Monday, March 23, 2009

Seriously urgently massively important

OK, so basically it's a computer question, but I had to get your attention somehow, didn't I?

I've got an e-mail in to Shawn, "my computer guy" (basically, I just like to say "my computer guy" a lot for my own sense of self-importance ....) but maybe one of you Peoples of the Internet can help me and then I can quit bugging him which Lord knows he will be happy about ....

My new computer came with Windows Vista. My old computer ran Windows XP. Everything is fine, I love how its running, yadda yadda .... but the Autoplay feature for importing photos in Vista is a disaster. With XP, you could select which pictures to import, then label them and put them in a specific folder ... then press the back prompt and do another set of pictures. This worked GREAT for when you've taken pictures of more than one event on the same card before importing. I label my photos with the date and event name -- for example, "March 2009 Amusement Park". Then, I always know where to find photos on my computer, and this information prints on the back of the pictures, which is helpful as well. Lets say you've got several events on one card, ie, pictures of a birthday party, then pictures of a soccer game, then pictures of an afternoon at the zoo --- all these different events could be saved and labeled separately. It was super-easy to get them all sorted out and saved appropriately, life was good, God save the Queen, whatever.

With Windows Vista, however, the import default is "Import ALL photos", regardless of what they are. There is no way to sort or view before saving. They all get lumped into one folder. So then after they are all imported to the same folder, you have to go in and cut and paste them all into different folders, AND you have to re-name every photo (if you are as anal as I am, anyway.)

Seriously, I despise this feature with the intensity of a thousand burning suns. I spent close to three hours online yesterday looking for a solution. I found PLENTY of other Vista users complaining in chat boards about the same thing, but no solutions. I entered a live chat with a customer service rep who kept calling me "Kritine" and repeatedly assuring me that this "new and improved" way was actually an improvement and that I would grow to love it. Um, no. I won't. It is a pain in my ass and I hate it as much as I hate people who can't spell my name .... I'm looking at you, mr. live chat ...

So!! Does anyone out there know what I'm talking about? Anyone else gone from XP to Vista and discovered how much this stinks? Or better yet, discovered a way around it? Is it even feasible to consider downgrading my new computer from Vista back to XP? (Heck, I don't even know if that's possible, but it is TOTALLY the kind of cut-my-nose-off-to-spite-my-face mentality that I have .....)

And please, no suggestions in the comments about how I should have bought a Mac. Considering I have a brand-new pc sitting on my desk, that's actually not a helpful suggestion.

Ps. Oh, by the way. Blaine starts radiation today. Is it wrong that I'm more upset about the photo feature than that???

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

It does stink...Also when you do resumes and things and save...companies cant open them with VISTA...Im bummed

Love, Marci

Aubrey said...

i do know that after you put them in to the folder, if you highlight all the ones that you want named the same thing and moved in to the same folder (control and click to pick individual ones)...then right click and rename, and it will rename them all at once...ie: march 2009 park 01, march 2009 park 02, etc...at least then you don't have to rename each one individually.

does that make sense? it's very hard to explain when it makes sense in your head but not typed out...haha!

Kristie said...

Marci, I e-mailed you privately about doing "Save As" instead ....

Aubrey, I didn't know that shortcut ... that makes me feel a LITTLE bit better -- thanks!

Anonymous said...

Probabaly won't make you feel better...but I was having issues with my computer and had my "computer guy" change my operating system from Vista to Windows XP Professional. So yes you can have it changed.

Praying for Blaine.

Kathy

Anonymous said...

Praying for Blaine, as always.

I can't offer you one bit of technology advice. Sorry.

Bridget

Anonymous said...

My answer: external hard drive.

I have two. One is purely back-up. The other has my photos all nicely tagged, sorted and in folders - as they were directly copied from my old XP machine.

With my new vista machine, I simply navigate to the EHD folders and I have been keeping all my photos safely there :)

Good luck, Kristie! (And prayers for Blaine!!!)

Kristie said...

Vanessa, I have an external hard drive with all my photos on it .... but how do you save to that originally? Mine just copies from my desktop hard drive, which getting them THERE is where I'm struggling! (clearly, there is a simple solution and I am just not bright enough to figure it out!)

Anonymous said...

My solution to this problem was to buy a paid Flickr account. I let Vista transfer all my photos to the computer (I have a folder marked 'Photos' on my desktop and it organizes them into folders by date within that). Then I delete the ones I don't want, edit the good ones in Photoshop, and upload them all to Flickr. Then I delete them off my computer.

If I was more organized, I would also keep a backup copy of them on my external drive, in which case, I would just create a folder called, like "March 2009 - Amusement Park" and just move all the photos in there and leave their original file names. But I'm not more organized. LOL And I like that I have access to all my photos on Flickr no matter where I am (home, work, etc).

Anonymous said...

Uhmmmm, I'm also running under Vista - and, I get around this little glitch by simply taking less photos. Not a good solution, I know. Sorry. Praying for Blaine......

Anonymous said...

To be honest Kristie, I stopped reading halfway through your post because I too am having problems with pictures and Vista. Hope you get yours fixed.

Praying for Blaine and Your Family!

Leeann said...

We are a Mac family, so no help there. We ordered a Dell with Vista, kept it for one day, shipped it back and ordered a Mac. lol

Prayers and love going out to Blaine and your family.

Unknown said...

I went from XP to Vista and besides the photos, I feel the same way. I hate it! I have also not found a way around the downloads. I thought it was just me, but it isn't. You can switch back to XP, but you can't have both. Either XP or Vista. I have seriously considered switching back, but I just haven't done it yet.

rachelopoly said...

I put my SD card directly into my laptop (with Vista, which I LOVE) and the autoplay box pops up with a bunch of different options for me to view/import my pictures. Instead of importing I select "open folder to view files." That way I can see ALL the pictures on the card, create a new folder under "My Pictures", and select and drag the pictures I want into the new folder. Then eject the card! I hope that made sense.

Sandy P said...

I know what you are talking about. I hate it too. So, if your computer guy knows how to make it work, pass along the info!

Anonymous said...

Kristie,

I had Vista on my new computers and hated it so much that I had them converted to XP. Your computer guy can do quickly.

Praying for you and yours.

Sharon in Georgia

Anonymous said...

Yep, going back to XP is a snap for anyone who knows what they're doing. There's a very good reason so many techie website reviewers hate Vista!

M said...

Drag n plop to the new folder...sucks huh!

Mrs. N said...

You can totally downgrade back to XP...I did.

All I know is that my husband, the computer guy, bought a copy of XP and then did a lot of swearing and then the next day I had XP

Anonymous said...

I don't take alot of pictures, so I am no help there.. sounds frustrating, though!

Prayers for radiation today.. Blaine, I'm praying for you to kick this cancer's ass once and for all!

God bless...

katy said...

When I plug my camera in I always go to my computer and open the file that way. Then I highlight all of one subject, right click on the first one and type what I want them all named. It then names them the same thing but numbered differently. Prom 1, prom 2 etc. I do this for each subject I want and then send them to documents where I have to sort them to the correct folders.