Just to let the people know out there who are going to be reading this.. I think it's best for people to go out and buy the 64bit version of windows vista.. doesn't matter if it's home basic or windows vista ultimate.. Just simple because alot of the newer systems that are coming out there now are going to be able to support alot more then just 4gbs of ram.. An that's the max amount of ram each of the skus can take...

Unless you go with the 64bit versions.. This way you can have alot more then 4gbs of ram in your computer system.. Like the windows home basic 64bit sku can support a max amount of 8gbs and up to 16gbs for the windows home premiune sku and 128gbs for the rest of the skus..

Hi,

I have a question that I am hoping someone can help me with. I would like to upgrade to Windows Vista if it is possible to use with my computer. I have a Dell Dimension 4600 that I bought 2-3 years ago and it is running on Windows XP right now. Can I upgrade to Vista using my computer? Where would be the best place to purchase the software? I have been looking online to see how much it would cost me but I can see different prices so I think that I am not looking up something right and I don't want to order the wrong software. Also can you order the software from Dell directly? Any information for me would be much appreciated because I am not a technical person and need advice. Thanks much!

I have the beta running on a Intel PIV with 1gb ram and a PCI Express with 128mb ram. and a 200gb 7200rpm HD.

I think the ram is most critical. You may be able to run it with less with Areo Glass turned off. MS site has downloadable program (it's small) that looks at your system and advises you of any potential problems.

This is the link > http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/getready/upgradeadvisor/default.mspx

celeron4 2g overclock 2.66g

512m ddr400

nv geforce 6200 agp

wd 40g

haha!a little snow, but it doesn't matter!

A special Christmas Eve version to clean out my Feed Demon box as I will be on vacation next week and

Personally, I think Windows Vista Sucks, not because it copied Mac OS, but its wayyyyyy more slower than XP. Among any MS operating system, Vista is the slowest. Vista's is a Pig! Don't waste your time upgrading to Windows Vista until they release the power of new PC's or when Microsoft turns Vista into a faster operating system. I believe that Microsoft should improve on speed and compatibility mainly and not add too many features. I cannot even test the Operating System in a Virtual PC it takes forever to start up and makes the host like a Pentium 2 System. The parental control feature is unnessesery and the editions and limitations of the operating system is unnesessery to. I prefer Windows 2000 and 98, because they have the speed and XP has more dramatic speed on high end workstations. Vista, not good at all when it comes to speed and compatibility. Windows 6.0 should have should have has an MS-DOS Kernal OS for Legacy Applications to run in. Windows NT 6.0 should be able to run on a Pentium 3 500 MHz the minimum with no problems, meaning it should fit on Virtual PC! I believe Microsoft has done a very bad job on Vista. XP is much better and so is 2000 and maybe 98 and NT4. I wish I was there to help Bill Gates build the new Windows 6.0 OS.

nihal, what were you running it on? Was it 3 years old or maybe even 4?

Runs wonderfully on:

Processor: AMD Sempron(tm) Processor 3000+, ~1.8GHz

Memory: 1536MB RAM

Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT

Display Memory: 128.0 MB

Free Space: 39.1 GB

Total Space: 50.9 GB

Don't waste your time with the 64-bit version of Vista or Windows XP Pro.  I have been running both and its VERY hard to find 64-bit drivers (my HP LaserJet printer doesn't even have 64-bit drivers). Its not worth the hassle.

Thanks For Sharing News & Merry Christmas:)

-------

http://www.dl4all.com

nholling, Vista works great on a Pentium D or a Core 2 Duo and should work just as well on an Athlon 64 x2. On the C2D I find it faster than XP. If it works well on a Sempron 3000+ (thanks Tommy Chapman) then I don foresee any problems except for the low end of the market which should stick to XP.

nholling there is also alot of problems with the HP drivers for the 32bit vista also... So so what... Just give it time until the drivers come out in final versions..

So what are u going to do when the next windows OS that comes out after windows vista? Since it'll only be 64bit...

