Worst Windows Experience that forced YOU to switch?

[0010101]

New computer, fresh XP install.

Hey, everything works great! Let's get to work.

A few days later.. things are still working OK.. but kind of sluggish.

Install anti-virus software and do a scan. This takes several hours to complete, and finds a few bugs.

Delete, Quarentene, Clean?

Click Delete.

Sorry can't delete this.

Click Clean.

Sorry can't clean.

Click Quarenteen. Ok.

Click to check for virus scan updates.. this launches a IE browser and asks me to login.. then begins checking for updates.

Box pops up: NT AUTHORITY SYSTEM SHUTDOWN IN 60 SECONDS.

WHAAA??

Do some browsing on the web on a Mac, and learn that this is an exploit, and you need a patch, or Service Pack 2 to plug the hole.

Fire up the PC again.. click on System Update, which opens a IE browser, and now wants me to load a file to make sure my OS is legit.

Ok, no problem. Except while i'm waiting for this thing to download..

NT AUTHORITY SYSTEM SHUTDOWN IN 60 SECONDS.

Jump back on the web on the Mac, and learn of a simple command to type to hault the shutdown.

Fire up the PC.. click on System Update.. IE browser opens, start downloading the file to make sure i'm legit.. NT AUTHORITY SYSTEM SHUTDOWN IN 60 SECONDS.. go to command prompt, type in command, NT AUTHORITY SHUTDOWN goes away.

Excellent.

Windows verifies that it's legit, shows the long list of security patches and updates available, and starts downloading.

Now we're getting somewhere! I go to get a drink from the kitchen. Come back and am greeted with:

Windows as performed an illegal operation and must shut down.

Click 'OK'.

All desktop icons vanish.. 'start bar' runs away. Just as i'm getting ready to shut it off and re-boot.. everything comes back.

Click on 'System Update'.. long pause.. nothing happens.

Click on "System Update".. blue screen of death.

Turn computer off, then back on.. boots into windows.. click on System Update, IE browser opens, shows updates available.. click to download.. download starts.. NT AUTHORITY SYSTEM SHUTDOWN IN 60 SECONDS!

Go to command prompt, type in command, NT AUTHORITY SYSTEM SHUTDOWN box goes away.

Several hours later, updates are downloaded, installed, and system is restarted.

Ok. We're back to normal again!

Load anti-virus software, check for anti-virus software updates.

IE browser launches, asks me to login, and i'm told that the copy of the software I bought less than 2 months ago no longer has updates available, and I need to buy the new version.

I buy the new version, download it, install, and now it needs to check for updates.. thru the IE browser, of course.

Program has stopped responding.

Restart computer, re-start anti-virus software, check for updates, but this time, copy the link from the IE browser address bar just in case it 'stops responding' again.

Yep. It stopped responding.

Launch FireFox browser, paste link in address bar, hit ENTER..

Sorry, you must be using Internet Explorer!

Shut computer down. Go to Staples and buy new copy of XP with SP2 included.

Re-install OS, check for updates, re-install applications, re-install virus scan, check for virus scan updates, two days later and $200+ poorer, we're back in business.

For a week or so.

Pick up a nasty bug. System memory appears to vanish. Anti-Virus software cannot clean it, remove it, or do anything with it. Why exactly did I pay $39 for that software?

Follow handy instructions for manual removal of virus.. trudge thru the registry, delete files from command prompt.. hour later or so, do another scan.

This program has preformed an illegal operation and must shut down.

Restart computer, it runs like dog crap.

Re-install OS, re-install anti-virus software, check for updates. Ohh now there are all kinds of updates available!

Install updates, scan system (another 6 hours of my life gone) finds no bugs.

Ok.. now we're back in business!

2 days later. System Hangs for no apparent reason.

Turn off PC, put it in the closet, switched to Mac full time, haven't looked back.

 

[ozontheroad]

pressing the "on" button

 

[iBookG4user]

Even using windows under parallels is a major pain. I see "ths program is not responding" and then the "end now" doesn't even work half the time! Windows will never be ready for general usage without major pains.

 

[Hummer]

I actually bought my iBook as a secondary computer. I thought I was content with Windows, but my iBook ended up as my main desktop computer.

 

[Ish]

Using the drawing app and having it constantly crashing when using 3 layers.

General frustration with a lot of minor things.

Only good thing was being able to pick up Turkish radio on the internet. Even with RealPlayer and Flip4Mac I can't find anything now.

 

[Shadow]

After my horrible encounter with the family PC (see page 7), I've managed to get it working again...barley. I've had to format several times, and installing all the updates was hell. I mean come on, 72 updates?!?! Anyway, I managed to scrounge a few files that I had lying around on CDs somewhere, and i re-ripped my music etc. I also now have Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition Trial running in VirtualPC...and it sucks. I have now realized that Vista is not XP with a few new features-it is a repackaged copy of Server 2003. Apart from the theme and a few apps (like CardSpace-WTF is that?!), it is almost identical.

