Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium UPGRADE [DVD] [OLD VERSION] Reviews

• Yikes.

  
  By ARFIJFQRWPML7 on 2007-02-06
  Wow, I don't even know where to begin. Here's the horrifying details (so far)...
  
  1. Installation. I heard the rumors about long installations. I can't tell you how long mine took because it finished sometime after I went to bed, about six hours after I had started.
  
  2. Internet. This one almost brought me to tears. Vista kept setting up two network connections, one to my wireless network, and one to a mysterious "unidentified network." The troubleshooter told me Vista had two active connections and that was causing the problem. Simple right? Disable the "unidentified network" connection. Poof, there went my wireless with it. Enable my wireless, back comes the mystery network. I actually knocked out wireless to my entire house at one point in this circle of doom. Finally, as a stab in the dark, I manually disabled all network adapters on my machine except the wireless adapter. And that's why I'm able to write this review now...
  
  3. Incompatibility. I knew there would be problems. Norton Ghost was good as gone, but I knew that. Then my antivirus turned out to be a no go. A few other applications would surely need upgrades. But ITUNES??? Come on! I could also list the games that used to run but no more, but this review is already getting long enough.
  
  4. Hiding my stuff. I no longer own my My Music folder. I mean, Vista security TELLS me I'm the owner, but "permission is denied." I found a workaround on Microsoft's website "...sometimes you may lose access to your My Music folder during the upgrade." Oh that's lovely. By digging into the deep hidden folders per their instructions I found my music, and copied it to the desktop. At one point the file copy dialog box said "Moving files, 44,519 days remaining." I wish I was making that up. Fortunately Vista was over-estimating that a little.
  
  5. New Features that don't work. I paid the extra dough and bought the premium version of Vista. The aero look is very cool. For about 3 minutes. Then I get a message saying "The desktop manager has stopped working." And I'm back to Vista Basic. That extra $50 may not have been money well spent.
  
  6. The new Media Player won't play my newly rescued songs. It tells me it thinks many of my songs are on the I: drive. (I don't have an I: drive)
  
  7. Things can get awful slow. My machine is four months old. It's dual-core, 2 Gig of memory, dual graphics cards, top of the line mobo. Under XP it flew. It wasn't broke. So I upgraded to Vista, you know, to break it.
  
  Okay, that's enough. You get the idea. I had a few small XP gripes so I thought I'd try Vista. Bad mistake. Big ugly bad mistake. Vista may be great someday, but for me it's been 72 hours of hell.
  
  At least I can uninstall, can't I... I can't? D'OH!!!
  
  (And yes, I used the Vista Upgrade Advisor)
  
  

• I Did My Best

  
  By A1KDQXZHQIG5QG on 2007-02-04
  I made this comment (now edited) to someone else's review, but for potential buyers, seems like it ought to be a review of its own:
  
  For me, upgrading to Vista from the factory installed Windows XP Media Center Edition didn't work as promised. My system is compulsively up-to-date. I ran the Upgrade Advisor from Microsoft AND from Sony, and both said my system was fine, good-to-go. Upgrade away.
  
  So I inserted the Vista Home Premium Upgrade version disc, but it wouldn't install, kept shutting down, requiring that I input the Product ID over and over and over, not getting past 21% of the Expanding Files section. A post on one of the Amazon boards mentioned NOT inserting the Product ID until after the installation and selecting the Custom instead of Upgrade option. Oddly, that worked. Vista installed.
  
  It is a beautiful thing. I want it. Someday I hope to have it.
  
  But it wouldn't activate, said I had to have the full version Vista Home Premium, not the upgrade version. After scanning my system, it couldn't tell me that during the "Advisor" stage? Resigned to a quagmire, I took the upgrade version back to the store (CompUSA). They wouldn't accept it (no returns of open software). Bright light of hope, the tech manager PROMISED that the Home Premium Upgrade already in my hands would, in fact, work fine on the factory installed XP system. (His name is Abel, but I think maybe he isn't.)
  
  All I had to do? Restore my computer to factory condition (Sony VIAO desktop RA910G) then reinstall the Vista. Since all the updates, drivers and files were current, with documents securely backed up, I decided, what the heck -- worst thing that happens is my computer is fresh and new.
  
  Not exactly. Same boat. And on top of the Vista STILL not installing, I have my computer back to factory condition, meaning that years of security and software updates are re-required. The snazzy Windows Media Player 11 that once managed all my music and videos won't upgrade beyond Media Player 10, ergo, the music download company I use (URGE) won't install into my system, ergo, aaaaargh, I have a cramp.
  
  I haven't even reloaded Photoshop or my working software yet. I'm feeling another day of headache (going on 18 hours of actual involvement at this point with more to come).
  
  I hope someone can offer a helpful solution. I can't find one at Microsoft's site or via Google. Although my computer is more or less in working order, Windows Media Player is downgraded and Media Center doesn't open at all. My entire system is less than it was and that's unacceptable.
  