Windows vista works great on my system... but of course i only got 512mbs of ram but that'll change in a few weeks..

Yeah, I should add that mine runs with 2GB memory which is probably partially responsible for its quickness and responsiveness. And Vista handles two cores just beautifully, much better than XP.

Well i have an amd 2500 @ 1.8 gig,768 megs ddr 400 ram, and a 256 meg all in wonder 2006 agp, as well as a 250 gig maxtor.

Vista installs okay then after the reboot the screen has lines going virtical on the screen. Then the computer reboots and wham I'm back into Windows xp. (giving some crap that my sys doesn't meet MIN requirements. ALSO The upgrade advisor crashes on me when it tries to hit the net (Cause i don't have net @ home) so i don't even get ANY type of report saying what's what.

Hey Mr. Mike:  you might be experiencing a driver issue, as I've seen similar problems (vertical lines on the screen after reboot/awaken) on some units prior to their drivers being updated to Windows Vista's WDDM diver model.  I suggest checking your manufacturer's support site for an updated driver; they may have an installation work-around as well.

Alternatively, you could peruse the public newsgroups to see if anyone with your same system has found a resolution.  Hope it all works out for you.

yes that what i thought as well, with xp as soon as i updated the agp bus driver this fixed the problem, but i had to boot into safe mode to do this in xp, as for vista i have no idea how to fix....but thanks for the fast reply, and I am also pursuing the other newsgroup avenue. I am very anxious to try vista and it's just discouraging as i pass the min requirements and was hoping to at least see a vista desktop before bugs appeared. No biggie I will still try and try again untill i get it, That is how we learn to do it right.

I received an Acer Ferrari today loaded with Vista.  I had a problem right from the get go.  I spent three hours on support with Acer, Microsoft, and D-Link trying to connect to my wireless router.  It would never ask me for a WEP code.  Everyone said to call someone else!  Finally, I bought a new router (linksys), installed it, and I'm now connected. Thought of that one without help!

It is great and I'm impressed with Vista-just not with the hassle of getting connected. Who would have thought that a router would be in conflict?  

I have a few programs that I'm not sure will work-will be testing extensively.

Just for your records-my router was three years old.

I just connected my Sprint 6700 with Bluetooth with this machne.  Wow was it an easy experience.  Now if I could figure out how to sync with my device I would have it made.  I thought I downloaded a beta for Windows Mobile devices but I can't determine where or if it installed.

Ok when it says 40GB recommended for Vista, but 15GB required, whats the difference?

Just wondering, because im planning on buying the upgrade version of either Vista Home Premium or Vista Ultimate, and i've got two HDD. One is just a 20GB that I use to have my OS installed on (currently Windows XP Home SP2) and the other is mostly for games, movies, and music ( 120GB HDD).

So since upgrading would replace XP on the C drive, wouldnt that give Vista the room it needs to be installed anyway? Or am I going to have to install a full version on the 2nd (D drive)HDD, and just find out how to uninstall XP from C drive?

Oh and here are my complete specs:

AMD athlon XP 3500+

1 GB ram

Geforce 7600 GT 128MB PCI-e card

20 GB HDD (with XP installed)

120GB HDD (with music, movies, and PC games installed)

Just looking to get some sort of confirmation for what I need to do since its only a few days till release.

Whoops forgot to add the 3500+ is a 64 bit processor.

still having problems with my vista install...

I fixed the corrupt graphics problem from above, now however it does the install and then reboots and shows the please wait while windows loads for the first time, and then reboots. Can't go into safe mode to fix as install is not completed and can't run the repair in Safe Mode as install is not completed.

Then the boot menu comes up saying i need to boot off the dvd and do a repair, but that won't work cause the install isn't complete.

disabling force reboot on crash has no effect and disabling the driver check option also has no effect.

I have to agree with nholling. I would love to run the 64bit version, but I'm afraid driver support will be limited. I like the fact that you can load up more than 4Gb in memory, am not sure of the trouble it would be to get the machine running correctly. I considered running the 64bit RC version but decided against it. I'll consider an upgrade later.

