Fix Windows Vista Errors

With all the news lately of the upcoming Windows 7 and preview builds expected to be shown as early as October at the developers conference in Vegas, you might be wondering whether or not you even need to upgrade to Vista.

Well the expected release date for Windows 7 is sometime in 2010, possibly early 2010.  So that is less than 2  years away, and the years go by pretty fast. So many businesses still on XP and working fine, might be thinking what is the point of upgrading now to Vista, only to have to upgrade again a few months later.

The argument for the upgrade is difficult and it will depend on different situations. If you have relatively new hardware and still on XP, it might be a good option to sit tight. However, if you are due for an upgrade, have old hardware, then it becomes a bit more difficult. It is increasingly difficult to purchase systems with XP and you probably don’t want to have some users on XP and some users on Vista - not to mention the support for XP will soon be ceased by Microsoft.

However, even with a Windows 7 release date of 2010, it will probably take a couple of years to iron out the bugs and you wouldn’t want to jump into it immediately on release anyway. So it is more likely that upgrading to this OS won’t happen until 2012. In the meantime we think that Vista is worth moving into and will provide a better long term solution than a mixed environment or holding back with old equipment.

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Microsoft has just released the second commercial featuring Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates. It comes only a few weeks after the release of the first shoe commercial between the two.

It shows Bill and Jerry trying to ‘connect’ with a real family instead of their mansions and cars. It features cameos from a fancy mustard, a cranky granny and a loser pizza boy: enjoy!

We have been getting a few emails recently asking about the different versions of Windows Vista. There seems to be a bit of confusion about the different editions and which is most suitable to purchase.

So lets get back to basics and look at all of the different Windows Vista versions available. This should make the buying decision clearer and easier.

Home Basic
Price: $199

This is the most basic version of Windows Vista available and thats exactly what it is - basic. It is great for users that only perform very simple tasks, such as web browsing, email, viewing photos etc. This is an entry level choice and wouldn’t be recommended for anyone that wants to get more out of their PC, it also would not be optimal for laptops.

Recommended System requirements for Home Basic:

• 1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
• 512 MB of system memory
• 20 GB hard drive with at least 15 GB of available space
• Support for DirectX 9 graphics and 32 MB of graphics memory
• DVD-ROM Drive
• Audio output
• Internet access

Home Premium
Price: $259

Home Premium is the next step up in the Vista range and is for users that want more than just the basics. This version will provide much more in terms of digital entertainment and productivity. It also has enhanced performance and security.  This version is also great for laptops and has excellent wireless and battery saving features.  This version of Vista will be most useful for the average home user.

Recommended System requirements for Home Premium:

Business
Price: $299

The Vista Business version is the option for small business owners/operators. This version of Vista provides excellent security and mobility features which will help employees stay productive while out of the office. Vista Business also has improved search and organization capabilities. However, the business version does not come with Media Center, DVD Maker, Movie Maker.

Recommended System requirements for Business:

Ultimate
Price: $319

 Windows Vista Ultimate is the flagship version. This has all the features and it will support everything from work needs right through to powerful media applications. You can do whatever you need with this version. It is very secure, has wireless capabilities, media editing, watch video, TV, listen to music, edit documents and much more. Get this version if you are a power user.

Recommended System requirements for Ultimate:

We all know about the collaboration between Microsoft and Jerry Seinfeld, well here is the first TV commercial they have made about Vista.

You make up your own mind about this one.

It is common to experience some problems with the Windows Vista power options, so here are some common problems and remedies.

No Standby Option

Windows Vista has removed the standby option. So don’t worry about this.

No Hibernate Option

Windows Vista has a new hybrid sleep mode. If this is turned on, you may not see the hibernate option in the shut down menu. To change the hybrid sleep mode, you will need to access the advanced power settings.

Control Panel -> Systems and Maintenance -> Power Options.

When using the hibernate option, Windows Vista writes the data to a file called hiberfil.sys. It might be possible that you have run out of disk space and Vista can no longer write to this file. Check this if you believe the hibernate option should be available.

If you have Disk Cleanup running, it may have cleaned the hibernate file. If this is the case untick the “Hibernation File Cleaner” option.

Cannot Wake From Hibernation

If you cannot wake the computer from hibernation then you should make sure you have installed all of the latest Windows Vista service packs and hot fixes. This has been an issue in the past and Vista has released fixes.

Some common error codes that you might experience:

STOP 0×1000007E
STOP 0×0000009F
STOP 0×00000044

The other problem you might experience is waking too early from hibernation. This can be difficult to debug, so make sure you check out any external and USB devices attached to the computer, as they are most likely the cause. Also check any software that might be running or set on a schedule that may interfere with hibernation.

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Free Download - Fix WIndows Vista Errors

Previously we have discussed some of the financial and environmental benefits available with the new Vista power saving features.

Today we will discuss more about the power management features and how they work. By default the Windows Vista power managment features should be enabled, but it is worth knowing more about them, so you can implement your own power saving strategy.