  In the meantime, I agree with others that although this is a very beautiful product, the WOW factor could be described in less enthusiastic terms and late in the evening, in more colorfully expressed four-letter terms.
  
  UPDATE: It finally works, a lengthy and frightening experience all around, but with so much trial and error, I found the combination that worked for my system and maybe yours, if you're having the same problem described above. See INSTALLATION & ACTIVATION: FINALLY in the Customer Discussion area for this product.
  
  

• Don't buy it... yet.

  
  By A2TA38SR5YVKE4 on 2007-02-06
  Stupid, stupid, stupid. I usually have a better head on my shoulders and don't rush out and buy the new operating system until it has some of the bugs worked out, I don't know what I was thinking this time. So now I have a beautiful operating system on which none of my programs will run. Talk about frustrating. I guess I'll put this away until they have a version that works. Oh well, live and learn.
  
  

• "WOW" Vista ruined my computer

  
  By AKTY6MVVS7JYT on 2007-02-02
  "WOW" Vista deletes Windows XP
  "WOW" My Vista installation failed
  "WOW" My computer doesn't start up anymore
  "WOW" MS tech support does not know how to use Vista
  "WOW" I can't re-install Vista upgrade because the 1st install deleted XP
  "WOW" I have to reinstall windows XP, then SP 1 + 2, then Vista again
  "WOW" MS tech support has no back up plan for failed installations
  
  "WOW" "NOW" I am a mac user....
  
  

• What a mess. Vista is just eye candy that doesn't work.

  
  By A1E1DBX52O3KZQ on 2007-02-02
  What a mess. Don't buy this product. If you have Windows XP, you've got what you need. If your word processor works fine, your spread sheet works and all your other programs work well, then don't mess them up with this awful product. Vista is just eye candy. How much time do you spend in Windows anyway . . . you use your programs! Installing Vista is just going to put your programs at risk - If you install Vista, your computer will VERY likely FAIL and then you're OUT of your computer.
  
  
  Remember - Vista deletes Windows XP - so you can't go back if something goes wrong . . . and it will. This program is very unstable.
  
  My Vista installation failed and the computer doesn't even start up any more.
  
  Microsoft tech support does not know how to use Vista. They have shipped their tech support to INDIA! You can't even understand their broken English!! (Not to mention that it takes over an hour to talk to someone.)
  When you do get in touch with them, they have no idea what to do if your installation fails!!
  
  I repeat . . . You can't re-install Vista upgrade because the 1st install deletes XP. When it deletes XP, you have to go find the service packs I and II. Good luck there!
  
  Don't risk this product on your computer. If you have Windows XP, and everything works . . . stick with it. This product isn't going to make them work any better. The hassles of this product are not worth the eye candy you're buying.
  
  Vista is for newly purchased computers. (And they hype it to get you to go out and buy one!)
  
  
• Read The Negative Vista Reviews With A Grain Of Salt
  By A343JEP7ADY2YD on 2007-03-19
  There are a lot of fanatical haters of Microsoft and its products. For some reason Linux geeks and Apple Mac enthusiasts love to attack Microsoft. You see this hateful behavior where ever Microsoft products are reviewed. You even find hateful attacks on Microsoft on the financial boards at sites like Yahoo. My evaluation of Vista Home Premium is that it's a pretty good Operating System but there will be some issues with device drivers on older machines. Vista also requires a lot more horsepower, a dual core processor and a minimum of 2 gigs of RAM. The OS is very stable with good security features. The graphics are particularly nice. However, I see no compelling reason to upgrade from Windows XP at this early stage. I would wait about a year and then simply buy a new computer with Vista already preinstalled. That's my honest evaluation. (Expect to see negative comments and ratings about my review from the same people that attack Microsoft).
  
  
• Totally Over-hyped, Mac Had All This and more in 2005 - LOL
  By A14MS3IY3XQDEL on 2007-02-01
  I have both Mac and Windows (2 of each), and what it would take to upgrade most PC's to be Vista is obscene, especially if you have a system that's older than a year (we all know how fast systems become outdated), and you want to upgrade to a version that has the new advancements that practically everyone who's looking to upgrade wants.
  
  Vista actually crippled my (Microsoft labeled 4.3 out of 5.0 possible system rated) PC upon running the install, particularly when ms tech support came on line and destroyed any chance I had of retrieving my data, since my backup drive was likewise impacted. Just wait until you get a load of them, they speak atrocious almost impossible to understand, less comprehend English.
  
  Anyway, after a complete nightmare, I had to format my drive, start from scratch with an old Windows 98 to XP upgrade, followed by 2GB's of ms downloads and countless patches. Then I installed a clean version of vista. All told I started the repair process (if that's what you want to call it) at 4:30pm and finished up around 10pm.
  
  If you are not computer savvy, get a friend who is or check into a place where you can have it done.
  Whatever you do - DO NOT choose upgrade when you get to the point of installing vista, and back everything you have up, if possible to an external source and remove this device until the move to vista has been completed. Better to be safe than be sorry (screwed my ms).
  
