which vista?

I have recently built a new computer and I

Personally I would either go for Home Premium or Ultimate. To be honest premium has everything you need for a home user and there isn't much else you need which is in Ultimate. I have premium installed on my laptop at the moment and is definitely faster than XP. I would also go for 32bit. Although 64bit is faster all the drivers need to be signed by microsoft so if something wasn't then you wouldn't be able to install it. In other words, 64bit has more compatibility problems with older programs.

You're right about XP being allowed to install as many times as long as it isn't on more than one machine at a time. New anti-piracy features in Vista mean that when entering the key and registering the product it will sync with the microsoft servers to see if the key is in use. With XP all it did was to check if the key was correct and not if it was in use before. In Vista if you want the key for a second installation (on the same pc - for example a motherboard change) then you will have to ring up microsoft and they will allow the key to be used again - but only on one computer. Basically Vista can only be installed once without having to ring microsoft. Of course if you did a search on google there are umpteen ways to activate vista illegally...although i don't recommend it but thought i'd let you know all the options!

Hope that helps

Edited by deleted (Wed 30-May-07 19:52:36)

If you have a friend with a Vista disk just borrow & install it.

When it asks for the product key at install leave it blank. This will give you the option to install any of the different versions of Vista.

After 30 days you will have to put in a key and activate the software. However if you are just trying out different versions you will not need it to be installed for more than 30 days.

N.B. If you install the Premium version (for example) & then put in and activate with a Basic version (for example) key you will get all sorts of problems.

This way you can try all of the versions before buying the one you want.

Steve.... do you live in southapton/portsmouth.. or in that area by any chance??

In reply to:

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N.B. If you install the Premium version (for example) & then put in and activate with a Basic version (for example) key you will get all sorts of problems.

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I don't think it will let you do this. I installed Ultimate from a Premium disc and it said the key was invalid, and I had to reinstall the OS after 30 days.

Edited by deleted (Sat 02-Jun-07 12:06:54)

I bought another laptop with Vista Home Premium. In the past three weeks it has crashed twice forcing a 'button' reset. It doesn't like some programs at all (Juice, even using the work around being the one that peeves me most) And it persists on wanting permission to do things, and I understand that is a security feature that could prevent a hacker taking over the machine, it is annoying (I won't switch it off though?)

My older laptop has an up to date XP install with Media 11 and IE 7 and has never crashed, has never refused to run a program and it just works.

I considering removing Vista from the new laptop and putting XP onto it.

Oh, and Vista is not laptop battery friendly at all!

It takes longer to boot and longer to shut down!

I like the gadget bar. Hardly a sound reason to buy it.

which vista?

NONE!

Vista works well on my laptop, but then it is only doing internety things and not much else, mind you Photoshop elements and premier elements works ok with it.

I don't think I would install Vista on this machine, too much software I have will not work.