 

[princealfie]

Isn't that the program that doesn't quite exist yet?

 

[SeVeN]

got a virus on my 2 week old HP, figured that was enough.

 

[thugpoet22]

I didn't get virus. And both my anti virus and firewall were both free. I simply didn't go around downloading and installing everything on the net. Windows can be quite stable if you do the right thing. The one thing i will agree with is that it does seem to get sluggish after long periods of use. My mac never seems to act like that.

 

[savanahrose]

Sometimes when you download the updates it makes your system run very very slow!

Love my new mac!

 

[pimentoLoaf]

Windows ME bugs ad infinitum.

Only bought a new PC to run a couple of simulators (MS Train Sim & MS Combat Sim 2); WinXP is far easier to deal with than ME.

If yer gonna run Win, get a malware program Prevx. Much better than anything, though it doesn't replace an antivirus package (I also stay away from Symantec which prefers to take over my machine slowing things in the background -- bad for games).

 

[Jollins]

I thought it was amazing when I told Windows XP to reboot into safemode by checking off the appropriate preference in msconfig (I didn't touch anything I shouldn't have). When I restart windows it freezes every time, not booting into anything I try. I format.

 

[gkarris]

Constant upgrading to make that game/program work.

Calling up Dell or MS tech support and getting someone in India that can't understand a word I'm saying... (sorry, I don't speak the Queen's English...)

 

[MovieCutter]

Late to the party...

Worst Windows Experience that forced ME to switch???

...using it...

 

[phillipjfry]

Why am i GOING to switch?

I bought a brand new pc system earlier this year. Top of the line mo-bo, video card, ram, processor, win xp-64, dvd-burner, everything was looking nice. It was a dark and stormy night, when i pieced together my system, installed winxp64, nero, and daemon tools, games, the usual...
I go to reboot (for the 50 millionth time) after installing all my games/software/updates/etc, and USB does not work at all. New mouse and new keyboard are USB only, and now they dont work. So now i have to go buy a PS/2 keyboard/mouse so i can try to figure out whats going on. Google ends up telling me that with my hardware build + daemon tools (any kind of virtual drive) it disables my USB controller. So I could either get rid of daemon tools, and just play games from the original cd (painful to keep track of if u play alot of games), or i could hook up ps/2 keyboard disable usb controller in the settings, and reenable them to get USB to work again (people told me just to use ps/2 keyboard and mouse, but what about digital camera connector, flash drive, etc). Ok fine, ill compromise. I removed daemon tools and after a while i burn some cds. Nero ends up corrupting every type of cd i burn. After some hardware testing i find out its more software+hardware issues specific to my computer. So I'm forced to reinstall windows 32bit after running into more complications with software and win64. So not only am i sitting here using software that doesnt even fully use all the hardware i have in my machine, but when i go to reinstall windows xp, the plethura of patchs and security updates cause my installation to go corrupt somewhere along the line....reinstallation before i even had a chance to finish installing. Now i just want something that works. Thats all i want now. So now I'm saving up for a huge upgrade in quality.

p.s. this is only one of many many stories i have about using windoze

 

[gkarris]

I bought a brand new pc system earlier this year. Top of the line mo-bo, video card, ram, processor, win xp-64, dvd-burner, everything was looking nice. It was a dark and stormy night, when i pieced together my system, installed winxp64, nero, and daemon tools, games, the usual...
I go to reboot (for the 50 millionth time) after installing all my games/software/updates/etc, and USB does not work at all. New mouse and new keyboard are USB only, and now they dont work. So now i have to go buy a PS/2 keyboard/mouse so i can try to figure out whats going on. Google ends up telling me that with my hardware build + daemon tools (any kind of virtual drive) it disables my USB controller. So I could either get rid of daemon tools, and just play games from the original cd (painful to keep track of if u play alot of games), or i could hook up ps/2 keyboard disable usb controller in the settings, and reenable them to get USB to work again (people told me just to use ps/2 keyboard and mouse, but what about digital camera connector, flash drive, etc). Ok fine, ill compromise. I removed daemon tools and after a while i burn some cds. Nero ends up corrupting every type of cd i burn. After some hardware testing i find out its more software+hardware issues specific to my computer. So I'm forced to reinstall windows 32bit after running into more complications with software and win64. So not only am i sitting here using software that doesnt even fully use all the hardware i have in my machine, but when i go to reinstall windows xp, the plethura of patchs and security updates cause my installation to go corrupt somewhere along the line....reinstallation before i even had a chance to finish installing. Now i just want something that works. Thats all i want now. So now I'm saving up for a huge upgrade in quality.

p.s. this is only one of many many stories i have about using windoze

Try Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit edition. But then, that leads to my post about the constant upgrading to make it work.

