First, don't show me a window with a progress bar when I'm deleting a single file. Second, whatever is going on behind the scenes to hang like this, is very, very wrong. And it happens all the time.
It only gets better when you try to cancel:
Vista isn't perfect yet
I've moved almost all of my physical and virtual machines from XP to Vista, mainly because a few things are easier or more pleasant. WebDAV isn't totally broken in Vista, unlike XP's implementation which doesn't allow you to access authenticated resources properly((XP always sends unauthenticated OPTIONS and PROPFIND requests)). Driver management and support is better, and I'm ashamed to admit I've grown a little fond of the Aero look. Granted my video card has more onboard memory than my first 4 computers combined…
Vista has a handy Solutions Center which tracks all crashes that occur and checks with Microsoft for solutions. I've only had it find two solutions on three different computers, but at least it's trying.
Then I took a look at how may 'problems' (read: crashes) I've had since November 9th, 2008 when I first installed Vista. 105.
Find the Windows Installation Date
Launch a new Command prompt (Start > Run, cmd) and type systeminfo. Wait for a bit, and eventually it'll spit out a slew of useful information. You're looking for about the 10th line from the top, Original Install Date.
C:\>systeminfo
Host Name: xxxx
OS Name: Microsoftr Windows VistaT Enterprise
OS Version: 6.0.6001 Service Pack 1 Build 6001
OS Manufacturer: Microsoft Corporation
OS Configuration: Standalone Workstation
OS Build Type: Multiprocessor Free
Registered Owner: xxxxx
Registered Organization:
Product ID: xxxxxx-xxx-xxxxxxx-xxxxxx
Original Install Date: 11/9/2008, 9:00:50 PM
…
It actually does say "Microsoftr" and "VistaT", because obviously a random "r" or "T" tacked onto a word is just as clear as (r) or (TM).
Add Dropbox to the Windows Vista Places Bar
I want, no demand, easy access to my Dropbox. This involves adding it to to the Favorite Links bar in Vista (just drag it there) and the Places bar. On Windows 2000 and XP you can use Tweak UI, but it doesn't run well on Vista. I can't recall if the Places bar customization didn't work on all versions of Vista, or just 64-bit Vista. Either way the registy script is an easy way to make the changes.
 |
 |
| Places Bar Before |
Places Bar After |
|---|
Registry Script to Customize the Places Bar
Copy and paste the following text into a new text document and save it with a .reg extension (eg. dropbox-places.reg). Double-click it to import it to the registry.
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\comdlg32\Placesbar] "Place0"="Recent" "Place1"="Desktop" "Place2"="C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\Documents\My Dropbox\" "Place3"="MyDocuments" "Place4"="MyComputer"
Make sure that you provide the full path to your Dropbox (usually this means you'll only have to replace YOURUSERNAME with your actual username. The order will be Recent Items, Desktop, Dropbox, Documents and My Computer. You can modify that, but don't create any more than 5 places (0-4).
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