Slipstreaming a service pack is the act of taking old Windows installation files and creating a new installation that is updated with the latest service pack. For years, I have been manually slipstreaming Windows service packs, but I recently discovered a new tool that takes all of the grunt work out of the process. nLite will walk you through the process of slipstreaming your Windows installation. It even has the ability to include later service packs in the installation, remove unneeded components, create a bootable CD image, and many more features.

The application is free and can be downloaded here. You may also want to check out a tutorial on how to Slipstream Windows XP SP3 CD.

I originally thought that the critics were just being hard on Windows Vista. All Microsoft products draw skepticism. After my experience with Windows Vista though, it became clear to me that it sucks bad. I thought I’d share some specific examples.

Options aren’t available unless you are on a specific screen

Many of the options for certain items just aren’t there anymore. You have to find the setting in the Control Panel instead of simply right-clicking the item and accessing them. A good example would be the dialup connections that are located under Start > Connect to… There used to be a Delete option when you right clicked on these items. This option, along with several others are no longer there. I liked being able to access options from several different screens.
You have to sift through tons of screens to find what you’re looking for

You know the 3 click rule? Everything should be within 3 clicks. Well, Vista shoves that aside. It can take up to 6 clicks to find some options. If you don’t know where a specific setting is, good luck!

Dialog boxes start minimized or in the background

When certain programs throw up a dialog box to notify you of an error or event, you might not know it’s there. You often have to look at the taskbar and notice the extra item down there. I’ve sat for many minutes staring at the screen not knowing what my programs are doing only to realize there is something else going on. Only by clicking on the entry for the dialog box on the Taskbar will allow to see what the message is.

Various video problems

I’ve tried 3 different systems running Vista, all with different video cards. They all exhibited some type of video freeze during the time I’ve used them. Not to mention, all the stupid video animations are too much for most systems to handle. Why do I need fancy video animations to get my work done?

These are just a handful of problems I’ve encountered with Vista, and I haven’t used the the operating system for more than 12 hours total yet. I can only imagine what people are going through that have to use it every day.

As a computer tech, I spend most of my day just finding settings for users. The Microsoft Office product has become so filled with features and settings, I never can memorize them all myself. Let along the typical user. I often have to Google it before I can figure out where the setting that I need is in the software. The Office 2007 ribbon is a great improvement, making all the settings available anytime you need them. Still it can be frustrating at times figuring out which tab the setting is under. That’s why Microsoft is testing a new feature where you can search for Office commands.

Imagine being able to figure out how to turn auto capitalization off in Word by just typing in ‘capital’. Or being able to figure out how to add a Personal Folder in Outlook by typing ‘personal folder’. That would be genius! A similar feature, the Start Search bar is already popular in Windows Vista. Time will only tell how well Microsoft will implement this in Office though. They could jack it up like they do everything else.

A friend of mine told me a story today that made me roll on the floor laughing. This friend has worked for many companies and taking technical phone calls. We’ve all heard the stories of dumb users calling the help line before. The CD as a cup tray. The guy that can’t find the ANY key. But this one I never heard before.

He says this guy calls about a network connectivity issue. After giving the guy a few pointers, he gets huffy. He states that he is MCSE certified and has tried all the simple suggestions that can be thought of. So my friend decides to troubleshoot deeper. He asks for the MAC address to his network card. Immediately the guy lashes out! THIS ISN’T A MAC, THIS IS A PC!

Priceless! This is why I never finished my MCSE. It means nothing.

I was sitting at my desk, reading a book and realized that the glare from my PC was very bright and irritating my eyes. After playing with my screen contrast, I figured a darker theme would be the solution. So I right-click my desktop and select Properties. I didn’t see any themes that appealed to me. I then see an option for More themes online… . So I selected this option. I waited with great anticipation as Windows opened up a web browser. Instead of getting a list of glorious themes to choose from, I get a nice 404 error page. We’re sorry, but we were unable to service your request. You may wish to choose from the links below for information about Microsoft products and services.

How professional! A feature built within an operating system that is used by millions of people takes me to a 404 error page. I’ve been here before though. I can name countless times where a program that is a few years old has a URL built into it that no longer works. Just last week I was trying to update an old copy of The Sims for my girlfriend and the URL for the update they had provided in the Start Menu didn’t work anymore (a problem I see with many EA games).

It doesn’t take much to search for an update, but it’s fucking annoying to click on a button that was built into an application and get a 404 error. I understand pages have to move, and things change on web sites over time, but do they not know how to configure a 301 redirect to an alternate page?

Here’s an idea. How about having all of you software programmers get the web developers in a room and letting them know “Hey guys! We’re building this into the software. We need this link to stay active for the sanity of our customers.” It will prevent your company from looking like a bunch of jackasses that don’t care to support software that is more than 2 years old.