  So after installing the ultimate vista, it's actually nothing I have not seen 2 years ago on my Mac. If you want a Mac without owning a Mac then Vista's for you. But I don't understand why folks would run out and drop a load on PC updates for older PC's, particularly if they do not get to the professional or ultimate level where any real changes over XP are clearly evident. I wonder if Apple will pursue litigation against MS, some of the features are blatant copy cats that a 3 year old child could identify. Widgets from Mac vs. Gadgets from MS? And there's more, actually funny, and it doesn't really bother me since I don't have stock in Apple or Microsoft, and I have to use both systems so it works for me.
  
  Again, I cannot stress greatly enough the dire need to backup and NOT choose upgrade for the install process. Run the Vista upgrade advisor from ms website and methodically make your decision(s).
  
  BTW, quite a few programs will not work with vista, and you'll be shown which, so you may need to make your decision after viewing that list. It will also show you any problems with hardware/settings and such. You will have to delete most anti-virus and 3rd party system software's as well, so if you have $ tied up in subscriptions, you better think twice and or investigate as some if not most of these will not work later with Vista.
  
  I can only give this 2 stars due to the seriously flawed method in which ms has chosen to deliver the product. The actual product here is fairly good, but I can guarantee a whole lot of people will spend a whole lot of dinero only to be disappointed by their systems performance. That along with neutering of
  a few things we had before...AHEM.
  
  Best advice, be careful, very, very careful. Check to see if your PC will even benefit from an upgrade and deliberate long and hard before you spend a pretty good chunk of change of PC upgrades.
  
  In the long run you may be better of waiting and buying a new PC, or a new Mac which will have a brand new OS in February call Leopard. If you only are going to have one computer, and you're thinking of jumping to a Mac, you owe it to yourself to wait and check it out. The cost factor is now neck and neck when you compare the bang for your buck, because Mac's come bundled with a ton of software,
  and will easily run Office and other apps you need.
  
  Heck, the new Intel iMacs will even run vista, but why would you want to, you'll have all that Vista has and more with the Mac software Leopard. I guess we will see MS release Vista-2010 to catch up to that. I wonder why it is that Mac is always 3-4 years ahead of MS? Could be that since MS is so large and cumbersome, it's easier for Apple to maneuver in the mainstream.
  
  
  
• If it comes with a new computer ok, DON'T UPGRADE TO VISTA
  By A2GM1DYJQI5PXH on 2007-01-30
  Vista feels good and looks good. If it comes with a new computer go for it. If you are an XP user stay with XP until your computer dies. If you have lots of time to spare, money to buy updates for your existing software, money for more memory, money for a larger hard drive... then go for it. To get Vista to work I had to do a clean install, then reinstall all my programs. Pc-cillian, the recommended Virus checker mucked things up so another clean install this time using AVG, an excellent virus checker. A couple of my photo editing programs, Photoshop Elements and Picasa had issues with Vista and my HP Slide scanner would not work, driver issues. Then.. Vista's Windows Media Player, forget it. Use WinAmp, an excellent media player. My D-link media server would not work with Vista, firewall issues between my wireless router and Vista. I reinstalled XP with AVG virus and I'm back in business.
  
  
• New Features
  By AZ6CNPR29TQFZ on 2007-01-31
  I've used a beta copy of Vista since early in its development, and using XP after getting used to Vista really is a pain. The new user interface really makes it a lot more fun to use, and makes a lot of common tasks like file searching and basic maintenance stuff like defragging your hard drive and keeping Windows updated a lot easier.
  
  Vista shares some features with OS X, but remember that Vista's been in development years before OS X was released. Many of these features have been in Vista since early, pre-release builds predating OS X.
  
  My biggest gripe is that it *does* have hefty hardware requirements (make sure you go to Microsoft's website and run their Upgrade Advisor!) and uses about double the memory XP does. If you have a fast enough PC to run everything in the ultra-shiny mode and you're currently running XP, you really have no excuse not to upgrade right now and enjoy a much smoother Windows.
  
  Other than the user interface, the new built-in DVD authoring software is amazing, and plays nice with Windows Movie Maker. I personally like the new Windows Media Player better than most others I've used, and Windows Explorer is a lot more secure in Vista due to technical changes they've made since XP.
  
  If not, wait until you buy your next computer; get Vista then. Also, beware a lot of griping from anti-Microsoft zealots with axes to grind; go to your Best Buy or Circuit City or wherever and see if you can use a Vista computer and see for yourself before buying.
  
  
• A Review for the Reviews
  By AC7ADC3G3L5NW on 2007-02-20
  Ok, so i have been looking over the reviews for this product for the past couple of weeks and it seems like the people that are complaining, are complaining about the same exact things. It's either they hate the fact that Microsoft stole some things from Apple, or they had problems with installation and certain programs aren't working right.
  
