win Vista Ultimate 64-bit English 1pk Review

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(More customer reviews)First off, this is an OEM software. That means it is intended to be installed on a new computer build NOT upgrade an existing copy of Windows. It is possible to install it on an existing computer by formatting an existing or new hard drive, but that would violate the license for this particular incarnation of Vista. If you want to install it on an existing computer, buy a full retail copy, or an upgrade copy.
I love Vista 64-bit. It is fast, easy to use, and the best Windows to date. Anyone who is still ripping Vista at this point doesn't own Vista, or is an inexperienced computer user, or a Mac fan that just wants to pour oil on a fire. Vista, the much belated and maligned 6th incarnation of the Windows operating system had real problems a year ago. Almost all of those problems have been fixed. Some of what users describe as problems are in fact less a problem with Vista than they are with computer buyer's perceptions and expectations.
So why is Vista beat up all the time? The most frequent complaint I hear is that it is a 'memory hog.' Honestly, this is a perception, not a reality. Vista does require more ran than XP, as XP required more than the previous windows, etc., etc. The reality is that RAM has gotten remarkably cheap, and using RAM liberally is a GOOD THING. The bottle neck in computing has been 4GB of ram on all 32-bit systems, but even with 4GB (3-3.5GB accessible to the system) almost no one will use all of the ram. With the 64-bit version, it is possible to run 8Gb of ram on a decent motherboard, and it is also possible to buy 8gb of RAM for $150! Why, in these days of super inexpensive RAM, don't those who feel Vista is too slow, just buy more? Honestly?
Another complaint is that drivers don't work or are not available for a particular software or hardware. There was a lot of truth to that a year ago. Now, after service pack 1, and over months of running Vista 64-bit exclusively, I can say that I have zero, yes zero, driver issues. Everything runs like a champ. I should note that I have a high end gaming computer, and have a lot of software installed. To not have a single driver issue is amazing, and something I could not say about XP one year into it's release.
If you know about computers, and are ready to make the switch to Vista, there has never been a better time. Most of the kinks are worked out, and while I can't promise you won't have any issues with drivers, it's getting less likely by the day. Programmers are catching on that Vista is not just going to disappear and everyone go back to XP, and that waiting for the next Windows will not put any money in their wallets, and have started to produce software written for Vista. Hardware manufacturers are also getting a clue and releasing solid Vista and Vista 64-bit drivers for their devices.
Frankly, this is the most powerful windows yet. 64-bit computing is hitting it's stride, and in another year or so, we'll all be looking back at 32-bit with the same derision as when the transition was made from 16 to 32 bit computers. 32 bit's days are numbered. It's time to move on.


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Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit English 1pk DSP OEI DVDPrimary InformationOperating System:Windows Vista UltimateHeader / Localization:EnglishOS Provided / Media:DVD-ROMUNSPSC CodeUNSPSC Code:43233004Product IDUPC:882224352574Manufacturer Part:66R-00838

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Windows Vista Home Premium with SP1 Upgrade Review

