How reliable is Vista?

Did you ever have the feeling that something wasn’t quite right with your PC? Vista’s Reliability Monitor can validate your intuition and help you diagnose your computer’s ills. Or, if your PC is in the pink, it will tell you that as well.

The Reliability Monitor tracks failures that occur over time, then ranks your system on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 is best). A graph depicts the status of your system day-by-day. But you get more than numbers and a pretty picture: Daily listings of events like hardware and software failures paint a more detailed picture of problems that may have affected your system’s operation at a particular time. The events tracked by Reliability Monitor are:

• Software (Un)Installs: Software installations and removals including operating system components, Windows updates, drivers, and applications.

• Application Failures: Application failures, including the termination of a non-responding application or an application that has stopped working.

• Hardware Failures: Disk and memory failures.

• Windows Failures: Operating system and boot failures.

• System Clock Changes: Significant changes to the system time are tracked in this category. (This appears only when a time change occurs.)

• Miscellaneous Failures: Failures that impact stability and do not fall under previous categories, including unexpected operating system shutdowns.

To view the Reliability Monitor, click the Start menu, then right-click on “Computer” and select “Manage.” In the Computer Management console, click on the arrow next to Reliability and Performance in the left pane, then on the arrow next to Monitoring Tools, and then on Reliability Monitor.

You’ll see your system’s daily score at the top right of the screen. Recent failures are weighted more heavily than past failures, so you’ll see improvement over time once a reliability issue has been resolved. Icons below the graph point you to instances that were problematic: Yellow triangles with an exclamation point indicate minor problems; an x inside a red circle represents major troubles. Vista updates the Reliability Monitor once a day as long as the system was turned on.

The Reliability Monitor is more than just a tool for confirming how things are going. If you’re porting older applications to a new computer, or running them for the first time on Vista, Reliability Monitor can show you what’s going right and wrong. It’s also useful for tracking down errors and troubleshooting problems. As a first step, check the category the problem occurred in from the list above. Or click on specific dates to see determine when problems began. For example, Reliability Monitor might report that errors in a software program started occurring only after your last update. If the Monitor shows that hardware memory errors began after you installed more memory, you can check to see whether the new memory is faulty.

A low reliability number doesn’t mean system failure is imminent. If you see a 1.29 on your Reliability Monitor—as we did on a home system—don’t panic. In our case, that low number began climbing back up, albeit slowly, as problems resolved. What caused the score to drop in the first place was the gradual installation of old applications onto the new system, as well as attempts to patch problems, use incompatible utilities, and install hardware that lacked Vista patches. In fact, that system’s score has risen back to 7.22.

As with any new operating system, you’ll probably encounter some rough spots with Vista, especially at first. Reliability Monitor can help you get through them and maintain your computer into the future.

--Richard Fisco, Senior Project Leader

Comments

[Sam]

Windows Vista is the worst ever......if any computer has it installed on it do not buy it...run in a different direction.

I WANT MY XP BACK

[Eve]

When I first bought my Dell 2 years ago I was so upset that it came with this annoying operating system- 2 years later - I can easily say I've never had a better computer or OS. Im Amazed but Vista is great!

[Arthur S]

As consumers, what can we do to prevent Vista from damaging our personal files and our economy? It is a danger situation when one company as a monopoly making tens of billions in profit, while hundred of millions PC users around the globe are loosing because of it. My Western Digital hard drive with retrospect software installed on vista silently stopped backing up files after one of vista updates, and this happens periodically, at this time entire hard drive is lost from list of items under "(my)computer" folder. Can we make Microsoft paying for this? PC Magazine did not called Vista as greatest disappointment 2008, MS might make them (to PC magazine) an offer they could not refuse.....................

[Zach]

Windows vista business has many bugs, and it can crash while under half the stress that XP takes. It's slow and not very reliable. Out of 5, 2. DONT GET IT.

[Herman Cortez]

i have a toshiba laptop with the vista operating system,i was just wondering if windows 98 software can be run on vista?

[Mark]

Iam having problems with new software (magellan gps) and lack of compatability with old microsoft WinMe OS ... supposed to work with XP and Vistas ... thank-you sooo much for these informtive blogs. .... I have spent years of frustration dealing with Microsofts crashing operating systems, beginning with Win95 and then Winme ... have no more patience or time to test Microsofts systems for them ... Bill Gates should pay us! ... Im buying a Mac !

[Arthur S]

I have spent more than 50 hours of my personal life over 1 year and 4 month of having Vista trying to resolve problems with and without Dell tech support. Amazing, when Dell technician turns off all of my (and MS) programs I even can move mouse and see on the screen-no delays!!!! Now my old PC with XP (7 years old) died. So, I tried to buy another one with XP, and found nothing. I was upset for a while and found solution-instead of buying MS beta version OS (Vista) to go with Apple. While I am writing this-I use Linux and feel really good.

