Stephen’s posterous

Stop overloading Posterous, you beastly man!

No worries Mr. Fry. I'm not a big fan of Vaios either and Vista just makes me die a little inside. Or a lot....
Sorry you had so much trouble!

I think everyone has seen "the rage" over such things - don't think it's you. Good to hear you talk about it more calmly now though.

So many things in the modern world which ought by now to just work, don't.

It appears Posterous has just been 'stephen-fried' - congratulations on your own internet effect Mr. Fry!

The other thing that seems to be broken is the rapid-response PR squad from each company.

Half expected to see a photo of a disembowled Vaio. It was exactly this kind of frustrating nonsense that led to my conversion. Unfortunately Windals (I'm from Bristol/Bath) is a necessary evil (e.g. Fpr testing). Well , my day was brightened by your intemperance. :)

You're a professional amateur also!

Now that you're slightly calmer :D it seems more like a hardware problem to me. Especially since both the BB and the G1 connected w/o a problem for you. I'm really surprised that some minion from Sony hasn't been in touch with you yet.

Not that I'm a Windoze fan, mind you - hate Windoze, and my hubs hates Vista even more.

Really weird for a new pc having all these problems. I never tried Vista (and hopefully never will) but it sounds like an hardware problem - even if it's odd in a shiny-new Vaio :/

27,000 suddenly arrive. I'd never heard of it until today.. If I join posterous because 'the ode less travelled' is the only book about poetry that makes me laugh out loud, will that make me a stalker? Oh well. Thanks for a great book.

Doesn't this look like a Vista issue rather than a Vaio issue? Vaio's are generally good whereas I just can't get on with Vista. I'm a dedicated user of Mac OS now.

Makes me wonder, if Microsoft is supposedly a "Life without walls" why do we need Windows?

I always thought you were a mac geek :)

WEP 40 is evil, about half of my devices don't like that version of wifi encryption, including an airport express :(

i have a sony vaio,its a dual core 1.73 ghz,2 gb go ddr2 sdram,wlan 802.11 b/g and its got vista.Im not a computer expert so this maybe totaly irrelivant.I took my vaio out today after reading of your difficulties.i went to a well known fast food outlet that offers free wireless internet connection and had no problem connecting.

I had a similar experience with Vista. Only used it briefly while setting it up for my mother (I went from XP to Mac) but that was enough. I tried to connect it to a WEP enabled network but it wouldnt connect. I had other computers and devices all connected fine but Vista wouldnt have any of it. Unfortunately there's a non-WPA compliant device on the network but it's fine for her use. There's nothing sensitive on the network and software firewalls are up. Anyhow...

I can't remember which of the following fixed it for me (I did both) but 1) I disabled IPv6 in Vista and 2) I upgraded the router's firmware. Alot of routers need to be upgraded to be made Vista friendly. Which is retarded given every other device I've connected worked without hassle. So if it's a hotel router then bug them to upgrade the firmware.

I havent been on the Mac for long, but setting up Vista and Mac for the first time recently allowed me to contrast the out-of-the-box experience. Vista is a pathetic joke and a perfect example of how NOT to do interface design. Horrible experience. Plus the crapware you get on Vaios only makes things worse, and even though I never asked for it, it conflicted with software I later tried to install. Including Trial versions of McAfee should be banned for the sake of humanity.

The Mac on the other hand was a joy to setup and use. They actually put SOME thought into how people use the thing. Anyone still considering "upgrading" from XP to Vista and still put off by the consistently poor reviews; there's a reason for those and the piss poor reputation Vista has gained. Never been a better time to switch to the Mac. I'm starting to see what all the fuss is about.

Vista does not play well with WEP and a good number of older wifi routers do not play well with Vista. Try the connection with WEP disabled. Then add WEP (or preferably WPA2) after you are on-line.

Also, try replacing the firewall that comes with Vista by using the free one from Zone Alarm (or one of the other free-be's out there). If you already replaced it with a 3rd party product, then make sure it turned off Windows firewall.

