I took the plunge into 64-bit Vista....

For over a year, I have been reading post after post, article after article, blog after blog, telling me why I don't want to go to Vista. The criticisms are wide-ranging...from Vista being full of annoyances, to "its the worst operating system ever developed." (anyone saying the latter obviously hasn't been introduced to Windows Millennium Edition)

After spending this time listening to these naysayers, prophets of doom, and Microsoft/Bill Gates haters, I finally decided to try Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit Edition. There are a lot of reasons why...as a reviewer, I feel that I should have the latest equipment for my readers...including my O/S. I'd like to try running more than a 2 gig kit of memory and maybe get the opportunity to review some 4 gig kits, and really didn't want to do an older 64-bit Windows...considering everyone is concentrating on drivers for Vista. And, I guess I wanted to see for myself just how good or bad it is.

Yes, I knew that it would take some getting adjusted to, after using XP exclusively since before SP1 came out. But, I successfully made the adjustments from Win 95 to Win 98, Win 98 to Win 98SE, Win 98SE to Win ME, and from ME to XP. Actually, the change from ME to XP was so welcome, it was a pleasure to adjust. In the words of Leo Laporte..."You shouldn't be ashamed because you are using Windows ME...but Microsoft should be ashamed for having released it."

So a couple of weeks ago, I purchased an OEM copy. I decided to make mine a dual-boot system for a while, until I got everything like I wanted on the Vista side.

Installation took about 10 minutes. It was pretty cool being able to use the mouse during setup. I guess that the only real surprise was that Vista made it's drive C:, and changed the letter of my XP drive. Not a big deal, just not expecting that.

So, the system does its reboot, and Vista opens. I can tell it is doing a lot of stuff, about that time, the ethernet comes on, and the sound icon opens in the tray...Vista loaded my motherboard drivers without the driver disk. The latest ones. It didn't have the latest nVidia drivers, but it did have some...so I didn't have to go through the pain of navigation without video drivers.

I update the video drivers, then start loading my favorite stuff. The first round of software all installed fine, even the idiotic drivers for my HP all-in-one printer. I'd like to kick the third grader's ass who wrote that software. I played a couple of games, including Far Cry, so far, everything's cool.

Vista itself seemed kind of slow at first, but the more times it rebooted, the faster it seemed to get.

Yes, there are some annoyances, things that need to be disabled, just like there is in XP. First and foremost, the User Account Control. Anytime you try to install any software, this asks you if it is ok. I happened across the setting on my own, and promptly disabled it. Yeah, it is something everyone cries about...but I know that Windows is written for the masses, and they need all the security that they can get. For some reason, the Windows Security Center never recognized AVG...no prob, I just monitor it on my own, and hide the Security Center icon...I usually had to do the same thing in XP for the Windows Firewall.

I was able to transfer my email and Firefox settings, but they were somewhat of a pain, as Vista uses different folders for Applications and Local Settings, and the Windows Mail doesn't use the .dbx files that OE did. I did have to get help with the mail, but instructions were the first or second hit on Google.

On the second or third day, I ran across a few programs that didn't like the 64-bit O/S, one is a graphics program I have been using since Windows 98. I later found out that it will run on 32-bit Vista. No problem there either, MS Publisher in Office 2007 does the same thing...and probably better. Another one that wouldn't install was a tiny program called GetDiz, that I use in my news posting at another hardware website, mainly because it highlights entire words better with double-clicking than notepad. I'll have to find a replacement for that, I suppose.

So now, I am well over a week into Vista. I guess I've done pretty much everything I normally do from day to day. I don't know that Vista actually does anything better than XP did. It isn't much faster, if at all, but I really don't know that it should be. The only thing that I have found that is actually slower at is uploading photos from my camera into PhotoShop CS2. I use the camera's USB cable, mainly because my card reader doesn't hold SD cards, and I am too cheap to buy another. It loads the photos at probably 1/4th the speed that XP did. There may be some setting somewhere that is causing that, I just haven't gotten around to checking it out.

I haven't tried 4 gigs of memory yet, but that will come soon. Definitely looking forward to that. I also haven't played any DX10 games yet...looking forward to that also.

So, am I recommending 64-bit Vista? I dunno...at $109, the OEM version wasn't terribly expensive. Though support for XP has been extended, it will eventually be obsolete. I don't know if anyone is writing new drivers for 64-bit XP, personally I don't want to take the chance. I guess what I'm saying is that there is no need to be afraid of Vista. It is ok as is, and will only get better as updates come...just like XP.