Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 21-25 of 117
 Unable to upgrade as opposed to a full install. March 31, 2008
Fathom (Sacramento, CA)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
After downloading the Microsoft Upgrade Advisor, and removing all the possible problem software I had. I was unable to choose the upgrade option on the installation. After selecting the radio button for upgrade only, it would allow only a full installation. Because this is my main home PC used for telework as well, I did not want to loose all my existing applications and set up.
The manual in the Windows Vista Home SP 1, did not indicate that their were limitations on what OS could be upgraded. My existing OS is just XP.
I ended up having to restore all my settings to the previous set up. I will wait to re-try this as a full installation once I plan to replace my motherboard in several weeks. I could not be certain whether the OS would allow me to reinstall Vista if the motherboard changed.
I am still disappointed that this install did not allow me to just do an upgrade as opposed to a full install which would wipe out my existing software.
 Save your money April 4, 2008
D. Mullane
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
The only reason I gave this a one star rating is because there is no zero star. Windows Vista is a complete waste of money. It is slow, unstable, a resource hog, and incompatible with a lot of peripherals that came out before it(printers, cameras, etc.). It looks nicer than XP, but that's all it has going for it. After almost a year of trying to use Vista, I finally erased the hard drive and installed XP to actually make my nice expensive laptop useful.
If you have XP, stay with that. Actually, if you have any version of Windows other than WinME, stick with what you have. If you have Windows ME go ahead and get Vista, since you're probably already so used to the kinds of constant problems you'll have with Vista that it won't seem that bad by comparison.
 Vista Still Works Fine for Me April 5, 2008
Kesha Dylan (Washington, DC)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I have XP running on a bootcamp partition on my MacBook and it is doing just fine. I spend most of my working time in Word, hardly ever using any of the other programs in the Office suite. However, I use the Adobe products Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator a whole bunch. Other than that I play solitaire, watch videos and, of course, use both Explorer and Firefox when I go online. That's about it for me, software wise, and XP handles it all without fail, without crashing and without giving me any headaches.
And I will miss it when I upgrade to Vista, however my machine can handle the upgrade, so I'm giving it a try.
Okay, I like the look and feel of Vista, however it's not as snappy as XP or even System X. I like the AERO bit, quite snazzy and one of the reasons my machine runs a bit slower, I suspect, however I'm loath to turn it off as it's so cool.
Word works fine and that's to be expected. My Adobe software runs well too. The browsers, no problem. I did have to upload a printer driver, but that only took a few minutes and I was good to go.
I've read a lot of reviews by people who are having problems with Vista and I'm getting the SP1 upgrade any day and I'll instal it, but I'm not experiencing the problems others appear to be having. Maybe because it's because I only use four or five programs on my Machine. I don't use iTunes or Windows Media as I still listen to my CDs the old fashioned way and only then if I don't have the phonograph record.
I've just installed the SP1 upgrade and I have to saw that I do notice a difference. Things just seem snappier now. For the last week I've had my MacBook running Vista and no crashes, not even in Photoshop, which used to happen before the upgrade. I'm not saying it's going too, but it has not happened yet. So now I'm running Vista Ultimate on my MacBook and I just got a nifty new MacBook Air, oh so thin, oh so cool running with Vista Home Premium. Vista on way cool Macs, way cool that is.
Good for a New Clean Machine April 5, 2008
Kayla Rigney (USA)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I've been Windows Vista Home Premium with SP1 for a little over a week. I upgraded from XP and run several MS programs that are XP compatible.
Windows Vista reminds me of Mac OS in in feel and interface. It's designed to be user-friendly and also more secure that XP. Vista is frankly visually interesting. (If you don't like the new look, you can run it in a mode that mimics XP.) Vista has wizards that really would help a novice understand features. I'm pretty sure its security features work, as warnings pop up when I'm online and sometimes when I'm loading supposedly compatible programs. I also have hardware compatibility issues that I still haven't worked around.
Vista is a resource hog. It takes up huge amounts of space. I'm not talking ordinary OS space-- I'm talking gargantuan amounts of memory. It's wiggy and since installing it, my computer hangs for no reason. Frankly, Vista is an OS for a new, from scratch machine with no peripherals/external devices.
If you're just starting out in the Windows world, Vista is great. It's comforting as well as comfortable. I think Vista might be a good OS for a novice adult user who just wants to access the internet and email, and maybe load some pictures and music. And there are *a lot* of folks out there just getting their feet wet in the electronic age. If you're a seasoned user running XP, think long and hard about upgrading. (Even after running Vista, I believe XP to be the better OS for me.)
Here are the questions you need to ask: Am I a new user?Do I run a bare bones machine with little software or additional hardware? Am I willing to give up valuable memory/resources to OS that could be devoted to something else? If you answered No to these questions, then you probably won't be happy with Vista.
My opinion: if you're buying a new computer, don't be afraid of Vista. It's probably the shape of things to come. If you're still running XP, let someone else have the headaches.
New problems. AVOID AT ALL COST! April 8, 2008
Jeffrey Bennett (Falls Church, VA USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
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.
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