The Windows Vista power features were created to reduce power consumption, but they also had the goal of making it very easy, fast and reliable to turn the computer “on” or “off”.

Previous versions of Windows had standby, hibernate and shut down. Vista has Sleep, Hybrid Sleep and Hibernation.  You can access the power management features in the following location:

Control Panel -> Systems and Maintenance -> Power Options

Power modes in Windows Vista:

Sleep: The computer enters a low power consumption mode, with programs and data in memory. Restarting from the sleep mode is very fast and should only take a couple of seconds.

Hybrid Sleep: The computer enters a low power consumption mode, with programs and data in memory but the computer also writes data to disk. So if there was a power outage, the computer can be recovered to the same state.  Restarting from hybrid sleep mode will be slower than in regular sleep mode.

Hibernate: Computer data is saved to a special file. If the computer is switched off or unplugged, all data is stored and state can be recovered.

Additionally, you can also set what happens when the power button is pressed, or when the lid is closed (for laptops). For example: you could set the computer into hibernate mode when the power button is pressed, instead of shutting down. The same also applies to closing the lid.

As mentioned earlier, the default settings in Vista are setup to conserve power, however, you can optimize these, based on whether you want to use sleep mode, hybrid sleep or hibernation.

Recently Microsoft announced that they were going to spend $300 million on a new ad campaign for Windows staring Seinfeld. Here is a brief news story on the issue;

We are very green friendly in our office here and we are always looking at better ways to conserve energy and better manage the environment. Since almost everyone has a PC, we can all help out with a few little steps.

Today we will look at some options  for Windows Vista energy conservation - Remember, by being more efficient and using less energy, this not only benefits the environment, but it also ends up costing you less.

The Windows Vista OS does feature significant changes to its power management infrastructure, functionality and default settings. All of these changes affect how Vista PCs consume energy. Here is some further info on the potential energy savings available when using Windows Vista and the changes from XP.

PC Power Consumption

Here are some numbers on PC power consumption and the type of savings that can be made by using sleep vs idle modes.

Common power usage output for Desktop PCs (watts):

Calculating power savings:

In projecing the potential savings, a PC left on constantly was compared with a PC put in sleep mode during non-use hours. The non-use hours are calculated at approximately 14 hours per day. So if we also factor in weekends, the approximate non-user hours for the year is: 6,160 hours.

To calculate the saved poser, we use (idle power - sleep power) x 6160 hours = annual savings.

In the table below you can see the savings (kWh):

Financial Benefits

As you can see above, a considerable amount of kWh hours can be saved by using the Vista power functions. To put this into a financial value see the formula below (this is assuming an average cost per kWh of $0.094):

760.14 x 0.094 = $71.45

So there is an annual saving of $71.45 for just a single PC by employing the Vista energy saving features. If this is applied to every PC using Vista, the saving is absolutely enormous, especially for large corporations.

Environmental Benefit

Obviously as more energy is consumed this adds to increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. According to the EPA, generating 1kWh of power in the USA results in 1.55 lbs of carbon dioxide emissions. So a saving of 760 kWh for a single PC results in a reduction of carbon dioxide emissions of 1,178 lbs.

This is quite a significant saving and again, when implemented on every PC running Vista, there is a massive reduction in carbon dioxide emissions.

So if you are using Windows Vista, start using the power saving features. Not only will you save on costs, but you will be benefitting the environment.

Here is a Windows Vista resource that I am sure you will all find very useful for getting the most out of your Vista.

What is it?

This guide will show you how to tune and improve Windows Vista. The focus is on a single PC, but it can be extended to environments where multiple performance and tuning may be required.

The Vista performance guide will cover the following performance areas:

• Making configuration changes that help a computer feel more responsive when you use it.
• Using hardware to boost the actual physical speed of a computer.
• Making configuration changes that help a computer to start faster.
• Making the computer more reliable may help increase performance.
• Monitoring performance occasionally so that you can stop problems before they get too big.

This resource was recommended by our friend Rick from the Vista Outreach team. So check it out.

Windows Vista Performance and Tuning

There has recently been increased uptake in the usage of 64bit Vista PCs. This has more than tripled in just the past 3 months alone in the US, and worldwide adoption is also growing nicely. The shift to 64bit is in both the corporate and consumer levels.

The shift to 64bit Windows Vista does have its advantages and the cheaper modern hardware allows for greater power at a fraction of what it used to cost. So we can only expect to see more and more 64bit desktops and laptops hitting the market.

The one problem currently is the lack of drivers. There are few drivers currently available to support many consumer products and devices such as: scanners, DVD/RW, bluetooth etc. So if you are thinking of changing to 64bit just be ready for some limitations. Although we do expect drivers to hit the market fairly soon as the demand is growing fast.

If you already have 64bit Vista or thinking of upgrading then try our free scan below to automatically keep up-to-date with the latest drivers.

For those of you already using 64bit, how has it been so far?

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