Vista Horizons

I think there is a lot of fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) out there regarding Windows Vista. I've been running many beta builds since RC1 all on a 4 year old Pentium 4 laptop with 1 GB of RAM and a 40GB hard drive. It ran fine. As good or better than XP. To be clear, I didn't get the new Aero graphics that everyone raves about. You probably won't either if you are upgrading. It's all about having the latest graphics card. Did I miss it? No. I still think there is a lot to like in the new interface.

If you are an early adopter like me, here's what you need to be doing before you upgrade.
1. Run Windows Upgrade Advisor
2. Figure out if you can upgrade or need to do a clean install
3. Decide which version to purchase.

Details:
1. Run Windows Upgrade Advisor
If you have Windows XP now, I highly recommend you download and run the Windows Upgrade Advisor. It will produce a nice report of your system, peripherals, and programs. It will point out potential problems before you go though the upgrade process. If some of your software and devices aren't supported yet you'll know now and can make the decision to wait before you plunk down you hard earned money.

1.5. Visit the manufacturer websites of the varioius components that Advisor mentioned might be a problem. If you can, download the drivers now. Especially any that have to do with your network card, you don't want to not be able to get back on the web! Burn 'em to a CD or copy them to a USB stick.

2. Figure out if you can upgrade or need to do a clean install
Use the chart below to decide, based on the version you are running now, whether you can upgrade or need to do a fresh install. A Yes indicates an in place upgrade is possible. A No indicates you'll need to do a fresh install.

UPDATE 29 Jan 2007: You cannot do a clean install from an UPGRADE disk

3. Decide which version to purchase.
The chart below will help you decide which version to buy.  A more detailed chart can be found on Extremetech.

Tags: microsoft, windows, vista, upgrade, purchase, fud, how to, quickstart, guide