Vista Venom, Windows 7 - Worried Sick

• Bloat.  See 'Windows Woes'...

• Co$t.  Ditto...

• I'm a big fan of the network activity indicator which in previous versions of windows could optionally be made to appear in the system tray.  It's still an option in Vista, but it's blinking lights don't really seem to indicate anything.  You can't really tell by looking at them whether the network adapter is transferring data.  It's nothing more than an ornament now.  Or could it be that M$ doesn't want us to know how often Vista is sending data to various entities letting them know what we're up to?

• Vista has made it more difficult to tell which files are selected when performing file management activities in Windows Explorer.  In previous versions, selected files could be identified by a dark background behind the filename.  Now, Vista creates some sort of translucent bar across the window on the line of each selected file.  To me, it's difficult to tell what I have selected.  If you're used to selecting files with a rectangular marquee, you're liable to end up dragging individual files around instead of selecting anything.  Who knows where your file may end up.

• Aero.  Have you noticed that the semi-transparent appearance of the windows, particularly those of web browsers, makes it difficult to read text in the vicinity of the toolbar?  For example, if there are icons near the top of the desktop, their ghostly appearance behind my IE window makes it difficult for me to read the URL I'm currently visiting.

• Many of the functions that I frequently perform require at least one additional step to get to.  For example, in previous versions of Windows if you wanted to see how long your computer had been running you could just double click the network activity icon to see how long the machine had been connected to the network.  Take a moment to make this determination in Vista.  Well two moments, at least.

• Logging on.  I believe this gripe only applies of your Vista machine is a domain member.  But did you realize that if you have been logged onto the domain and then need to log on as a local user, you have to type the name of the computer in addition to the local user name--like so:  computername\username.  Many people don't even know their computer name.  If you have a problem with your network adapter, you'd better hope you have your computer name written down somewhere.  Geesh!!!!

• This new 'Switch Between Windows' feature doesn't always work right.  In the Quick Launch toolbar, I have occasionally clicked the icon that displays all of my open windows in a sort of 3D isometric view on the screen.  You're supposed to be able to click on the one you want to bring to the forefront.  The one that comes forward is not always the one I click on.  Most times, but not always.

• If you've been in the habit of customizing your Start Menu, you'll have an entirely new folder structure to learn on the hard drive.  This cannot possibly serve any real purpose except that it prevent some Microsoft developers from having to rewrite a bunch of code they screwed up.  Furthermore, consider the changes as a whole which have been made to the 'c:\documents and settings' and 'c:\program files' structures which many users were just beginning to comprehend after years of using Windows 2000 and Windows XP.

• No sound mixer.  In every version of Windows since 95, there has been what I consider to be a comprehensive and intuitive sound mixer which can be used to control the various inputs and outputs of the sound system.  In Vista, heaven help you if you need to do anything involving inputs especially.  I haven't figured it out yet, and if you search the web for an explanation of Vista's convoluted system of input and output control, no one seems to agree on how to tame the sprawl.  It takes several steps to do what you used to be able to do with one double-click followed by an adjustment to a slider control.  I have reason to believe that this has even caused some problems for sound card manufacturers.

• What on Earth did they do to the 'My Documents' folder?!!!  What are libraries?!!!  I can't find documents that I just created seconds ago!!!

• Why did they bury the Start Menu folder?  Were they afraid people would screw up their PCs just by customizing the Start Menu?  Every time I need to customize the Start Menu now, I have to use Google to find it, because I can't remember.  Microsoft apparently hates its customers.