Windows Vista Home Premium with SP1 Upgrade Reviews

• A realistic review

  
  By A1WLDZ2VBT8L60 on 2008-04-25
  I wouldn't normally suggest this but do not upgrade! Vista takes the only good thing about Microsoft products - which is the advantage of an interface that you already know - and breaks it. Vista really is different than any of the previous versions of windows but in the worst of ways. Here's a typical example. Want to do something simple like search for a file? Too bad! They have a much faster version of search with just one problem - no place to enter the search criteria. Overall I think that the only people who have gained from Vista are Apple and Linux users since there should be more defections with the Vista fiasco.
  
  

• It's prettier than XP, but otherwise the same thing with a few more bugs

  
  By A3MVMPFBN1RFFV on 2008-05-22
  Please note that I am just rating the OEM system that came with my new HP laptop I bought a month ago. It is Vista home premium with SP1. I rather like it. I have read numerous reviews that don't like it so much, so I am giving my experience here for those, like me, are considering a new computer with pre-installed Vista. My question was: How is Vista better than XP?
  
  Answer: It looks better!
  
  I am not joking. The only attraction is the aero effect thing where a little bit of each window is slightly transparent, the windows also pop up with a magical effect, like a balloon. It disappears the same way too, with some transparency worked in. It has an option of extra large icon that's really big if you want it, though that takes up screen space fast. The files are also a little bit open you so you can see a file or two in there, but in XP you can see stuff inside too, as many as four things, so the open trick isn't much of an improvement. Also, you can get these things called "Vista Gadgets" for the desktop, like a little calender or a battery charge indicator or even a quick search to amazon that just sits there as part of the desktop. Other program covers it, but otherwise it runs on its own without bothering anything.
  
  (And why do I want a quick search to amazon, you might ask, if I already have it bookmarked as a favorite page? Well you see, you still have to click to open a webpage first before you can click your favorite. With the amazon gadget, you just type directly into it what you want, and a webpage will pop up without you having to click to open it! Really saves on the finger energy, you know?)
  
  Other than this, there is nothing to Vista whatsoever that is different from XP. There is heightened security measures in the form of "OS fearfulness", but I always disable those things as much as possible because they are nothing but a nuisance. Whenever you want to do something it asks, "Are you sure?" It can't tell if something is wrong, mind you. It just keep asking YOU, and you have to keep assuring it like it is a scared child. And I can't disable all of it because then it nags constantly, "Security setting is set too low! Please raise it!"
  
  There are a few minor inconveniences. First, the standard picture viewer will not display GIF images, unlike the one in XP. The help part explicitely states that the viewer will ONLY display bmp and jpg format pictures. Also, the Windows Mail, the equivalent of Outlook Express, no longer has the contact pane where you can just double click any contacts and opening a black email to write. You have to open the contact file each time.
  
  Also, the included Internet Explorer has a ton of problems. It freezes every time I go to my hotmail account. I know, they are both Microsoft, so why can't they get along? Who knows. It freezes on certain other sites too, for no particular reason. I don't have any trouble with the old IE in XP, but Vista does not allow you to downgrade. (My Netscape in Vista manages hotmail and other pages just fine, so that's what I use.)
  
  A friend warned that my old programs might not install in Vista. I've installed a few now. So far, everything works.
  
  So here is the conclusion: except for the pretty translucent aero effect, Vista is identical to XP in every way if you don't think about the few bugs. So if you are into pretty (like me), do get it. It looks cool! It's fun watching the windows pop open and then vanish when you close it! But if you think that sounds stupid, then there is no question XP with SP2 is better in the sense that it is more stable and have fewer bugs.
  
  I have to admit that I am slightly disappointed that the aero thing is all that I am getting out of a brand new operating system. Considering how long it took Microsoft to work on Vista, I thought it'd be a lot more exciting. Maybe they have been concentrating on programming "Are you sure" into every move anybody makes. Back when I upgraded from Windows 95 to XP, there were a so many fun new impressive things to enjoy. So the next time another new Windows come out, I won't bother with it.
  
  

• Finally, a version of Vista you can enjoy

  
  By A16WKPOSEGQC3Y on 2008-03-30
  Been running SP1 for more than a month now,(from an early release) and I have to say it is ROCK SOLID. Yes, there are annoying things that need to be dealt with (shut off UAC for goodness sake), and if you are behind a hardware firewall from Linksys or DLink, shut off ALL of Microsoft's insane amount of security stuff that is unnecessary, but other than that, this thing runs great.
  
  I bought Vista early on, tried it for a while, but held off till SP1 to actually migrate my machines to it, now I'm glad I did.
  
  I would ignore what children like the fine fellow who posted here and calls himself a genius says. Yes, XP runs great, but they've had 6 years to get it that way. Vista is now probably MORE stable than XP based on my SP1 experience. Not 1 BSOD (blue screen of death) yet, and I use it everyday for all sorts of tasks that used to cause crashes with XP all the time.
  
  Fact is, the thing runs fine. It needs some tweaking, but it runs great.
  
