March 15, 2007

After going through the aggravation of setting up my new Vista computer, and also some of the issues I've found with customer computers, I thought it might be helpful to pass along some information which will make the setup a little easier.  Since Windows XP has been out for 5 years, for the purpose of this discussion, I will be referencing file locations on an XP system.

FIRST AND FOREMOST! I would suggest, if you don't already have the setup, get an external hard drive and use the Acronis True Image software to image your computer.  Before you do anything at all, make an image of your computer as you received it, then do another separate image after each couple of software installations.  The reason I say this is, I tried to install Winfax Pro.  After I installed it, it created macros in Microsoft Word which were impossible to remove, even after uninstalling Winfax (the Windows Restore program would no correct the issues).  The only way to get rid of the macros was by doing a restore to before I tried to install the Winfax program.  Some of the older software will create nightmares with Vista, so you need an easy way to undo things.  I look up installation compatibility issues on the Internet and found that sometimes you can make things work, which other people claim is impossible, so if you image your computer, you can experiment without worry.  For more information on true Image, click here.

Another consideration: I have found that the Windows Restore program will sometimes help you, but if you have the True Image program, you can always undo everything and it always works.  This is not true of the Windows Restore program.  Sometimes, depending on what all has happened between restore points, lots of the time you won't be able to get it to restore to an earlier time.  Another major problem with the Windows Restore program is the amount of disk space it requires.  After I setup my new computer, when I looked at the amount of space used on the C drive was 54 gigabytes.  When I turned System Restore off, it dropped to 18 gigabytes.  That also cuts down the time it takes to image the drive and the amount of space required on your external hard drive.  You can make your own decisions on this issue, but my recommendation is, turn off the System Restore.

There are several ways to hook the computers together, and to keep this discussion shorter, I will not get into that in this discussion.  I feel it is better for you to have someone do the setup for you if you don't understand how to hook the computers together and share files.

Here are a few of the things to keep an eye on:

If you are using Outlook Express, and the Windows Address Book, the address book files on your XP computer are located in the C:\Documents and Settings\{Username}\Application Data\Microsoft
\Address Book directory.

To find the location of your data files (folders where you files are stored), in Outlook Express, go to Tools, Options, Maintenance, then click on the Store Folder button.

The import process is relatively straight forward, you just go to the File menu, then Import, then import your address book and your messages.  You can export your accounts in the old computer, then import them into the new computer, thus saving you having to setup the accounts again.  I will warn you, I had one customer's computer where I tried to import the old files in and had problems with the wizard.  I had copied the files to the C:\Mail directory.  When using the Mail wizard, it doesn't allow you to type the directory name in the box, you can only browse for the directory.  When I told it the C:\Mail directory, it would pop up with C:\Mail\Mail, and thus when I told it to import the files, it said it couldn't locate them.  I ended up making a C:\Mail\Mail directory, then selecting the C:\Mail directory, which resulted in again getting the C:\Mail\Mail directory in the dialog box, the import went OK (just another little Windows bug).

If you're using Microsoft Outlook, Start up Outlook, click cancel on using the wizard, then close Outlook and start it up again.  Now, go to Tools, Options, then click on the Mail Setup tab, and then the Data Files button.  If you copy your outlook files to this directory from the old computer, you should be able to use it with your files in tact.  You will need to setup some of the Outlook options to have it work like it did on the old computer, but your data will be there.  You will need to setup the accounts again.

As with previous Windows releases, there is a lot of hardware and software which just won't work with Vista.  There are, however, some things you can try.

For instance, there is a really old version of Paint Shop I like to use.  When I installed it, I would get a message as soon as it started up, that it couldn't write to the Windows registry, but after clicking OK, it would start up.  I then, instead of running the installation program when it started from the CD, I went to the CD drive with Windows Explorer, right-click on the installation program, then left click on Run as administrator.  In fact, unless the program was made after Vista was released, I would always use this installation method.

Another thing which you can try is, experimenting with the Compatibility settings.  Sometimes you can run the program as administrator, or change the Windows version, then the program will work OK.   Since you have the computer imaged, you can experiment with the changes, then if you change things back and it doesn't work, just do a restore.

Vista is going to be a work in progress for a while, but hopefully, this information will make your transformation a little easier.