The moment I found out that Microsoft let Windows Vista Service Pack 1 out the door, I constantly searched for updates via Windows Update waiting for it to arrive. After waiting and trying for about an hour, I came to the conclusion that I probably have one of the problematic drivers.

I searched the Google to find a list of the problematic drivers and it wasn’t as easy to find as I was hoping but i did manage to get a list. My Conexant HD Audio drivers were preventing me from updating via Windows Update. I decided to wait a bit to see if I get a driver update that will allow me to get the SP1 update. I decided to download the 400mb standalone installer just for the sake of it. Its only 400mb and that will take less than 15 minutes to download. I just left it on my desktop and waited for something to happen so I could proceed with updating my operating system.

After listening to this weeks Windows Weekly yesterday, as they discussed the updating process and the problematic drivers, Paul Thurrot did mention that just because you don’t have updated drivers doesn’t necessarily mean that you are going to have problems. He has had emails from people that have installed it with the standalone installer and have had no issues or small issues that a driver reinstall didn’t fix. After hearing that, I decided to update last night. Either its going to go without problems, or I could try to fix it, or I could uninstall the service pack till my drivers updated. Updating shouldn’t me a nightmare.

I shut down all my apps and launched the installer. Then I went and played Locoroco on the PlayStation Portable while waiting for the update to install. It restarted and all itself and it didn’t need any user input during the update. One and a half hours later, I was finally treated with a login page. The update went smoothly with no problems. My system has been stable (so far.) I haven’t really noticed any major differences, only some copying stuff, the fact that it says Service Pack 1, and some aspects of the System Rating have gone up by a point. All in all, I’m pretty fine with the update. I could have waited and let it do it in the background and saved a few minutes but what the hey!

This day, 365 days ago to be precises, the date was Monday, the 19th of February 2007. This day marks the day I purchased my very own personal computer, which happened to be a Compaq Presario notebook. 3 weeks before my purchase, Microsoft’s new operating system, Vista hit the retail stores. My laptop had Windows Vista pre-installed, just like eighty to ninety percent of the computers on sale at that point in time. Today, I have used Vista for a whole year.

I instantly fell in love with its shinyness and smoothness. I was extremely happy to be using Vista instead of Windows XP. This was until I was welcomed with a nice bright blue screen, known to all as the Blue Screen of Death. I knew that i would be seeing that screen quite frequently, and when I did, I either welcomed it, or ripped my hair out in frustration. To be honest, a BSoD is so common in Vista, that it is more of a feature of the operating system. Vista wouldn’t be Vista without the occasional death screen.

Luckily, at least once a month, patches and updates arrived via Windows Update. To this date, updating that operating system still scares me. Whenever there is an update, half of the time it fixes problems and makes your computer crash less, while other times it completely breaks everything and you start seeing more of that blue screen. Even if it does make your system more stable, it probably broke a driver or something else wouldn’t work right. On the subject of Windows Update, I do have to point out how much I like that it is a part of the operating system, and not some website you visit when you think about it.

My Vista experience has been a pleasant nightmare. Do I regret being an early adopter of this operation system? No, of course not. I love Windows Vista. It does have its downsides like the regular blue screens and the driver issues and the software issues and all the other issues that I haven’t mentioned because I have forgotten. But there is one upside of this poor little operating system and should be the reason that everyone using a PC should upgrade to Vista, its damn shiny!

A month ago I finally decided to put a few dollars towards upgrading the RAM on my computer from 1GB to 2GB. It was really easy to install. All you do is remove a screw or two and pop out the old RAM and slide in the new RAM. It is as simple as that.

I noticed that performance increase from my laptop after doubling the amount of RAM I have. Programs seem to be much more snappier, to open and to do tasks. Another thing I noticed, which was really odd, was that the time it takes for my computer to go into hibernation is a bit less than before. You would think that it would take longer to hibernate with more RAM.

I am very happy with my RAM and recommend that everyone that doesn’t have 2GB or more of RAM upgrade ASAP, especially if you are using Windows Vista. RAM is cheap anyway and shouldn’t cost you a fortune. You will be much happier with more RAM, just like I am.

One of the things that Vista comes with is the sidebar. The sidebar can be filled with all sorts of widgets… erm… I mean gadgets, that can do various things. I have eight gadgets currently on my sidebar and they each have a use for being there. Here I am going to tell you what gadgets I use, as well as providing links to where you can download them from. So here is my list from top to bottom.

