Upgrade to Vista?

I use XP at work and on the laptop at home but carried on with Win98SE on my old workhorse PC. For my birthday I got a shiny new PC! So I've made the leap from 98 to Vista. I've taken to Vista in a way that I just never did with XP. Now I'm wishing that they would upgrade to Vista at work (not likely: too expensive and no benefits for higher education).

BTW I'd echo what Alfie says: if you think it is expensive in the US think about us in Europe paying *twice* the price that you do. I won't be buying it for the laptop and we'll wait until prices drop before we upgrade Kev's PC.

Any DirectX9 video card supports Vista. You can do quite well with a $100 card if you need an upgrade. The 8800-type card is only necessary if you want to run DirectX 10 games in Vista, of which there are none as of yet. The price on DX10 cards will come down over time of course.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Low-end cards will "work" with Vista, but they may not support Windows Aero, or the Aero UI may run poorly. DirectX9 graphics performance may suffer as well. Of course try what you have first, and only spend $$$ if your video card isn't cutting the mustard.

I recently upgraded my OS from XP and I'm glad I did. The computer is much more stable, and it runs quite a bit faster too. While with XP I had trouble with my printer and video card, the new system operates them perfectly: even the built-in scanner in the HP all-in-one that never worked in XP now works. Upgrading to Ubuntu was the smartest move that I ever made.

During our testing on the Vista Beta's and RC1, we noted that motherboard chipset made more of a difference in the operation of Vista features than the video card installed. A Dell Optiplex 620 (which comes with the 945 chipset) will run full-blown Vista, all features including the Aero interface working, off the onboard video.

The university is not permitting Vista on any networked computers until completion of our testing or the availability of the first service pack (which, strangely enough, should occur about the same time!). Since Microsoft support of Windows XP is thru 2011, there is no hurry to get on the Vista bandwagon.

In my testing, I noted while the surface looks new, if you tunnel down deep enough into the sub-menus, XP is still there. Vista is a new coat of paint on an old house. Maybe there is a new screen door too, but it is still the same house.

I believe Charles is right about the graphic requirements for running Vista, even with the Aero UI on. According to Microsoft, the Aero UI will work fine even on PCs that are not built for gaming, as long as they have a decent DirectX 9 capable card with 128 MB of video RAM and supports Pixar Shader 2.0. These specs are met by the majority of video cards built in the last 1-2 years, excluding some onboard graphic chips.

I've used Vista RC1 and RC2 versions on a system I own with a $130 Nvidia 7600GS card w/256 MB memory. I had all of the Aero features turned on without any perceivable slowdown. My suggestion for anyone concerned about their graphics card is to run the Vista Upgrade Advisor to see if your card supports Vista and Aero UI.

I'm glad I switched to Ubuntu as well. Microsoft sells spyware now since WGA in XP now its got an antivirus in Vista that will delete your files if microsoft doesn't want you to have them. Why would I want any OS sending information to Microsoft about what I've said online or other activities I have done online?

EDITOR'S NOTE: I'm glad you like Ubuntu Linux, but your claims about Windows are wildly off base. WGA is NOT spyware (See http://askbobrankin.com/is_genuine_advantage_spyware.html for more info) and your claim that Vista has anti-virus software that will delete your files is plain crazy. Do you have ANY credible evidence that MS is spying on your online activities or wantonly deleting your files?

Most of the tech rags I've read suggest waiting until you upgrade to a new box to avoid the headaches Vista may otherwise offer. While the upgrade functionality in Vista is evidently much superior to prior OS's, the numerous hardware requirements may mean a reduced functionality.

I know a few people who are dual booting to use Vista as some of their hardware and apps don't run there, so they have to drop back to XP for some tasks. As Chris put it, they don't have the time for that. Also note- if you have XP Pro, you can't upgrade to Vista Home editions.

