Windows Vista Home Premium

Author's Rating:

Pros: More modern look, UAC, Speed, Start menu, DirectX 10

Cons: Only because there has to be: Price??, UAC

The Bottom Line: 
Sit back, enjoy the new look, feel and security and surf the internet like the rest of us. :-)

Author's Review
"So what?" you say. "Microsoft has come out with another operating system. What will it do for me?" Well, many may 'complain' or 'beeotch' about it, pardon the french, but for me, I don't mind it too much.

STARTUP - I have a Gateway T2060, 1.6 dual core with 1 gig of RAM which may help it start faster and be more responsive to inputs, which could be the processor (I have never used a dual core 2 duo with Vista before).



START MENU/CONTROL PANEL - The look of it is different if you aren't used to it, but more fun to get around in. Simply click on what you would like to look at and it 'pops up' in place where you were. Great for those of us whom do not have a very wide screen monitor (or laptop for that matter). I do wish it would 'pop up' on its own as does the items in the task bar simply buy hovering over the item of choice. Speaking of which, not too sure how that feature would work on a desktop with smaller-than-normal monitor (due to the fact that you can't really see what is in the other window), but may be great on a wide screen monitor or home entertainment system which, personally, I think that is what Microsoft is aiming at in the future.


DISPLAY - It has a more 'fluid' response for the mouse (if you understand my meaning). If not, then the more you play with the system, the more you may understand. The search feature, which by the way, is located and automatically indexes your files, after you click 'start', helped me through the process. Play with it and you will see what I mean. I have not seen any downgrade in performance with AERO enabled.

AERO - Windows has updated the user interface with a feature called AERO. Two of the new exciting features, flip and 3D, enable you to confidently manage the windows on your desktop by arranging them in a visually striking yet convenient way.

SECURITY - One of the major concerns with XP was the security of the machine. By default, XP assigns the primary user an administrator account. Meaning you can install anything and have complete control over the computer. With Vista, you can still do those things but with a twist. User Access Control (UAC).
Ok, let me explain. When you try to access a portion of the computer that could potentially harm it, a warn box pops up asking permission for the action to continue. This may be 'irritating' to some, but if you watch what it says and not in frustration click "continue", it WILL help. I never found it too intrusive, nor did I find it irritating, except for when I performed tasks that I did what I wanted it to do. However, if you are not experienced with a computer, even if you think you may be, like me, you will tend to get annoyed and quickly press 'continue' but that will only benefit those that want to do harm.

OPERATION - You can please some but not all (I upgraded my wifes computer to a dual core 2 6320 with 4mb of cache from a 2.23ghz Pentium and she still complains)!! It comes with a 60 day trial of Office 2007 which I love. What really excites me is the highlight text feature (I think I just made this up). If you want to see what text would look like in a particular font/table/whatever, simply select your choice, move the mouse to your text choice and see instant results displayed below. Not a necessary upgrade for normal, everyday users, so there is no need to upgrade unless you like new stuff or until XP updates become obsolete.

REBUTTAL - There are so many people now who are using / comparing windows to the Apple MAC. Sure, MAC is more 'secure' so to speak but recently (iTunes, iPod and more recently iPhone) have made hackers, programmers and virus makers more aware and active so that they can keep current and become more famous and intellectual by doing stuff to these systems. Like Firefox, they have become vulnerable. Most of the slow response to an update is due to the fact that since Windows has such a large audience, that it takes longer to get fixes out (due to language differences, laws of other countries (to include the EU, which, by the way, if DO NOT LIKE AN AMERICAN PRODUCT SHOULD CREATE THEIR OWN INSTEAD OF CRITICIZE AND COMPLAIN!!)

OVERVIEW - I like the new operating system. Like many before it, Vista will draw complaints until the new version becomes available.