The Members Forum

Noel · Member

Vista Question?

Vindicated · Administrator / Manager

I wouldn't waste money on Vista, Noel -- can't you hold off until Windows 7 is released??
We're running Windows XP Service Pack 3 here and are very satisfied with it!!

barney · Administrator / Manager

Hey Noel,

I agree with Vindicated on XP, as it is a solid OS now with the release of SP3. Also, if your computer suits your needs and does what you want it to do, there is no reason to change it.

I must say, however, that I run Vista 64-bit on one of my rigs and it has worked flawlessly (unlike Windows Me). Not even a hiccup. I know it has gotten some bad press, but I have never experienced any of that. Most of the on-line techies that I talk to have had little or no issues with it. I guess if you have the hardware to run it, it would do fine.

Let us know what your decision is!

-- Edited by barney at 11:55, 2009-01-06

NicKnayme · Manager

Hi Noel,
I am in this majority of not recommending Vista.
I have XP Home SP2 (couldn't see a reason for me to go w/SP3)

A good OS for older boxes is W2K. It is similar to XP, but getting drivers may be a problem. (128Mb min on ram)

If you're strapped for dough (aren't we all!) check your local "Craigslist" for a used PC.

Alan

NicKnayme · Manager

"We will not be able to get protection after April of this year."

Can you elaborate on this?

Alan

Noel · Member

All internet security suites have or will stop support for the older systems by April of this year, and I think I have checked them all. If you know of one that will continue to offer support please let me know. I really like XP pro, I don,t know what to do. confuse

barney · Administrator / Manager

Noel wrote:

All internet security suites have or will stop support for the older systems by April of this year, and I think I have checked them all. If you know of one that will continue to offer support please let me know. I really like XP pro, I don,t know what to do.

Well, you can use Avast or AVG for your anti-virus program, and Zone Alarm Free for your firewall. Then there is Spybot S&D and Lava's Ad-Aware for malware detection. All of those are free and work with XP. XP has been around for a long while now, and has 3 service packs, so it has dramatically improved over time. It should still work fine for you. One downside to XP, however, is that Microsoft is going to terminate support for it in the near future. This means that there will not be further service packs, updates, or technical support. I suspect that this will occur soon after Windows 7 is released.

Once again, I would be remiss in not saying that Vista does have improved security and protection. If you want to check out Vista's advantages, check out this link:

http://www.vistahunt.com/windows-vista-advantages-and-disadvantages.html

And another article comparing the advantages of XP over Vista:

Advantages of XP over Vista

-- Edited by barney at 11:21, 2009-01-07

Noel · Member

OK will I have any problem running Vista Ultimate 64 bit if I use this computer A Velocity Micro Edge Z55,i7 processor 2.93ghz, 6gb ddr3 ram,2gb visiontek radeon hd4870 video cards. I can not wait for windows 7. Some hardware on my machines won;t work with XP, no hardware updates available. If I have to spend money I might as well get all new. What do you think?

barney · Administrator / Manager

Well, by this review, it seems that it runs Vista fine.

Review

-- Edited by barney at 10:36, 2009-01-10

-- Edited by barney at 10:37, 2009-01-10

estraya_01 · Guru

Noel, I would recommend XP Pro. That is what we run at work. It works terrific. We have decided against Vista and are staying with XP until Win7 is ready to go.