I would quickly like to revisit the column from last week.   I received many, many emails last week from readers who have had nothing but trials with Microsoft Vista.  Several of them, like I, have removed Vista from their computers and reinstalled Windows XP and are glad.  However, I did get one email from Bruce E. telling me a couple of interesting things.

First, Vista provides a way of setting a mode for any program loaded into it that should enable it to run on any Operating System dating back to Windows 95.  All you have to do is right-click on the original program launch icon (not a shortcut icon) and select compatibility mode.  This was also available for XP when it first hit the market.

Second, Bruce said that there is also a way to install a pre-Vista program using the compatibility mode that would allow older programs to be installed.  You work this the same way.  Insert the installation disk for the program, right click on the setup.exe file, click properties and then the “Compatibility” tab.

This is some good advice.  I haven’t tried it in Vista but have run programs in XP from older installations using the first idea.  After reading a little about it I found that your chances are good but not 100% so good luck.

Now on to a quick whine from me.  I try not to complain in the column but this one really got to me this week.  I just came into the 21st Century by becoming a member of Netflix (www.netflix.com).  If you haven’t heard of it you can order movies from your own list.  They are shipped to you when you send some back.  You view the movie, mail it back (in a prepaid envelope) and receive your next movie in your list to watch.

OK, hold on, here comes the whining.  I also order prescriptions online, pretty much the same way I order movies from Netflix.  I order VERY expensive, life supporting drugs and receive them in ten days to 2 weeks and sometimes longer.  Even though my life depends on some of them that is the best they can do.

With Netflix it is quicker…how much quicker?  Well here is an example from this week.  I dropped the returning movie off at the post office on Wednesday morning, on the way to work.  Thursday Netflix emailed me to let me know that they had received it.  Friday afternoon I received the next movie in the mail – 3 days start to finish.

Now let’s see, life supporting expensive drugs 2 weeks movies at $8.99/month 3 days…what the heck is wrong with this picture?  I didn’t whine too much but this is nuts to me and I bet you have had similar experiences.

Last week’s column about downloading a Vista driver for a non-compatible printer resulted in a lot of emails this past week.  The emails all regarded having software that, like Debbie’s printer, will not run on Vista either.

There is good and bad news with this situation.  Some software applications will run just fine on Vista; just like they did on Windows XP.  The bad news…well, many programs that would run on XP will not run at all on Vista.

As I have mentioned here before, I installed Vista on a notebook computer to test out Windows Vista.  The new operating system seemed to work just fine.  Of course, there were some things that I didn’t like about it.  I have found that usually if I stick with something long enough I will grow to like it just as much as the previous version.  However, I couldn’t spend much time to try and grow to love Vista.  The reason I couldn’t spend much time around it was that many of the programs that I used would not work with Vista.

I don’t remember details on each and every program that didn’t cooperate, but I do remember one of them.  At that time I was our church bookkeeper and we used the next to the last version of Quickbooks Premium.

I installed Quickbooks on my Vista notebook computer and got an error about one individual file not working properly.  That didn’t bother me too much because – well, I’m just experienced with this type of occasional flare up.  I couldn’t fix it so I contacted Intuit (the owners of QB).

I knew I would have to contact them anyway as I had a one license version and was trying to re-install it again (even though it was the same computer with a different operating system). 

As soon as I mentioned the name of the file that didn’t work, the tech-support person said, “Oh, are you installing QB on a Vista computer?”  I told them yes and they said that the version that we just bought slightly over a year before was not Vista compatible.

I figured that they could tell me where to download a fix and I could be on my way.  I was wrong, wrong by a little over $300.  I was told that I would have to purchase the latest version of the program that was totally Vista compatible…for the full price.

So I fixed it on my own.  I reinstalled Windows XP and then put QB back on and all is well.  Also, this is the main reason that I won’t be using Vista on a regular basis in the near future.

It is Christmas time again and I usually write something about online sales.  But not this year, nope I am trying not to talk about it this time around, so on with something more practical.

I got an email this week from Debbie in Broadway about her printer.  It was also about her new Windows Vista computer.

On “Black Friday” she got a deal on a computer.  While purchasing the new system she also found another deal on a printer.  The only drawback was that the printer wasn’t marked as Vista compatible.  When she got home and set up everything she found that the printer wouldn’t work with the Vista system…oops!  She emailed and asked me if I knew where she could get a driver that would make the printer function. 

First off let me tell you a little about “drivers”.  A device driver is an additional computer program that allows a hardware device (like Debbie’s printer) to communicate with the rest of the computer system.  In other words once the proper driver is installed for a device it will work.  Without the proper driver it is a large paperweight. 

One thing to keep in mind is that drivers are “hardware dependent” and “operating system specific”.  So you have to have the correct driver that works with the operating system.  In Debbie’s case that would be a printer driver for that specific printer made for Vista.  Vista compatible/ready hardware comes with the proper driver or it is already built into Vista.

Before Debbie called the printer company’s toll free number I suggested she try their online tech-support.  You can read of my experiences with toll free help in previous columns and let’s just say that she had the same bad experiences.  Larger companies will have online support where you “chat” with the technician by typing back-and-forth. 

She said it worked well with online support.  She chatted with the tech; found out that there is a new driver which could be downloaded for free.  She downloaded and installed it all successfully to the roar of the crowd…well OK, that last part was literary license.  She did tell me that the entire chat was finished (with great results) in about ten minutes.

So next time you need help with your not-ready-for Vista product contact them online.  It will be quicker and hopefully less painful than a phone call.

And by-the-way, Black Friday and Cyber Monday made more money than any other year in history…oops I did it anyway!