So... you think Vista is bloated...?

[JustaGeek]

If you think the 15GB of Disk Space that Vista requires for installation is too much, remove the components that you believe are unnecessary with free vLite.

But be careful... the changes are permanent!

PS World article.


"In October Microsoft admitted it was working on a streamlined core called MinWin in order to help slim down future operating systems such as Windows 7.

At the time, Microsoft distinguished engineer Eric Traut said: "A lot of people think of Windows as this large, bloated operating system, and that's maybe a fair characterization, I have to admit."

 

[Nothinman]

Windows may currently be a large beast but using some 3rd party tool to remove components that many things just assume are there is a pretty dumb idea.

 

[JustaGeek]

I am actually trying to find a logical reason behind a tool of this nature.

Why would the Hard Drive space be an issue, if the 320GB HD today costs about $70...?

If the "bloat" is a problem - disable the services.

If you don't need the features, and you MUST buy Vista - get the Basic.

Why would anyone even think of crippling an OS that you have purchased in the first place...?

You can't even install SP1 if you do that!

Can someone offer a good reason for vLite...?

 

[videopho]

Originally posted by: JustaGeek


Can someone offer a good reason for vLite...?

Vista on the diet is the only thing I can think of?

 

[tatteredpotato]

I know nLite is used to install XP on small capacity devices, such as the EEE PC. Vista on that might not be a great idea though.....

 

[Nothinman]

I am actually trying to find a logical reason behind a tool of this nature.

Well besides letting you remove stuff it lets you set a lot of defaults, add other software, etc so it can be useful for streamlining the installation procedure if you've got some aversion to imaging software.

Why would the Hard Drive space be an issue, if the 320GB HD today costs about $70...?

In general you're right, but I would still like to use as little space as possible for my OS. The fact that I can get a Debian desktop with more functionality than Vista into 1/5th of the space does say something.

 

[AllGamer]

This tool is AWESOME, finally something to strip down Vista of all the junk it has.

even Vista Basic has too much junk, just like XP

Some people like Custom Apps, and doesn't want any of the include MS branded software that comes with their OS.

there's no special reason.

Besides it saves room, ram, and is lean, better for games, and or for whatever thin client you're planning to setup.

 

[Nothinman]

Besides it saves room, ram, and is lean, better for games, and or for whatever thin client you're planning to setup.

It saves disk space, that's about it.

 

[hclarkjr]

you can also integrate updates from windows update as well as other projects that saves you time installing them after windows is installed. you can even integrate the ultimate extras with it.

 

[nerp]

vLite isn't going to save you ram. Just disk space.

 

[JustaGeek]

Originally posted by: Nothinman

Why would the Hard Drive space be an issue, if the 320GB HD today costs about $70...?

In general you're right, but I would still like to use as little space as possible for my OS. The fact that I can get a Debian desktop with more functionality than Vista into 1/5th of the space does say something.

See, what's a 15GB footprint, compared to about 35GB my Ultimate uses for the Shadow Copies on my 300GB (279GB usable) Hard Drive...?

I know I can re-size this amount, but IMO this is the most impressive feature of my Ultimate - an ability to selectively restore a file that might have been corrupted, or deleted by mistake.

Honestly, I don't buy the Hard Drive space saving issue - it is not a problem today.

Drives are cheap.

 

[stevem326]

Originally posted by: JustaGeek

Originally posted by: Nothinman

Why would the Hard Drive space be an issue, if the 320GB HD today costs about $70...?

In general you're right, but I would still like to use as little space as possible for my OS. The fact that I can get a Debian desktop with more functionality than Vista into 1/5th of the space does say something.

Honestly, I don't buy the Hard Drive space saving issue - it is not a problem today.

Drives are cheap.

I have to agree with you on that one. I just bought a 500GB Western Digital SATA-300 drive for $119...Vista's footprint (and whatever comes after that) doesn't worry me at all.

 

[toadeater]

It's not just about saving space, it is about removing all the useless junk that ships with Vista so you don't have to disable it every time you do a new install or reinstall. In addition to this, vLite is a slipstreaming tool that lets you customize the installation CD with third party applications or pre-patched files and service packs.

 

[nerp]

But what do you really need to disable in Vista? I can't remember disabling much, if anything after installing it and my machine is by no means hobbled or bogged down. It always seems like the people struggling to remove every last bit of data they don't need from Vista are doing it for aesthetic or emotional reasons, not performance reasons.