  

• Don't do it, you'll be sorry. I know I am

  
  By A346T50AHNL0XB on 2008-05-16
  I used this to upgrade from Home Basic which came installed on my Dell laptop. It wouldn't install because it said I needed SP1. So I downloaded SP1 then did the upgrade (the whole process took about 12 hours). First problem - no speakers. On-line chat with Dell resolved that. Then I discovered my BitDefender now said it had expired, although it had 655 days left. To top it all off, most of the premium features didn't work (Aero, Sync Center). I was 3 hours on-line with Microsoft, with the tech connected to my computer. He didn't know what he was doing and I finally ended it. Dell tried to reinstall SP1, saying it looked like it didn't install correctly. But it didn't work, since it was already there. Then they tried to do a system restore, but the "Repair Computer" option wasn't there. I ended up having to redo the partitions and reinstall Vista from the disks that came with the laptop, making it less than "out of the box" - meaning I then had to reinstall the drivers. What I thought would be fun and make life a little easier, computer wise ended up sucking 3 days out of my life. Fortunately thanks to Dell (and the $$ I paid for a three year gold warranty) my computer will be fine. But I bought a Dell desktop with XP this morning :)
  
  

• Garbage - Stick with XP as Long as You Can

  
  By A1K74GINH3ZBH2 on 2008-05-30
  We ran one PC on Vista for the last year and several on XP. After a year of frustration and garbage performance from Vista, we just spent $300 to switch the Vista PC over to XP. Stay away from this stinker.
  
  
• It's still a piece of crap!
  By A1GRLUCJ96XM26 on 2008-05-04
  It's obvious the Microsoft folks are here pumping (or pimping) this junk. I've always been a Windows advocate, but I will think twice before buying another computer with a new MS operating system. Most PC makers offer no or few choices when selling their computers. I think the long term result will be: 1. consumers waiting much longer to upgrade their systems, or 2. consumers converting to Apple.
  
  I've spent double the cost of my new laptop on software and peripherals just so it can run on Vista, and still have issues. Microsoft should be ashamed of deploying this system, and PC makers should be ashamed of not offering XP as a choice.
  
  If you believe the reviews here that tout the advantages of Vista you'll regret it. Do yourself a favor and Google "Vista problems" before buying.
  
  
  
• Terrible Product ! ! - See the Non-Upgrade Version For Real Reviews
  By A1WGENT65DGQF0 on 2008-04-13
  I am an advanced/expert Windows user, computing since the days of DOS. It is simply a fact that this Vista OS is absolutely terrible. Look into actual reviews, not those posted by Microsoft employees. You will regret purchasing Vista I assure you. Read the reviews under the full product, not the upgrade which has very, very few reviews posted. If you have not yet bought a new computer, I suggest you buy a MAC. I, unfortunately, recently bought another IBM computer, and esp. with the Vista OS (which I am replacing with XP) am regreting it daily.
  
  
• Stick With XP And Be Happy
  By A3JH58K54LAWFI on 2008-06-04
  As a computer technician and software developer for over ten years, I suggest that everyone with Windows XP stay with XP, at least until Microsoft comes out with something more worthwhile to upgrade to.
  
  Overall, Vista does come with a bunch of new and useful features, including a prettier interface. But all of these can be easily duplicated with free or cheap software. Many of these alternatives are as good or superior to the features they duplicate in Vista. Check out download.com, amazon.com & elsewhere for free or cheap software for XP that duplicates whatever features you want in Vista, such as antispyware or file/drive encryption.
  
  Vista also has big hardware requirements. It essentially has double the memory requirements of XP (2 GB RAM should be your minimum for decent performance, try 4 GB for best performance).
  
  Also, keep in mind that no version of Vista comes with antivirus software. It's essential to have antivirus software that is compatible with Vista. So pick up your favorite AV program if you're out of luck with your existing program. My favorite is ESET NOD32 Antivirus: very easy to use, lightweight and one of the most effective antivirus programs according to multiple independent lab tests. I also recommend either PC Tools Spyware Doctor or Webroot Spy Sweeper over Windows Defender for extra protection... Windows Defender (which comes with Vista), while moderately effective against adware, is next to useless against spyware & rootkits.
  
  With Vista, you are also asking for headaches if you care about your computer working with your older hardware, such as printers, digital cameras, and so forth. I have seen some devices, even ones certified to work with Vista, not actually work with Vista. Many do work, but be forewarned and check with your existing device manufacturers for Vista support before purchasing this Vista upgrade. You may also run into issues with drivers for existing hardware, such as your sound or video hardware. Check with your computer manufacturer (e.g. Dell) to find out if they offer Vista drivers for your particular computer model. Software as well can be an issue, as some software (especially uncommon programs) may not work well or at all in Vista.
  
  The bottom line: Upgrading from XP to Vista offers nothing you can't duplicate on XP for little to no cost, in exchange for $100+ and the potential for great headaches with existing software & hardware. Instead, find some free or cheap software that duplicates the features you want. If you must have Vista, good luck! Consider a new computer (with at least 2 GB RAM), which will save you from at least some of the aforementioned hassle (at least you'll know the computer itself will work, though perhaps not with existing old software or hardware), and rely on your older computer for anything that just won't work with Vista.
  
  
• I Have to Say, I'm Okay with Vista
  By A3HAC5PSLMHMR7 on 2008-04-05
  I finally upgraded to Vista and it was a long time coming. I must admit for the longest time I felt envious of people who were operating on a system newer than mine, but I also felt secretly satisfied that XP was more secure and faster. No eye candy though. However, as both a Mac and a PC user, I had all the eye candy one would want with Leopard and it doesn't slow anything down.
  
  What I don't understand is why Vista has to come in so many editions:
  
  Windows Vista Home Basic
  Windows Vista Home Premium
  Windows Vista Business
  Windows Vista Ultimate
  
  Plus all the upgrade versions. Why not just one version that does it all, you know, the way they do it in the Mac world.
  
  Okay, all that aside, I have two PCs, both desktops, one at work (which is actually mine, not my employers) and one at home. At work I installed Home Premium and at home I installed Vista Ultimate. I didn't time the installation in either place as I was doing other stuff during the process, but neither install took more than an hour.
  
  I did not do clean installs in either case, instead opting for the upgrade option, just to see if it worked. Besides, I have lots of back up hard drives so I wasn't worried and it appears I didn't need to, because both installs went swimmingly. I understand others have not been so lucky, but I was.
  
