The new generation of Microsoft Windows known as Vista was released earlier this year. Most new computers bought since the end of January will come preloaded with Windows Vista, but there are many people with older computers that will want to upgrade from Windows XP. Before attempting to upgrade, there are several things you need to know.
First, make sure your computer is able to run Vista. Microsoft has a program that will scan your computer and give you a report about anything that is not compatible or not fast enough to run the new version of Windows.
This upgrade checking tool comes with Windows Vista upgrade packages, but you can also download it from the internet so you can check your computer before spending any money on Vista.
You can get more information about the Vista upgrade tool at www.microsoft.com/vista.
Second, check the report you get from Microsoft's upgrade tool closely. There are some features of Vista that won't run on all computers, even if they are able to run it.
You should pay close attention to the video card report in particular. Older video cards may not support the new "Aero" interface in Vista, which is one of the major new features.
If your video card doesn't work with Aero, you can still run Vista (in fact, the Basic version doesn't include Aero) but you'll be missing out on a lot of the new capabilities.
If your video card isn't up to the task but the rest of your computer is Vista ready, you can upgrade to a newer card that will support it without having to buy a whole new computer.
Lastly, if you're planning to install the upgrade version of Vista, keep in mind that you can't do a clean install with it.
What is a clean install, you ask? This is when you format your hard drive, wiping everything clean that's on there now and installing Windows from scratch.
With past versions of Windows, the upgrade version would allow you to do a clean install as long as you had an original disk from the previous version. It would ask you to insert the disk during the installation for verification.
This ability is no longer an option and if you start with a clean hard drive, you'll either need a full version of Vista or you'll have to install an older version of Windows first so you can upgrade.