Thanks for the info here.  I'll be looking at the 64-bit version solely for the long term, but hesistant about the Upgrade Advisor being able to analyze every possible system out there.  

Too bad for nihil, seems he has had his Mac hacked one too many times.  

Hey geekteach:  You'll want to look for the Windows Mobile Device Center, which can be very easily located via the Search box in the Start menu.  You can also pull it down via Windows Update if it's not yet installed.

I have just updated my XP professional workstation to Vista ultimate. I have a HP x4000 dual 2.4ghz xeon, 1gb ram 2x40gb 10k scsi U320 drives, Nvidia 7800GS. It took about 1 hour to update. Vista seems to be running fast on this system, faster than my win XP. I had taken care of some problematic software before upgrading. This upgrade was a breeze and I am impressed by the OS. I had tried the beta version on a laptop ande had many issues, but the final version seems to be working fine with me. My system can have 4gb of memory and I plan to had 1 additional gb.

PS I am a Developer/system architect

Hey Teknoman:  Windows Vista requires a drive with a min. of 15GB free memory for installation and to be a minimum size of 40GB.  You may not be able to install it on your current drive (I've never tried on such a small drive, nor do I know someone who has), but it might be worth a try before you inest in another drive.

Hope this helps and let us know how it goes.

Thanks, I found it and installed the windows mobile device center.  It went okay but I wish they let you know when it was finished.  I kept on waiting for it to tell me.  I did connect my 6700 but there is going to be a learning curve.  It is interesting that it calls it a SmartPhone even though it is a phone edition.  When I was connecting I had to delete a partnership.  I do wish it would allow more than two.  It also screwed up my partnership with my desktop and created a new one.

I'm enjoying the learning curve.  I really like "switch between windows".

This blog is great with all the info it has.  Thanks.

jeanfor:

since u got 4gbs of memory now and your going to add another gb... I just hope your running windows vista 64bit, since the 32bit versions don't support more then 4gbs of ram..

I think it is a buy! And you should consider the 64-bit version but there are some programs that don't run under the 64 bit version so that may be a determining factor. But also someone said it was slow and I think just the Opposite, mine loads in under 8 sec. and the network is much faster and with the release of Directx 10 the gamer will really be amazed.

Hi Nick,

I tried running the upgrade advisor for vista (fresh download), worked well on my desktop but doesn't on my laptop. An Acer Aspire 1694, I do think it meets requirements though (A) (2 Ghz, 1 GB ram, 100 GB hdd, 256 MB ATI X700)

But I was just curious what the advisor would say, and.. why it doesn't work. It says: "Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor encountered an error while scanning your system. If the problem persists, you can uninstall Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor and reinstall the latest version." I just got it from the MS site :S Tried reinstalling, rebooting.. no answer..

WIndows Vista Ulmitia Edition Build 6000 (64 Bit Version) Running on

AMD 3200+ 64Bit

2gig of DDR2 Ram

256 PIC-E Radion x700

160GIG HD

Gforce 4 SLI MainBoard

Logitech Comunation XL Webcam

Dazzle HollywoodDV-Brgie

Logitech Wingmang F! Wheel

IPOD Shuffle

Canon ZR-85 Digital Video Cam

All hardware has 64bit (VISTA) driver via Vista Install disc or Off the manerfature Website.... (NOT XP 64 Drivers)

the onyl peaice of hardware that did not have 64 drives is the CanoScan 650U witch I got ride of becuz it did not have 64 Drivers...

NO speed or Ram issuse but I found that running old 9.x games didn;t want to play and crash bak to the desktop.. but how well Its tiem to move on and not look behined eh? will jsut wait for VMS VP 2007 to be realsed so we can isntall 98 with in Vista and have the best of the old and new world! I jsut hope that the VP 2007 will inculed 3d suport for video drivers ...

