Here is more about Installing progs under Vista from the Windows Help and Support section;

Make older programs run in this version of Windows

Most programs written for Windows XP also work in this version of Windows, but some older programs might run poorly or not at all. If a program written for an earlier version of Windows doesn't run correctly, use the Program Compatibility Wizard to change the compatibility settings for the program. To change settings for a program manually, use the individual program's Compatibility tab.

If changing the settings does not fix the problem, go to the program manufacturer's website to see if there is an update for the program.

Warning

Do not use the Program Compatibility Wizard on older antivirus programs, disk utilities, or other system programs because it might cause data loss or create a security risk.

Run the Program Compatibility Wizard

Click to open the Program Compatibility Wizard.

Follow the instructions in the wizard.

If you cannot install a program, insert the installation disc for the program and, using the wizard, browse to the program's setup file, usually called Setup.exe, Install.exe, or something similar. The wizard is not designed to work on programs that have an .msi file name extension.

Yep! I agree NewEgg and TigerDirect.  Good prices, and sometimes they list info about the hardware you may not find easily at the Manufactuers Web.  If you are interested in buying from them check out the Reviews to see what others are saying about the hardware.  

Another point, is do the Shopzilla and other Mega Mall Searches, and you may find a price from either of the above that is lower than the one advertised on their Site.   Look for Rebates.

Tech support seems to be a luxury for Software companies these days. 

Many do not provide paper manuals, just copies of pdf’s, which you have to spend a fortune printing out the 799 pages. 

The days of talking to a software engineer are all but gone.  

At least we still have Forums.

There is little chancve to upgrade an eMachine, do not waste your bucks.

I do not want to influence your MoBo thoughts, but you would be advised to go with Intel, especially is you like freeware and graphic editors, more stable. 

Here is a possible;  An ACPI Compliant 24 pin motherboard with a 450 to 500 watts PSU, a CPU Pentium D, 925 800 mhz or higher, nvidia 7800 GS 256 mem AGP or PCIe or higher, 2 gigs DDRII PC 4200 ram 533 mhz or higher. This setup will run all of the current software and the next generation of Vista.

Sorry! PRAY! PRAY! AND THEN PRAY MORE!

I should add that I now have a stable Retail Vista after two weeks.  But I have been working with computers since they were Vacum tubes.  

If you have software that used the most current MS Installer and you have the Public Keys and so on, then the install is much easier, otherwise, use the methods I described.

Unfortuneatly in the EULA, MS now reserves the right to disable or Remove any software it deems a threat to the OS.  Older Installers may work, but most of the older installers of Third Party Software, do not work, unless they are MS products. 

Get this, I am having trouble with PS CS2, but I just installed Microsofts Best of Entertainment, 3.5 discs 1994 version and it works like a dream.  I am sure you can figure this one out!!!

650 watts is way beyound your current needs.  400 to 450 is adequate, especially for the older video card you have, which should not require more than 350 watts.

Your drivers may be too new for your older video card.  Uninstall the current drivers, go back to the ones that were installed with the system when you got it.  

Check your video card and see if you have a heat sink or fan.  If a small one get a larger fan and apply some Silicon Arctic Circle Heat Paste.

If that does not work, then try to swap out your video card with a newer card and see if that is the problem.  

Add new heat paste to your CPU, and check the temperature monitor in your BIOS after running two hours.  If above 140 degrees you are having a heat problem, and the B plus may be failing.  

If all of that does not work, then Reset your BIOS to Manufactuer Defaults.  You may have to check the Mobo manual or reset using the MOBO CMOS shorting posts.  

Get a new Motherboard battery, they are cheap.  Otherwise, you may have a failing CMOS BIos chip.  Hopefully not!!!  

Damaged resistors and capacitors happen all too frequently.  Most boards are coated and so it usually does not make any difference how much dust accumulates.

If you clean the MOBO, air can only, no brushs, no solvents, and no pressure.  

I think that should get you started. 

