Calling all geeks, help - again!

[fpb]

I recently bought (on instalments) a new laptop featuring the wondrous new Windows Vista. Apart from a number of other irritating features, I have found that its Windows Explorer program - the one that opens file folders in the machine - is infuriatingly apt to crash. I do not know why it does that - of course - except that it always does so when I open certain document files, and that those files are very large - containing such things as films and music. Can anyone help me or suggest a forum where I might find help? It is an infuriating flaw that is seriously interfering with my use of the machine, and, needless to say, the Microsoft website is no help.

Comments

[bufo-viridis.livejournal.com]

I will not be of much help, but I'd suggest f..g out the newest Macrosyph wonder and installing a pirated version of Win 2000; That was pretty stable.
ALthough lately I'm always all the time in Kubuntu.
Oh, and I've also heard rumours about automatic online verification of legality of your system and files by Vista, but it may be rumour only.

[kikei.livejournal.com]

I can't help too much, except to agree with bufo_viridis but amend that to say install windows XP. my housemate had the same problem until he got rid of vista altogether and replaced it with XP and now it's smooth sailing.

Also, try posing your question to the computer help communities (I know I've got a link to one or two in my profile, can't remember the proper name, though, lol). They're good.

-Kiks

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Thank you, I found one and joined it.

[redcoast.livejournal.com]

How much RAM do you have? You really need 1 gig to run Vista.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

1028, so it shuold work. I bought the computer new, so it should be made to fit Vista. I had also forgotten that Windows Explorer is not the only software that crashes - Media Player also does it with certain video formats.

[redcoast.livejournal.com]

Oddly enough, I've seen brand-new "Vista compatible" computers with very little RAM. I don't really know what's going on with that. I would think that Microsoft wouldn't want computer manufacturers to sell products that can reflect poorly on them.

So ... which video formats are crashing Media Player?

[fpb.livejournal.com]

I haven't been paying attention. What I should do would be to load each of my videos in turn, paying attention in advance to format and codec, and see. Of course. I guess I will have to do it today.

I wonder if it has any relevance that I have e-mule (a file sharing service) on constantly and for large amounts of stuff (I'm a greedy sod).

[redcoast.livejournal.com]

Try downloading a different player and seeing if that crashes or if it's just Windows Media Player. Oh, and I recommend Bleeping Computer (http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/).

[dirigibletrance.livejournal.com]

Actually, it probably does. Most file-sharing services tend to make operating systems violently explode. They're just rough on the system, for some arcane reason of computer science who's details elude me, but who's destructive effects have been often seen when I end up having to format and reinstall the entire system.

I'd had nasty problems with most file-sharing programs. Currently, the most gentle one I've found, the one that I like the best, is called uTorrent (you can find it at http://www.utorrent.com/ ). It's a BitTorrent client with a very small system footprint (the program was specifically designed with that in mind).

Yeah, I'd recommended switching away from e-Mule over to uTorrent. It won't eliminate all of your problems (uTorrent actually made my computer reset itself earlier today...) but I've noticed markedly *less* problems with it than with other file-sharing programs I've tried.

Of course, a better solution would be to just not use file-sharing programs. But that isn't really a serious option, now it is? ^_^

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Not considering that it has given me hundreds of items I could never have found on the Internet - such as a complete translation of the Classical historian Diodorus Siculus and dozens of comics stories from my childhood. Besides, I never had any trouble with it until I started using Vista.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Also - this is a genuine question - does this explain why I cannot use Media Player with certain specific videos (always the same)? It sounds odd to me.

[dirigibletrance.livejournal.com]

See, here's your problem:

You're running Windows Vista. ^_^

Every new Microsoft operating system needs a year, or sometimes two, to really get to where it's in reasonably good and stable condition. I'd suggest waiting a while, use XP for a few months, then try Vista again later after Microsoft has had a chance to release 18 billion patches for it.

See, Microsoft tends to release unfinished products. They know that they can do so because, for the most part, they're the only game in town, and most people aren't computer-savvy enough to use Linux and aren't rebellious enough to buy a Mac. So basically they crank out crap that doesn't work, and really needed another six months to a year of work, and then just patch the problems along the way as they hear customer complaints.

[xander25.livejournal.com]

I agree with dirigible here. I played around with Vista, and I didn't much care for it. The interface is rubbish, it is unstable, they really didn't add much besides DirectX 10, and they got rid of what worked from XP.

The stability issues should improve with newer releases. I'm a big fan of Linux, and as to Mac? They managed to smack a user friendly GUI on top of UNIX...who could ask for a better OS?

[headnoises.livejournal.com]

Update, make sure your bios are up to date, back up your info and hope they get the dang thing working soon.

I love my new Vista comp when it works. When it works.

[simoncion.livejournal.com]

Advice:
*Don't update your BIOS unless the mfg. notes that a newer revision corrects some problem that *you've* been experiencing.
*More information about the files that WMP refuses to play would be useful. Things like:
-Audio and Video codec of the file
-File size
*Try playing the videos through VLC or Mplayer:
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/
http://www.mplayerhq.hu/design7/dload.html
*It's not likely that the P2P client you're using is causing your computer to crash. However, see if other people are experiencing issues like your own. Some clients that I've known to work well:
-aMule (an eDonkey client)
-Azureus (a BitTorrent client)
-LimeWire (a Gnutella client)

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the helpful and constructive answer. I have taken my question here: http://community.livejournal.com/computerhelp/1162567.html, where, after enduring a certain amount of patronizing with very poor grace, I was finally asked constructive questions to which I replied with all the specifics I could dredge up. They are towards the bottom of the comments area. The consensus seems to be (as one would expect) that the crashes are the fault of Vista.

You may notice from the data over there that the machine is wireless enabled, and that nevertheless I cannot access the net with it. Behind that lies a minor blunder of mine. When I started using the wireless facility, I blundered on to someone's private wireless network and used it without paying. They seem to have excluded me now, and of course I don't blame them, but I don't seem able to access my ISP by wireless for some reason, and Internet Explorer is not connecting to it by wire either - I suspect because my ISP is in effect an enormous LAN, and there is something in the machines that just does not talk. I tried to use the codes originally provided by the ISP, but nothing seems to work.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

I think size is an issue. Explorer crashes when trying to open large folders such as one with two or three dozen archive versions (.zip or .rar) of Bob Dylan albums, and Player when I put in things like .avi versions of movies. And the DVD recorder software just always crashes and never works at all. On the other hand, the machine reads DVDs quite well, and takes some video files, not necessarily always shorter ones.