[Sadric Amber]

Total Junk. Windows XP was much more stable. Even with Service Pack 1, Vista runs like a big fat hog. Maybe if they put it on Jenny Craig with SP 2 it might be better but in its current incarnation it is cumbersome. Also they still havent solved compatability issues. I am plagued with them even on new software. It is evident Microsoft is worried. No one is upgrading and they keep trying to relaunch it. They have also worn out the sales model of 30 different versions. No one understands the difference between Home Basic, Home "Premium" blah blah blah.

[Paul C]

I need to purchase a replacement laptop for home use. After reading all the negative experiences of Vista (and hearing similar comments from friends), I am considering a MacBook, but the cost is double a Windoows computer. Would you provide comments from experienced users of bot OS and Vista of the preferred approach

[L P]

I built my first computer about 4 months ago and when I did so I read review after review of Vista and how bad it is. So when I built my computer with an Asus Crosshair motherboard and AMD x2 6000 CPU, a massive NVIDIA Geforce 8800 GTS super clocked (of course) and 4 gigs of G Skill DDR2 800 ram, I listened to the reviews and went with the XP 64-bit version to take full advantage of the 4 gigs of ram. I had more problems than I new what to do with because there are more products on the market that are not 64-bit compatible than there are products that are not Vista compatible. Of course I waited, and struggled, until the Vista Sp 1 came out before I bought Vista 64-bit, but because I waited I had a massive head ache and a sick machine.
From minute one of Vista’s existence on my machine I have not had a single problem or with IE7. I can play any game I want, surf the net, check mail, and make sure my computer is protected, because I was smart enough to not go with the even more power hungry joke of software named Norton. That program pair with vista uses everything. I know because I helped my girlfriend’s computer illiterate mom buy a new laptop, with vista and the first thing I did was take of Norton. I added AVG and she has not had one single problem. She was a dedicated Mac user and now she loves her new comp and can use it just as well as the Mac.
Vista may be power hungry, but the people complaining about it are those who are still working off of win98 and are too cheap to up grade the rest of the computer. These same complaints about being power hungry came out with XP and they come out with the Next OS too. If you want the computer to do all these fancy things like media center and visual effects, the OS will take more and demand more because it is doing all of this work. I know that I have to have a 64 bit system to use all 4 gigs of ram and XP 64 was not cutting it.
Oh and to the idiot who calls himself a "veteran PC technician" if people cannot figure out that the Circular windows logo is a replacement for the start button, than it is they who should not be allowed near a computer. The reason 95% of your clientele that is upset with vista is upset because they don't know how to work a computer in the first place. I have never used Linux, but I could guarantee that those 95% could be sat down in front of a computer loaded with Linux and be dissatisfied. It is not always the OS it is sometimes the operator. I’m not say vista is perfect but if you need everything spelled out for you and spoon fed then vista might not be for you.

[Arthur S]

I have Vista for one year on my 2 dual core Intel....PC. It is a disaster. I just read comments from top to bottom trying to find any positive comments on Windows Vista-just want to know any reason to have it. That is XP will no longer supported in 5 years from now (probably). I changed three (3) routers, 4 antivirus software, my Retrospect backup (compatible w/ Vista) is not fully compatible yet, but I have to use it. To make Windows media player to work always had to uninstall bitdefender (?!?!?!). VAN from Citi if anybody knows-doesn't work with Vista, which reduces (for me) actual security level for a few orders. 2 year old MP3 player can only work properly on my old XP computer. HP printer will never get driver for Vista. I would say 90% of my programs simply do not work on Vista.

So, now I have Vista with no antivirus/firewall software on this PC to work with Office 2007, and I have Linux Ubuntu on the same PC to work with everything else.

[Breetai]

I'm kinda disappointed with Consumer Reports lack of honest independence review of Windows Vista. The only thing Vista's really good for are empty promises. There's no upgrade with Vista it's just an effort from Microsoft to help Vendors sell more expensive equipment.

Think about this for a second, Apple's EULA refuses to let their OS be sold separately from their Hardware and Linux does not have corporate desktop support just server support. They are the closest thing to competitors Windows has and they're both disqualified because neither is actually really competing with Windows. Apple is competing with HP & Dell not Microsoft and Linux is all open source and not a corporate competitor.

Granted my "Vista Experience" made me switch to Ubuntu.

