[masterchief]

Hey guys i am thinking about buying windows vista, i am wondering what i need to do to do so, I am running windows xp media center and would like to get home premium, but what would be a good antivirus software that works for vista so far? How would i install an operating system i have never done that before because i bought this pc with windows on it, and are my specs good enough should i upgrade something ? how do i know if all my games work with it? What about all my hardware would it all work with it and the new hardware drivers ? I will post more when someone posts back but is it reccomended i clean my pc of spyware / viruses before i do all this ? Also if i dont know how to install it should i do it myself ?

edit: is this what i need or do i need full? and what about 64 bit do i need that ? http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1158317974312

[kama64]

Um lets see.

1. AVG is popular as a virus software for Vista

2. Your specs are perfect

3. As a reference you can download this: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/pro...deadvisor.mspx
It will give you a general idea of what will work and what not in vista..if it doesnt like something go to the manufactures website and see if there is any new vista drivers

4. Here is a step by step n how to do a install if you have the Full version..you can buy the Upgrade version and still do a full install but there is a trick to it. Vista needs to be a fresh install I would not recommend just upgrading it. http://www.windowsreinstall.com/winv...tallnewhdd.htm

5. This website has info of what software is compatible or not..not sure how often they update though: http://www.iexbeta.com/wiki/index.ph...atibility_List
You can check for you games here..or just go to the games website and check to see if its compatible

6. Dont get the 64bit..not much stuff out there compatible with 64 bit yet

But that should give you an idea, download the advisor and see what it says

Also look at whats connected to your system..Printers, and mouse/keyboard..see if there are updated drivers for that for vista

[masterchief]

Ok thanks i will post back shortly after i read everything and my pc has a sticker saying windows vista ready. EDIT: also one thing so are you saying i should buy the full version or the upgrade one ? i am downloading the advisor right now

edit: also all my data i want backed up how would i do that ? only thing i really need i my music backed up and game saves programs i can just download again

[kama64]

Probably easiest would be to buy the Full.

Not sure how big your music folder is and saved games, you could just burn them to CD-RW, or buy a thumb drive, and just copy and paste them there.

[masterchief]

if i bought the upgrade one though it wouldnt be as good you think a clean install would be best ?

[kama64]

You need to do a clean install for sure.

You can do a clean install with the upgrade version there is a trick

[masterchief]

How can i do that "trick"

[kama64]

My bad i thought i added a link:

http://windowssecrets.com/comp/070201#story1

Scroll down until you see the heading "Use Vista's 'upgrade' version to clean-install"

Then follow the steps

[masterchief]

Thanks for the link i used the advisor and saved the log of it it seems some of my hings have some issues but not system



System details:
No issues were detected for these system components
The following table contains system components that meet the minimum hardware requirements needed for Windows Vista. Category Action Required Explanation
CPU No action required Your computer's CPU is Intel® Core(TM)2 CPU 6300 @ 1.86GHz
System memory (RAM) No action required Your computer has 2.00 GB of RAM.
DVD drive No action required Your computer can read DVDs.
DVD-RW drive No action required You can record DVDs on your computer.
Video card No action required Your current video card will support the Windows Aero™ user experience.
Windows Media Center Extender No action required Your Xbox 360™ Windows Media Center Extender is supported in this edition of Windows Vista.

Device details:
Cannot find information on these devices
The following table contains devices for which we have no information. Category Model Manufacturer Action Required

Lexmark 1200 Series Lexmark Inkjet Drivers There is no compatibility data available for this device. For more information, go to the device manufacturer's website or Windows Marketplace, or contact your retailer.

AGFA-AccuSet v52.3 Agfa There is no compatibility data available for this device. For more information, go to the device manufacturer's website or Windows Marketplace, or contact your retailer.

Intel® Management Engine Interface Intel There is no compatibility data available for this device. For more information, go to the device manufacturer's website or Windows Marketplace, or contact your retailer.

Intel® ICH8 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 2830 Intel There is no compatibility data available for this device. For more information, go to the device manufacturer's website or Windows Marketplace, or contact your retailer.

