Windows Vista: Install and Day 1

Friday Feb. 2, 2007,
Rick and I run the Windows Vista Update Advisor on our HP Tablet tc4400 (Vista Capable). Well they are almost compatible, the hardware is fine and we had enough ram to run things, there were some software issues. Almost all of the HP included security software and Windows Messenger (yep Windows Messenger requires you update it seperatly) oh and Nero Burning ROM 6.0. So I removed all the offending software and off we went to purchase Vista Business edition...
Which Best Buy doesnt have, oh well we get all the same stuff from Ultimate! Yay!
Back to the office Vista Ultimate in its pretty black all hard plastic case...
which took about 10 mins to figure out how to open, jeez, they could have worked that out better. For your sake I will explain how to open it before you go mad:
On the case near the front you will see 2 tabs, lift the one on the outside of the case, then squeeze the 2 tabs together and pull outwards and down and it folds out. Also pay attention to which disk you pull out because there are 2 and one is for a 64bit Win install the other is for a 32 bit.
Rick started his install first so I didnt get to start mine until I got home later that night (the tablets dont have optical drives so we share a usb plextor drive that was actually made for this machine).
So I get home and eager to start my "Jolt to the standard OS" (tagline for Vista seen in Penn Station) I pop in the disk and hit "Upgrade"...
The install starts and suddenly tells me there is yet another incompatible piece of software and it will not continue until I remove it through "add/remove"...sigh
...2 mins later...
Installing!
Transfering nessecary files yay!
hrm, wait a minute... says at the bottom:
Install Operation in Progress, this may take several HOURS!
What the hell!!!
HOURS? its a damn UPGRADE of existing software, is this normal?
I did a fresh install of linux on my PS3 and it didnt take hours!
oh well, I suppose if I want the goods I got to be patient.
Thankfully, the install (with a few prompts that aren't really note worthy took 2 hours and 20 mins (which I spent playing with my new Xbox Live Vision Camera and a few rounds of Rainbow Six:Vegas with Omer, thanks man!)
So its up and running at 2:30 am, sigh...kinda tired, so i look at it for a few mins, check out the "Gadgets" (like Mac os widgets but they stay docked on the right side of your screen, not sure if thats good..)
"Aero" makes things interesting, like now the windows are translucent so you can kinda see things behind your open windows edges, mousing over anything in your taskbar brings up a tiny little window of said item (dont know if thats worth the cpu power)and things don't popup when you click them anymore, like applications or folders, they kinda dissolve in and out.
There is something here that confuses me and I havent figures it out yet. When you click on a icon, or just mouse over it, a little empty box appears over the top left side of it which upon double clicking puts a "checkmark" in it. If anyone knows why thats there please write to me. Otherwise I will post about it upon discovery.
Now even though its almost 3:00am, I have Windows Vista Ultimate on my lap, and in front of me I have the Xbox 360 which is supposed to share media through Media Center which is a part of the Ultimate edition of Vista.
So I can surely spare the few mins it takes to have them connect and prep to start sharing media right?
Well first I scan the network using the 360 to see if it sees Media Center...
No Dice.
OK try scanning for the 360 in my network using Vista...
Nada,
but now it says "You must enable sharing as it is default off on public Networks and the current NetworkGrendels Lairis public unless you Change it to Private"
So I go about changing it to a private network and I enable file sharing.
The Xbox 360 shows up immediatly 2x. I try to scane for media center using the 360 and...
Nothing!
WTF!.
I am tired so off to bed...
The next day:
I have been using Vista all day (effectivly ignoring the Macs in my house for the first time since they got here) and well not much is different, it did seem to take a hint from the Mac OS in the security (this is not a "OMG they copied again" dig at windows), when you install software you now have to permit it through a series of click throughs asking "If you wanted to install this software please click continue otherwise click cancel".
I downloaded a several new Gadgets, but one of them was broken and kept crashing the Gadget dock, and I got this:
"A program has crashed the Side panel click here to find a solution"
I click and wait 10 secs as it runs
"A solution could not be found please remove the program: (name of program)"
I remove it and all is better.
I go to empty the trash and see something I have never seen before on a windows trashcan, "Delete"
Which I hit, hehe
and the trashcan vanishes.
oops
I head to Desktop Properties and I am hit by a confusing list of choices, very much unlike the old prompt. Its confusing in its style and content.
I head to the place where the icons for the esktop reside and there was my Trash icon enabler and a new desktop Icon: Control Panel! That seems convenient so I enable it.
Also I was tempted to change my setup to classic mode but I decided to keep it as is to get the total experience....
I will keep you informed.