To Vista or Not To Vista

The new Windows Vista operating system(OS) has some nice features. But before you upgrade your system to it, you should check for some possible "hidden" costs. Some tips on things to check before you upgrade.

To begin with, if you bought your current computer in the last couple of years and are currently running Windows XP, there is a good chance you will be able to run Vista. But what version? Vista comes in different editions, or versions, each one more powerful than the other, and, therefore, requires more horsepower to run effectively. To find out, (and, again, only if you are running XP), go to the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor at

http://www.microsoft.com/windo ws/products/windowsvista/buyor upgrade/upgradeadvisor.mspx and follow the instructions on downloading and running the application. It will give you a report on whether or not you can run Vista, what edition you can successfully use, and whether or not it found any compatibility issues with currently installed hardware and/or software.

If you aren't currently running XP, or you are using XP Enterprise (which cannot use the Advisor software), then you will have to verify everything manually. If that is the case, then you will need to check out the individual requirements for the various versions of Vista. For that information, go to http://www.microsoft.com/windo ws/products/windowsvista/editi ons/systemrequirements.mspx.

Whether or not you can utilize the Vista Advisor, you will also want to verify the existence of Vista drivers for any currently used hardware (internal, external, and peripherals) and/or software you plan on utilizing with the new OS. While this will entail some extra time sitting in front of the computer doing research, you may find that it is time well spent. It may be that the applications most important to you have built new drivers for Vista, in which case going with Vista will not pose a significant problem. However, if you can't find Vista drivers (and I'm talking about ones that have been tested and are in production not simply Beta versions), then it becomes a financial issue as to whether or not you want to invest the money to replace the software/hardware with a newer, Vista compatible, version if that is even available. For instance, as recent as June 2007, one popular software for authoring/copying CD's and DVD's did not have Vista drivers for their most recently released software edition; and had no estimated time frame

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