  After choosing my local time, currency, keyboard layout, user name, icon, wallpaper and password Vista decided my computers were good to go and they were.
  
  Right off the bat I have to say, I like the Aero interface. Is it better than Leopard's, not really, but it's not worse either, just different. I've got four gigs of ram in both computers and though maybe Vista might have been a tad slower doing some photoshop work than XP, it wasn't all that noticeable. Some things may have been a bit slower opening, but not enough to make me miss XP. All in all, I have to say I'm okay with Vista.
  
  Jack Priest, author of Ragged Man, Gecko & Night Witch
  
  
• A waste of money
  By A2A3E45ES636ZN on 2008-04-14
  Impossible to install in my computer although the system is more that ready to handle this awful product from Microsoft. After installed, the computer kept crashing over and over, every time I upgraded a driver or install an application.
  It was so frustrating that I decided to go back to Windows XP. No problems with the computer with Windows XP Professional. This was a waste of money on an OS that looks to be incomplete. This Upgrade was a nightmare.
  
  
• Thought it would be good...
  By AQ9BWLY40D709 on 2008-05-16
  I just bought a new iMac and wanted to install the new Windows Vista on it. Not so tough, right?
  
  The installation itself was long, but easy enough, no problems there. But then I actually tried using Vista.
  
  But, first of all, I should mention that at the time of this writing this product is titled "Windows Vista Home Premium with SP1 Upgrade." To me this sounded like I was going to get Windows Vista Home Premium plus the upgrade to SP1. What it really means is you get the upgrade version of Windows Vista Home Premium with SP1, meaning you have to already have Windows 2000, XP, or Vista installed. The joke of the whole thing is that all four - or is it five, maybe six - editions of Vista are on the one disc. You actually have to tell the installer which one you bought so it installs the right one. I know that sounds ridiculous, but I swear to you that's how it went down.
  
  Back to the quality of Vista itself. The installation was complete, so let's try this very pretty version of Windows out! Connecting to my wireless network was no problem. Connecting to my wireless mouse and keyboard was another thing. This took a lot of work. To figure out how to connect these guys I had to open the read me file, which was a pdf. Oh wait, Vista can't read pdfs right out of the box. So now I've got to download some fancy reader. Then I tried adding some music, forget it. I just ended up downloading iTunes which worked with no problems. If I want to chat, I've got to download a chat program. Ended up downloading firefox because IE7 is still just as broken as IE6.
  
  Frustrated I switched back to OS X and started using that. Just like the commercial said, "it just works." When I plugged in my printer it recognized it right away, no problems. It recognized that there was no keyboard and mouse plugged in so it recognized my bluetooth ones right away. Automatically connected to my wireless network, and most importantly, read my pdfs with no guff.
  
  Dear Windows,
  I thought you had changed. Guess I was wrong.
  -Joel
  
  
• Big Mistake
  By A8JFFJVCWTU8Q on 2008-06-24
  I've owned a new 3.0GB intel Pentium D dual core computer for about two months, now, that came with Vista Home Premium. Knowing what I know now, I would never have bought a Vista machine. I've spent almost half my working time since then trying to solve operating system problems.
  Vista will not synchronize PIM info with my Pocket PC, in fact, it looks like Microsoft has abandoned the Pocket PC, altogether, but I had to spend hours and hours experimenting and trying innefective "fixes" to find that out. Gee, I wonder why they don't advertise that?
  Vista constantly interferes with and disrupts the operation of my MSOffice applications (OfficeXP Professional). Outlook will not save my email passwords with Vista and they have to be manually entered each time it updates email. Every time. While I'm working a dialoge box pops up to ask for my password in each email account. I have to stop and enter it or it will pop up again in a minute or two. I tried turning off email updates, but Vista won't let that preference be saved, either. Word and Excel are erratic as well. I have the very latest version of Internet Explorer, but it won't save History of sites visited. Yes, I've played with all the settings. A little research yielded the fact that Microsoft knows all this - they have knowledge base articles on the topics that send you in circles -without any solution.
  Many Software applications (obviously including Microsoft applications) must be upgraded to work with Vista, some work poorly, some don't work at all.
  I hold a multi-user license to excellent Anti-Virus Software I like much better than Norton or McAfee; very effective and unobtrusive. Even with the Vista version it can't start automatically at boot with Vista, which not only means I have to remember to start it manually every day, sometimes forgetting, it means it can't remove certain viruses that require a re-boot deletion.
  
  So by "UPGRADING" to Vista, I have, in essence, thrown away hundreds of dollars in software and hardware, most of which, I assume, Microsoft intends to recoup when I buy something from them to do what the old stuff was doing perfectly well before the "UPGRADE."
  
  If you google "downgrade to XP" you'll find almost a quarter of a million links.
  
  There's a reason for that.
  
  
• Awesome OS!!!!!!
  By A1Q1ABWZWTSWA7 on 2008-03-26
  This must be the best OS I have ever used! The installation was fast (Although I had to do it twice- my own fault, not MS). The new features like Windows Aero and all are amazing! These are simply things that can't be done on XP. Move over XP Vista is the OS of the future. No complaints!
  
  
• Problems with the way item was described.
  By A3DWW8779R0OGA on 2008-04-26
  Item was described as "Windows Vista Home Premium with SP1 upgrade"
  It should be "Windows Vista Home Premium Upgrade version with SP1.
  
  I was led to believe this was a full version of Vista with the SP1 upgrade
  
  As it turned out this is an upgrade version of Windows. When I did a clean install on my new system it will not activate on line. I had to get Microsoft help to have it activated as upgrading from an XP install. When I complained about this Amazon immediately shipped me another similar item which I had to return. In anycase this was a bad experience and even though I did save some money it was not worth the hassle. And I still do not have a full version Vista in case I need to re-install due to system crash. So if this review is worth anything, please bring it to whoever is selling this, this is misleading advertising and poor service. If the product is not what it is purported to be sending me another copy is worthless effort.
  