One thing not mentioned is the issues around DRM. Digital Rights Management (that is , of the studios rights) is built in to Vista. I understand that if your entire hardware chain does not support the latest DRM, the media will not play. An HD-DVD movie for example may not play if you use a DVI video connection to your monitor because the superior quality of DVI does not have DRM built in. HDMI does. So video card, monitor, sound card, and certain mother board features all have to support this. If you think putting an HD-DVD player in your computer will let you play those DVD's, expect a surprise. And note that most computers now on the market do NOT meet this standard. So if you are into media on your computer, you may have 2 major upgrades in your near future - one for Vista, and another to let media play in Vista. Like waiting for the Blue-ray HD-DVD war to settle, its another reason to let hardware catch up to Vista before you invest. Same issue is taking place with wide screen TV's - capable may not be the same as ABLE with the new DRM.

WORTH READING: A Cost Analysis of Windows Vista Content Protection -- http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/vista_cost.html

Windows Vista includes an extensive reworking of core OS elements in order to provide content protection for so-called “premium content”, typically HD data from Blu-Ray and HD-DVD sources. Providing this protection incurs considerable costs in terms of system performance, system stability, technical support overhead, and hardware and software cost. These issues affect not only users of Vista but the entire PC industry, since the effects of the protection measures extend to cover all hardware and software that will ever come into contact with Vista. This document analyses the cost involved in Vista's content protection, and the collateral damage that this incurs throughout the computer industry.

I just installed Vista last weekend, and let me tell ya, I love it! I dont use any of the new features, it just really looks cool!! And it gave me a reason to upgrade my PC. A $70 diamond Radeon 9550 from walmart was more than enough to handle the new OS with zero conflicts. I shelled out a few bucks for another gig of RAM, but that was needed anyways! All-in-all even a four year old dell can handle vista flawlessly with the right upgrades!!! My only issue is that I cant sign in to my Hotmail account, this happened once before when I installed IE 7 with XP... Any advise on how to make my mail work on hotmail.com???

I put myself in a bit of a pickle. I purchased Vista Ultimate Upgrade for my WinXP Pro system. However, I have a hive error that requires a System Recovery of the original XP install disk (which I cant locate) and I thought the Vista upgrade would be able to assist (figured I kill two birds with one stone). Now I have a Vista upgrade and still cant boot my machine. Ugh.

EDITOR'S NOTE: No problem - you can do a FULL install with your "upgrade" edition. See http://askbobrankin.com/upgrade_to_vista.html

Well I think I might upgrade to VISTA, but probably not for at least another few months or so. My screen reader manufacturer already seems to have great VISTA support in the works, but I'm very happy with XP. BTW, I read on an email list that VISTA might stand for Visual Information Spoken To All.

EDITOR'S NOTE: I agree... stick with XP as long as it works for you. And Vista is not an acronym, just a play on the "view through the Window(s)" theme.

I am getting ready to purchase a new computer and pass my current one down to my 5 year old son. I like to take pictures with my digital camera and save them on the computer, somtimes I edit them and sometimes I do not. I create Newsletters, currently with Print Shop 21 - hoping to Upgrade. I do all kinds of things with Microsoft Office 2003. I am doing genealogy with Family Tree Maker. We like to play games ranging from Hoyle Book/Puzzle/Card Games to NeverWinter Nights I and II.

My question: will the new computer (XPS 410 - Intel Core2 Duo Processor E6300 (2MB L2 Cache,1.86GHz,1066 FSB) ) do all of this -- It comes with Vista - Is that a good idea on a new computer or not? Will the Core2 Duo and the Vista run with older software?

EDITOR'S NOTE: Sounds like it should run everything fine. But I know several smart techies who have decided to return to XP after trying Vista. I would still recommend XP.

The biggest complaint I have with Vista so far is that it tries too hard to save you from yourself. For example Vista makes it really hard to turn off enough of the goo-gaws and zowies that Microsoft seems to think are useful features to make the computer usable again. Most or all of the same controls over system appearancce and behavior are still there, but you really have to dig for them in some cases; all the while enduring endless warning dialogs helpfully informing you that you're about to do whatever it is that you have been trying so dilligently to do.