Intel® ICH8 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 2831 Intel There is no compatibility data available for this device. For more information, go to the device manufacturer's website or Windows Marketplace, or contact your retailer.

Intel® ICH8 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 2832 Intel There is no compatibility data available for this device. For more information, go to the device manufacturer's website or Windows Marketplace, or contact your retailer.

Intel® ICH8 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 2834 Intel There is no compatibility data available for this device. For more information, go to the device manufacturer's website or Windows Marketplace, or contact your retailer.

Intel® ICH8 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 2835 Intel There is no compatibility data available for this device. For more information, go to the device manufacturer's website or Windows Marketplace, or contact your retailer.

Intel® ICH8 Family USB2 Enhanced Host Controller - 2836 Intel There is no compatibility data available for this device. For more information, go to the device manufacturer's website or Windows Marketplace, or contact your retailer.

Intel® ICH8 Family USB2 Enhanced Host Controller - 283A Intel There is no compatibility data available for this device. For more information, go to the device manufacturer's website or Windows Marketplace, or contact your retailer.

SigmaTel High Definition Audio CODEC SigmaTel There is no compatibility data available for this device. For more information, go to the device manufacturer's website or Windows Marketplace, or contact your retailer.

Lexmark 1200 Series Lexmark There is no compatibility data available for this device. For more information, go to the device manufacturer's website or Windows Marketplace, or contact your retailer.

No issues were detected for these devices
The following table contains devices that will automatically work after installation of Windows Vista. Category Model Manufacturer Action Required

Intel® Quick Resume Technology Drivers Intel If you disable automatic updating during Windows Vista installation, go to the Windows Update website after installation to get the latest driver for this device.

HID-compliant MX310 Optical Mouse Logitech No action required

NVIDIA GeForce 6600 NVIDIA No action required

Multimedia Card Reader AlcorMicro No action required

Hauppauge WinTV PVR PCI II (26xxx) Hauppauge No action required

Logitech USB MX310 Optical Mouse Logitech No action required

American Power Conversion USB UPS American Power Conversion No action required

PCI Soft Data Fax Modem with SmartCP CXT No action required

Texas Instruments OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller Texas Instruments No action required

Intel® ICH8R/DO/DH SATA RAID Controller Intel No action required

Program details:
Review these program issues for Windows Vista
Check the following table for program issues you should address to ensure they will work properly with Windows Vista. Issue Type Program Vendor Version Data Source Action Required
World of Warcraft Microsoft This program might have minor compatibility issues after upgrading to Windows Vista. For more information, go to the vendor's website.
PowerDVD CyberLink Corporation Microsoft This program might have minor compatibility issues after upgrading to Windows Vista. Click here to download an update.
Media Center Extender Microsoft Corporation 2.3.0.0 Microsoft This program might have minor compatibility issues after upgrading to Windows Vista. For more information, go to the vendor's website.
Messenger Microsoft Corporation 4.7.0.3001 Microsoft This program might have minor compatibility issues after upgrading to Windows Vista. For more information, go to the vendor's website.
Call of Duty Microsoft This program has compatibility issues and will not work in Windows Vista. For more information, go to the vendor's website.

These programs have a Windows Vista logo
The following table contains programs that have received a Windows Vista Logo from Microsoft. Program Vendor Version Logo Type Action Required
Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1 1.1
Microsoft This program has no known compatibility issues.
Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0 Microsoft Corporation 3.0
Microsoft This program has no known compatibility issues.
Microsoft Office Standard Edition 2003 Microsoft Corporation 11.0.7938
Microsoft This program has no known compatibility issues.
Microsoft Works Microsoft® Corporation 8.5.815
Microsoft This program has no known compatibility issues.
MSXML 4.0 SP2 Parser and SDK Microsoft Corporation 4.20.9818.0
Microsoft This program has no known compatibility issues.
Windows Live Messenger Microsoft Corporation 8.1.178
Microsoft This program has no known compatibility issues.