The gadget at the top of my sidebar is called Simple Date. I tell you now, it is far from simple. It can do a lot, not only tell you the date, but also the weather and temperature. It also has buttons so you can open task manager, and even shutdown and restart your computer with it. This gadget can do a bit more than what I have just said, I just don’t use half the functions it has. I only use it for the basic time and date, as well as the weather. The gadget is also highly customizable, to the way the type is displayed, the the background and colours.

Multi Meter Dual Core is an essential gadget that every sidebar user should have. Basically what it does it tells you your CPU usage, as well as your RAM usage. It is very interesting to see how much of your computers processor and memory you are using as well as knowing if you are using too much memory or if your processor is doing a heavy task.

Is really useful, and good to know how much hard drive space you have used and how much you have left. Multi HDD Meter is the gadget that can display this information. Keeping track of how much hard drive space you are using is essential so you know when you need to clear space for new data, or possibly even require more space. Having this easy to read indicator on your sidebar makes keeping track of hard drives simple.

This is another must have gadget, but this is for notebook users only. It is Some Life, and it shows information about how much charge your battery has. Not only does it show you that, it also shows you what the battery is doing, if it is being used, if it is charging, and when your battery is full and not being used. It is much easier just looking at the sidebar than clicking the battery icon in the taskbar.

Uptime Meter is a fun little gadget that displays your computers uptime. It shows your computer current uptime, your record uptime, and even your total uptime. It also has a clock on the gadget. This has no real use but it is cool too see how long you can keep your system up without restarting it (or before it crashes. )

If you connect to the internet using wireless, then iStat Wireless (Mod) is a must have gadget for you. It displays your signal strength in a graphical form, as well as showing the strength percentage. It also has the name of the access point you are connected to, and the IP address of the computer in the network, and even your external IP address.

This is a another non-essential gadget but it is always exciting to countdown to a certain date, and Count Down does that for you, right on your sidebar. You tell it the name and date of an even and it will count down the days, hours, minutes and seconds till that point in time. This could be your birthday, a holiday, or even the date of that next episode of your favourite television show, Heroes :p

These are all the gadgets I use, except one, and that is the analogue clock gadget that comes with the sidebar. It is nice to have an alternative view of the time form the old digital display that computers do. The top five gadgets come from the same place and all have the same (or similar) skins as each other so the gadgets look like they belong in the sidebar together, which makes it look more polished and nice. Do check out these gadgets and tell me how you like them, or if you have a better gadget that functions the same as on of the ones here.

Yesterday, one of the desktop computers gave in. The thing just would not work. It had a good life, seven years with no problems what so ever (except for viruses and spyware.) My sister was using it as we replaced it a couple of years back. We looked around a few shops at the computer and decided that maybe a laptop computer would be an option, rather than a desktop. The price of a laptop isn’t that much different from a desktop and depending on what you use your computer for would depend on if it is a good idea to go portable or not.

We ended up getting a new laptop, same series as mine, only a higher model. The main differences are the better processor, an AMD Athlon X2 1.8Ghz, 120GB Hard Drive, Bluetooth and Vista Home Premium. Other than that it waspretty much the same, except for Compaq’s new (ugly) logo. It is a huge upgrade for my sister, going from a 1.3Ghz, 30GB Hard Drive with 512 RAM. I wouldn’t notice that much of an advancement but for someone using such a low spec computer, this computer would be blazing!

Some of the thing I like about this one, than my model, is the precessor. Yes, its a little faster but what makes it better than mine is the heat. With the new laptop, you hardly feel any warmth coming from the thing, where as mine, you always feel heat coming from it, and depending on the conditions, it can even get to the point that it burn you if it touches your skin too long. I would benifit from a cooler processor because I use my computer on my lap and it can get uncomfortable when using it for a while, and even be unbearable if the weather is hot as well.

Another thing that is great about it is the bluetooth. This is one thing I have never experienced in my life, and for a lot of people, its the normal, even old technology. I was surprised about how great it work. Sending a picture from a cellphone took 30 seconds, from capture to looking at it on the computer. I know there are other things you can do with bluetooth but just sending a picture amazed me. I have no idea why our digital cameras, Mp3 players and other common devices don’t use bluetooth to communicate with computers. Bluetooth is a great feature, but personally I wouldn’t use it because I do not have any bluetooth devices. Still, it was amazing to play with.

The final little difference is Vista. Yes, I have been using Vista since February, or so I though. You really aren’t experiencing Vista unless you are using Home Premium or above. Home Basic in my books, doesn’t count anymore. It is stripped down, I don’t even know why they even have this version. To me it seems like a bloated XP with a fancy skin on it, nothing mch new here. I love the smoothness and animations of Premium, especially the Flip3D. It is so pretty to look at and I can’t believe they would have a version without it. To be honest, the visual features is the only real selling point of Vista, yet they have a version that lacks all that.

