Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate UPGRADE [DVD] [OLD VERSION]
by Microsoft Software
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Software Reviews of Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate UPGRADE [DVD] [OLD VERSION]
Customer Review: Actually Surpassed My Expectations
Summary: 4 Stars
After reading some reviews about pre-release versions of Vista, and then reading some expert and user reviews about the final retail version, it sounded to me like this was going to be Windows ME all over again. The horror stories never seemed to end, and all the hype Microsoft had built around its new OS was consistently being deflated by disappointed reviewers and end-users.
However, being the geek I am, I went ahead and bought Vista anyway. I figured if I was really unhappy with it, I'd just sell off my copy and reinstall XP.
I've been using Vista on my Dell XPS M170 2.26GHz laptop with 2GB RAM for 6 months now and, aside from some minor compatibility issues with 2 or 3 programs (which have since been addressed and fixed), I am delighted to say that I have not experienced any of the problems so many others seem to be experiencing.
I'm not a PC gamer, so I can't comment on any performance ratings there, but for regular applications like word processing, PowerPoint, spreadsheets, and internet, etc, my system does seem to run smoother and slightly faster than it did on XP. I will admit, however, that starting up the computer and shutting it down both take more than twice the time to do on Vista than either task ever did on XP. But Microsoft has really been pushing the use of Sleep State (low power mode) and uses that as the default option for powering down and starting up your computer. Obviously, when you use that feature instead of shutting down every time, startup and sleep are almost instantaneous. To my surprise, using the Sleep feature instead of shutting down doesn't cause my computer to run sluggishly over time, but I make sure to do a hard shut down at least once a week just to keep everything running smoothly.
As far as compatibility with drivers and applications, I have experienced very few issues. I only needed to download 1 driver for my SoundBlaster PCMCIA card after I installed Vista, and everything else, Vista had. A couple of applications ran a little buggy after I installed them onto Vista, but they were updated shortly afterwards and made compatible with Vista and I have had no problem since.
On a quick side note, to those of you complaining about Vista not including drivers for particular hardware, why are you complaining about Microsoft? Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it the product manufacturer's responsibility to create drivers that support Vista in the first place? Shouldn't you guys be complaining to them for not providing drivers for an operating system they've known was coming for at least 3 years now? I feel Microsoft is getting undeserved criticism in terms of driver support (or lack thereof), but I may be wrong in understanding that particular situation since I've seldom experienced it with my copy.
The only big complaints I have about Vista is the 3409240983479834 versions that have been released causing unnecessary consumer confusion in addition to the confusion regarding the Upgrade and Full Versions and performing clean installs from the Upgrade versions (technically, you can't, but do some research, it can be done). Finally, the promise of exclusive content downloadable only through Vista Ultimate Edition has yielded only a handful of gimmicky "utilities" and games. The only exception is Windows DreamScene, which is still in beta, but no Ultimate downloads have been released in months!
Overall, I am very happy with Windows Vista. I'll admit, it isn't as revolutionary as XP was. A lot of it is the same, only with a much prettier interface. Some parts of Windows have been streamlined and made more user friendly, whereas others have received a complete overhaul and will take some getting used to, even for experienced Windows users. The truth is, if you don't NEED to upgrade to Vista, now probably isn't the time. But make no mistake, this is NOT a repeat of Windows ME. Vista is a stable, accessible, and pleasant experience with very little to complain about.
Customer Review: If you want to use BitLocker-spring for the full version.
Summary: 3 Stars
I purchased this product to upgrade the Vista Home Premium that came installed on my laptop, that I could use BitLocker to encrypt my entire hard drive. Long story short form-buy the full version if using BitLocker is what you want to do...
Long story: Little did I know that this much touted feature is really NOT a trivial exercise to enable. After trying to enable BitLocker in assorted ways from an operating system upgrade, I gave in and performed a clean install. I tried using the Microsoft Bitlocker Drive Preparation Tool, I tried manually creating the encryption partition using the partition features in windows. Finally I attempted to do it from a boot command-line prompt using diskpart to create the partition and xcopy to move the boot files around. Nothing worked. It is a real pain in the behind to backup all your files, then perform the clean install, then download and reinstall all your drivers, then reload all your software with preferences. Lesson 1: you will have to do a clean install to enable BitLocker.
Anyway, shortly there after (like the next day) my 3-month old laptop's mother board died. Upon receiving it back I discovered my freshly encrypted hard drive would not boot with the new motherboard, then I discovered I had to reload my old OS before I could cleanly install the Upgrade. Lesson 2: you can't do a clean install of Vista Ultimate Upgrade without at least having an upgrade-able OS installed, so you will be performing this extra, entirely useless step (refer to lesson 1).
