How to start using your new Windows Vista PC?

Two months ago I purchased my new laptop, which came with Vista. I did not have a choice. The UI interface looks nicer, additional security restrictions and a firewall are  annoying, but at lease you can turn them off. 

But today’s “gentleman’s set” includes lots of must-have or convenient third-party applications,  and these vendors are not motivated to align their software with Vista users until the number of these users will go over some critical mass.

In my case, I’m trapped with my Internet broadband provider – VerizonWireless. I used to have their "broadband" Internet service on my Windows XP laptop without any issues other that it was slow.  
But now, the pointing fingers game begins. To put it simple, I’m loosing the Internet connection about twenty times a day. Or, connection goes to a dormant state and never comes back. Since I am a programmer, I know that the problem is with Vista drivers provided by VerizonWireless.  The problem is that they won’t admit it, and there is no way to prove it to them either. I went through all levels of tech support, and now my case is passed to some mysterious unit the supposed to decide what to do with my issue. An interesting thing is that Verizon’s tech support does not even want to give me an ETA of this decision.

So I’m pretty much trapped twice.

1.  When it comes to the "broadband" Internet connection, VerizonWireless service is mediocre, but other phone companies suck even more. In the USA, the permits to put new  relay stations or whatever they are called are regulated by the government. Verizon has the largest number of such stations.
2.    I can’t say that Vista sucks, because it’s not Microsoft’s responsibility to write and test drivers for everyone’s hardware. But I’ve already installed and configured so much of various software on this laptop, so just re-installing Windows XP and all my software would take me a week.

So now coming back to my original question, how to start using your new Windows Vista PC?   Take it out of the box, boot up the computer, and enjoy Vista’s look and feel for an hour. After that, reinstall Windows XP and start using it. This will save you lots of time and aggravation.  After a year or two, when all third-party vendors will find time and resources to fix their software, you can try installing Vista again.

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