30 more days I Can go out and buy a real copy I can;t wait...PS I think MS should have held back on the Valdation Update KB929391 as it waz a pain in the *** to fix after it updated. how ever I did fined a work aorund after it updated with out removing it.. MS be my guest in realse more Valdtion Patchs jsut don;t do it untill after Jan 30 so many of us that couldn't wait to buy it contiune to run it with out issuses untill we are givin the chances to buy and change Produect key atlest.

Sn4k3, I can put a max of 4gb and I have now 2gb. I guess my next worstation will be 64 bit.

well i gave up trying to install vista, as much as i really want to run it, my system doesn't like it...

Driver issues with my vid card i believe, the install won't finish for me to change or update the drivers, when i go into safe mode it tells me that I need to put in the dvd, and run a safe mode repair, but yet when i go into safe mode it tells me that setup is not complete and I need to run the setup from the cd...vicious circle that I can't repair.

But anyways I am getting a new computer in March and i will be making sure it's 100% vista ultimate compatible..in the meantime I guess my vista dvd will make a nice coaster for my Mac coffee cup.

I am comparing two identical PCs - one with Xp Pro, the other Vista Business.  I have to say I am not impressed.  Vista takes longer to start up, longer to shut down, at least 50% longer to install software (ie Office), takes 50% longer to write a CD (using Nero 7), irritates with numerous messages about always needing permission to do anything.  Even if User Accounts are modified to stop the irritation, it irritates even more by telling me I have disabled user account options!  Defender is just an absolute nuisance and nowhere near as efficient as other malware/spyware programs.  It takes much longer to scan! Considering I have Celeron D 2.8Ghz CPUs, 1Gb DDR400 Ram i am not impressed at all.  The GUI is much prettier, but extremely resource hungry.  As for windows Mail, just initiating it seems to absorb 100% processor activity and takes 30% longer to download just half a dozen messages and thats using a 4Mb bandwidth DSL!  XP pro is much more efficient from the user aspect and thats not just down to familiarity with the product

Can vista premium upgrade be freshly installed on to a 64 bit pc using the 64 bit version?

Hi Nick,

This will be my first time building an entire PC (HTPC/Gaming Work-Station).  Everything is in place but WV x64 Ultimate.  I've about 20 years IT experience, but I'm still hesitant...  So any comments are appreciated.

I have two Seagate 750GB HD 7200/16MB/SATA-3G that I want to RAID 0 on Intel ICH7R, and also have two WD RaptorX 150GB HD 10K/16MB/SATA-150 that I want to RAID 0 on the Marvel 88SE6145 bridge.  I'm not planning to have any EIDE HDDs.

I would like to install WV x64 Ult. on the Seagate's RAID 0, and tell it to use the Raptor's RAID 0, for swap and internet files.  Also, if I use Vista Boot Pro * http://www.vistabootpro.org/intro.php *, I could install WV x32 on the Raptor's RAID and tell it to use the Seagate's RAID for swap and internet files.  I'm concerned about drivers and DVD programs, but also would like to get up to HD levels for the Home Theater PC.  I don't have an HDCP monitor/HDTV and I'm confused about what to get for Vista HD.

I have the new Quad-Core Extreme QX6700 2.66GHz Intel processor, and 4GB of Mushkin Redline Overclocking DDR2.

The Crossfire ASUS P5W64-WS MB will have one ASUS EAX1950XTX/HTVDP/512M Radeon X1950XTX 256-bit GDDR4 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card; and one ATI - Tecnologies All-In-Wonder X?1900? PCI

Express Video Card with 256MB RAM and VGA+DVI-I and TV Tuner;

and a Dvico FusionHDTV5-RT Gold Plus Board.