[Larry A]

I am a computer professional. Microsoft has put a lot of effort into creating a revenue generator; customer's needs notwithstanding. They have totally changed navigation, look and feel, usability and not for the better. Not even a change to the classic start menu mitigates the "improvements" Microsoft has foisted on us. I use Linux, XP and OS X regularly and Vista has the poorest ease of use among them. To Vista's credit, it has "borrowed" many features from OS X and Linux.
From one geek to another: if you like Vista, you can have it.

[Greg W]

I am not surprised.

Before I bash Microsoft, i do have to thank them for opening up such a profitable career. I am a veteran PC technician. Customer service is my most important company policy. This should be the same for Microsoft but it is not. Who is Microsoft's beta testers? YOU! You talk about XP support will soon be gone, so go with Vista. What support have you really received for far for other operating systems by Microsoft? You get an automatic security update overnight, and the next morning your computer boots to a blue screen. Please, I would rather they end the support now.

Here is the deal. They average person that uses a computer is used to XP. They are used the the 'start' menu. They are used to add/remove programs. They are used to outlook express. Funny things is that with Vista, all this is changed. Instead of 'start', you have a circle that a large amount of people will have no clue what to do with. And leave it to Microsoft to to bring us IE7 which is has an enormous amount of bugs. Funny how when they fix old problems, they create new ones. Kinda funny how Microsoft has yet to follow the W3C standards when everyone else seems to do a pretty good job of it.

Take Vista and put it next to the same machine that instead has XP. The XP machine will out perform the Vista 3 to 1.

I said earlier I am all about customer service. I don't feel I am doing a good service to my customers if I sell them a machine with Vista. 95% of the clients that have upgraded to Vista or purchased a new machine with Vista have been more than just upset.

Microsoft is a company that is completely out of touch with its client base and I really don't think they care.

The bottom line is Vista is resource intensive, sluggish, buggy, confusing, and not anything like what Microsoft had promised it would be.

...Now there are some really smart features with Vista and it does allow for alot more RAM. Give it another year and it will be a decent O/S. Until then I would not even come close to recommending.

[B.]

I use Vista at our church for an on screen program. The program is put together and checked (saved, computer shut down, computer turned on, program reopened)everything is fine. When it's time to run the program on Sunday there are problems.

Not only is it embarrassing, it's frustrating.

I'm going back to XP.

[MacAttack]

I purchased an HP 8100e dual core with Vista in November. I have two other computers that have XP on them. Vista took a little bit of time to learn and to navigate. Same thing when XP came out. I only have a few programs that will not completly work with Vista even when they are rolled back to XP or 2000 in admin settings. New service packs will hopefully fix that. Same thing when XP first came out. Basically what I am saying is that with all new O/S problems are present when the program rolls out. Vista is not perfect and it has more than few annoying problems. Would I choose XP over Vista....In a heartbeat!

Unfortunately there will come a time when Microsoft will no longer support XP. Same with 2000. Windows 98...Good Luck! So people can complain about Vista and say that they will never get it an keep XP. One problem, when you have problems there will be no support or drivers or service packs to fix your problem. A good example..Want cable internet? You'd better have an operating system that is not older than Windows 2000. If you do have 98...Then no cable internet for you. Same thing will happen soon with 2000. So give Vista some time and most of the problems should be worked out just like XP when it first came out.

[jackie]

i bought a vista and i am not pleased with it. iwish i had know iwould not have bought this vista.is there anything we can do about this.

[Roger]

Is it Windows Vista or your applications that are causing the problems?
I’m an independent technology consultant with seven years of computer support experience. Last year, I purchased an e-machine for my son and a Dell laptop for my wife. We experienced software problems on both computers, which had Vista pre-installed. I had to remove a Roxio product from the laptop before I could use Vista’s backup feature to back up the hard drive to DVD. I had to remove a registry entry from the desktop computer before I could use Dragon Naturally Speaking with Microsoft Encarta Student Edition. Unfortunately, software developers can’t guarantee that applications that were developed for Windows XP will work with Vista. Other than the problems mentioned above, Vista works well for us because I use applications that were created for Vista. In addition, I recommend that you have at least 2GB of RAM on your Vista computer. Also, Microsoft regularly issues updates to resolve known problems. For example, I recently received an update that resolved a conflict between Symantec Live Update for Ghost version 12 and Windows Live One Care.

