I did not let the auto update run during the installation process. After all of that, I can now use Quicken 2007 R2 without a problem on my Vista machine."

I'll have to try that tonight. Crossing my fingers.

UPDATE:
Well, it looks like my Quicken problem was much ado about nothing. What seemed like an installation error turned out to simply be a very long wait for the patch to install completely. It didn't help that the Vista window said "Not responding." Oh, well. Still, for being my first issue with Vista, it's not that bad of a problem.

Hello, Vista.

I got it - my new computer. An HP machine from Circuit City. Very sweet! I'm still migrating files and applications and such from my old machine, but it's a pretty simple task so far.

I have to say that the sales associates at Circuit City must be trained to intimidate their customers into purchasing the $120 setup service. They're all, "Look out! Windows Vista is very complicated to set up and optimize. If you don't do it right, you could mess it up, or leave it vulnerable to spyware!"

I said, "That's okay, I enjoy tinkering and learning on my own."

"But are you Windows Vista Certified?"

"No."

"Well, you have to be Windows Vista Certified to set it up right."

And that went on for 20 minutes.

So I declined the setup service, took it home, and started transferring stuff. The process was incredibly easy. And as far as Internet connectivity goes, it was as simple as plugging in the cable. Done!

From what I hear, Office 2003 doesn't work on Vista, which means I'll have to get a hold of Office 2007. I'm sure there are other applications I'll want more recent versions of. But installing a bunch of little utilities such as WinRar, BitComet and Quicktime was a snap.

The only thing that bugs me so far is the fact that the computer doesn't come with a Vista OS install disk. Instead, they make you burn a restore disk, which has everything on it to restore it to factory settings--including the OS. What's worse, you can only burn a single restore disk. So that's the first thing I did. Afterward, I tried to dupe it using the Roxio copy program that came with the computer. It didn't want to cooperate. So later I'll try to find another way to dupe it. I don't want my entire OS backed up on a single disc that could get lost or corrupted.

Overall, I'm very happy. Circuit City isn't doing Microsoft any favors, though, by trying to scare their customers into using their services. Bad Circuit City! Bad.