Vista's wifi is truly broken. I had a similar issue with connecting my friends laptop to our home router, it didn't work for ages despite trying all of the suggestions in various forums regarding DHCP related changes you could make in the registry.

We just chucked a wire in since we had a long one hanging around the house. Sometime recently it has mysteriously started working. I suspect an autoupdate has patched either the driver or Vista so that it has fixed whatever issue it was having.

Meanwhile, I've gone back to XP at home, Vista is just too much hard work for me, I'll come back when it's working properly

Wow, your very own Gizmodo post! I loved how people were quick to defend you. And rightly so! I'm a system administrator, and all our work machines run Windows - yet all my home machines are Macs. I could definitely relate to your frustration.

The line about the Vista devil made me laugh and I hope you won't self-censor your tweets from now an. They always brighten our days here at work!

Windows issues? I know just the solution:

The law of the x3 R's:

1. Reboot: if your computer is crashing try rebooting it.

2. Reinstall: if rebooting didn't help then Reinstall the software in question.

3. Reformat: If reinstalling didn't help simply pop your windows CD in and reformat.

This as a rule of thumb works every time. -Alternatively you could just use a real OS :P

I had this exact same problem with my dad's network. Turns out that my computer didn't have the right security protocols to successfully connect to it. I had to go in and update the hardware drivers for my wireless card though windowsupdate.com (which I never do, because I don't trust their drivers to save my life, let alone fix my computer. I tried going straight to the manufacturer and the drivers there didn't work.), reboot, and BAM! The right security protocols were magically on my machine.

It's rather depressing, but I suspect this may have more to do with the way most PC vendors feel the need to pre-break laptops by piling shedloads of buggy and unnecessary crap onto them. (I've read that the suppliers of the offending crapware offer some sort of kickback - e.g., antivirus vendors pay laptop builders to put a free version of their software on in the hope that users will upgrade. Apparently the margins on laptops are so thin that it's hard to make a profit on the things without giving in to this sort of scheme, which is why it's so rife.)

Sadly, the first thing I do when I get a new laptop is reformat the thing and reinstall Vista to get rid of all the extra cruft. (Caveat formator: don't attempt this unless you have the necessary Vista DVD and keys - a lot of laptops omit this to reduce costs. I'd hate someone to get half way through attempting to follow this advice only to discover that they're going to have to pay money for another copy of Vista just so they can reinstall it!)

And you know what? Vista works really rather well when you do that. (Well...as long as you've got more than a gig of memory. It's greedy pig where RAM is concerned.) I've got 5 systems all running Vista just swimmingly, and when I read about the problems people have with it, I sometimes wonder if we're talking about the same OS.

It's true that when Vista first came out 2 years ago, it had some serious problems. But now, if you have enough RAM, it's way better than XP, as long as you ditch the crapware that come with most laptops. Whenever I use someone else's XP system I find it so painful that it seems like insanity to suggest that it's in any way better than Vista...until I then use someone else's Vista system that still has all the cruft the supplier helpfully added. And then I remember.

I agree with hellagood,your tweets always add a bit of sparkle to the day!

Long may your stream-of-consiousness tweets continue...

And I particularly loved the conversion of the 4-letter c-word into an adjective. I'm trying to decide who I'll use with over the holidays, just to see eggnog come out of people's noses.

*snaps fingers* I was kind of hoping for a pictures of you standing triumphantly over a twisted pile of plastic and metal with a few strategically placed keys in the foreground spelling out something quite nasty. :D

I hope the kerfluffle won't put you off continuing to be truthful and forthright in your tweets. Speaking for myself, I admire a person who says what they feel.

Well, if a gizmo refuses to do what it's for, despite spending a lot of time and efforts on it, any person would blow his/her lid.
And a nice sincere venting is quite justified in similar circumstances.
Some minor berserking even, yes.
If the damn thing doesn't work, it's just a mere piece of junk, and that's all it is.
It is humiliating, since one knows he/she is doing it right, but the attempts stay futile.
No need to stay calm and composed ALL of the time.