Do I wish I could have that laptop instead of the one I have now? Yes! Would I trade what I have for that one? No! This is my laptop and I am going to keep it forever. I wouldn’t trade it in for anything. I wouldn’t mind a new laptop in the nearish future so we will see what happens. Some more RAM and Home Premium would be nice to get and would make this last until it is time to upgrade. MacBook Pro, I’m coming, just wait a little longer!

Being a Vista user does have its downsides. Software incompatibility, annoyances with the OS, and the occasional crash. But after seeing that a fair share for the first few month using Vista, I have learned to love the Blue Screen of Death. Having to go back to XP for a few weeks a while back, I just realized how great a Blue Screen is compared to a freeze.

When using XP, I have only once had a BSOD, and that was when I yanked out a USB drive while before it ejected it. Computer didn’t like that. That was the only blue screen I have had for the few years of using computers. It is kinda daunting to see that giant blue screen glowing onto your face for the first time ever. What went wrong? Why did that happen?

But a blue screen is much better than having your system freeze in my opinion. I always dread when my computer stops responding for more than a few seconds and fear for the worst. I have no idea what went wrong, why it froze. Also who knows how long it is going to be in this trans before it starts responding again. How long is long enough to wait for it to wake up and hold down the power button and listen to the awful sound of a hard shutdown.

At least with a BSOD, it gives some kind of error that shows what went wrong. I generally don’t care what went wrong but I can tell what went wrong by what I was doing before I saw the blue. Also with a blue screen, at least I know that my system should be up and running in a minute or so, ready for me to log in. You know whats in store when you get a BSOD. I can’t say the same about a freeze. I like knows whats coming next, thats why I love the Blue Screen of Death.

As you should know, my laptop has gone back to the repair shop to get the wireless fixed. Its been gone for three days now so I presume they are either lazy, or waiting for parts to come or something. I really miss my laptop and would trade this desktop in anyway, just to have it back. Lucky I am not going to have to do that and can have both. Here are a short list of things that I miss about her. Don’t worry, its not a top ten list.

I really miss Vista. Some people will think I am crazy but there are heaps of little things in Vista that I wish they had in XP. One of the things is the quick search. Finding applications in “All Programs” is a tedious task and is becomes very easy to miss just typing in the first few letters on an app and hitting enter. Not only that, but I miss the stylish black bar and the blue Windows orb. XP looks so square and unclean, if you know what I mean.

I also miss the smooth video playback this temporary computer doesn’t offer. I have had to suffice with jumpy, poor video playback. I assume it is due to the crappy video graphics this computer has but I wouldn’t know to be honest. Video looks great on my laptop, its also in nice widescreen so there are not huge black bars above and below a video. Also the glossy screen makes the video look so much better, not really but it makes me feel better about watching TV shows on it.

Another thing that I miss about my laptop is it being portable. I can use it anywhere, in the living room, in the kitchen, in the bedroom or even in the bathroom/toilet if I please.  I miss being able to snuggle into bed with my laptop on top of me watching a few TV shows to finish off the day before I go to sleep.Its a luxury I wish I had but obviously this desktop computer can’t provide me with that. Being stuck to this desk with and uncomfortable chair is annoying, I just wanna hop into bed and watch some shows.

The thing I miss the most about my laptop is that fact that it is mine, all mine. No sharing, no one else’s grubby mits on it, no one else’s hard drive space or anything. Its 100% mine and I can do anything I want with it.  Not having to worry about losing other peoples files or having stuff running that will slow down the computer for other people is great. This desktop is so slow and if I lose my families documents, or pictures like I have in the past, I’m in trouble. Everything that happens with my PERSONAL computer is my problem and I will be the one to suffer any consequences.Too bad that it feels more like HP’s computer than mine at the moment with all the problems as well as the stupid junk software that got loaded onto it when they reinstalled Windows.

Hopefully my computer is back to working order every soon. It will probably Tuesday if the problem isn’t too deep. I really miss the little thing. To be honest, I wish they could have just replaced the whole dam thing with a nice working one. We all know that that is never going to happen though, haha. They don’t wanna lose money, which is why they wanted me to attempt a stupid system recovery to reinstall Windows  so they hopefully didn’t have to pay for repairs. Sucks they they are paying for it twice. Come home soon lappy, I miss you