If you try to install Vue in Vista, turn off UAC, before you install. Click on the Setup file and right click to Run As An Administrator before you install Vue.

Once, installed, before you open Vue, go to the Exe file, and change the Compatibility settings to Win Sp Sp2 and check Run As An administrator. Reset the UAC. The Compatibility settings never worked in Win XP but they do in Vista.

Vue is going to try to check the compatibility of your video card and sign on to the Internet to check for updates and this may trigger a response from the system. Tell them you trust everything and then uncheck the setting in Vue to open the Web site each time the prog opens. That goes for Test the Video card as well, uncheck it. 

Vista does not like any software or hardware writing to the registry without a Public High Level Priority Key which you get from MS and the new Installer. 

Otherwise, it works great, the install was the only problem.  Check eOn for any new info beyond mine.

Yes, the sale is now over because onOne Software have released the Genuine Fractals 5 Beta, a free upgrade to 4.1 for anyone who wants to try the beta and help test. 

If you bought GF 4.1 software after December 18, 2006 you can get the final release of GF 5 as a downloadable upgrade to 4.1. GF 5 will be compatible with PS CS3 and the Win XP and the new Vista operating system.

An Additional note; I recently received e-mail that Adobe will not make CS2 fully compatible with Vista. If you want full Vista compatibility you will have to upgrade to PS CS3.

I am currently running PS CS2 on Vista Basic 32 bit and have some minor issues. 

The Register your Software screen boots each time you open PS. This action can be turned off by changing the compatibility settings of the PS exe file to Run as an Administrator. 

The UAC will block opening of PS each time you try to launch. You must choose the Allow Software to launch to get PS CS2 to open. Otherwise, everything else works.   You could turn off UAC, but that is not recommended.

Adobe has also put out info about the Auto Updater, and the possibility of a Serious Security Vulnerability. You must upgrade the Auto Updater or Hackers can gain control of PS and your operating system. 

Actually they do that, by using different DLL’s, API’s, etc. for different OS’s. Some work for XP and others work for Vista, some for 32 bit and others for 64 bit. So, you might say they are writing four different programs to meet the needs of all users. The major problem is that each OS build is different and has different requirements.  So once Vue gets all of the code set to work with OS build X, and along comes build Y, everything can change. 

To add, the reason I put so much emphasis on tech support is fundamental. If one person has a problem and reports it to Vue Tech, and 200 other people see that problem was reported by reading the posts in the forum, and do not make a report to Vue Tech, they have just defeated the idea of tech support. 

It is like this, if as the Software Design Engineer, I get one complaint about a glitch, and there are actually 200 out there that I do not know about, then this one report gets last priority, while I am fixing other bigger problems. I wish everyone would understand how important this report system really is. The more complaints about a problem, the sooner the programmers will focus their attention on the problem.

I have to tell you VUE have missed their expected release date, and that is costing them major retail bucks every day they cannot afford to lose.  

I am your age as well, and I like to whine also, it makes me feel as though I am getting something done!!

As far as Vista goes, I do not believe Vue has any choice in the matter. If they do not make their software compatible with Win XP and Vista, which are all together different OS’s, they will not be able to stay competitive and will loose market shares as a result. I do not think they can afford to ignore the potential market, as they have to pay all of those programmers.

Vista is totally different than Win XP, SuperFetch, ReadyBoost, and other technologies are almost always active in the background changing app positions, change cache requirements, and many other new activities that all of the third party software companies are going to have to deal with. And, 3D software is the hardest hit of many of those apps. I believe this is what John was talking about, which you can blame on MS. They have their work cutout for them, because you change one snippet of code to make compatible with XP and then Vista trips, and visa versa. 

Get this: an e-mail from tech support; Adobe just informed me they would not update PSCS2 to make it compatible with Vista. They stated, since they have released the beta for CS3 I will have to upgrade to get Vista compatibility.   

I am going to go take a nap!!!

Precisely my point, Why is Vue trying to put out bad software? It won’t get better unless you help the techs to solve your problems.  And Poser is becoming a competitor, wait and watch.