  For those people who think that their "almighty" mac is the creation of spontaneous genius, lets point out something that is apparent. Apple, for the most part, stole the way their security system works from Linux. Now I am not saying that Microsoft is not guilty of "stealing" ideas from Apple, because i would be a liar. But the fact remains that Apple has a very polished OS, and now the Windows people get to experience that same thing for the first time without having to drop a ton of money on a Mac desktop or notebook.
  
  For those people who have had problem with Vista running correctly, it seems like you guys have a problem with reading. First off, the upgrade advisor gives you many good suggestions about what you should do before and after upgrading. Secondly, there is stuff all over the internet and microsofts website about what should be in your computer for it to run correctly. You can not hold microsoft responsible for the fact that you missed the fine print, or didnt take the time to carefully research before you upgraded.
  
  Before upgrading, i did everything microsoft and hp recommended i do. The installation was a breeze, took only about 45 minutes, and i have not had one problem with the new OS. Everything works fine, and all it takes is some research. Microsoft added a very nice program to Vista called the compatibility wizard, which will determine if a program you have is compatible with Vista and whether or not your going to have problems with the program after downloading it. Dont buy this OS if all your going to do is complain about it and critique it to a point where no one will want to buy it based on your own ignorance to read instructions and warnings.
  
  I love this new OS and am satisfied completely with it. By the way, if you're a student like me, check for websites that sell the upgrade at a lower price. I only had to pay 69 even for it.
  
  
  
• Doesn't Come Packaged With 64-bit Version!?
  By AFSND7ZMCBTAM on 2007-01-30
  I just purchased Vista Home Premium Upgrade, and I opened it up only to find an insert in the packaging that says if I want the 64-bit version, I have to order it separately from Microsoft.
  
  Wasn't the 64-bit support the whole point of Vista!? I know I didn't pay $159.99 for a slightly new interface!
  
  While the DVD is free, you still have to pay shipping... not to mention wait for something you thought you were getting now.
  
  
  
• The worst OS there is!!!!
  By A7U6T9UASPDOX on 2007-02-01
  I got this vista upgrade the other day. I was really excited about this upgrade. When i was done downloading it. The desktop came up and I WAS JUST LIKE XP BUT THE ICONS WHERE BIGGER AND IT HAD A COOL BACKROUND. I was bot able to get internet connection because my wireless modem wasn't compadable for vista. Also i didn't have the 3-d compadablittiy. I also have a vista capable sticker and i guess.... I had to reformat my comp. for xp. I was on the phone with this indian guy for 3 HOURS!!!!
  
  Bottom line: WORST UPGRADE AND OS SYSTEM EVER!!!
  
  
• Wow I'm broke
  By A38QWHPD5UIXOD on 2007-02-05
  I have a sony vaio that is 9 months old, I bought the vista home premium upgrade and it has cost me $400 including the upgrade to get it to work like the ad's show. If I'd have known this I would have waited a year. This is a total rip off and lack of information from microsoft, they say your computer is ready to upgrade but the cool features wont work unless you spend $150 on a new graphics card and have 1 gig of memory. My mac mini which I bought a year ago does everything that vista does. Once you buy the software you are commited to get it to work. Stick with XP, it works, my browser keeps freezing with vista so I have to go.....
  
  
• You are going to like Vista
  By A2IN7XLUR9L6VW on 2006-12-26
  Like the first reviewer, I have been beta testing Vista for six months,
  and have been running RC-2 (Build 5744) since it was made available to
  people in the test program.
  
  Increased security and the ease to find any file by just going to "search"
  are but two of the new features I think you will enjoy.
  Since I send a lot of picture and video files, having a small thumbnail available for all files at time of entry into the system, was a big improvement.
  
  Much has also been said about the 3-D and flip page features and other
  bells and whistles. (many of these require a very good graphics card)
  
  Be sure to run the Vista test program available on the Microsoft website
  to see which version of Vista will run best on your computer.
  
  You will find Vista very easy to use, and an improvement over Windows XP.
  
  
  
  
• Licensing
  By A259BO3OXMR67V on 2007-01-30
  Im somewhat disappointed in this product, not in the actual product itself but the licensing terms behind it are too constricting. Once you install this version of windows on your computer you cannot install it again on another computer. It costs $50 to buy an extra license and for families it gets quiet expensive. All I wanted to to is put vista on my main computer and laptop and to charge an extra $50 just so I can use a product I already bought on 2 computers seems outrageous. Also the upgrade version involves you having a previous version of windows on your computer before installation which also seems idiotic considering installing a new OS is better with a clean install so it will run smoother. If I were windows I would have given 3 serials per box just so people with multiple computers can install, if Microsoft still thinks each household only has one computer theyre sadly mistaken and im sure not going to buy extra licenses for a product I should already own.
  
  
• Do Not, Do Not, Do Not Upgrade to Vista
  By A1GEWWM0LU19W6 on 2007-05-05
  I liked Vista for the first week of use, by the second week of use I thought it was no better than XP, by the third or fourth week ME was starting to look good by comparison, now, after six weeks, the number of problems I'm having with Vista makes Windows 3.0 (previously the worst version of Windows I had used) seem not so bad.
  
