Via James Fallows, I found OfficeWatch, and if you've installed Vista, and your machine has performance problems worse than Rush Limbaugh, there's still hope, even if you can't switch to a real operating system like *nix or its flashy cousin, OS X). The problem is the Vista indexer ("Windows Search"), which doesn't scale**. But you can disable it:
Do you have trouble with Outlook 2007 and other programs running slowly under Windows Vista? We've had more reports of excruciatingly slow running Windows Vista, especially with Outlook 2007, and given that Peter's main computer has the same problem, we've spent some time working on the problem. There's nothing on the Microsoft web site to help, which figures because to admit a problem of this size would affect sales of both the operating system and Office suite.
What's particularly hilarious--or tragic, depending on your point of view--is that Vista's indexing screws up Outlook, so you have to choose between searching your mail and having, like, your machine actually run, instead of crawl, or stagger and fall down. Since, at many corporations, knowledge management is storing years of Outlook mail, this can be a serious problem. Is this the "innovation" we keep hearing about whenever Redmond tries to justify its monopoly?
Vista runs fine when there's little to be indexed but once you put any kind of reasonable load on it, the indexing system starts bogging down the entire works. Once you get a few hundred thousand indexable items, the Vista indexing service drags the entire system down.
Apologists for Microsoft have said that the problem is having 'too many' emails in Outlookwhich is a typical 'blame the customer' response from Microsoft. Outlook, by design, can cope with extremely large data files (ie PST / OST files of many gigabytes). Microsoft went to the trouble of revamping the data file format to provide for much larger data files than are currently in use.
Now the Vista indexing service is undoing that work. Vista indexing was supposed to make finding things easier, instead it forces you to reduce your Outlook data to suit the limitations of the operating system.
In this important respect Windows Vista is a backward step. Instead of technical advancements to deal with the accumulation of data put on computers, Vista's indexing service put effective limits on what you can store and retrieve on your computer.
It is a bug in Vista, for the operating system should be able to cope with much more data than is currently common. Instead it can deal with less than usual or it forces the user to trim their information storage to cope with Microsoft's failure.
Anyhow, the best option seems to be to turn the whole Indexer thing off, which is too bad if you forked over the money for the upgrade, but there you are:
The Outlook development team had a misplaced trust in the Windows Search system and paying Office customers are bearing the pain of their corporate loyalty. Outlook 2007 seems entirely dependent on Windows Search technology, at first blush you'd think no searches in Outlook 2007 can happen without it. If you exclude indexing Outlook data you'll get a warning note in Outlook whenever you try to do a search.
But an interesting thing happens if you turn off the Windows Search service entirely--Outlook 2007 will let you search without the indexing service. This seems to happen only if you totally disable the Windows Search service as mentioned above.
Hurrah!
The article gives all sorts of other options, like buying more RAM, turning off the indexer selectively, with screen dumps and step-by-step directions, but from what I remember of running Windows in the cube, turning the indexer off entirely seems like by far the best bet. Especially when other tools with the same functionality are available and actually work.
NOTE ** I don't know why that would be. The OS X equivalent, Spotlight, works just fine. Yes, I know OS X is corporate, but at least it's not bloatware. And under the hood is beautiful BSD Unix, which is not corporate.
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it's getting more and more absurd, the PC world
i grok that "serious" gamers and programmers "need" to use PCs, and that many offices are hopelessly mired in them, but for personal use, at this point it's just silly not to use a Mac. or linux, whatever you prefer.
but sticking with microsnooze while they fuck you, over and over again? go on, try to justify it. from my point of view (no viruses, years of problem free use, access to everything i've ever needed on a computer) it's just stupid.
my dad keeps a PC, just because once in a while he needs an excuse to escape my mother for 4 uninterrupted hours. all he has to say is, "honey, i'm fixing the PC" and she knows he won't be out for a long time. when he wants his news and, um, other stuff, his mac is always on. and functional.
Windows where it belongs
In fact, you can run any version of Windoze you please on nearly any modern Mac by using Boot Camp. Fast enough for gaming, too. There goes the last excuse of the Windozy.
what i don't get is why people want to spend so much time
constantly downloading "fixes" into their machines. what the fuck is wrong with a computer that works from the very second you turn it on, requires no updates and virus-checks, and isn't complicated, in terms of accessing the OS and orienting it the way you like it?
my PC friends spend soooo much time fucking around with their machines, just to keep them up and running, never mind actual productive computer time. it's sad. sure, they are "faster" and have more widgets, but i guess i'm just not geeky enough. i really don't enjoy spending time on software patching. bo-ring!
Macs cost too fucking much
There, I said it. I shall now rend my garments, don the sackcloth, cast ashes upon my person, and otherwise prepare for my journey into the desert unto which Heretics are cast.
However let it be noted I say this with immense sadness. My first computer ever was a Mac Plus and I ran Mac exclusively, forsaking all others, until (1) we started an online magazine, the design and operation of which required either several years of learning raw HTML shit or else a program like MS FrontPage, which runs only on PCs, (2) I wanted to play a game a little more, um, challenging than Oregon Trail (okay, the "Might & Magic" series vol. 6-8, not to be confused with either the earlier ones or the related "Heroes of Might & Magic" which is dorky) and (3) the last Mac, an OX9 iMac, broke down after only about a year and I started looking at prices for a yet another new one.