Yes, it may have worked in build X, and now not in the new build Y. Vue probably made last minute changes to the software, for whatever reason, or for those OS’s and are now facing another compatibility issue. 

So, now they need time to resolve those issues, with your help. Poser is having its own troubles, and I would not be suprised if they will try to bvecome a competitive force against Vue.

Wow!  Maybe I could just put a few snippets of code into my software and wreck hovac with my competitor, just like some of the big companies do.

Basic programming; you all have a dark side!!!  Chuckle!!! 

Okay, I am not trying to take sides or pixx anyone off, but I do understand the problem very well. I used to be a programmer in days past. Vue does not have a desire to put itself into bankruptcy!  

It takes months to write new code and test, not days. AND, it won’t happen unless you help them solve your problems.

I hear what John was saying about the problem with the OS, swap files, virtualization and so on, and how these changes are not working writing code for Vue and as a result they are trying to work out a different scenario. You can blame that on VUE if you want to, but it goes back to the OS. XPspI, XPsp2, and Vista, Poser are all different coded software and make other software companies change to meet the demands. 

The biggest mistake that e-On made was trying to release before Vista, now they are caught between a rock and hard place trying to clean up all of that code and make it work within and for all of the other software packages. 

A 3 gig Pentium does not have anything to do with it. It is how the software is used to access that CPU that make the biggest difference. HT is old technology now and some progrs no longer fully support HT. I had several progs that told me I have to shut off HT for the software to work correctly, and I got rid of them.

I had a really nice AMD setup, and VUE simply would not work, crashed all of the time, and nothing I did, changed drivers, adding patches, or otherwise would stop the crashing. I just installed that same VUE on an Intel with Vista and it works like a dream, no crashing, and now I can have my 5 millions polygons and move freely around my scenes.  But, if I import a Poser figure, the problems begin again. Why is that Vue’s fault, what the Hexx is in Poser that is making Vue crash???

I understand your frustration, but do you understand the frustration of VUE. Help them solve your problems, because I want Vue to stay around for a long time!

Although a good system, a P4 HT coupled with a 7300 will barely meet the Vue 6 Specs.  The 7300 has basic OpenGL support, so your card may be running 1.5 or less rather than the 2.0 that is current.  HT is notorius for memory leaks because many applications do not use the HT technology effeciently, which can cause excessive memory usage and crashes.  

Vue will not be able to successfully bind all of these older and newer technologies into the software, and therefore some are going to suffer.  There are too many different computer builds and drivers to make it all work flawlessly.  I am not making excuses for Vue, I have my problems also. 

I should write a book!

I got the USB info from http://www.usb.org/developers/packaging about the data rates for High Speed USB transfer, which is up to x40. That still does not indicate whether that memory is standard or flash. I have many Jump drives which are x10 to x20 and they will now work with ReadyBoost. 

I got more info from Crucial about USB Flash Drives http://www.crucial.com/store/listmfgr.asp?cat=drives+storage that indicate the reads are twice as fast as the writes. 13 meg read x80 and and 25 meg x160 writes for Very High Speed USB 2 Flash. So, there is a big difference between USB speeds and x rates for all USB 2 memory drives. 

Microsoft says USB Flash Memory for ReadyBoost. So, that would mean a very High Speed USB 2 Flash drive or a Flash Card Reader that can read Flash memory, which is usually x40 and higher?   In fact I have several x133 2.2 gig microdrives with a Card Reader, and they will work with ReadyBoost. I also have a friend who has x300 flash memory, so the rates can go up pretty high, but are they necessary?  

If USB High Speed 2 can only transfer at a rate of x40, I am still in the dark as to why ReadyBoost needs anything higher?

Microsoft KB’s also state that many manufacturers use a small cached Flash memory at high level and then the remaining memory at low level, which is not compatible with ReadyBoost. They also indicate Kingston memory meets the specs.

Well I won’t know how all of this will effect Vue until they ship the Retail. Man my teeth are getting short!!!