  There have been a number of positive reviews posted which attack the negative reviewers--I guess they are just using a different version of Vista than I am using. I find about 10% of what the positive reviewers say to be accurate and about 75% of what the negative reviewers say to be accurate.
  
  My major issues are:
  --incredibly slow and often aborted installation
  --incompatible with many current, up-to-date programs
  --conflicts with Media Player 11 and Outlook 2002--both are Microsoft programs
  --the inane security questions are even worse than the Apple ads make them sound (I am no fan of Apple, but I may have to reconsider that opinion)
  --standard Control Panel functions have been renamed and are often unfindable (Don't they understand that if THEY establish standards THEY should stick with those standards?)
  --speaking of standards--I hated My Documents, My Music, My Bla-bla-bla, but I got used to them, good luck figuring out where the heck these files are after you install vista
  --you can no longer control how your desktop looks
  --under XP I was appropriately considered the Administrator of my own single-user computer, but Vista decided I was not--causing major problems
  --I have spent about 30 hours dealing with Vista-related problems
  --my total hardware and software upgrade costs to become Vista compatible (on a machine that was rated as Vista compatible already) approximately $300
  --if I could get those costs back and go back to XP I would do it an instant
  --even more than in the past, this operating system says to you: do it Microsoft's way or don't do it all
  If I could give Vista 0 stars I would.
  
  
  
  
  
• No 64-bit Version
  By A34DMALKZX8KXP on 2007-01-30
  I'm actually adding to the earlier reviewer's comments regarding the 64-bit version. Ordering the DVD for the 64-bit version is NOT free. They charge $9.95 for the DVD and then tack on another $6 if you want "expedited" shipping and handling. This "expedited" shipping is via DHL and reduces your wait to receive the DVD from "up to 10 days" to "up to 5 days". There is no option to order the media overnight or anything else.
  
  So yeah, if you want the operating system to take advantage of your 64-bit processor, and want Windows to give more than 2 GB of RAM to any given application (a big deal if you work with 3D software like I do), you need to either buy Ultimate or wait a week or two to get the media.
  
  My real gripe is that there is NOTHING on the box stating this. In fact, the box even says "32-bit or 64-bit processor" for the system requirements. And of course, once you've opened the box to discover this shortcoming you are stuck. You can't return it and buy Ultimate instead.
  
  
• Waaahhhh!
  By A236YDIPI01E16 on 2007-01-31
  Your OS now looks similar to mine (stomp, kick, scream)! How dare you!
  
  For a group that fancies itself as being so cool, the Mac crowd certainly is a bunch of whiners. Stop your anti-Microsoft ranting and go back to your $3,000 toys and the 10 or so software programs that it supports. Let the people that have actually TRIED Vista comment on it OK?
  
  How a Mac devotee can review a Windows OS is beyond comprehension, because if you are such a Mac loyalist I believe you can lose your Club Card for using a Microsoft product.
  
  I've only had Vista for a day now, so it's too early for a comprehensive review. But it looks sleek and was easy as pie to install. I'm sure we'll get the first SP in a couple of months though as the bugs are discovered.
  
  
• PURE JUNK!!!
  By A2P27NPMKDL2Z6 on 2007-03-24
  Tried upgrading my new HP Pavilion from XP MCE to Vista Home Premium and just about ruined my computer. Advisor said my computer was just right for the upgrade. HAH!!! After the 4 hour installation, Just about 50% of my "updated" software would NOT work or just went nuts. The computer locked up constantly and didn't recognize most of my new peripherals...HP laserjet, Canon scanner and even the HP built in card readers and so on. It even told me my Quicken operating files were messed up but my data was ok...HUH? I use Quicken about 6 times in Vista before this little gem popped up. It told me to reload Quicken...Quicken came pre-installed with the computer! It won't run AVG or NERO or much of anything. HP Customer service gave up on me, one of them even told me the OS is junk. It's just a resource PIG and offers NOTHING that XP doesn't do faster and better. Just looks pretty( glad I got it from HP for free). Next nightmare, try to get rid of this POS! All the recovery and backup discs it told me to make before the install were useless! Thank God I spent the 16 bucks and bought the original software discs from HP or I would have an expensive brick on my desk. Anyway, I had to delete the backup partition, format the hard drive and wait 14 hours for the factory discs to restore my confusser back to the state it was in when I bought it. Then I had to spend another 5 hours doing the windows update thing and installing my own software. I guess the new units that come with Vista work ok but you only have a 50/50 chance of it working on your existing computer. BTW, my computer is no slouch, AMD 4600+ CPU 2.4 GIGs, 2 GIGs of ram...nothing low end or cheap in it.
  So my advice, spend your money on something you can actually use and stay as far away from this horrible software as you can. Macs and Linux are looking better all the time because Microsoft has hit their limit.
  Don't just take my word for it, read the other reviews. Google the ting and read all the horror stories, wish I did so I wouldn't have had to go through this hell.
  