 

[KoolDrew]

But what do you really need to disable in Vista?

Nothing really. Some people just seem to think disabling things that aren't being used will help performance. Which would make perfectly logical sense if Vista was allocating resources for such services, but that's really not the case. If resources are needed by a particular process, resources are given in favor of that process over the the one not being used/needed.

The only good reason I see to use vLite is to use it as a slipstreaming tool, as mentioned above.

 

[Lobsang]

Whenever I install XP one of the first things I do is remove Windows Messenger, Outlook Express and a few other bits that I will never use. I know they don't take up much disk space or anything but i'd rather just not have them installed at all. Probably doesn't make much difference in real terms but it makes me feel better and being able to customise the install disk in that way would be really useful.

Slipstreaming updates and being to add your own programs to the install must save a lot of time and make it more convenient aswell.

 

[gba]

Slipstreaming is great... and I do like the idea of not installing components I will never be using... However, I have only just started with Vista, so I am curious to see for myself what the whole package is all about. I could see customizing my installs with this tool somewhere down the road but I see vLite more as a fun tweak toy than as something I would need to possess.

 

[Griffinhart]

So ultimately it saves disk space and nothing else? Back in the Win95 days I used to copy all of windows .cab files to my hard disk so I would never have to pull out my Windows Media to intsall a driver or windows componants. I'm perfectly happy to let Windows take up several Gig of space to accomplish the same thing. Disk space just isn't an issue for most people.

 

[Nothinman]

See, what's a 15GB footprint, compared to about 35GB my Ultimate uses for the Shadow Copies on my 300GB (279GB usable) Hard Drive...?

Over 50% more shadow copy information, for one.

Honestly, I don't buy the Hard Drive space saving issue - it is not a problem today.

It's not an issue of "OMG Vista doesn't fit on my drive!" it's an issue of "I'd rather use that space for data that I actually care about.

 

[JustaGeek]

How much can be gained...? 5GB...?

I would rather buy another drive.

Anyway, the only other reason I can think of would be corporate/work environment.

Choosing features that you want/need your employees to use makes more sense than saving the drive space.

I have an 80GB HD on my work Dell, and approximately 40 - 50GB just sits there anyway. Everything else is done thru the servers.

 

[Nothinman]

How much can be gained...? 5GB...?

I don't know, I haven't really looked at VLite. But the fact that I can get the same functionality with 1/5th of the drive space sure says something to me.

I would rather buy another drive.

So would I if I had the money to throw around.

I have an 80GB HD on my work Dell, and approximately 40 - 50GB just sits there anyway. Everything else is done thru the servers.

I've got that much space taken up by VMs on this machine alone.

 

[JustaGeek]

You know, the worst thing is that it "cripples" the system to the point that even SP1 installation might not be possible.

If I had to second-guess before installing updates, I would rather disable the unnecessary services.

 

[her209]

Originally posted by: JustaGeek
I am actually trying to find a logical reason behind a tool of this nature.

Why would the Hard Drive space be an issue, if the 320GB HD today costs about $70...?

If the "bloat" is a problem - disable the services.

If you don't need the features, and you MUST buy Vista - get the Basic.

Why would anyone even think of crippling an OS that you have purchased in the first place...?

You can't even install SP1 if you do that!

Can someone offer a good reason for vLite...?

Strip Windows down so it can be installed on Gigabyte i-RAM.

w00t!

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: JustaGeek
You know, the worst thing is that it "cripples" the system to the point that even SP1 installation might not be possible.

If I had to second-guess before installing updates, I would rather disable the unnecessary services.

I'm unable to install SP1 because I used it. When the final SP1 finally comes around, I'm going to be forced to do a full reinstall. That was something that didnt bother me 5-10 years ago, when I had all the free time in the world to reinstall windows 98 every month (and it needed it), but I just cant say I'm looking forward to an afternoon wasted reinstalling Vista, programs, configuring etc. I honestly can't say I actually gained anything meaningful by using it.

If I could have gone back, I'd NEVER have used the stupid thing in the first place.

 

[JustaGeek]

So we finally have the "first-hand" opinion, and it ain't pretty!

More and more I think about it, the tool is not only useless, but dangerous!

Do not need services - disable them!

Don't want your employees use built-in features - disable services, limit privileges!