Is it just me or is the windows xp and vista thats pre-installed on computers have problems?

Question

I mean like i had a packard bell computer with windows xp and all you got from it was "xxxx has encountered an error and had to close" "send error report", I can remember it happening on a couple of computers like that, and a toshiba laptop with vista, the same kept happening, only everything stops responding, then it starts working again, then its alright.

Have you ever noticed that?

Answer 1

That's what i keep trying to tell everyone...it's also one of the reasons why i stick to building my own PCs. I then buy the retail windows version of my choice and installation is a breeze, with no performance issues at all.

The problem with pre-installation is that these companies tweak the operating system and do a poor job of it. They also use their own poorly written and 'rushed to market' drivers which don't work well with the OS and you don't have an alternative to using them most times (especially with laptops). IMHO, the most stable windows PCs are the ones you build rather than buy - you get better quality drivers and windows works the way it's supposed to. The added bonus is that Linux installations are much more trouble-free as well.  

Answer 2

It really has nothing to do with the OS, it's the bloatware (all the tripe the manufacturer had deals with companies to offset their costs).  There are ways to remove it find a bloatware removal tool through google.

Answer 3

Yes, the majority of problems with mass produced computers is that the software build is very poor, and as you say, this is what causes the majority of issues with new computers.

Packard Bell, HP & Dell tend to be by far the worst offenders in this area.

In general, a complete reinstall of the OS will cure most problems - this is best done with a brand new machine, but with 'restore discs' rather than genuine OS discs, this can be a pain.

Answer 4

Contact your machine's manufacturer and ask for the OS disk (not a restore disk which will just put all that bloated software back on your machine).  Most OEMs are understanding about giving the OS disk.  

All our machines had the problems of running slow, loading extra software until we did clean wipe of the drive and loaded the OS and only the software we wanted vs the extra that was loaded at the manufacturer.

Best luck!

Answer 5

This can happen, but it's also true that machines that were running Windows XP originally and then were upgraded to Windows Vista have far more problems running Vista than new computers where Vista is installed on a completely clean machine.

Answer 6

That happens with all versions of XP and Vista however they were installed. It actually happens slightly less frequently when the PC is preinstalled as the manufacturer usually tests everything before using that configuration. Windows on its own is quite stable it is only when you start to use other software that you start to see crashes.