  
• DON'T DO IT
  By A39QWHEOJI7WLC on 2007-04-16
  I wanted a new computer, so a couple months ago I ordered an HP computer that happened to have Vista on it. I thought, "oh great, I'll get the newest OS as well"... major mistake.
  
  1. Didn't work with my perhipherals, including my scanner and an HP PRINTER. For god's sake, the COMPUTER'S AN HP, why won't it work with an HP printer!? If they knew the drivers for perhipherals weren't ready, why the did they release the OS and force us to buy it?
  
  2. Annoying security feautres, constantly asking permissions to install software. Just like the Apple ads-- a total joke.
  
  3. After struggling with the damn thing for 2 days, I decided to try to install old trusty xp on it... $200 later, guess what? You CANT INSTALL an earlier operating system! Booting from the CD doesn't work either, you get the blue screen of death. Maybe some tech geek can do it, but I'm done wasting time with this thing.
  
  4. All that agony, for what? The "fancy" interface? Who cares what it looks like, I just want to use my damn scanner! I'm sure all those slick effects suck up RAM and resources, for what functional purpose? Just to look more like mac?
  
  5. ... Speaking of which, I am now switching to. Goodbye windows, after 15 years of struggling with your crappy software, I'm done.
  
  
• Special Problems for students
  By ARK5SAGVLW3FY on 2007-04-17
  Everything the negative reviewers say is true and MORE. Please note the following as well:
  1. If you are a college student taking a class online that uses Blackboard software, Vista will prevent you from posting to the class discussion board and answering any fill-in-the-blank or discussion questions on TESTS! To fix this download the FoxFire browser (free) and use it to access your course. Because Vista uses so much memory and is already so huge, they had to drop quite a few little programs that software needs to access in the Operating system.
  
  2. HUGE MEMORY AND HARD DRIVE DRAIN.
  Look at this comparison
  Windows XP Professional Size on drive 1.5 gig Memory requirements 128 MB
  
  Windows Vista Needs 15 GIG To Load. Does not say how large the program is but I wouldn't think its small!!! Memory requirements 1 GIG!
  
  If you check the DELL website you will see that they recommend that you have 2 gig of memory to use Windows Vista. That is a few $$$ worth of memory just to run the operating system while openning a program. Try running a game or doing animation with that kind of a sink hole in your system! The less memory you have available, the slower everything, including websites will load (no matter how fast your internet connection)
  
  What is worse is that to fix what is wrong with it (ie replace all those small programs your software expects to find in the operating system), they will have to ADD patches that can only make it bigger and hungrier for memory!
  
  This is the most pathetic excuse for an upgrade that I have ever seen. I would expect some lawsuits before this is over! DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT.
  
  
• Beautiful
  By AU777V4GGORSC on 2007-02-02
  There seems to be a load of negative reviews which surprises me because it seems like a beautiful OS. Also just to clarify I run only 512 Ram and have no problems. One note is that you may need to do a clean install. I first tried to install it while keeping all my files, but I was told certain files needed to be deleted and access denied for some of these. I backed up my important files and went to install through dos with a restart, this didn't work becuase with the upgrade disk you must install through windows. Next I need a step that I don't think I needed to be resetting my computer to factory using my Toshiba restore disks. After that was done I used the windows vista disk again this time clicking custom install which is really clean install, this can be done without restarting your system to factory.
  
  I think the easier thing is to backup your data and select custom install. Anyway I am now up and running and I love it it looks visually beautiful and has a much more organised and clean look than xp. Don't be discouraged by the negative reviews. Also for everyone that says you need an XP disk to use the upgrade it isn't true you just need xp the vista intallation will detect if you have xp or not. Don't try and install through dos as it won't work.
  
  
• Upgrade? NOT!
  By A9WIMRZ3FO6A1 on 2007-02-21
  If you want Vista, buy a new computer. The upgrade is ridiculous, crashes my machine, and the incompatibilities are a mile long. I doubt I will ever get the upgrade to work, and I am a fairly sophisticated computer user.
  
  Also, the marketing claims it comes with both 32-bit and 64-bit, which is patently untrue - you have to send away for the 64 bit, which costs an additional $10.
  
  Take a pass, buy a new computer in a few years with it pre-installed.
  
  Really disappointing
  
  
• BUYER BEWARE!!!!
  By A1C9DKOMULQ6IP on 2007-02-18
  This is the worse OS that I have ever worked with. I am sick and tired of fighting with it everytime I just want to rename a file. (the pointer keeps changing into a "clock" and booting me out of the prompt). I ASSume that its the indexer, but am tired of dealing with it and the many other things this joke of an OS does to use up resources. (btw, I bought a very highend system that had vista home premium preloaded)
  
  Dont get vista!!
  
  
• Awful.
  By AES2XUX2IRIJA on 2007-01-30
  Bill gates probably was running short of his multi-billion dollars and needed some extra pocket change. You need special amounts of memory and more money to upgrade to 64 bit. The apple commercials are right. You do need major upgrades to get vista. I went back to xp. I'm done with windows for good.
  I'm going to sell my computer and go to my macbook. Runs faster, and doesnt need special crap.
  
