Going from Vista back to XP or how I miss Vista’s Search Capabilities
I received a call from a client last week. We both use Dell XPS M1210 Laptops (and love them).
His M1210 was playing up a bit so I offered to give him mine (they don’t make M1210 anymore).
The short version of this story is after 15 months of being a Windows Vista user I am back on Windows XP (on new hardware).
I use Windows XP everyday anyway but going back to it on my main machine has highlighted how much better Desktop Search has been integrated into Vista.
One feature of search I can’t live without is a fully indexed Outlook 2007. I have 7000 things in my inbox (Yes I know!).
The first time I opened Outlook 2007 on my Windows XP machine I was prompted to download Desktop Search. I did this because I know without it trying to find anything in my e-mail will be near impossible (this is specific to Outlook 2007 earlier versions like Outlook 2003 are unaffected).
Tip: Once you have Desktop Search installed leave it running with Outlook 2007 open so it can quickly build the new search index.
One painful thing is the performance of Desktop Search on XP / Office 2007. When I receive a new e-mail Desktop Search kicks in and adds the new e-mail to the index, this is painfully slow.
Example: I can see a simple 1 line e-mail come in but it might take 15 seconds before I can open it because desktop search is doing its thing.
Other Observations
Actually “Search” is about the only thing I miss going back to XP. Wired and Wireless networking is less convoluted on XP, but nothing major really.
As it turns out I didn’t need to swap my main laptop after all. So I have it back and weighing it all up I would rather be on Windows Vista SP1. I am going to finish the week using XP but its back to Windows Vista for me simply because of its implementation and performance of search.
What this does highlight: if you are a Windows XP / Outlook 2003 user (which had pretty good inbuilt search) you’re really not missing much.
Office2007 User Interface
May 27th, 2008 at 5:04 am
Nice to see M1210 chuggin along. You’ll love the M1330’s. Lighter, cooler and faster.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:05 am
Hi Adi
Although I like the M1330 I need my next laptop to have a 256mb video card.
Colin
May 29th, 2008 at 8:06 pm
^^^^Haha. I hear ya. I’m ashamed to admit it but I fell for the Turbocache Marketing BS when I bought the m1210. Only later did I realize it was only 64MB dedicated.
May 29th, 2008 at 8:27 pm
Hi Adi
Well at the time this was considered cutting edge.
It could sort of play Half Life 2 if the heat and the fan noise wasn’t too much of a disruption.
Seems old hat now.
256mb or better for HD or light gaming.
Colin