Why on earth are you using WEP anyway? It is unsafe! The only possible reason I can think of to use it is for a device such as a Nintendo DS - which isn't able to connect to a WPA or WPA2 network. See http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/20436/wireless-hacking-tool-released.html - you can follow through from there. It can be cracked in around a minute.

I'm interested, what is it that you need to do with Vista. I've so far not met a single task that my beloved mac can't do, although for a few very broken websites, I did have to jump through significant numbers of hoops.

I've seen this a few times with newly formatted Windows machines trying to connect to WEP secured networks. Windows really loves WPA and will look for a WPA cert even on passworded networks. In XP SP3, the solution is to turn off IEEE 802.1x authentication, and I assume the same will hold true for the latest revisions of Vista. Start-Connect To-View All Connections-Right Click Wireless Connection-Properties-Wireless Networks Tab-Properties Button-Authentication Tab-Uncheck "Enable IEEE" if checked. If not...hell if I know.

I love the internet, first comment is whinging and half the rest are telling you to switch WEP off on a network you don't own because they didn't read the article properly. I of course have nothing useful to say and just want to see my name in print ;)

Where do you put the blame then? Vista or the Vaio? I have to admit, my MacBook is ocasionally flakey wireless-wise, but a quick reboot normally sorts out any connectivity issues.

The problem is technically in Windows, but I wouldn't call it a "Vista Problem." The OS is looking for a WPA cert from a WEP network. It won't even think about trying to get a password as long as it expects a cert. Disabling IEEE 802.1x authentication in the OS will bring up the prompt for the passphrase and bam, connectivity. Usually.

Very strange though. You'd think it'd be simple enough just to look at the network and work out what's needed. It does that on the Wireless network display anyway doesn't it? Strange strange indeed.

I've only seen this under the new service packs for XP and Vista so far. Even on a WEP network, it searches for an 802.1x cert (defaulting I guess to "This key is provided for me automatically"). This is much more secure than having your users hand key their passphrases I guess, which would explain _why_ it's the default. You have to manually disable this option under the authentication tab, or contact your ISP for an ISP-provided router and have an ISP-authorized tech set up authentication on your authorized router. I never go this route, myself.

Good work, Stephen - the general usability of networking tech is absolutely shocking and the manufacturers need to be told so. I'm 100% behind you.

I have a Vista VAIO myself, though not a high-end one like you do. Since owning it, I have yet to be able to connect to my parents' wireless network. My sister's machine has no problem (but then, hers is XP and the router claims to work with it) so we at least know it works. While it does give me a place to enter the password, it acts like I doesn't and constantly times out. Vista solution for diagnosing the problem is always "reset the router." My diagnosis is sucking up and just plugging it in because I don't want the headache.

Enjoy the tweets!

Gah, you have to stop introducing me to all these sites! Now I've had to set up an account and I should really be studying... And thanks to you, I check Twitter obsessively... Ah well, if I fail my exam on Wednesday, do you think my professor would believe it's your fault? ;)

i totally agree,vista can take a long walk off a short and very high peer if it were up to me. i too check twitter all the while like the lady above. i just switched back to an i mac from a dell laptop and the hardest thing i had to do with the mac was plug it in. keep it all coming MR.Fry ,tweets podgrams its all food for the mind. thanks!

As the author of the Gizmodo post, I'd like to apologize for our commenting horde.

I think all you chaps and chapesses are thinking too much about this problem. It sounds like it was simply a case of mac-address filtering. If the hotel hadn't put your new laptop on the access list then you wouldn't even be prompted for a password regardless of the security type.

Vista really is quite solid now post SP1. I will however echo the comments of someone above - laptop manufacturers do add an awful lot of crap to their systems. I believe IBM are the worst for this but Sony are pretty lousy too.