  
• Vista, Moore and Homer Simpson
  By A3U0RWW7HN9QAI on 2007-10-04
  Sorry, Amazone will not take a negative 1 star for vista!
  
  
  Vista, Moore and Homer Simpson
  
  How do they tie together?
  Gordon Moore, Chairman of Intel made a self fulfilling prophecy that every 18 months his engineers managed to pack twice as many transistors in same silicon area. And became partly responsible for filling up the landfills, changing India into major exporter of C++ speaking programmers, American suburbs into Springfields housing Simpson clone families, and of course turn Microsoft into Umbrella corporation and windows into T-virus that you can not run away from. If he had made wrong observation and said 12 months, we would be on turbo ride to doom. He could have said 24 months and our doom buggy would run at the speed of Windows Vista.
  
  But what is wrong with windows Vista?
  It is different. Changes are good; the cliché' goes.
  Yes, it is different but for sake of being different. Smart people realize that being different for no good reason is no good. Richard Fynman invented a whole set of symbols he used in his mathematics, and realized that it was stupid. Being helpful and humble (one heck of a guy and smart enough to later bag Nobel for Physics) he promptly corrected his mistake and went back to using the good old symbols used by everyone from Newton to Ramanujan to Hawking. Microsoft, the all powerful god of our times does not need to be humble, smart. They could buy Nobel and all the heck of guys including me and you. Their armies of programmers had to be fed and kept busy, like the armies of Temur. Feed them, keep them fighting, they will land you the world. Keep them idle, they will destroy all. Leave these programmers, they will go invent something useful instead of day after day coding lines of useless changes.
  
  What is different in Vista?
  Menu's are in different places, icons are called different names and do different things and since darn Moore said 18 months to double density of transistors, they reasoned that the same CPU will run twice as fast so they could let vista eat twice as much computation power and so Johanny will need a new computer in 18 months so he could play Doom at the same speed without getting frustrated. Mom and dad will very willingly buy a new laptop with Centrino Duo double core processor (the 18 month rule is gagging to keep alive; need two processors) and old one goes to landfill, everyone is happy, parent happy to give out guilt money and food chain from Micorsoft down to the lowly computer tech happy to take it.
  And yet, the real meat is still the same. It takes several clicks to get to Internet properties and there, the real tech stuff goes back to the old XP, a far cay from the earlier windows that was bad enough. In nutshell, as my boss would say; "it is a dressed up pig." Insides of vista are just as rotten but we were used to it, outsides are dressed up so much that we have to learn it again! It is a damn operating system; and anyone who understands, operation system is just a necessary evil. I may want to spend my time learning an application like Autocad or Photoshop, not the operating system. I would put it this way: If I want to build an aero plane, vista is like spending my time learning the psychology of my union worker rather then aerodynamics. Search function does not search, control panel icons (even under the "classical view") are moved, renamed and cryptic. The funny thing about Control panel in classical view is that if you did get it to do something the program pops up a window literally telling us: "Did it work? Wow! Well then"
  Remember that good old add/remove programs icon? Look for it now. The networking icon opens windows where there are strange selection items that don't mean much which is fine because even if they did mean anything, you are just going to face meaningless windows popping up. Useless warnings bounce around, eating your CPU cycles, printers and other attachments don't work or you have to download drivers that don't download or if they do, they don't really work. But the all knowing Microsoft marketing has the answer. You can run vista in dual mode: vista and XP on the same machine. Of course you have to buy vista and XP for those law abiding zombies. If I had my choice, I would be in business of selling bikinis (Less for more) and vista (More for bad) With vista, they screw up and we pay for the old screw up and the new screw up.
  
  Maybe I don't appreciate the millions poured in vista product definition. To keep programmers busy, they had to design a "new" operating system (WHY?) that is easy to use (read, designed for Simpson's. If you are not one, you will be one.) And so here is my connection; poor Moore made an innocent observation. The industry took it to heart and lived by it. So did Mark Goering of Simpson's who had an image of middle class American family and made a show so popular that the middle class American family rose to fill up that that mould. Vista, figuring that they had to write software that would do the same thing as its predecessor but at twice the CPU power brought us vista. They decided to use their armies of Tartars (oops, programmers) but having run out of creative juices and drunk on power they decided to make the vista that even Homer could use it. And so, slowly but steadily we wind down to Homerian stage of evolution.
  
  If you have not yet figured out, my suggestion is, next time when the Moore's 18 month period has your computer in blues and you have to buy a new one, stick to bad XP and avoid the ugly vista. Unless you are a sadist who enjoys learning operating systems.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Not worth the headache, yet.
  By A353XW8PTWNH13 on 2007-02-04
  Vista may be a good upgrade a year down the road, but not yet.
  Many hardware manufacturers have no drivers for vista.
  Looks nice on the eyes, but works as slow as windows 95.
  Will give it another try after its been out a while. But for now I will stick with xp pro. I like speed and stability.
  
