Desktop calendar for Vista?

[anitram]

Unfortunately I was forced to start using Vista this week. I can't seem to find a decent calendar for the desktop (I'm not even going to comment on the lame gadget windows provides). I was previously using Rainlendar which I really loved but it's currently incompatible with this OS and so are two others I've tried to download. Any ideas?

I'd like something with a calendar as opposed to something that's just a digital version of Post-It or sticky notes.

 

[LarryMullen's POPAngel]

I keep hearing things about Vista - how bad is it? My new laptop has it.

 

[Liesje]

Nothing in Yahoo Widgets? I believe that's what Vista (and the Mac OS) both use, but there are hundreds of them that individuals code. I use the calendar in my e-mail client, so I can't help there, but I removed all of the lame widgets Vista loads and put back the ones I was using with XP.

April, it's not really that bad if you're not a power user (ie, not meddling around in the Control Panel, system properties, installing your own hardware). The only problems I've run into are people using a 64-bit OS (not you), people trying to install Vista on an XP computer not really compatible with Vista, and people trying to install hardware that doesn't have good Vista drivers (manufacturer's problem). The way some of the windows and folders are structured it is like using OS X, which is nice since I now spend most of my time using OS X and Vista and not nearly as much time on Windows XP. The main problem with laptops is that sometimes they don't come out of sleep or hibernation. I have not had this problem yet. Vista has been running fine on my comp, but I got a clean install of the business version, not the crap that comes pre-loaded on the computer.

 

[U2Girl416]

Lies, can you give an example of the "crap"? my laptop came with Vista home premium version. anything that came with it I could safely uninstall or is simply a waste of space in your opinion? so paranoid of messing up the new comp!

 

[anitram]

The home premium version isn't bad actually based on other people's I've seen.

As for mine, I immediately uninstalled the anti-virus (Norton is the devil), the trial versions of everything they pre-loaded (including Office 2007), and a number of other idiotic Toshiba-specific things.

I managed to download Active Desktop Calendar which I'm really liking a lot so that problem has been solved.

And like Lies, I've had no trouble with the computer booting up after hibernating.

 

[Liesje]

Lies, can you give an example of the "crap"? my laptop came with Vista home premium version. anything that came with it I could safely uninstall or is simply a waste of space in your opinion? so paranoid of messing up the new comp!

They usually ship with tons of "trial versions" of software, software that is typically not worth using even if it WERE free. I just uninstall them all right away (or install a "clean" copy of the operating system straight from Microsoft).

 

[U2Girl416]

The home premium version isn't bad actually based on other people's I've seen.

As for mine, I immediately uninstalled the anti-virus (Norton is the devil), the trial versions of everything they pre-loaded (including Office 2007), and a number of other idiotic Toshiba-specific things.

I managed to download Active Desktop Calendar which I'm really liking a lot so that problem has been solved.

And like Lies, I've had no trouble with the computer booting up after hibernating.

eeek. why is Norton bad in your experience? I haven't had problems with it previously so I did activate that. I did activate the trial version of Office. not sure when I'll actually upgrade to the full version though, if I do at all.

 

[U2Girl416]

They usually ship with tons of "trial versions" of software, software that is typically not worth using even if it WERE free. I just uninstall them all right away (or install a "clean" copy of the operating system straight from Microsoft).

I gotcha. had I not activated the office trials, I probably should have uninstalled them. haven't used it once yet. I think there was rhapsody, vongo, muvee autoproducer (never even heard of that), a bunch of random HP things...etc that were loaded on here. I haven't touched a lot of it.

 

[anitram]

Norton is awful for a number of reasons. First of all, it's not very efficient at finding viruses. Second, it's expensive for such a shitty anti-virus program. Third, it's ridiculously slow and takes up huge system resources while it does the scans. Fourth, when it finds the virus, half the time it can't clean it, only quarantine.

I use Nod32, which I think is the best anti-virus software available. It's cheaper than Norton, infinitely faster, and much better at detecting threats.

ETA: As for Office 2007, I uninstalled it and installed Office 2003 Professional since I already had that software and I didn't want them both on my hard drive at the same time. There was no point in activating 2007 because I have no intention of paying for it. My Mom is a prof and gets copies of it for $20 through her faculty, so as soon as I can get one from her, I will upgrade it then.

 

[anitram]

Ugh, I am back to my desktop calendar woes! Although it said it is Vista-compatible and it ran fine after I installed it, this morning my computer stated that Windows could not restart and I had to do a system restore. The only thing that was installed while the computer was on last time was ADC and now it's goooone!

This Vista incompatibility with a lot of freeware is really irritating me.

 

[Liesje]

I came out pretty lucky and am still able to run I think all but one freeware/open source program I used on XP (and I can't remember what it was so it must not have been important to me). I don't get why there is so much Vista incompatibility. The coders had plenty of access to the beta version of Vista for quite some time.