You're better off with a Mac Mini for computing, and XBox 360 for gaming, and you'd still come out ahead money and time wise rather than trying to get that top of the line PC stuff to work right...

 

[dane0]

For me the thing that really made me switch were the small things. First and foremost I guess what pushed me over the edge was a project I did at University that required plugging a USB key into two different portables a large number of times. Having to wait 20+ seconds for Windows to detect the USB key and then have Windows **** up randomly 50% of the time and not detecting it properly made a seemingly simple process take over an hour (my best guess is that on a Mac it would've taken little more than 10 minutes to complete). I guess what really drove me up the wall and pushed me over the line to switching was a little detail in this buggy design.

Every time Windows couldn't recognise the USB key (after doing the 20 seconds+ detection procedure) it said something like "There's a problem with the USB key, Windows cannot blah, blah, blah". No there is NOT a problem with the USB key, there's a problem with this idiotic OS, do not blame the hardware just because you can't do a proper OS. I know that's just a generic message, but formulating a text like that when Microsoft know damn well that they did a poor job is just borderlining on the criminal. They knew people would have problems with this and so they hoped to trick people with a poor knowledge about computers into thinking that the problem is with their perfectly functioning hardware.

I made the switch a month and a half ago and I've never looked back. Of course this problem is small in the grand scheme of things (the real benefits of switching, both those I were and weren't aware of are becoming clearer to me everyday), but on Mac OS I can just plug in my USB key and it will show up without fault 3-4 seconds later and everytime my whole body just seems to go "ahh" and relax a bit more.

As for Microsoft, well... They've definately lost my business and what did they lose it with? A really poor way of doing something that should be really easy. When it comes to complicated procedures I'm willing to cut them some slack, but when they couldn't make something as simple as this work I lost my confidence in them. I know they don't care about customers, after all they're all but a monopoly, but if they piss off enough people like this, they'll be in trouble at some time in the future. At my university I'd say roughly 1/3 of the computers are Apples so that might be good omen for the future of Macintosh and competing OSs.

 

[zephead]

No there is NOT a problem with the USB key, there's a problem with this idiotic OS, do not blame the hardware just because you can't do a proper OS. I know that's just a generic message, but formulating a text like that when Microsoft know damn well that they did a poor job is just borderlining on the criminal. They knew people would have problems with this and so they hoped to trick people with a poor knowledge about computers into thinking that the problem is with their perfectly functioning hardware.

That's what happens with wireless internet too. Sometimes for some inexplicable reason, the internet stops working, so I go press "repair" and then it says something like "The network has refused to issue an IP address to the computer". Same situation as the USB key! Windows blames it on your hardware because it doesn't want to admit that it's wrong! And that thing you said about them tricking people with poor computer knowledge is just wrong.

Woah. Sorry for the rant.

 

[OnceUGoMac]

Windows ME. 'Nuff said.

 

[tominated]

looking at that fugly beige tower

 

[davidjearly]

Not one experience in particular...

...but just the whole concept of the PC. I didn't need it for any apps in particular and the Mac is just the way computing should be. I put my computer to sleep and when I want to use it wakes up in a second - connected to the Internet!

I want to get something done - my Mac's help me do that. Whether at University, work or just play I get what I need done, when I want to do it. No fuss.

This is the way all technology should be.

Also, there is of course the superior OS in every aspect, iLife, Core Image. I can't think of a reason not to use my Mac actually.

Sorry for the blatant Mac eagerness here but I just felt like talking up my Mac.

David

 

[FF_productions]

Wow I can't believe my thread lasted this long...

My dad's pc just went through it's 3rd restore due to viruses/spyware and I'm starting to think about BUYING HIM a Mac for x-mas.

 

[davidjearly]

Wow I can't believe my thread lasted this long...

My dad's pc just went through it's 3rd restore due to viruses/spyware and I'm starting to think about BUYING HIM a Mac for x-mas.

Go on, you really should. Even just second hand one to dip his feet in with...

David

 

[Nym]

I'm a 24" iMac proud owner
I have it since October. The computer has crashed on me twice forcing me to reboot... and both those times it froze I was running Windows via bootcamp.
I guess that sums it up

 

[Shadow]

My dad's pc just went through it's 3rd restore due to viruses/spyware and I'm starting to think about BUYING HIM a Mac for x-mas.

Is that all? Heck, I've formatted by PC more than 3 times in a week...No, really I formatted it about 6 times in 5 days!