Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic > Reviews > New bottle old wine. Windows Vista Basic OS

Author's product rating:   

Instructions / Help	Good
Ease of use	Easy
Ease of Installation	Good - quick to install
Reliability	Average
Value For Money	Poor

Advantages:	Easy to use, improved features
Disadvantages:	Find out

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

Windows Vista Home basic Operating System.

This is one of 6 Microsoft's new version of Operating System. Users can install it to a Windows or Macintosh based computer, along with upgrading from the previous XP versions. A Computer user interface, is the graphics, the layout of the software program. In simple terms it is what the user can see on the screen. The home version that I am reviewing in comparison to my existing XP home computer OS seems as the name suggests to offer just the basic new features. Is it any good?

The start button is smaller and squarer than that in XP home. The design based on what you see on the desktop screen is far clearer and more professional from a design and quality perspective. Upon running the start menu, there is a search toolbar that enables fast browsing and access. Also contained within the start menu are short cuts to access I.E, E mail, Windows Photo Gallery, W Media Centre, W Media Player, Office excel, word, documents, settings, pictures, media files. On the other half of the side the personal side features are contained, including the documents, pictures, media, support, search and power options.

Here a new instant power off button has been created. This enables the user to turn off the computer or laptop. The problem here resulted sometimes in my laptop having to be rebooted again as it would not shut down correctly. It simply powered itself on.

When opening a program through the start button facility, if say the user on an XP machine has 100 programs installed, the menu and display can become overcrowded in terms of viewing. Here on Vista the appearance is all indexed so that instead of browsing all 100 programs throughout the page on a horizontal basis, the programs are instead listed vertically. This saves much hassle in terms of navigation and access to the programs.

Searching for files using Vista vs. XP. This is where Vista starts to earn its money. This feature does make it much faster method to search for songs, film DVD, and certain files on the computer. The OS search box function upon entering the name of the file, based on logic and instant recognition helps to narrow down the search to find the relevant file almost instantly. Within each category of Vista is consistent in its precise search facility and also the listing of files under different categories, documents, pictures, games, search, recently viewed items, computer, network, etc all identical in its approach to the storage, archiving, and user retrieval.

Under the programs and features section a user here can turn the windows features on or off depending to adjust security settings as they please. I have noticed under Windows XP the same ability to do this, though it is the ease of using Vista that makes the adjustments in security settings much more user friendly and faster to achieve.
The drawback of this is if a person has files which are numerically listed; this is really not going to help. In Windows XP the search is carried out based on a search throughout the computer or via in effect all program files.

There is also a side bar feature, that contains a visible clock and, interchanging pictures along with a news headlines search facility, if connected online to the internet. By contrast, this feature of a clear view of the time along with headlines using XP is only available by going to a news source webpage i.e. bbc.co.uk, euronews etc.

However I have realised having connected the laptop to the internet using a wireless router, only Internet explorer 7 can be used to access the MSN RSS news feeds. Simply enough using third party browsers such as Mozilla, Firefox, or even open sourced browsers' do not connect to the Operating systems side bar.

What I liked most is the ease of use of using Vista. In seconds I can alter the desktop font sizes, change desktop icons, the background colours, the screensaver etc much faster than using XP.

Security Settings. I can see the same format and layout of Vista security tools which are the same also contained in Windows XP. Ok so really no advancement of security despite the added money. Therefore surfing online is still the same effect as using existing XP home or XP Professional. The use of Windows Defender to scan actively for spyware activity, and other unwanted software is a new feature contained within the new OS. Though the long term users of external third party software and fans of programs such as Zone Alarm, AVG, Norton etc will feel, no rush to adopt this latest version of operating system based on the minor advancement in security settings.

The windows photo gallery feature is a really smart semi management tool that makes photo management and organising folders really well. Here the user can see when the photos on the computer were taken, recently imported pictures. The navigation of viewing pictures is slightly enhanced through a much faster and easier way of flicking through pictures, media files, via simply pressing left and right buttons on the keyboard.

The network settings in Vista make it much more easier to connect online, adding a printer to the network, wireless networking can all be done with much less effort. For here the speed in finding the areas of the network are contained within the start area. This is another slight improvement from XP.

The help and support sections are easy to use. The software contains areas where users can use online, internet forums to get the answers to the solutions they seek, or the solutions that are available.
Are there any disadvantages of using Vista Home? Yes there are. Firstly the memory and amount of files the CD contains are greater than that of XP home. Therefore the user gets a slightly slower experience when connecting online, and multi tasking different programs.

The computers and laptops with less than 40gb of hard disk will not be able to use this program. Through usage of the software I feel that only high specification machines are really able to see the difference and benefit from the new OS. This software is a memory and resource eater.

I feel that in no way does this product also make the internet surfing any safer to use online, as the same problems of visiting unsafe sites will still cause problems for a person computer using Vista.
For downloading windows live messenger service shortcut link is also provided for easy navigation to download.
Is it worth buying? In my honest opinion I feel strongly that where the need to spend extra on a CD that simply improves upon the box contained in previous versions should be avoided. It's a slightly better OS to look at though I feel that shelling out extra on this version is really not worth the money that would have to spent. Therefore, it simply does not warrant upgrading based on these findings.

Conclusion I feel that this software program would really not appeal to existing Windows XP users as this is really in effect the same program only with a slightly better Computer User Interface. The price for a 1 User CD is going to cost between 1-200, which really is best saved by not buying this OS. The product simply does not draw me into making a buying recommendation for this product as user's needs are still not achieved in a fully safe internet security. Some people however might like using the OS with its improvement in design however.

The bottom line here is that Vista is really old wine in a new bottle. My rating is 5 of 10.