Finally I said, well, shit. I can get a new PC for $400 or a new Mac for three times that. I have got to have a PC for work, and it runs everything else I need, and the game which I don't, and I've really gotten kinda used to this two-button mouse, and, well, just how self-indulgent can I afford to be? And for what purpose?... Hmm, gee, whatever shall I do.
Okay, just hand me the goatskin of wine, I shall head into the desert now. Aim a little wide with the rocks until I get outta range, just for old time's sake? thenkew....
That said (she said, stalling the exodus, cuz it looks hot out there) I am going to be having to look at a new machine before long, the xmas specials perhaps.
How hard is it to just scrub this stinking Vista off if it comes pre-installed and go on running the perfectly adequate and finally properly-patched Win XP?
We had to do this once before, to get rid of that godawful Win ME and get back to 98, and that was a PitA of the worst order. Blegh. I'll just keep this old thing running another year before I go through that again.)
we don't scorn you, xan, we love you! come back!
the desert is a nasty place these days, hang out with us and we'll all share in the wineskin instead.
used macs and reconditioned macs can be cheap, and as was noted earlier, you can run windoze on your mac and make your work-programs run fine. you don't have to have a new machine, indeed, given the short lifespans of most PCs, i tend to think of the as "used" when they come out of the box. compared to even a used mac, you still have a hard time arguing life with a PC is "better."
"come into the light, carol ann." snicker, i was just watching xeno's excellent video. but i can't help myself, xan. i think of all that time i know you're wasting with your PC, and not blogging instead. that's the loss. when i'm rich and all powerful i'm buying all y'all shiny new macs.
The PC is cheaper only if you don't value your time
That said, I have some sympathy, since you pay for the Mac in cash, but you pay in time only with your life...
You could get a Mac mini for around $600 (though I bet if you happened to know someone in college you could get it for less). That doesn't include a monitor, but you have a monitor.
Here's an early review. It's a lot like the 512 except with no built in tiny monitor. Here's on the current version.
I realize you're not in the marke, but you can dream....
We. Are. Going. To. Die. We must restore hope in the world. We must bring forth a new way of living that can sustain the world. Or else it is not just us who will die but everyone. What have we got to lose? Go forth and Fight!—Xan
"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." -- Mahatma Gandhi
Oh, folks ... y'all are so rich ...
...I'm borrowing a computer right now... still. A year ago the laptop went to the great electronic bone yard; a few weeks later I was back online courtesy of sympathetic magic and recycled parts. Then that machine bit the dust, and now I have access when nobody else wants the screen time.
...but I have been reading the "1632" series of books by Eric Flint, and I am constrained by the premise in those books (I can see how an author might want to revisit a pre-9/11/01 world; I surely do), which is that dropped in a sufficiently underprivileged place, the stuff you thought was junk is really treasure.
Give yourselves a break -- the series is about recreating the (pre-Bush! pro-Union!) United States, pretty much from scratch, in 17th century Europe -- and have a good read.
Books can be had from the library near you, or you can go to the free library at Baen (the publisher's site).
Been using a Vista machine a little
So far the biggest annoyance is that the security prompts are so omnipresent, you eventually let your guard down, because you have to say "Yes" to so many things. Add in Norton AntiVirus, and you say it more than the entire Republican caucus getting "Gannoned."
Speaking of getting reamed, Apple's indie cred has always been a little specious. Once I spent $4,000 I barely had to buy a black-and-white SE/30, when a comparably equipped PC was less than half that. Sure, there were advantages, but they weren't exactly running a non-profit over there.
Vasty, thanks, that's what I was looking for
I hate having to make purchasing decisions based on magazine articles, "reviews" and the like when I don't know the provenance of either the writer or the publication.
All I want to know is if it will run the shit I already have and need to use. All this talk about how difficult PCs are, and always breaking down, and constantly in need of time-consuming tweaks 'n' such....I am baffled. I have no such problems with them, or at least not any more so than I ever had with a Mac (I managed to catch one of the rare Mac viruses back in the pre-Net times when the only way to do such a thing was to stick a diseased floppy in your slot. Oh, sorry Sen. Craig, you seem overheated...here, have a seat and a nice glass of ice water.)
Patches download when you go to shut down at night. Run an antivirus and antispyware once a week or so--likewise overnight--and don't open mail from people you don't know. And I don't even get that--I can't think of the last time I got a piece of spam.
Maybe I lead a very dull life computing-wise--I don't rip music and I don't view porn and I check every link no matter how trusted the source before clicking on it and don't go to anything with an ".ru" in it under any circumstances. My life is reasonably simple and my needs are slight. :)
linux is for true anarchists, and rich? hardly.
if i weren't so fucking lazy i'd learn the open source OS and really understand computing. but instead i take hand me downs and college student discounts, and make my machines last as long as they can. i don't have a lot of memory, storage or gizmos. or games, that seems a silly thing to do with a computer to me.
but Mac computing has always been "worth it," in terms of making it a financial priority.
