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Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic

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Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic

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Windows Vista

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1 Oct 8th, 2008 

22 Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful

Advantages:
it looks nice

Disadvantages:
it is unreliable and unpredictable

Recommendable No:

Detailed rating:

Instructions / Help

Ease of use

Ease of Installation

Reliability

Value For Money

buggsy2008

buggsy2008

About me:

Im 20 years old and am an avid reader. I also like writing which is what inspired me to come on her...

Member since:05.04.2008

Reviews:32

Members who trust:5

Why I Upgraded


I recently upgraded from Windows XP Home Edition to Windows Vista, the reason for the upgrade was simply because I got a new laptop and it came with Windows Vista. If I had not have needed the new laptop then I probably would not have paid to upgrade to Vista, this is mostly because I was happy with XP and so had no reason to want to upgrade. I had heard of Vista though and wanted to try it out as everyone else was getting it and seemed happy with it, as I said however I would not have paid to upgrade as it is too expensive when there was nothing wrong with what I was using.

Look and Feel of Vista


The cosmetic side of Vista is as good as you would want it to be, in this respect I prefer it to XP. It has the side bar which you can download various widgets for including an E-bay one which I find helpful, along with various other informative ones and also games and other things to entertain you whilst you work, or whatever else it is you do on your pc. This side bar tends to make it run slower however and I have resorted to disabling it as although it is a nice addition to the desktop it is a pain when I am trying to do things and it runs the laptop slower. As well as the widgets everything has had a makeover, all the boxes and menu's, including icons, and I think that it is a big improvement. The new look of Windows is a much needed refreshment of the old XP as that was starting to get boring, I particularly like the little thumbnail boxes you get pop up when you move the cursor over the open pages/folders you have minimised in the task bar.

In short I feel that Microsoft has out done themselves when it comes to the cosmetics of Vista, the performance side of things however is another matter.

Performance


Vista's performance is poor at best, Microsoft have spent too much time working on the cosmetic side of things and not enough on the technical side. It is very unreliable and unpredictable, you can't do more than one thing at a time for fear of it spitting it's dummy out and crashing. Then you have to wait for explorer to restart which can take ages. I have lost count of the number of times I have been doing something and then for no apparent reason the whole of windows just freezes, it is not a problem with my laptop as everyone I know who has Vista says the same thing. It is slow and unreliable, and to be honest it is not worth upgrading from XP whether you pay for it or it comes with your machine. If it wasn't for the fact that I would lose a lot of things I would downgrade back to XP in an instant, as it is I am stuck with Vista as I do not want to format my machine and lose loads of things which I cannot backup.

My Opinion


In my opinion Microsoft should have focused on the technical side of things more than they did, in their haste to bring out a new good looking operating system they have given us something which admittedly looks and handles nicely but is seriously lacking everywhere else. I just hope that they will learn from their mistakes when they bring out the next version of Windows, although to be honest they couldn't make it any worse than Vista, unless they make us go back to pen and paper that is.

Vista has it's good points but to be honest it's performance has seriously put me off of it and I wish I could either go back to XP or upgrade to a better one. I'm stuck with Vista for the time being but hopefully that won't last long.

If you are thinking of upgrading to Vista then I would say stick with XP, if you have bought a new machine and it comes with Vista then invest in XP and put that on to it. It is not worth the time and effort used in installing it and then the problems it causes just get on your nerves. 

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Comments about this review »

babycougar 29.05.2009 22:54

Good overview of common problems with Windows Vista. I too have Windows Vista because it came with my new laptop, and I also think they should not have bothered - the XP was better. My biggest gripe is the "MEDIA CENTER". That's the the most infuriating computer program I have ever encountered in my life. I have a little freakout whenever I click on it by mistake, and close it as promptly as possible!

GezUK 28.05.2009 02:08

This is an exceptional 1st hand review from a basic user of windows Vista and it is good to have reviews of the Vista product from someone with basic knowledge of computers as that is the general population of computer users. The views the product will differ greatly between basic users and advance users.

majeedkazi 09.10.2008 10:05

i Have Xp as well as Vista Home Professional, and for me its working fine.....

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