  
• horrible, bug prone operating system
  By AIUCOO78QBBHA on 2008-05-16
  For me, the measure of any operating system today is a) the frequency of bugs, b) ease of virus attacks, and c) when there is a bug, the time and ease with which it can be resolved. Vista is relatively untested on b). On a) and c), this is probably my worst experience ever with an operating system. The first problem I had was corruption of the Windows Installer. I spent 12 hours on the phone with Microsoft and was elevated through several levels of advanced tech support. After all of this, their response was "your Windows Installer has been corrupted by something in Microsoft Outlook." So , their final advice was to wipe out my hard disk, and reload everything. When I told them I no longer had my disks for Outlook (which I last installed in '04), they said I would have to buy a new version -- though the corruption was caused by 2 of their programs. I couldn't waste the time, so bought a new version of Outlook. Recently I had hardware problems with my new pc, so was sent a replacement by Dell. Have been reloading all my soft/hardware, and guess what -- major problems with Vista. Truly extraordinary. I feel Microsoft really should suffer for this horrific piece of software. Too bad they're such a huge monopoly, or they would either be out of business or on their death bed.
  
  
• So Little for So Much
  By A2XTYW9JKAQHDY on 2008-07-09
  I've been a Windows user since... Windows 1.0. I purchased a Dell laptop with Vista on it and I must say that after the first 24hrs of honeymoon (looking at the pretty new mouse trail, listening to the new sounds, etc...) the really bloated and inefficient OS starts to show its ugly face. It operates like its predecessor with a more visual and accoustical punch, but esthetics aside, like an American SUV, this thing is a hog. It takes a ton of RAM, a lot more of CPU speed and a bucket load of HD space. Frankly the security and other upgrades are miniscule when you compare to all the things the OS requires to run smoothly.
  
  In the end you get a couple new pony tricks instead of a tighter security integration and easier usability experience. All of this is at a heavy hardware premium. Many simple tasks and operations start to become a headache as they are over complicated to execute leaving you with an uneasy feeling of why you got this damn thing... Stay with the older OS.
  
  
• No, don't do it!
  By APU7WO93ETHE7 on 2008-07-23
  I successfully installed Vista Home Basic on my laptop, and whilst being far from overwhelmed with the product nevertheless believed it to be a step up from XP**. I then decided to 'upgrade' my desktop PC to Vista Home Premium, and boy I am wishing I had never even started that process. I used Upgrade Advisor, and confirmed that my PC was fine, and then satisfactorily installed Vista, but then the problems started. First off: Vista is significantly slower than XP, and that slowness becomes creeping until your PC virtually stops to allow Vista to do basic chores one takes for granted in XP. Suddenly, your PC can spring back into life, and all seems okay, then ..... back into the slow lane again. Also, Vista has fallen into the Adobe trap - it is much more invasive than XP and wants to take control of your life, not just your PC.
  
  Pehaps I could have adjusted to its way of doing things, after all at 40 something years old, I'm no young Turk, and the onset of grey hairs and a fear of social networking makes me a techno-geriatric, however Vista gave me no opportunity to adjust. You see the software kept crashing! When I say crashing, I mean that the PC would switch itself off and re-boot (I don't mean anything so gentlemanly as log-off or shut down, I mean power off in an instant). It kept doing this, and I could find no pattern to its decision making in this respect. Plug in a thumb drive - CRASH! Adjust a couple of photos in Photoshop - CRASH! Browse the web - hmm, seems to like this .... - CRASH!. I didn't try everything I could to solve the problem, but I gave it a good attempt for a couple of weeks, and I have no patience left in my soul for the condescending remarks of an ultimately hopeless support system.
  
  My PC worked fine for a long time with XP. My PC now seems to be working fine again - with XP. Yes, the solution for me was to scrub Vista and re-install XP. Hey Vista looks nicer/more contemporary or whatever, but XP works.
  
  In summary, if you are thinking about upgrading to Vista, please think long and hard. It is prettier than XP, but it offers very little added functionality. The killer though, is that it is very unreliable - you may be lucky, but in my view luck should have nothing to do with it. An operating system should work, all the time. Vista doesn't.
  
  ** The reason for me moving to Vista was for the much better sound capability it offers. I use my laptop as a music player through my main hifi and Vista's handling of high quality sound is much better than XP. On my laptop Vista has been a success.
  
  So there we go - one reasonably competent computer user, and a 50% success rate at switching to Vista.
  
  
• SP1 Creates New Issues
  By A2KV61PD00PGSR on 2008-04-08
  I have had windows vista home premium installed on my computer for some time now. The new features are mostly pretty flourishes that anyone can live without. The only new feature that I enjoyed was the instant search feature in the start menu and I have noticed that on my friends slower computers, that even that doesn't work correctly.
  
  The biggest issue I had with vista was not the fact that it was essentially a prettiness update, it simply crashed more than any operating system I have ever used. I would close my laptop screen and open it up again and the system would lock out and restart itself regardless of what I had open. Further, there were numerous driver issues. Slowly, overtime, through the traditional patching system, Microsoft did resolve most of these issues. I still had the crashing problem, but it had been been minimized. Naturally, I installed SP1 upon it's arrival hoping that it would fix my remaining issues with this half-baked operating system....
  
  
  
  
  The bottom line that you need to know:
  SP1 caused MY OLD ISSUES TO COME BACK.
  SP1 caused MORE ISSUES WITH DRIVERS THAN I HAD WITH REGULAR VISTA
  SP1 was clearly prematurely developed and is still a baby operating system intent on keeping up with the fancy visual features in Mac and is STILL NOT READY FOR PRIME TIME.
  