Linksys / WMP300N / 300Mbps / 802.11n (Draft N) / PCI / Wireless Network Adapter

Coolmax / Green Power / 1000-Watt / ATX / Dual 80mm Fan / SATA Ready / SLI Ready / Power Supply

Thermaltake Tai-Chi Aluminum Case - Liquid Cooling

1.44 MB Floppy Disk Drive

Sony BWU100A / 2x BD-R/RE / 8x DVD±R/ 6x8x DVD-RW+RW / 4x DVD±R DL / 5x DVD-RAM / 24x16x CD-R/RW / Internal / Blu-ray/DVD/CD Rewritable Drive

Plextor PX-755SA / 16x8x16x DVD+R/RW / 16x6x16x DVD-R/RW / 10x +R DL / 6x -R DL / 48x24x48x CD-R/RW / SATA Internal DVD Burner

Sony VAIO XL1B2 200 Disc DVD/CD Burner Media Changer for Windows Media Center 2005 PC's and Sony XL1/ XL2 Digital Living Systems

P5W64 WS Professional Specifications

CPU

LGA775 socket for Intel® Pentium Processor

Extreme Edition / Pentium D / Pentium 4 / Celeron CPU

Support Intel 65nm, Core™2 Extreme / Core™2 Duo

Support Intel next generation Mulit-Core CPU

Compatible with Intel 06B, 05B/ 05A and 04B/04A processors

Intel EM64T and Hyper-Threading Technology ready

Chipset

North Bridge: Intel 975X (support ATi CrossFire dual Gfx technology)

South Bridge: Intel ICH7R

PCIe Switch: IDT 89HA0324

Front Side Bus

1066/800 MHz

Memory

4 x DIMM, max. 8GB, DDR2 667/533, ECC and non-ECC un-buffered memory

Dual channel architecture

Native DDR2 800 Support

Expansion Slots

4 x PCI-E x 16 slots

2 x PCI 2.2

Storage

Intel ICH7R controller supports:

- 4 x SATA 3.0Gb/s (RAID 0,1,10,5)

- 1 x UltraDMA 133/100

Marvell 88SE6145 supports:

- 3 x SATA 3.0Gb/s (RAID 0,1,10)

- 1 x eSATA 3.0Gb/s

Audio

ADI 1988B 8-channel High Definition Audio CODEC

Support Jack-Sensing, Enumeration, Multi-streaming and Jack-Retasking

Coaxial, Optical S/PDIF out on back I/O port

LAN

Marvell 88E8052 + 88E8001PCI-E Dual Gb LAN controller

Support Teaming function

USB

8 x USB 2.0 ports

Overclocking Features

ASUS AI NOS™

AI Overclocking

AI Clock Skew

ASUS PEG Link

Hyper Path 3

ASUS BIOS Profile

ASUS C.P.R.

ASUS AI Booster

Adjustable FSB/DDR2 ratio

Fixed PCI/PCIe frequencies.

Precision Tweaker:

- vDIMM: 12 step DRAM voltage control

- vCore: Adjustable CPU voltage at 0.0125V increment

- SFS (Stepless Frequency Selection): allowing FSB tuning from 100 MHz up to 550 MHz at 1MHz increment

- PCIe x16 Frequency: allowing PCIe x16 frequency from 90MHz up to 150MHz at 1MHz increment

Advanced Thermal Design

8-Phase Power Design

Stack Cool 2

Q-Fan 2

ASUS Heat-pipe thermal solution

ASUS AI Lifestyle Features

Multi-language BIOS

SATA on the Go

AI Nap

AI Gear

My Logo 2

Other ASUS Special Features

ASUS AI NET2

CrashFree BIOS 3

EZ Flash 2

Q-Connector

ASUS AI Quiet

TPM (Trusted Platform Module) 1.2 (optional)

Back Panel I/O Ports

Parallel

PS/2 Keyboard

PS/2 Mouse

RJ45

S/PDIF Out (Coaxial + Optical)

4 x USB

eSATA

Audio I/O

WLAN antenna jack (Optional)

Internal I/O Connectors

4 x USB

8-pin ATX+12V power

24-pin ATX Power connector

Chassis intrusion

CPU fan with PWM control

Chassis fan1 with Q-fan control

Chassis fan2 with Q-fan control

PWR fan

IDE connector

Floppy disk drive connector

Serial ATA connectors

CD audio in

IEEE 1394a port

Front panel audio connector

BIOS

8Mb flash ROM, AMI BIOS, Green, PnP, DMI, Wfm2.0, ACPI v2.0a, SMBIOS v 2.3, EZ flash, CrashFree BIOS2

