2008-05-02, 00:38 | Link #1 |
ISML Technical Staff
Graphic Designer
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Using Vista, like watching Soft Subs on VLC
So yeah, my leet IT Support skills doesn't expand over Vista, which means I need some help. Note that I have spent 3-4 hours trying to figure this stuff out before asking. Yes, you have the right to call me stupid.
1) How do I make the icons on my desktop smaller? I'm using the highest display setting possible. 2) Is there a way I can uninstall Windows Media Player 11 (or downgrade it)? 3) Even with my administrator account, every freaking action I do requires confirmation, like double. Is there a way to turn that off? Yes, I do realize the risks associated with doing so, but I'll let my antivirus take care of that, thank you. And thanks in advance for the responses.
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2008-05-02, 01:11 | Link #2 |
Thinking outside the box
Graphic Designer
Join Date: May 2007
Location: The Netherlands
Age: 37
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Only tried Vista for a very short time, so most of this info is googled up
1. link 2. Don't know this one. 3. I think UAC is what is bringing those confirmation msg. - Go to Control Panel. - Click Admin Tools. - Click System Config. - Click Tools. - Disable UAC
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2008-05-02, 01:36 | Link #3 | |
Gregory House
IT Support
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As I said, hopefully enough, people will learn to code safely. I'd really love everyone using Vista to get used to UAC, even if it's a pale imitation of the Unix security model. It won't stop granma from rootkiting her PC when opening funny-screensaver.exe, but at least it'll give the somewhat-literate users a cue for what's going on in their system.
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2008-05-03, 00:47 | Link #4 |
Senior Member
Author
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Philippines
Age: 47
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2.) There's no way Media Player 11 could be uninstalled; unless you know precisely which files and registry keys that player is using before you surgically delete them, like IE7, WMP11 is totally integrated into Vista.
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2008-05-03, 01:43 | Link #5 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2005
Age: 38
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Get used to clicking past confirmation boxes every 5 seconds? It's absolutely ridiculous. I constantly rename/move/copy/paste files/folders. I'm a neat freak on my computer, if not IRL. *glances at clothes shrewn about* I would simply go mad keeping UAC enabled.
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2008-05-03, 01:49 | Link #6 | |
Gregory House
IT Support
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It is a sort of crappy implementation of the Unix security model, but the fault lies within MS itself for giving free way to sloppy coding practices for years. The only way of doing it is holding on and waiting for coders to finally realize what a security-conscious multiuser environment means. Also, keep in mind that it matters to everyone whether your box is owned or not--I don't use Windows, but I get spam on my email everyday, and I partly blame MS and its stupid policies for that.
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2008-05-03, 02:19 | Link #7 |
Obey the Darkly Cute ...
Author
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: On the whole, I'd rather be in Kyoto ...
Age: 66
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google on the Storm and Kraken bot nets (keyword: Kraken Storm) and the literally millions of machines (mostly Windows) "pwned" by the botnet gods for spam generation, denial-of-service-attacks, and other purposes --- and perhaps some light on why there's such ire about the Microsoft programming culture may flicker on.
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2008-05-03, 02:25 | Link #8 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2005
Age: 38
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I don't know about others, but I never really have any problems with viruses or spyware or whatever. I got a malignant spyware app entrenched in my pc a couple years ago--it took me a couple hours to get rid of. That's pretty much the only such issue I've had in--I dunno, as long as I can remember. Just keep a firewall and antivirus up. People are just stupid. UAC isn't exactly convenient to disable. If someone manages it, they're probably fairly equipped to not stupidly get their pc killed by some virus.
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2008-05-03, 22:44 | Link #9 |
ISML Technical Staff
Graphic Designer
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So here's my input for the thing:
1) Like jedinat says, you literally get confirmation messages every five seconds. I hated moving/deleting things, especially from the start menu (oh help me) with UAC enabled. 2) The other thing is the issue that WanderingKnight stated. According to him, every computer using Windows XP would get infected in some way. That may be true, but the real question is, does that affect anything? I've used XP since forever now, and I will say that it doesn't. If stuff's coming in and I don't want it to be, but it doesn't do me any harm, then I don't really care. Besides, there's nothing that I can't cure by a system restore. 3) I can't believe it took me 5 minutes to find out how to paste onto Microsoft Word. It kept giving me the warning about disabling modules, so I had to look it up and disable it. It still wouldn't work, and apparently I had to restart it. Okay. All I wanted was to paste a freaking picture, and apparently they can have harmful scripts, oh no. All in all, Vista is overprotective. I'll admit that I'll be vulnerable to attacks, but I don't really care. I'll just backup and restore my computer if I feel like something's wrong with it. That's better than clicking "Okay, I give you permission" for the 12968355234th time. Thanks for the responses. EDIT: I just found something good about Vista: Windows Photo Gallery can play videos!
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Last edited by KholdStare; 2008-05-04 at 00:17. |
2008-05-04, 00:44 | Link #10 | ||
Love Yourself
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Northeast USA
Age: 38
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Anyway, what I really wanted to reply to was your statement in bold that system restore can cure virtually anything. System restore is useful for a few things, but it's definitely not a cure-all (although I'd imagine you know this). Viruses get lodged in with restore backup points, and I've heard that some viruses can even insert themselves into older restores - but I'm not sure if that's really true. Either way, I learned that system restore was limited back on Windows ME. Some spyware, in updating itself, would kill some file critical to accessing the internet. System restore would revert that file back and I could access the internet, but then the spyware would update itself again and disable my internet. Cycle that as often as you like; not even my earliest system restore could save me from it, and at the time there was no tool to remove that bit of spyware (it was called "webhancer" - I still remember it with a burning hatred). I think that was the last time that I had to format my system and start from scratch.
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2008-05-04, 02:26 | Link #11 | |
Gregory House
IT Support
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2008-05-04, 07:56 | Link #12 | |||
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Florida, USA
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I kind of wish Vista would just ask for the root password instead of freezing everything onscreen and fading it into black while this shiny box asks if I'm sure I want to do something that I do every day. But then, I disabled UAC, so who cares. |
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vista, vlc |
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