  I do NOT recommend SP1 for anyone. Please stick with XP. If you don't, there's a great chance you'll regret it.
  
  
• I'm Pretty Impressed, So There You Go 5 Stars
  By A21UEAZHGW1648 on 2008-04-08
  I've been using Vista with SP1 for a couple weeks now on two different computers, my MacBook Pro and my iMac, both running on Bootcamp partitions and I have to say I'm pretty darned impressed.
  
  I have lots of ram, ram to spare in both my machines, as I'm a Photoshop girl and both my machines are the latest and greatest Apple has to off, so I was good to go as far as hardware was concerned. I had no problems running the Aero eye candy and though it's no Leopard, it's quite nice. I liked the transparent window frames and I liked the minimizing and restoring effects, but again, I'm used to the Mac, so for me they were no great shakes.
  
  I like the search box in the start menu, but I like spotlight better. Still it's very handy. The Widgets are a copy of Mac's Dashboard and Flip 3D is a copy of Expose, but then again Microsoft has been copying Apple for years.
  
  I had to go online and download the printer driver again for my Brother printer, but that was no big deal and a couple of my Photoshop plugins had to be updated, but then I hadn't used them for awhile. I was just checking everything because of the new Vista install.
  
  In conclusion I guess I'd say if you've got the hardware and are not a Mac person, this is a pretty good operating system and it seems stable. I know, I know, you've probably read all the same stuff I have about how Vista crashes and crashes and crashes and I've experienced plenty of crashes myself, but those problems seem to have been solved with the SP1 upgrade.
  
  The Home Premium version I have on my MacBook hasn't crashed yet and Vista Ultimate on my iMac has only brought down my machine one time. Granted, it's early days yet, but as for now I'll say it again, I'm pretty impressed.
  
  However there is one thing I just cannot seem to wrap my mind around. Why oh why are there so many versions of Vista. Well that bothered me with XP as well. Do you really need:
  
  Vista Home Basic with SP1
  Vista Home Premium with SP1
  Vista Business with SP1
  Ultimate with SP1
  Vista Home Basic Upgrade with SP1
  Vista Home Premium Upgrade with SP1
  Vista Business Upgrade with SP1
  Ultimate Upgrade with SP1
  
  That's an awful lot of Vistas. Then there's:
  
  Vista Anytime Upgrade Pack with SP1 [Home Basic to Home Premium]
  Vista Anytime Upgrade Pack with SP1 [Business to Ultimate]
  Vista Anytime Upgrade Pack with SP1 [Home Premium to Ultimate]
  Vista Anytime Upgrade Pack with SP1 [Home Basic to Ultimate]
  
  Come on, Microsoft, how about a one size fits all operating system like they do over in the Mac world. And this business about your copy protection, lighten up. Maybe some people do rip off Mr. Jobs' Leopard, you know buy it and put it on more than one machine, but how many computers can they use at a time. Yes, yes, maybe a husband and wife could be on at the same time, or one of the kiddies, but sheesh, give us a break.
  
  I know you have to protect yourself from the hordes who want free software, but Apple's making a pretty penny with Leopard even while they trust their users, you could too.
  
  Still, I guess I have to give all your Vistas with SP1 five stars, grudgingly, because of the way I think you do business, but I've got Vista working fine on two different computers, plus my husband has it on a couple others and we're not having major problems, so there you go, five stars.
  
  Reviewed by Sara Hackett
  
  
• HORRIBLE HORRIBLE HORRIBLE!
  By A32LUPQGHQQPGJ on 2008-05-12
  I am still hating having to use VISTA On this PC !!!!!!! MY PDA can't sync even though its WM5, My printers don't work my camera doesn't work on it nothing works even after installing vista drivers my games don't work my computer crashed last night and I had to do a system restore which led me to write this review! ITS HORRIBLE. MICROSOFT Puts out third rate products! STEVE BALLMER, the CEO, has a masters in ECONOMICS AND MATHEMATICS. this guy knows how to make MONEY not make an operating system, compare that with a copmany like google where the CEO actually has a computer related masters so you can tell their stuff is awesome.
  
  
• Ignore the Apple commercials. Vista is a great OS.
  By A2ZY7FQLFRQ7DZ on 2008-06-20
  I've had my laptop since August 2007. It came with Vista Home Premium 32 bit installed on it and I upgraded to SP1 when it was released.
  
  I will say this outright: I used XP before Vista on the family computer and if your computer can run Vista smoothly, Vista will kick XP out the window. There are 3 things one must have to run Vista smoothly: a good processor (this is the minor one of the 3 since most people have good processors), a good video card, and at least 2GB of RAM. The video card and RAM are extremely important. If you don't have these, you will most likely not have a good Vista experience. One of Microsoft's mistakes when they created Vista was the RAM usage. The standard amount of RAM needed to run XP is less than 1GB. The standard amount of RAM needed for Vista is at least 2GB. Technically, I believe it can run on 1GB of RAM but I don't trust that. Vista is a much more powerful OS than XP, which is why it needs the good hardware. My computer is an HP Pavilion dv6000. I have an Intel Core Duo (not Core 2) 2GHz processor, 160GB hard drive and 2GB of RAM. I actually have an Intel chipset for graphics and my computer still runs fine. I do wish that I had gotten a graphics card just to make the performance even better. On a daily basis, with just the startup programs running, about 1GB of my RAM is used up. A tip: I don't know if Best Buy and other electronics stores are still doing this, but when I was looking for my laptop last summer the stores were selling crap. They were selling laptops with 1GB of RAM that had Vista Home Premium preinstalled on them. I couldn't believe that. I would avoid those. It's pretty much common knowledge now that computers need at least 2GB of RAM to run Vista smoothly. I bought my laptop from Costco.com because they let you customize it. You choose the base features and then you further pick what you want from the options they have. That way you can have a lot more power over what you want your laptop to have. My dad and I knew that I was going to have to get Vista because the stores don't care about how consumers like to buy new technology. Most people like to wait a while until the 1st Service Pack is released. The stores get new computers with the new OS preinstalled like the week it comes out. They don't care that people like to wait. My dad and I decided to customize my laptop online because we couldn't find any computers with 2GB of RAM in the stores. HP's site and Dell's site also allow you to build your laptop. I used Costco because they had the lowest price.
  