  
• Not worth it
  By A32IDF7JFAPXAG on 2007-02-06
  I was really looking forward to this. I went the day it came out and bought it from best buy, after they told me it would work with my Sony Vaio pc. I got it home and installed it. When it was installing I had to delete my Norton Internet Security and my external HD program. Then when it finally installed nothing worked. My keyboard, my outlook abd many other programs. I called Best Buy and they said they would install it. So there went 130 dollars from my pocket. Then I got it home after 4 days (when I had just had it there for a week getting windows xp reinstalled.) I got it homw and couldn't wait. It still did not work. I bring it in and they say "oh well your video card is not the correct kind. If you get one we will install it free." So there went 180 dollars more out of my pocket. Then I get it home and the video card makes my pc monitor go off after 10 minutes. As it had a year before. So not I havespent about $600 at best buy trying to get vista working. I am going to return vista tomorrow and tell them I want my money I paid them to install it back. Vista is not worth everything you have to go through. You get it and you will probably have to upgrade your memory, video card, hard drive ect. If you have ever seen the comerchial with the mac and pc guy and the mac is asking him why he's upset and the pc guy is saying because hey are installing vista in me IT IS 100% TRUE. I will soon be getting an apple lap top. But forget about vista. Its like taking a new cold pill that makes you worse and makes you have to get all kinds of medical work done on yourself after you tke it. Shame on you Microsoft. SHAME!!!!
  
  
• Caution Ahead
  By A2WCZZ304SM5HC on 2007-02-11
  I am stunned at how poorly Microsoft has handled Windows Vista. Like several other reviewers, I ran the Vista diagnostic before purchasing and was told only one program wouldn't work. After install 5 programs wouldn't work and, you guessed it, it's not the fault of Vista. The programs are "old." All of 6 months old in one case and not more than 18 months in any. So now I need to add a video accelerator card to access most of Vista's features. Ok. But my computer is only 18 months old and it's hardly a paperweight. And why didn't the diagnostic tell me this? I would have bought the card at the same time.
  
  But the real reason to stay away from Vista is the sheer awfulness of Microsoft's "support." Three times now I've tried to get help from the Online Chat and each time has been worse and NONE has provided an answer better than "we are aware of the issue." Serious issues, btw. Each time the "tech rep" spent more time trying to convince me to give them my phone number than answering my question. The "dialogue" was literally canned - the exact same language each time. And it took forever. The shortest chat was 45 minutes and the longest was over 90 minutes. All that for no actual solution.
  
  Save your money and stay with XP.
  
  
• Resource hungry monster.
  By A3IKF4HFGWU66V on 2007-04-06
  The first time I started Windows Vista on my brand new notebook computer, I was shocked to find it using 650mb of RAM just booting it up. Right away I had to battle with lots of issues with incompatible software that was working fine on my Windows XP. I have read that there is already a number of security vulnerabilities that need patching and also computer security experts are criticising the design of Vista. Things like Internet Explorer are integrated into the OS, so if a hacker finds an exploit in IE, then they have found an exploit in the OS! Same goes with media player.
  
  The company I work for has over 150 PC's running Windows XP. Windows Vista has almost rendered every machine out of date due to the amount of processing power, memory, video requirements, and disk space requirements of Windows Vista. For what benefit? Cool aero effect? Microsoft can stick that up their bum! I was expecting to continue doing the stuff I normally do on XP except with some improvements, I didn't get that from Vista. I want real operating system features, not just cool special effects. I want a OS that goes fast, is efficient, is secure, is well designed, without stupid restrictions, is not over priced, is flexible, does not change radically every few years, and does not annoy me with stupid prompts when I do something.
  
  It definitely has the wow factor, like "wow, look at how much memory its eating up!". "Wow, look at how slow my computer is now!". "Wow, nothing works!".
  
  I guess it is clear now the direction Microsoft Windows is heading in. In the future we can expect it will just keep getting bigger and more bloated. There will be more restrictions, security flaws will still be part of the design of Windows, it will be slower, it will require a more powerful PC, it will cost more, it will have more cool special effects and upgrading will be painful.
  
  As a result of my Vista experience I went and downloaded Ubuntu, which is free, so I tried it out. I was very happy with it, it just works. It only used 150 Mb of RAM when booted up, and my machine ran like a rocket. It's a shame that all my current Windows software does not run on it unless I install a Windows emulator, otherwise I would go to Ubuntu. For the mean time I will stick to my Windows XP, everything works fine and it performs well. I don't get what Vista is trying to achieve, I'm not impressed at all.
  
  

• PC World
• Windows Vista All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech))
• Microsoft Windows Vista Step by Step
• Microsoft Windows Vista Instructor-based Video Training
• The Print Shop Zoom [Transform Photos into Print Projects]

• Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007
• Microsoft Office Standard 2007 UPGRADE
• Microsoft Office Professional 2007 UPGRADE
• Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate UPGRADE [DVD] [OLD VERSION]
• Microsoft Outlook 2007