Roger

[Rick]

I use both Mac's and PC's for business and personal use. I considered buying Vista but after reading the horror stories about it I think I'll wait a few years. I currently run XP Professional on 7 Dell machines and also run XP Professional on two Intel Mac's. The Mac's actually run XP the best. One Mac uses Boot Camp and the other is using Parallels. Both Mac's are faster than all of the Dell desktop machines. Personally, I would recommend buying a Mac. I have been using Mac's since 1984 and have always been happy with them. Now that they run Windows, I will run Windows XP on the Mac's if needed and no longer buy other Windows machines. This saves me a lot of aggravation with viruses and Windows related problems. I simply use Windows for any "Windows Only" programs that I have and prevent internet access and email on the Windows side of the Mac. Email and internet access is only allowed on the Mac side. This virtually eliminates the possibility of viruses. You can buy Apple Mac's with Windows XP and OSX Leopard preinstalled from MacMall and other dealers. The world is a better place thanks to Apple.

[JosephVanRiper]

I work as a senior software engineer in a primarily Windows-oriented environment.

We're slowly, if grudgingly, moving to Vista, mostly with the understanding that we don't have a choice in the matter; in time (over a matter of years), support for the earlier operating systems will be removed, for understandable reasons.

This said, Microsoft needs to fix a great many problems in Vista, from everything I've read in professional forums, and from my own experience with the operating system.

From personal experience, I find copying files across a network using Windows native network protocol (SMB, as in copying something to \\machine\share\folder) to be extremely spotty. I have found myself waiting for over 10 minutes for a 3 meg file to copy across a relatively fast VPN, while Vista presents a message indicating that it is 'calculating disk space'... not even attempting to copy the file.

The Vista operating system looks beautiful. Necessarily so, as you will spend more time looking at it than using it, for all the time it makes you wait while it does something unnecessary for you.

Vista breaks Microsoft's tradition of attempting to make their operating systems backwards compatible, such that older software continues to work. This means some software titles will not work with Vista, until (unless) the vendor updates their software to work properly in Vista. Make sure the software you require works in Vista before you buy.

I recommend that most home users wait another year or two for Microsoft to release a service pack (or two, apparently their first one isn't working out so very well; it apparently prevents you from successfully rebooting your machine, unless Microsoft fixed this) to address the many problems associated with this rushed operating system.

In the meantime, insist on XP when purchasing a new computer.

[pMay]

Vista vs Win Xp....I just ordered a new computer from Dell yesterday and elected to have Win XP installed. My reason for this had nothing to do with the reliability/unreliability of Vista, but was made because of how my computer is used. I do a lot of graphic art and have purchased a truck load of plugins that will not or never will work with Vista. Many of these plugins are made by individuals and will not be upgraded to work with Vista. This included older versions of Jasc PSP. Vista will be releasing a Service Pack 3 that is supposed to take care of many of the issues folks are having, but I could not be given assurance that I would be able to use my computer in the way I need. I was also told that come June, 2008, Microsoft will no longer license Win XP, so Dell will no longer sell the program. This will not effect those would have it already, although support will no longer be offered. I have had a computer for 10 years and have yet asked Microsoft for any type of support and actully only installed SP2 last year and it has been available for several years. Now, it is also my understanding that if you buy a computer with Vista installed on it, you cannot remove it and install Win XP, but you can remove Win XP and install Vista. It has to do with how the computer is built, I forget what part. My new computer is a Inspiron 530with Inspiron 530 Intel Core 2 processor with Quad Core Technology, 500GB HD and 4GB memory. I hope this information will be helpful to those trying to decide what to purchase.

[Darryl C]

October 2007 a dear friend of mine (not a computer wizard - 78 years young) asked me to recommend a new computer and of course install it and show him how to use it too. At the time I had a choice between Windows XP and Windows Vista..... Thanks god I chose Windows XP, with all the problems that Vista users are writing and talking about he would have had me on the phone 24/7 with support issues...

[Brian Cargill]

Vista is a horrible, horrible operating system. I am currently using three versions of windows including Vista and XP. The older version of windows is the most stable of the three; XP is a little fancier but has a few problems (driver conflicts, for one) and Vista is a total mess. The security, while I am sure is much improved, makes some of the simplest file management operations very cumbersome and sometimes impossible. In response to this, I bought an iMac. I am in love again.

[Matthew R]

I am very unimpressed with Windows Vista. I understand it is new. but after 6 months of having it, every time I want to close any page of Internet Explorer, Internet Explorer has an unexpected error and needs to close and then it restarts Internet Explorer. This happens every single time I close it. No kidding. Windows Vista also tries hard to look like a Macintosh OS. I have an Apple powerbook G4 laptop 1.33ghz and after having it 4 years and upgrading 2 operating systems, Macintosh is always stable with no problems. I do not recommend Windows Vista to anybody. It took several years for Windows XP to become somewhat stable. Macintosh is a so much more stable pick.

[Dan]

i need a new pc so i got a vista never again vista sucks
going back to x p the next pc will be a dell
the might get it right