Manageability

WOL by PME, WOR by PME, PXE, AI NET, Chassis Intrusion

Support CD

Drivers

BIOS flash utility under DOS

AI Booster

ASUS PC Probe II

RAID utility

Anti virus software

Adobe Acrobat Reader ver 7.0

Microsoft Direct X ver 9.0C

Accessories

User's manual

UltraDMA cable

FDD cable

2-port USB module

2-port 1394a module

I/O shield

SATA cable

SATA power cable

Media Launcher

Form Factor

ATX Form Factor, 12"x 9.6"(30.5cm x 24.5cm)

Thank you anyway--- I've learned a lot from your web site.

Currently running XP Pro 32-bit on a 64-bit AMD Turion 64x2 HP laptop. Have applied successfully for the upgrade to Vista Business. Will it come with a 64-bit disk in view of the fact that I've submitted an upgrade based on my current 32-bit XP Pro? And when they say upgrade, realy it will be a full OS capable of a full fresh re-formatted HD install>?

I have an upgrade question for which I've been unable to get a definitive answer from Slaes or Customer Service. Here's my situation: This summer, XP corrupted which running a system restore. I was unable to restore the XP system in any way, so I installed a copy of Vista Beta 2. Later when I installed the RC-1 upgrade, I had it remove all old files. Thus it seems that I no longer have XP on by hard drive (although I'm not sure). Now that its time to purchase Vista, I'm not sure whether to buy the upgrade version (its cheaper) or whether I'll need to purchase the full version. Any suggestions would be very much appreciated.

Thanks.

A hardware question.

A hardware question.  My old PC (about 5 years old is as follows.

Processer  1 gig Athlon thunderbird

Mother board, ASUS AV7

1 Gig main memory

60 Gig spread out over 2 IBM 30 Gig desk stars.

3D force2 (Gforce 2) Vidio.  DirectX 9.

1 GiG network card.

Win 2K pro and/or NT.

Although it would appear so, the hardware requirements are a bit uncerten. Does this poor old thing have any chance of "walking" vista?

It doesn't have to be the fastes thing in the world.  Just needs to be a playground. After all I still keep an old NT, Pentum 200 powered PC around if I wish to learn more about the register. (it renstalls farily quick)

Thanks

Andy

I've a Targa with AMD Turion 64 X2, 1GB RAM, 120GB HD and Vista just stops after trying to install it...using the debug version, I can see it stops on drive.sys...any idea why does this happen? I tried both x86 and x64 installations and it's always the same...:|

Please help!!!

Tha Laptop has the logo "Vista Capable"!

Thx!

gothic.x@hotmail.com

To historypro

If you own a real copy of xp upgrade woudl still do it.. how ever you can inthory not buy a upgrade to vista if you only have a real copy of the beta / RTM builds as thoses linces can not be upgraded

But I beting youhavea real copy of xp then dida upgrade to beta 2 then RTM there for u stil instied to do a upgrade to Retial Vista trafruing your XP linces over to Vista assuming its a OEM copy of xp.. If its a retial then the lince of the upgradeo ut go ontop of the retail verion of xp in that case I susgest byuying a retail verion Of ivsta so u can mantain the XP lince speretly

To Wandy

It run under ether classic theme or just plain Vista theme with no Areo or Glass.. I sugest useing classic theme to incress speed. how ever it will walk fine although another gig of ram wouldn't hurt?

^^sry for bad spelling m keyboard out to lunch *needs replacing*

Many thanks, MadDoggyca. I began with XP SP.1 (Dell OEM). I upgraded to SP2, but when that corrupted, Windows wouldn't allow me to install the "older" OS( i.e. XP SP. 1), which is why I went to Vista. So if I understand you, the XP license still resides somewhere on my hard drive, even though XP itself was removed in the Vista installation. This means that I can purchase the upgrade version. Am I correct?

