Introduction to Window Vista
There is 4 type of Windows Vista to choose. Ultimate, Business, Home Premium and Home Basic. There is also Enterprise and Starter Edition which cater for bulk purchase for enterprise and low cost for Starter Edition. You can only get two versions on special licensing agreement.
For personnel users, there is a choice of Home Premium and Basic. I choose Home Premium as aero interface is the main reason for me to change to Vista. It makes no sense to opt for Home Basic which comes without aero.
32-bit Vs 64-bit
While 32-bit vista support up to 4GB of ram, it’s still wise to choose 32 bit. You can’t use 32-bit drivers on 64-bit Vista. Although 64-bit vista support up to 128GB of ram, it’s wise to stick with 32-bit for now as hardware driver must be manufacturer signed. It’s also lack of 16-bit DOS thus problem with older, custom apps (Or just older installer)
Vista at a Glance
1. Sidebar Gadget: Loads of useful lightweight gadgets
2. Window Explorer: With integrated search. Simply start typing for a program or file name to launch application
3. Aero: Flip 3D view, live view or alt tab for a 2D live view. (Gorgeous)
4. New Start Menu: It makes file navigation easier that let you jump to a specified level of hierarchy, integrated search, and live icon. (You can edit data on icon)
5. Improved Security
6. Ready Boost (Convert portable drive such as thumdrive to act like ram)
Features
Common to all editions of Windows Vista are ad hoc backup and recovery, instant Search, Internet Explorer 7 browser, Windows Media Player 11, Windows Mail e-mail client, Windows Calendar, Windows Photo Gallery, performance tuning and self-diagnostics, Internet protocol IPv6 and IPv4 support, Windows ReadyDrive, Windows Sync Center for mobile devices, Windows Mobility Center for presentations on the road, User Account Control (UAC) security protection, Windows Security Center, Windows Defender antispyware, Windows Firewall, Windows Meeting Space for ad hoc wireless meetings, Remote Desktop for working from home, XPS document support for PDF-like files, improved peer-to-peer networking, improved VPN support, and improved power management.
Home Premium users have built-in Parental Controls that allow you to filter Web sites visited as well as limit a user’s Internet access by specific hours; there are also online gaming recommendations, with an easy-to-understand industry rating system. Also, Windows Vista Home Premium and Ultimate editions both give you Windows Media Center, which has been redesigned to better take advantage of online television subscription services and home theater systems. There’s also built-in DVD-burning software, but because most DVD players come with their own software, we don’t find this to be a significant plus.
Bugs and Problems
This section is my experience of bugs and problem I encounter in a month of using Vista.
1. Window Vista Index Performance page in Window Explorer totally gone for no reason. After goggling found the easiest solution by installing TweakVI and do some tweaking. Problem solved
2. WMP 11 delay 5-7 seconds when clicking on next song. Problem by Sigmatel driver. Update driver and follow step by step solution by forum. Problem solved.
3. WMP 11 crash numerous of time when opening .avi file extension. Reason APPCRASH. Found out that this problem cause by XP Codec Pack problem. Uninstalled XP Codec Pack and installed K-Lite Mega version. Problem solved.
4. Boot up screen jumpiness (bout 2 seconds before Vista logo appeared). Solved by installing to latest Intel GMA 950 driver.
5. The LED light at the bottom right corner of touchpad still ON eventhough the computer completely shutdown. Problem solved by itself.
6. Slow shutdown and restart duration which I mention in my earlier blog. Found out that this happens with each new installation of new device driver. It took longer time as vista needs to configure the setting before it completely shutdown. No problem.
Strange Vista
Meaningless performance index.
A function where vista rates your CPU, RAM, HDD and GC and presents them by score rating. Instead of average score, vista chooses the lowest value as end result. Maybe Microsoft want to sell more software as it give them an opportunity to recommended products which will increase performance which I found it to be pretty lame.
Annoying User Account Control (UAC)
The major letdown here is this UAC annoyingly ask for confirmation for running the so called system critical task. It’s good for beginner or limited user but as administrator account it’s really unnecessary. It’s to improve security to prevent unauthorized execution of program but the slowdown outweighs this feature.
Hidden Shut Down button
A click in Xp shutdown will turn off your pc but in Vista, the shutdown button has been replaced to sleep mode. Of course it could be change to shutdown by clicking series. How to do it?
Start >Control Panel >System and Maintenance > Power Options > Change Basic Plan Setting > Expand Power Buttons > Lid > Expand Start Menu Power Button > and last but not least change setting from Sleep to Shutdown. Phew….
Conclusion
Vista offer lots of improvement over XP, but most of them are conveniences rather than essentials. As a whole, Vista feels more evolutionary than revolutionary. Vista is good but not spectacular. Call it a nice to have product rather than a must have.
Pros: Improved GUI, Slick Aero, instant search, improved security, lot better than XP
Cons: High hardware requirement, minor bugs, annoying UAC.
Note: Some resource are taken from PC Chips magazine and online website.
t from CPU-Z 
