Windows Vista

   

 For those who do now know- Windows Vista is the current Microsoft operating system being installed on most computers being sold today. The Operating System is the software that controls your omputer. Windows XP  was the previous OS that was sold by Microsoft. Before that we had Windows ME ( which also was horrible and didnt last long), and before that we had Windows 98 ( which at the time was pretty good).

We, at Asheville Computer, do not recommend Windows Vista. Why not? For one, it is slow, and a resource-hog. A resource-hog means it uses too many resources for the job that it does. (Another resource hog is Norton Internet Security, but that’s another post). Here is a link to some of the other criticisms. Also, Windows XP still seems to be the preferred OS for businesses.

 We trial ran Windows Vista on a fairly adequate laptop for about 4 months when Vista was released. Our experience was not very good, and we soon reverted back to XP.

Our conclusion: if you took two computers that were the same in hardware, etc, and installed XP on one, and Vista on the other, the Windows XP machine would be faster, and run more seamlessly.

So what does all this mean to you? Here are some suggestions.

• If you are in the market for a new computer, contact us. All computers at the retail stores (Best Buy, Circuit City, etc.) all have Windows Vista. This is Microsoft’s way of forcing this OS on the consumers. There are other options. We highly recommend our new computer plan. We help you choose the computer you need (we usually use brand new or factory refurbished Dell computers, all with Windows XP), we can move all of your data from your old computer, set everything up, and you still might spend less money than you would at the retail stores for a new computer with Vista.
• If you already have Vista.  Its not the end of the world. If you have been cruising along, and everything has been fine, then disregard this article, and continue on. We do recommend that you have at least 2GB of RAM however, and some of the earlier Windows Vista machines shipped with 512mb or 1GB of RAM, which is not enough. If you dont know how to find out, call us, and we can walk you through checking to see how much RAM you have.  If you are experiencing problems with Vista, or your computer just seems slow, etc, then contact us. It may just need to be tweaked, and there is a possibility of doing a downgrade to XP.

So what does the future hold? Especially for us holding onto Windows Xp for dear life? Our hope is that Windows 7 will be our savior. We havn’t had much research into Windows 7 yet, but we are hoping this will be much better than Vista. Windows 7 is currently being beta-tested, and more will be revealed in the future. Who knows, we may beta test Windows 7 and post about it.

Stay tuned…