Thanks,

historypro

When I had 1gb of memory in my system the memory sub rating was 4.2. Now I added 1 additional gb and the memory score is 4.0. This is the same memory, same speed, in fact it is the same HP sku # for the memory. All other scores on my system are 5.0 or up. Can you explain this ?

I rebooted the system and refreshed the score....It is back to the original value...

Hmm well im probably just going to install it on the bigger hard drive anyway (gotta have room for updates and whatnot). Anyway if I installed Home Premium on a hard drive that already had games/other programs on it, it would probably have to erase everything on there and i'd have to reinstall everything?

Also before installing Vista Home Premium on my other HDD, how would I go about uninstalling (and basically clearing out) windows XP from my C drive?

I just got my (MSDN AA) Vista Business edition and Im Im all set on the hardware front except some leagcy/older hardware (scanners/printers).

My question is simply if I can install the 32bit edition of Vista first, and then at some later time upgrade or reinstall it but choose the 64 bit version instead? Or am I simply stuck with the version I choose when I install (and activate it) for the first time?

Much obliged

Hello folks,

I have bought a new PC recently, and am wandering wether the PRemiu, upgrade is worth it. I like the look of it, but I use it primelie for web design and games. Will I have to buy all my software again or can I run a backwards compatibiltity (XP). Is it worth it or not. Also does the free upgrade with the computer (Hp m7655) come as a Cd or does my XP product key run out so i am forced to use the new OS? Any light sharing on the idea would be great.

Hey Everybody

I have been using Vista since Beta 2 (which sucked)...I am now using RC1 5600 with all the updates. On the whole it has proved a great experience. On the down side, I agree with one of the other guys, third party software seems to take ages to install... the native burning software just grinds so darn slowly.... I wanted to just burn 120 megs of files to cd and it took forever....so I installed Burn Express instead and that was a bit better.

Also for those not able to run transparency, I used glass 2k...which does the transparency thing to the taskbar and windows, havn't found any software that will do the 3d aero thing.My graphics card is a bit rubbish ...ati 9250 256 mg and not direct x 9. Have only had driver issues with my sound blaster value plus and lexmark z617 printer.

Gonna cry when RC1 times out in May...ain't got the cash to buy vista...Nick tell Bill to reduce the price or Im goin' back to Suse 10.2!!!! ;-))

Hey Elof_Barsk:  looks like no one else has addressed your question.  The x86 and x64 editions of Windows Vista do indeed require separate installations; you cannot upgrade/downgrade from one to the other.

Nick,

PC Freak posed the following question about the upgrade advisor not working.  I'm having the same issue and I'd like to run the program.  What's up with error about uninstalling and reinstalling the latest version when I have the latest version???

I'm sure I'll be good to run Vista, I just can't run the advisor to check for drivers, etc..

Thanks!

Hi Nick,

I tried running the upgrade advisor for vista (fresh download), worked well on my desktop but doesn't on my laptop. An Acer Aspire 1694, I do think it meets requirements though (A) (2 Ghz, 1 GB ram, 100 GB hdd, 256 MB ATI X700)

But I was just curious what the advisor would say, and.. why it doesn't work. It says: "Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor encountered an error while scanning your system. If the problem persists, you can uninstall Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor and reinstall the latest version." I just got it from the MS site :S Tried reinstalling, rebooting.. no answer..

Vista upgrade advisor cleared my PC for the upgrade, I want to keep the full licence of my XP pro for another PC i am building for the kids so would want to buy a full version licence not an upgrade.

I am currently a mature IT student and (hopefully) will be working in the IT industry shortly.

I have always liked to have my own copy of any software and that's included windows right back to 3.11 and Dos 6.2. after 6 years working on main frames in the armed forces.

I was angling towards the ultimate edition as this would give me not only the most feature packed version to learn about but also enable me to have knowledge of the other 32 bit versions

I have 3 basic questions

Will Vista allow me to go digging around within its core to learn all the tricks etc that Ive picked up about XP or are we locked out of the system as reported on the net etc.