Task list:
Selected Edition Current System Configuration
Manufacturer:GATEWAModel:GM5260CPU:Intel® Core(TM)2 CPU 6300 @ 1.86GHzMemory:2.00 GBHard Disk Drives:"C" - 186.11 GB Free (292.70 GB Total)
"D" - 3.40 GB Free (5.37 GB Total)


Things you need to do before installing Windows Vista
Please visit Windows Update to download all the latest critical updates for your system before installing Windows Vista.
Things you need to do after installing Windows Vista
Please visit Windows Update to download all the latest critical updates for your system after installing Windows Vista.
Because of potential incompatibilities with third party firewalls, Windows Firewall will be turned on to protect you after you install Windows Vista. You should only disable Windows firewall if you install and enable a compatible third party firewall. If you were using a third party solution on Windows XP, you should contact your vendor to ensure you have a Windows Vista compatible program.
Programs
Issue Type Program Vendor Version Data Source Action Required
World of Warcraft Microsoft This program might have minor compatibility issues after upgrading to Windows Vista. For more information, go to the vendor's website.
PowerDVD CyberLink Corporation Microsoft This program might have minor compatibility issues after upgrading to Windows Vista. Click here to download an update.
Media Center Extender Microsoft Corporation 2.3.0.0 Microsoft This program might have minor compatibility issues after upgrading to Windows Vista. For more information, go to the vendor's website.
Messenger Microsoft Corporation 4.7.0.3001 Microsoft This program might have minor compatibility issues after upgrading to Windows Vista. For more information, go to the vendor's website.
Call of Duty Microsoft This program has compatibility issues and will not work in Windows Vista. For more information, go to the vendor's website.

[kama64]

Ya so the printer is the big issue.

And unless its the all-in-one, doesn't look like there are any drivers for vista, may need to look further into it through: http://www.lexmark.com/lexmark/seque...9_0_en,00.html

The games you should probably go to the forums for those game and see if there really is any issue or not

Same for the PowerDVD..I know the latest version 7 i compatible...not sure what you have

[masterchief]

Ok i was wondering in the trick it said that it has to install twice, but does that mean it will take double space ? like say it uses 20 gb will it use 40 duriing trick ? and will it slow down the os ? or machine ?

[kama64]

It will take less that 15gb from whatever partition size you initially make.

Minimum size for the partition for vista I would make including the trick way would be 35GB. Not sure if you have other big programs to install or not..but making it 40 or even 50GB would be a good safe size.

It wont slow down the system

[Xaero]

World of Warcraft has VERY small issues with vista... BRD, and a few other of the lower level instances with graphics similar to it, have graphical errors, but its being worked on... Its not a problem with Vista, its not a problem with the game, its with driver compatibility with DirectX9 applications.
ATi, and Nvidia are working collaboratively with Microsoft to track down all of the DirectX9 compatibility issues in DirectX10 to resolve the problems with game compatibility... Games I know of that have graphical issues/lag problems are:
F.E.A.R. (30fps -- NO MATTER WHAT)
WoW (just those i mentioned Above)
CoD (I think there was a patch sumwhere...)

games that work:
Just about any game between 1994 and 2002, from there it just gets more complicated with DX9, all of the other DX compatibility is essentially perfect

The reason this happened:
Windows Vista itself, as well as DirectX 10 are based on ENTIRELY new code. Vista is (supposedly) a Hybrid between an XP (NT+DOS) and a Unix core. DirectX 10 was re-written to be fully compatible with this change, as well as many many speed increases that were found (this I know for sure) however, DirectX 10 posed a problem as drivers could not interface with DirectX the same as before, ATi and NVidia were both very quick to release new drivers.

Hope this info helps someone

[Hal356]

I thought that 32-bit applications would be able to run fine under 64-bit processing. I thought it might be a good idea to get the 64-bit edition if everything is going to migrate to 64-bit eveuantually. But I didn't know that 32-bit applications weren't compatible.

[horsecharles]

Originally Posted by Hal356

I thought that 32-bit applications would be able to run fine under 64-bit processing. I thought it might be a good idea to get the 64-bit edition if everything is going to migrate to 64-bit eveuantually. But I didn't know that 32-bit applications weren't compatible.

I'd buy Ultimate Upgrade-- contains both 32 & 64 bit if you want to try the latter... although you may find it disappointing/lacking at this early juncture.