A non-computer-literate (that sounds less harsh than computer-illiterate ;-) friend asked me for some advice yesterday. He told me that his virus scanner was popping up and bugging him for money to stay current. I told him I'd come over and kill it off and install AVG, which wouldn't die (although I'm not 100% sure it doesn't nag you anyway).
I regretted my promise when I sat down in front of his screen and encountered Vista, it all its glory.
Oh well, I thought, surely a simple uninstall of whatever timed-death-crapware came with his system (PC-Cillin, in this case) combined with an AVG install shouldn't be too much trouble. And for good measure, I would install Firefox, with a few of my favorite add-ons. He was excited about the automatic spellcheck feature that came with the browser, too.
So I started downloading both programs. I instructed the system to save the big AVG file, and install the smaller Firefox one. My buddy has AT&T's budget DSL, so it was taking a while.
I watched the download dialog for Firefox disappear as the file completed, and waited patiently for the install to begin. It never did.
Oh well, this is Vista, the single most despised operating system in history. What did I expect? So I tried the download again, this time indicating that I wanted to save the file. I was annoyed that the download started from scratch, ignoring the cached copy that existed somewhere.
My annoyances were only beginning...
I made certain that the box to close the dialog when the download was complete was UN-checked. Yet, when the file made it all the way in, the dialog once again vanished. No prob, I'll just browse to the download location.
The Firefox-Google Toolbar install was not there.
I checked the Recycle Bin. Nope.
OK, I thought, maybe the Google combo package won't work with Vista (although simply deleting the file with no explanation would be bad form). So I went to Mozilla.com and downloaded the straight Firefox install. For good measure, I created a new folder and sent the download there. Once again, the dialog that I had instructed to stay open disappeared upon download completion. So I again browsed to the folder.
No Firefox install.
The 46 MB AVG download was nearing completion, so I waited to see what would happen with it. The download completed, the dialog stayed open, and the file was sitting right where it should have been.
I'm not going into any more annoyances with the PC-Cillin uninstall-AVG install, but trust me, there were some.
I didn't do a whole lot of Google searching, because I'm busy enough already. But I did note that many Vista owners have managed to install the stable and beta releases of Firefox on Vista machines.
But, in the tradition of closed-source software, I found no solution for my issues. So I simply told my friend to contact my son (someone who knows more about Vista than me) if he still wanted Firefox.
Next time I'll be smart enough to ask what OS any would-be helpees has before agreeing to have a look.
Comments (1)
I have not experienced issues like this with Vista. I would almost be greatful if that was all i had to complain about... My issues with Vista my lead to an early retirement. I am not quite 30 but if i end up working with Vista any longer im going to lose my mind (whats left of it). If I had to list 10 things I like about Vista I would have to say I like the new Wallpaper pictures. They have one I kinda like. Other than that the entire OS is horrible. I wouldn't even want my worst enemy to have it. Well actually, I can think of two people I would love to see have it. Other than that I would stay away from it. I am a Linux fan now. Ubuntu has been amazing. Easy to use and it just works. Recently I purchased a Mac and I am very happy with that purchase as well. It was spendy $$$ but I still believe it was worth it. Oh, and about Windows Mobile, who would even think that having a task manager on a cell phone is a good idea??? I bet Bill Gates is using an iPhone...
Posted by Xer | June 17, 2008 4:40 PM
Posted on June 17, 2008 16:40