Xan, dad tells me he can't get rid of vista, and he's been trying for a while. he's getting older, but still- he's really angry about it and hates it.
apple has never really had 'indie cred,' they've made money off an oftimes overpriced but superior product. once upon a time that's all republicans wanted to do.
C'mon CD,
Apple is rolling in indie cred. When someone else has a monopoly, they're the evil empire, when Apple has a monopoly -- like they do in music players, and like they did in GUI computers pre-Windows 3.0 -- they lord it over the marketplace but they're treated like counterculture good guys.
When Apple steals their ideas from Xerox, it's creative. When Microsoft steals those ideas from Apple it's theft.
Xan,
I can't say as I've worked enough with Vista to give it a clean bill of health, and it's unclear to me that there are substantive advantages to it, especially on a low-end machine. The machine we're running on came with Vista, and we decided to go with it as a learning experience. If I were you, I'd look into some of the Dells that still offer XP as an option. When the first big service pack comes out for Vista (in the spring, I believe), it will probably get a lot better, but this is clearly not the smoothest ride that Mister Softee has had rolling out a major upgrade.
Oh, and if you do buy your machine mail-order, e.g. from Dell, be sure to google for coupons. I've saved a *lot* of money doing a search for "Dell coupon" before pulling the trigger on a purchase. Sometimes there are available codes that can save you a few hundred dollars. If you do go that route, beware of coupon sites that make you click a link to enter the code (could go to a fake site). But if they display the coupon code, you can give it a spin in the Dell shopping cart and perhaps save a bunch.
Oh and Xan,
I completely agree with you about the myth that Macs are crazily more reliable/easier than PCs.
It was absolutely true in the DOS days (at least the easier part), but Macs have broken my heart with unreliability at least as bad as PCs have, and probably worse.
Patches and such
My laptop has run without incident for two years now.
BUT. Two years ago, when it wasn't quite a year old, I had to rebuild the hard drive, from scratch, twice. I learned a lot, mostly from mistakes from the first rebuild.
Last spring I rebuilt my home desktop (five years old) twice in three weeks. I know a lot more about backups and such.
But listen to me now and believe me later. If you trust your firewall and anti-virus program (I use the MSFT firewall, and I use a free version of AVG which is lights out the best I have ever encountered), once you get your machine running the way you want it, TURN OFF AUTOMATIC UPDATES and never update again. Just say no to patches.
That is the single biggest reason my laptop has not crashed in over two years.
Now, I'm off for my daily burnt offering to Bill Gates.
"A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." - Margaret Mead
"A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." - Margaret Mead
vast, if you say so
but in my family, we've been calling jobs an asshole since long before it was fashionable. i've never said apple has "mad creds." they are another big corporation, and i don't buy into the pr bs.
CD,
For grins, go onto, say, Democratic Underground and either:
1. Say something nice about Microsoft
2. Say something critical about Apple
You'll see what I mean.
Glad you're an equal-opportunity skeptic of the various powers-that-be.
True anarchist, my shiny white aunt Fannie
and her sweet little "yes," while we're at it.
Linux is TEH KEWL.
Here is why.
Ubuntu is free. It runs on old machines. (I'm talking about garage-sale old machines, the $20 desktop kind, with the first Pentium that didn't need a chip patch. You wanna buy a maybe-somebody-stole-it laptop off Ebay and do the same thing, get after it ...)
Now, you can get Ubuntu Linux on CD, for free, if need be. Or you can format the hard drive in that garage sale desktop (this lets you reset all the passwords. If you really want to be safe from previous incarnations of bad things, go ahead and run a "writeover" routine until the whole hard drive has been rewritten. Twice is better), defrag (from a DOS prompt if you're really hardcore) and then partition it, put on Ubuntu and Firefox, and be in business.
However.
Being really truly paranoid ...
I get stuff with AMD chips instead of Pentium, and don't ever go home to the MS mothership. E V E R.
what is paranoid? for starters, it includes:
-knowing the major service providers (internet, cell and land line phone) work willingly with the NSA and CIA and homeland security, giving up all our records without the blink of an eye
-knowing the extent of domestic spying for political purposes
-knowing any half competent hacker can break into any mainstream system, OSX or windoze or linux
-knowing that there is technology even techies don't fully appreciate, as it concerns corporate and gov't spying ability, unseen and unknown by most of us Little People
-knowing the intel communities around the world Skool us when it comes to being tricksy with this sort of technology
-knowing nothing ever truly goes away, on the intertubes (google cache, microsoft storing, etc)
nothing i say or do is "private" on my computer, or any. i just accept that as my own personal operating orientation.
Kinda OT, kinda not, from Froom today--
that being of course our beloved, just-back-from-stunningly-ill-timed-vacation Dan Froomkin of course. Who uncharacteristically somewhat buried what I found to be a remarkable line. This was in reference to the ScoobyDoo level secrecy involved in sneaking Preznit Puddinhead off to Camp Cupcake over the weekend:
Emphasis added. Interesting, eh?
the hell, kidz, didn't y'all know
you can tune a scanner to eavesdrop on cell phones? It's all just radio. WTF
?!