  One of the coolest things about Vista is it's smart. If a program stops working, then Vista will automatically recognize the situation and search for a solution. I'm pretty sure XP doesn't do that. Also, my iPod (the only Apple product I own) recently started giving me problems. When I connected it to my computer to restore it with iTunes, Vista came up with a window that said the iPod could be damaged or messed up and it had some tools to try to fix it right there. Talk about smart. I ended up having to buy a new iPod which is currently working fine. I think the iPod was messed up physically on the inside or something because I had accidentally dropped it a few times in the previous week and the restore by iTunes actually made the problems worse, but at least Vista tried to fix it.
  
  My only complaint about Vista was the boot up time (notice I said "was", not "is"). My computer used to take 6 minutes to boot up in the morning. I didn't mind it though because I start my computer up while I'm getting dressed, etc. in the morning. SP1 cut the boot up time in half. The UAC is annoying, but you can turn it off. I have never had any problems with drivers, crashes, instability, blue screens of death, incompatibility issues, or anything else of that nature.*See update near bottom of review* When I plug in something like a new USB device, Vista finds the driver and installs it automatically within seconds.
  
  I think there are a few reasons why I've had such a good experience with Vista (besides the hardware) One reason is that I've been able to avoid what I've heard are the problems with it. Another reason is that I have a new compuer with Vista preinstalled on it. This did a few things. One, I didn't have to actually upgrade from XP to Vista. Two, because it was a new computer, there were no programs that I had previously installed on it that I had to update (except for the programs that came installed on it, such as Roxio). The 2nd reason is that so far I've been able to get the programs I need in versions that are compatible with Vista. Because they had to work with Vista, most of my programs are the newer versions (such as Office 2007). I like it though because I have all the new stuff. A little update: at first it wasn't easy to find programs that were compatible with Vista. Now, in the last 4-8 months, programs compatible with Vista have come a long way. There are many more out there now.
  
  Most of my friends that bought new laptops for college last summer don't mind Vista and haven't had many problems with it and everyone I've asked about it says they're ok with it. A tip: whenever you're considering buying a new device for your computer such as a mouse or hard drive or whatever, make sure it's certified for use with Vista before you buy it. The box in the store should have an image on it that says it's certified. More and more Vista-compatible software is coming out.
  
  Vista takes a little getting used to because things are moved around. But, contrary to popular belief, this does not make things harder to find. Things are actually easier to find. My computer and Control Panel are still there as well as the start menu (the word "start" isn't there anymore, it's just a circle with the Windows logo in it) and they have the same content in them as they did in XP. The content is more detailed and looks nicer in Vista. I think another review may have said that there's no way to search the computer. Not true at all. You can search your whole computer right from the start menu with the instant search. The windows in Vista operate nicer than in XP. You can do more things and other things that you did often in XP are easier to do. The interface is Vista's strength. It kicks XP's butt. The sidebar is also cool. Vista's interface makes XP look like a basic piece of junk. I discovered something very interesting on the internet today (today= August 11). Apparently there is an experiment being done where people are demonstrating Vista to computer users who don't know it's Vista. Pretty much all of the people in the Mojave experiment didn't have Vista because they had heard all the negative hype about it. Their opinions were drastically different for the most part after the demo of it. The site also has a lot of helpful information about Vista such as how many devices and programs it's currently compatible with, etc. as well as statistics. The address of the Mojave Experiment is: http://www.mojaveexperiment.com/#.
  
  A little on Microsoft Office 2007. Yes, it's a different interface than the previous versions. But, it's very neatly and intuitively organized that it's pretty easy to learn. It took me about 10 minutes to learn Word 2007. The functions are organized first by 7 main tabs, which are Home, Insert, Page Layout, References, Mailing, Review, View. Then they are further subdivided into categories. Here's an example of the organization: say you're typing a Word document and you want to spell check it. Which main tab would you find spell check under? You're reviewing the document, right? So go to review. Spell check is the first function. It's under the subcategory of Proofing. Guess where bibliography tools are located? Under References and under the subcategory Citations & Bibliography. Very well and intuitively organized. I can't comment on the advanced features of Office 2007 because I've only used it for school and email.
  
  I recently let my mom use my laptop because the computer we have in our house is an outdated piece of crap (Pentium 3 700MHz, 300something MB of RAM). She isn't tech savvy at all and barely knows what OS stands for. She had never used Vista or Office 2007 prior to using my laptop. When she was done using it I asked her how she liked Vista and Office 2007. She loved them. Of course, my dad won't dare install Vista on our home computer because he would be screwed on the hardware by a mile.
  
  Another thing: as I'm writing this I have 5 of my most RAM consuming programs running: Media Center, Internet Explorer 7, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Outlook, and iTunes. I think my laptop is running slightly slower than it normally does, but the difference is hard to notice.
  