Perhaps you'd upset your VAIO or it was trying to protect you from something.

My dear chap, serves you right for buying a Vaio. In this instance, the problem is with Sony not Vista.

You poor dear! My boyfriend's experience with Vista began in anger (he wanted to stay with XP but couldn't have it on his new machine) and only got worse when he tried to use our wireless network. He was so enraged I thought he might give himself a coronary.

after xp service pack 3 killed two of my notebooks i vowed i would stick pins in my eyes before i bought another microsoft os

Whilst I have a lot of sympathy (I canned Vista off my machine at home, and I've never met a Vaio that I didn't want to pound into fragments), I must confess that I have a little difficulty understanding the rationale for the purchase. If you MUST run Windows-only stuff, why not use Parallels ( http://www.parallels.com/products/desktop/ ) . It's a lot cheaper than buying a Vaio, and you can do all the networking setup (effectively) in OSX.

@nichomach Stephen already owns/uses virtualization software. He's a tech geek and most likely wanted the laptop for the full PC experience for review purposes. For example he's owned practically every smartphone device out there over the years. Not because he needs them but because he's passionate about technology. If I had his money I'd probably be the same too. Remember this is the guy who could afford the second Mac ever imported introduced into the UK way back. Money is no object, and he wasn't about to adopt it for his main machine any time soon.

Vista drives me crazy too, its so bloaty and irritating, you would expect more from a company like Microsoft.

As far as I can tell there are three reasons why you had such problems:
1) It's a Vaio
2) You're running Vista
3) It's a Vaio.

Pagenotfound said "you would expect more from a company like Microsoft." - no, no, this is just the kind of thing that we need to expect from Microsoft, otherwise we will go mad. They can't even create a gaming console without it suffering from the gaming console version of BSOD. Mac OS' are hardly any more reliable, but at least they're not disgustingly and painfully--- I'm sorry for interrupting my sentence, but an Ice cream truck just drove past my house, does anyone else find it strange that an Ice cream salesman would try to sell Ice cream in the middle of winter in Norway?--- as I was saying; disgustingly and painfully dreadful.
I would say that Linux would be a better choice, but I gave that up years ago - and I'm trying to keep my computer alive despite running XP.

@leestacey - if posterous is overloaded from one post, then it's not ready. Don't blame stephen for a platform that can't handle a decent bit of load.

i notice someone said "Vista's wifi is truly broken." which is plain daft, as I connected laptop with vista to my home network and have connected to public networks without any problems. i

Vista has an odd way of looking at wifi, if the security is too low (such as an open network or WEP 40) it will go out of its way to try to prevent you from connecting to it. Try repairing the connection, sometimes Vista is so stupid that repairing the connection will fix it.

There is another option, downgrade (or is that upgrade?) to XP. The benefit is that your computer feels like a Ferrari on XP and a Sinclair C5 on Vista.

This reminds me of why I am a Mac-Nut, they just work, without the hassle

Just get ubuntu....duh

Well you could install BSD :P

It took me over half an hour to connect to a wi-fi network in a Brighton cafe last week on my new netbook that runs on xp. I am now unwanting to go through the whole rigmarole again, so bound to use the same cafe forever! Good for the cafe, not so good for me.

The problem is technically in Windows,but I wouldn't call it a "Vista Problem." The OS is looking for a WPA cert from a WEP network. It won't even think about trying to get a password as long as it expects a cert.i totally agree,vista can take a long walk off a short and very high peer if it were up to me. i too check twitter all the while like the lady above.i found this informative and interesting blog so i think so its very useful and knowledge able.I would like to thank you for the efforts you have made in writing this article casinosrevues

why don't you post here more since you know everybody and their mothers are gagging for it?
p.s i read the hippopotamus, it was great

If you think Windows Vista is wretched, just you wait
Windows 7 will be worse.

Time for a (big) Mac !

Rex