An example is the sysoc.inf file in XP, I edit mine to allow me to uninstall certain options such as accessibility or windows messenger.

and

Does Vista avoid the filling up of the HDD for the sheer hell of it like XP does

eg

very very hidden IE temp files that can only be deleted by 3rd party software or logging in as admin and manually deleting, (WHOS IDEA WAS THAT).

If you have 2 hard drives and a USB stick it insists on 3 recycling bins but only empties one on the desktop and leaves the others to fill up the HDD. I currently have 39Mb of files in my C drive recycling bin that I have to go and manually dig out.

My real gripe about XP is it leaves a trail of crap all over the HDD like some kind of diarrhoea ridden puppy that you constantly have to clean up after otherwise your disk grinds to a halt on every AV scan and defrag.

Linux doesnt feel the need to mark out its territory on every square inch of my free drive space like a tom cat so why oh why does XP and more importantly please tell me that unlike XP, Vista is house trained.

Hey chiphead and PC Freak:  The Upgrade Advisor is still beta code and so may not work correctly in all instances.  But, we do want to know the circumstances involved when it does not work as expected, so I've passed your feedback about it to the Product Manager in charge for review.  Thanks.

Hey i am about to buy a new pc and i would like to know how it would run using Vista Ultimate-

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 (2.40Ghz/Kentsfield/4MBx2/1066FSB/EMT64/XD/Quad Core)

Asus P5N32-E SLI Nforce680i, Quad core Ready, DDR2, PCI Express, GBLAN, SATA, DTS Connect

Corsair TWIN2X2048-6400C4DHX 2GB (2x XMS2 1GB) PC-6400 (800MHz) DDR2 RAM, 2x240-pin DIMMs, Non ECC Unbuffered, 4-4-4-12

XFX PV-T80G-THD9 Geforce 8800GTS XXX Edition, 640MB GDDR3, PCI Express, Dual DVI, TV OUT, 550/1800 MHz

Seagate ST3250410AS Baracuda 7200.10 250GB 7200rpm SATAII/300 16mb Cache, NCQ, Perpendicular Recording x2

Pioneer DVR-212BK 8x/18x Dual/Single Unbranded Black OEM – SATA

Samsung 226BW Wide TFT Monitor - Black, Max. Resolution 1680x1050, 2ms Response Time (GtG), Digital / Analog Interface

Antec "Nine Hundred" Tower Gaming Case with Side Window - Black, NO PSU, 9 Drive Bays, Top mounted 200mm exhaust fan, Top USB/IEEE1394/Audio

Antec TruePower Trio 650W ATX Power Supply, 120mm fan, Dual PCI-E Graphics Card Connector

Like Karl, I have the Sony VAIO XL1B2 200 Disc DVD/CD Burner Media Changer.  I am interested if Karl or anybody else has been able to get it to run on their Vista 64-bit system?

My system seems to recognize it, but will not read any CDs or DVDs.  It is infuriating.  Frustrating... Some might even say "confusing"...

Ok maybe someone on here can help, I am very unhappy with Vista. I bought this new computer for an online college program costing me 28 grand for starters. I get the run around saying its a compaq issue, then they tell me compatibility is a microsoft issue, but to call them they want to charge me more money on top of already spending over 800 dollars in order to fix the issues...NOT COOL. Vista apperantley isnt compatable with anything so far, so why release it yet????? I can't even run my programs and CD-roms for school, but yet neither tech seems to know what to do? So my question is to I continue to run Vista in order to keep my warranty active or put XP back on it and wait for Microsoft to figure out they shouldnt screw over theor customers by putting out crappy (in my opinion) an unready products out there. If the answer is the latter and I should put XP on it and have an upgrade disk for it, how do I do this shy of spending yet more money to hire a professional. Very unhappy with the way Microsoft has changed over the years, and I feel this is rediculous to charge to fix something or even talk to tech support when the problem is yours to begin with not mine. Thanks, sorry for the venting but this is really getting frustrating at this point.