  Overall, Vista is a great operating system and it makes XP look like crap if your computer has the hardware to run it. People who complain about Vista lagging, being slow, freezing, etc. should check their hardware and not be so fast to blame Vista. One reason Vista requires good hardware is that it does things in the background to help the user. When I see the Apple commercials that make fun of Vista I laugh at them because one of my friends who is very tech savvy, smart, and majoring in computer engineering told me that Leopard got hacked within 2 hours of being released and that MacBook Air got hacked within 2 minutes.
  
  Update (11/12/08)
  I thought I'd update this review with some recent experiences and some more notes.
  
  Since I first wrote the review, Vista has given me blue screen a few times. I think it was my fault though, as I was messing with a setting I didn't fully understand. But just to be clear, the blue screens didn't occur when I tried to install software or when drivers were needed or anything like that. Fortunately, Vista was smart enough to recover by itself. The computer gave me a blue screen and shut down. I started it up, and after I logged in a window came up saying that Windows had recovered from an unexpected shutdown. That was pretty cool to see.
  
  I know Apple is targeting college students like me in it's commercials. People complain that Office 2007 is hard to use because everything's moved around. Things are moved around, however, this doesn't really apply to college students because it's the advanced functions that are harder to find. I like Word 2007 a lot because it's easier to use than 03. For students, Office 2007 should be nice because everything's easier to find and things are easier to do.
  
  Apple recently aired a commercial where the PC guy is putting lots of money into marketing Vista and little money into fixing it and the Mac guy convinces him to put all the money back to fixing Vista. Truth is, Microsoft isn't marketing Vista to get people to buy a bad OS. Vista has been improved a lot over the last 8 months or so with SP1 and now Microsoft is marketing it so people know it's much better. SP1 was focused on improving performance, stability, and reliability. The Apple commercials were true when Vista first came out, but they're not true anymore. It's kind of funny to see peoples' reactions when they're shown Vista because all they know is what the Apple ads say about it and most of the time they're amazed.
  
  Also, don't hesitate to buy the PCs in the stores now. In the last 4-8 months the hardware necessary to run Vista nicely finally came out. Vista will run fine on 2, 3, or 4 GB of RAM. If you like to play games with intense graphics, I recommend an NVIDIA or ATI video card and 3-4GB of RAM.
  
  Lastly, for those of you who are considering getting Vista, it's been improved a lot from what it used to be. One of the reasons there are different versions is to accomodate different levels of hardware (Basic is designed to run ok with 1GB of RAM, and Home Premium is designed to run on 2GB and up). A lot of people say that Vista is just a pretty version of XP. Microsoft has a section on their website that explains how Vista is better than XP. The address of the page is http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-vista/discover/why-now.aspx
  You may find that helpful.
  
  I know this is a pretty long review, but since Vista's such a controversial OS I wanted to be as helpful as I could. I will continue to update this review as necessary. And by the way, I'm not a Microsoft employee. I'm a college student.
  
  
• Ugh
  By A252JVFSWG9WWX on 2008-06-22
  I hate it. It offers no real advantages over XP, is slower, works with less stuff, and keeps getting stuck. I'm downgrading to XP...
  
  
• The reason why new computer sales are off
  By A2Z2LI2VL4IHYW on 2008-07-25
  Who wants to buy a new computer if you have this operating system?
  
  Never in the history of the business world has one company been allowed to force customers to constantly buy new, inferior products.
  
  I put off buying a computer because I had heard horror stories.
  
  Vista is like operating systems before XP. It just suddenly freezes and you have to turn your computer off to make it work again.
  
  I'm doing constant damage to my computer by being forced to turn off the power.
  
  The new office software is beyond confusing. Absolutely nothing is the same.
  
  Buy this at your peril!
  
  
• Pretty, but sluggish
  By A13JMAE32IK34J on 2008-10-05
  Above all else, an OS should always be responsive to user input. When I click on multiple files and select delete, I don't want to see a "Preparing to delete." message. This is lazy programming on the part of Microsoft. When I right click a broken shortcut to delete it and the PC spends 30 to 40 seconds trying to find the link, this is ridiculous. On a regular basis my computer locks up for minutes while Vista is "thinking".
  
  Maybe many PC users don't know any better and think this is the way computers work. I've used Apple, Linux, and Windows computers. None of them are perfect, other OS's usually do a better job than Vista. With Microsoft's large resources you would think they could put out something much better than this. All the time spent on "eye candy" would have been better spend on the back end making the OS more efficient.
  
  If Vista looked the same as XP but ran faster and was more responsive, would users thought it was better? I don't know. I just know that PC's are much more powerful than they were just a few years ago, and Vista still manages to drag them into the mud. Faster PC's aren't a license for bad programming...
  
  
  
• Like being sadistically tortured
  By A145JC2OCKL7DQ on 2008-10-16
  Windows Vista takes everything that has ever been fun under Windows XP and attempts to make it impossible. You liked being able to use multimedia under XP? Forget that!
  
  The software vendors (RIAA and MPAA) have been screaming & suing the last eight years because canny computer users are pirating their products. Vista is Microsoft's way of throwing them a bone. It imposes crippling DRM all over your machine, degrades the viewing experience of HD video, and rats out the contents of your hard drive to the Mother Ship so that the RIAA and MPAA can spy on you and start sending you lawsuits if there's anything on your hard drive that might have been pirated.
  
  Boot-up time is much, much slower, and the bloatware of this OS causes your hard drive light to come on and stay lit. I'm running this turkey on the latest dual-core machine with 2 gigs of RAM and a fast video card, and it still chokes and sits there like a dead rat, as it spins the hard drive and thinks about maybe responding to a mouse click. And then it pops up the security windows and asks if you think that you should be doing what you just tried to do. No information as to whether or not you've just clicked on an attachment that might be installing a Trojan or Keylogger. Just an annoying window that pops up that means you have to click an extra time.
  
