OO Vista ?
Bart cd boot on its own Os , and it is windows xp (or somethink like it)?
I have made some tests on Xp's and windows 2000 , same results .Imho vista is not the problem.
but your salamander is vista ok , maybe you only need to upgrade the version to min 2.53.
Altap Salamander 2.53
* Full Windows Vista support (UAC elevation prompts).
* Switch to a newer version of the compiler (Microsoft Visual C++ 2008).
* Both 32 and 64 bit versions to bypass WOW64 limitations.
If you need a salamander like there is total commander
www.ghisler.com/accueil.htm vista compliant to.