Other than Bitlocker I find most of the other Vista Ultimate features the kind of Gee Whiz stuff I really could care less about.
Customer Review: Vista must buy
Summary: 5 Stars
I am an IT Professional, I am also Pro Apple I love OS 9. For years I hated Windows, I hated 98, 2000, ME, I liked XP, I like Vista more. I decided since I was an IT Professional that I should take the time and learn Vista before my company switches over to Vista which will happen sometime in 2008. Vista had all of my drivers of course I updated my chipset and graphic card drivers for the best performance but it worked first boot. The only thing I do not like is if you want to reinstall you have to contact Microsoft to use your cd key again which was the same in XP tooCustomer Review: XP is Much Better
Summary: 1 Stars
The only reason I got Vista is because HP doesn't give you a choice with a new PC. There isn't one new feature worth all the instability. The only think I like is Windows Media Center (it's not worth the hassle and I can't close it once I started it).
This is what you can expect:
1) It doesn't shut down when you tell it to (just like XP, but more frequent).
2) My internet connection is less reliable. My Vista PC is really slow sometimes, but my XP laptop on the same router is still fast.
3) It was much faster when I first got it, but it runs much slower a month later and who knows what is causing the slow down. Even after I disabled stuff with msconfig, it's slow.
4) You WILL turn off UAC if you can figure out how to do it. No, they don't tell you that in the help menu.
5) It takes forever to boot, and that's important since I've had to reboot 1000 times.
6) Firefox doesn't work unless I start Internet Explorer first. If I start Firefox first, it becomes a zombie process that cannot be killed (unkillable processes are an oldie-but-goodie - it was a problem in Win95 that they fixed in XP, but have brought back for Vista).
7) If you don't want your hard drives thrashed to death, disable Windows Search.
8) I spent a couple days reinstalling all my software and drivers to fix Windows Media Player and trying to get my wireless keyboard to work, but I think that HP might share some blame there. Someone I work with had the exact same problem, so there's something fishy with that.
9) If you run Zonealarm or a firewall that actually tells you what's going on (Windows firewall does not do this), you can see that there's about 50 programs dialing home.
10) I've only had one blue screen, so that's an improvement, but it grinds to a halt or hangs much more often.
Customer Review: Beautiful and Horridly Bugged OS
Summary: 1 Stars
I picked up my copy of Vista Ultimate with mixed feelings. I wanted to open my system for greater ram allocation using a 64-bit OS, but also knew there would be driver and program issues that come standard with any new Windows OS. The problems began with the installation. Apparently there is an issue with having over 3GB of ram and trying to install Vista, which is hotfixable after you install. I was lucky and using a seperate computer to troubleshoot as I installed. I halved my ram to 2GB and the install went smooth. Now I have to say on first impression I was surprized with the speed and look of Vista. By all appearances it is an incredible step up from XP. But looks aren't all (or even much) to consider with an OS. And the speed of the OS only lasted until I began to actually task it as much as I can with XP. Once I began downloading and installing drivers and hotfixes from MS Update, the real trouble started. I had problems with pretty much every "Vista Ready" component I have, which is assuredly some of the most up to date computer parts I could buy. Not directly top of the line on everything, but most of it is and what isn't top of the line is only a step below. There were issues with compatable drivers. Either they didn't exist, or they didn't work how they were intended. I had no sound until I downloaded a completely different driver from a different company. Not MS's fault entirely, but this is just one of many examples regarding Vista and hardware vendors incompatability even if they say they are. I was plauged shortly after with the dreaded "Display driver nvlddmkm stopped responding and has successfully recovered" message (check the nVidia forums for the sheer chaos this problem has become). I didn't know about that one until too late...after I bought and installed Vista. There are also numerous programs that won't run in 64-bit or even x86 Vista mode. It's just too frustrating to describe without becoming too wordy here. So I'll shorten it here. I troubleshooted with all the patience and energy I had to get this OS stable and completely working, and I had nothing substantial come from it. I wouldn't recommend this OS at this time to anyone. The stability of the core OS is laughable, as is the support from 3rd parties in regards to software/hardware compatibility and/or stability. I thought about giving it a 2 star rating because in time it could become a very powerful and very gorgeous OS, but as it sits now (buried in a cabinet where it will frustrate me no more) it gets a measely 1 star, because I can't give it a zero. Stick with XP until Vista becomes a) cheaper and b) more reliable. I'm glad I have XP back on this computer, I probably wouldn't have even been able to write this review in Vista. If you still feel the urge to update to Vista, I beg you to do the most research possible on the hardware and software you plan on using within Vista. Check the user forums especially for your hardware components, or you could be sunk by Vista like I was.