  Oh yeah - and here's another fun feature. If you buy into the hype that Windows actually is trying to make it easy for you to work with the wonderful world of multimedia, that is a BIG FAT LIE. Vista is designed to make it frustrating and impossible for you to 1) capture video (the system resource hog means many dropped frames and bombed-out sessions), 2) edit video (the DRM settings are so arcane and hidden that to turn on the setting that allows you to display full HD video in your editing program takes 4 (four) days of work on the Windows forums to figure out, 3) encode and compress video and most of all 4) upload and share video.
  
  If you have any dreams or designs on being a multimedia content producer, Windows Vista is not for you. You cannot use this OS to do what you need to do to earn a living. It will not allow you to create video content. It will degrade the signal if you do manage to create the content so that the video that you see on the screen, and the video that you turn in to your clients are radically different. Your clients will ask you what happened, and you will not have a good answer.
  
  If you travel, and try to work with clients in other countries, as I have, Windows Vista will try prevent you from logging on to the internet. You will come to know the Network and Sharing Center. It will be your new home. You will struggle and scream over all the settings you will have to know about there. Nothing will work. You will thrash and re-start and re-boot for hours. Imagine the fun! Finally, you will find out that some obscure security setting is at fault, one that is not documented in any appreciable way. And then, the next time you turn on your computer, you will have to go through this whole process all over again.
  
  
• DO NOT GET - EVEN IF IT'S FREE !
  By A2LHYD60DE7PZ on 2008-04-06
  How much more do you want to spend buying NEW: Excel, Word, printer, scanner, etc.etc.etc. ????
  Microsoft really laid an egg with this one !!! No wonder more and more people are going "Mac" !!!
  
  
• How Many Windows, Let Me Count the Ways
  By A1WCKKO3BOJ84H on 2008-04-08
  First there's Vista Home Basic which, like all the versions of Vista, has your basic digital media features like Windows Photo Gallery, but it doesn't do Aero. You get Windows Flip, but no 3D and no live taskbar thumbnails. If that stuff means nothing to you, go with it.
  
  Second there's Vista Home Premium. Add Flip 3D and Aero to the version above and the availability to do scheduled backups. Also you get Windows Media Player, which you don't get with Home Basic. Windows Media Center can truly can handle all your Media needs. It comes with HDTV support, Xbox 360 Center Extender compatibility (which means nothing to me as I'm not a gamer), Windows DVD Maker and Windows Movie Maker.
  
  Third there's Vista Business. You get everything you get in the above versions, but no Windows Media Player, but you do get business features like Windows Fax and Scan, offline files and folder support and Remote Desktop. If you're a business person, then perhaps this is the version for you.
  
  Fourth there's Vista Ultimate. With this version you get it all, the business stuff plus the media stuff.
  
  And then there's the Upgrades, like the four versions above, they are all upgrades to the SP1 versions.
  
  So far we have eight versions. The first four, plus the four upgrades. That's eight different prices. But wait, I'm not finished. There's four more upgrades, you can upgrade from Home Basic to Home Premium, from Business to Ultimate, from Premium to Ultimate, from Basic to Ultimate.
  
  That's a lot to digest. Then there's still a version you can't buy, one you've got to be a Microsoft Assurance customer to get, called Windows Vista Enterprise.
  
  That's a lot of windows in the Microsoft Operating System house, but I'm guessing there are only three versions that will be of interest to most. Vista Home Basic, because it's the cheapest. Home Premium, because you get the Aero interface and Windows Media Player, or lastly Vista Ultimate, because with this one you get it all.
  
  I was pretty confused when I started this review and maybe I still am, a little, but I think I've got it all sorted out in my head and I'm wondering if I've been any help to you, dear reader, at all. For the money, Basic is the best deal, but me, I'd go with Home Premium or even Ultimate, because I can afford it and because it's the latest and the greatest.
  
  Now with all that out of the way, do I like Vista? Absolutely. I've been an XP girl for way too long. I didn't upgrade straightaway when Vista first came out, because I'd heard all the horror stories. I have Vista now and I'm happy with it. Will I go back to XP? Answer, no. I've got Vista now and I'm sticking with it.
  
  
• Dependably unreliable...
  By A3CIDF7JLHYV8K on 2008-04-27
  Microsoft should be totally embarrased. My old Windows 98 was far more reliable. Support is appallingly poor and the software is riddled with failures. I can count on almost any program having to be shut down and having to restart due to errors. If nothing else, it is dependably unreliable. I do have stronger words to describe it, but I would like this to be G rated.
  
  I am dumping it for XP Pro...
  
  
• Windows Vista SP1 Upgrade
  By A1NVUITI2HPTGD on 2008-05-06
  Very impressed with Vista, MS really seems to have their act together lately. Be sure you have at least 2GB ram for Vista to run properly.
  
  
• BIG MISTAKE FOR ME
  By A2IZSDSQXO9VET on 2008-05-31
  I thought my computer was in bad shape (Blue screen repeats) when my operating system was Windows XP SP2. But now that I've installed Vista Home Premium it is in worse shape. If you have problems with your system when running with Windows XP, DO NOT UPGRADE to Vista. It would be better to backup your important files and then install Vista using the clean install method and then moving your files back in. At least I found that UPGRADING to Vista certainly did not solve my problems.
  
  

• Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 with Business Contact Manager
• Windows Live OneCare 2.0 (Up to 3 Users)
• Microsoft Outlook 2007
• Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007
• Microsoft Office Accounting Professional 2008 [OLD VERSION]

• Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007
• VMware Fusion [OLD VERSION]
• Windows Vista Home Premium with SP1
• Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac Home & Student Edition
• Parallels Desktop 3.0 for Mac [OLD VERSION]