Another example of Vista's over-protectiveness is a program that I have that needs to dynamically register a number of plug-in DLLs on start-up. To run this progam in Vista I have to use the "Run As Administrator" option (and say OK to the inevitable helpful warnining dialog every time) EVEN WHEN I AM LOGGED IN AS AN ADMINISTRATOR!

The other caveat of course is that as with any major revision of Windows (I hesitate to use the word "upgrade" until at least the first SP comes out), it's likely to take hardware driver developers a while to catch up. Figure six months to a year. So some of your peripherals may not run right until their drivers have been through another rev or two. And of course some older stuff won't be seeing any new driver updates so if the old ones don't work with Vista you can kiss it goodbye.

I have VISTA Business on a SONY VAIO VGN-SZ notebook running OFFICE 2003. Here are my problems...

1. Have pinned WORD and EXCEL to the Start Menu but they don't work! They do however work with shortcuts on the Desktop. Any ideas why this?

2. OFFICE SOUNDS work OK but causes very jerky and slow mouse scrolling, especially in OUTLOOK 'sent items' and 'inbox' columns. I know this because I uninstalled SOUNDS and mouse scrolling worked normally. I reinstalled SOUNDS and mouse scrolling reverted to slow and jerky. I use Intellimouse updated for VISTA and ALPS Touchpad also updated for VISTA.

I have reported these things to MICROSOFT but no acknowledgement and NO SATISFACTION.

If you have any suggestions or advice I would be most grateful.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Vista is beta-test software. You are the tester...

We just finished an internal study with users, tech support, security, developers and bean counters, for a large multinational corporation. The bottom line was that Vista doesn't really add anything useful at all except for a very cool GUI.

And that GUI would be removed in the corporate default install anyway since we don't want to spend money to upgrade some 100.000+ PCs. The powers that be has now decided that Vista will only be allowed in lab/test situations, until Microsoft announces the end of support for XP.

Then we will decide if we should take the step to Vista.

Until then a new workgroup has been created to evaluate shifting our desktops to some Linux based platform.

The latter move was actually initiated by the bean counters, looks like they don't like to have their hands forced by a single software provider.

Vista looks cool and I guess looking cool is supposed to be expensive. Since I have XP Pro, upgrading is limited to Buisiness or Ultimate versions. If I am going to buy anything I want the full version. I think I will stick with what I have right now until I'm tired of hearing about Vista or my wallet gets too fat to close.

I just purchased a new PC with Vista Home Premium. Unfortunately, of you are an accountant, or tax consultant, Vista will not run QuickBooks 2006 or earlier. If you need to access a client's 2005, or 2006 QBooks files, work on them, and then give them back to the client as 2005 or 2006 files, this presents a huge problem. Vista will not run DOS applications either. And you will have a hard time connecting Vista to workgroups where XP is running.

Also, I was quite frustrated with the Adminstrator security. A user account that is an Administrator type account, cannot access files in the personal folders of other users. That seemed wierd.

Hi; Why always when I wanted to download from what you explain us my computer denied says the website I open is not safe or software is not a genuine ones. Why?.

EDITOR'S NOTE: If you're talking about links on this site, your security software is defective, and is generating false positives.

Thanks for this great article, I like XP more than vista, some settings on vista seem hard to control, I need use the 3rd tools to do these jobs, like winbubble, I think new OS vista is not easy to use, but I like the desktop style with vista.

Having just bought a brand new computer, i was looking forward to the Vista experience with great hopes. What a disaster it is. It can only be described a a peice of junk. At least with ,98,me,2000,XP the programme did what you wanted it to do, but now you get what the computer wants do do which is not always the same thing. Xp is far more superior than this piece of trash and the sooner i take this crap out the better..If you want to feel angry and disappointed them go for Vista.