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(More customer reviews)I wrote a review of Vista not long after I started using it. I gave it two stars and suggested that while it's not worth replacing XP with Vista as there are a few annoyances, chiefly the lack of some of XP's best features, Vista isn't too bad. I am not a Microsoft basher, as I think XP is an excellent operating system. I've now realised just how good it was after a few months with Vista. I have wasted more time sorting out problems in Vista in two months than I did during the seven years I had with XP. It is fair to say that I now hate this OS to the point that it turns me into a kind of Basil Fawlty with Tourette's more often than not. My shiny new laptop has the imprint of my fist following a time when Vista just pushed me too far. Therefore I have deleted my original review and replaced it with this new one.
Let's start with Vista's good points. It looks marvellous, with its transparent windows and 3D effects. There is a display pane which gives you an overview of the contents of many file types without you having to open them. The sounds that herald failures or errors are far less annoying than those in XP. The colours are lovely too. And, er... that's it, unless you're the kind of computer user that enjoys spending hours and hours solving OS problems. If so, you'll have a field day here.
I'll start with the minor irritations, in no particular order.
Searching in XP was easy. You typed in the name of a file, specified your search criteria and you always found your file if it existed. Alas, Vista is very different. Search is done by indexing, which means that although the searches are faster your initial search won't find files in all but the most obvious locations. You can index every file on the computer of course, but this takes ages, uses a lot of space and (I am told) slows the computer down. There is an option for searching non-indexed files but you can't do this until you've done the indexed search first. Even then I have found search results to be unreliable. I would bet that people use Search to find system files rather more than they do to find a letter (it's likely to be in Letters, right?). Worse still, Service Pack 1 removed Search from the Start menu, and you have to download third-party programs or do a registry tweak to get it back.
There is no Network Connections folder - one of XP's more useful features was this folder where you could check and modify your internet connections all in one place. You can get it back, but it also involves a registry tweak.
Windows Update in XP installed the majority of the updates while the computer was running. Vista does this on shutdown and startup - which means that if updates have downloaded and you do a restart you can wait over 10 minutes to get your computer running again.
XP had a facility to associate a particular icon with certain file types. Not Vista - you have to download a third-party program to do this.
Screensavers often don't work properly.
In XP you were given useful information when you copied files, for example which particular file was being copied at any particular time. Vista doesn't do this, it just gives you a progress bar and a time estimate which is usually wildly inaccurate. Copying is painfully slow, too.
Say goodbye to Outlook Express - with Vista you get Windows Mail. It is similar to OE and indeed has some improvements, but whereas OE used your spell check from Word, Windows Mail only has a choice of 4 languages and the English option only allows for US English. I am not one of those Brits who gets sniffy about US spellings - they're just as valid as British spellings - but for work I need to use British English and get fed up with having to tell it that "realise", "marvellous" and the like are NOT wrong.
Unexpected shutdowns, freezes and the dreaded "not responding" are far more common than they were in XP. At least with XP you could, as a last resort, pull the plug and XP was savvy enough to recover from it. Do this with Vista and more often than not you'll have to wait while Vista repairs itself - admirable in one way, but it created the flipping problem itself!
I've gone on too long already, but please indulge a little further. I would like to describe how Vista ruined my computer today. I tried to copy a large collection of files from one folder to another. Halfway through the OS froze and stopped responding. I managed to restart - same thing. I mirrored this on my XP computer and there was no problem. Third time lucky...not quite. Halfway through the copy Vista froze and all the screen icons disappeared. No way to get Task Manager so I had to pull the plug. Vista then spent hours repairing itself on restart. Eventually I moved the files in small batches. Then I wanted to transfer some of these to DVD and got an error half way through. Another freeze - no way to restart normally so another unwanted switch off with the off button. Since then Vista refuses to start at all - any attempt to do so generates an error or just sits there halfway through startup. Somehow it has corrupted the hard drive and I am now waiting for those nice people at Dell to send me a new one.
There are worse things in life than OS problems, I know that all too well. But if you want to save yourself a lot of hassle, time and stress, stick with XP as long as you can. It sounds like Microsoft have already recognised that this shoddy product is a disgrace and if you're lucky, there will be a better OS (or at least a decent revamped version of Vista) before you are forced to change OS.
Thank you for listening.


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Windows Vista Home Basic with SP1 Review

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(More customer reviews)Yes, this is Vista Home Basic, you get what you pay for, a very good operating system without a bunch of eye-candy using up system resources, which makes it a good choice for an older computer upgrade or building your own system. You just have to ask yourself if you really need Media Center, DVD Maker, more Windows games or the RAM devouring Aero Glass desktop look. If you look around there are free DVD makers, free games and probably free substitutes for Media Center. But if you are going from XP to Vista I do recommend a clean install of Vista instead of upgrading XP. So it's your choice if you want Vista Basic or Vista Ultimate Bloatware.

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Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic Service Pack 1 From viewing photos to writing e-mail and browsing the Internet, Windows Vista™ Home Basic helps you make effective use of your home computer. Plus, it is easy to learn, features improved search, and has improved security compared to previous versions of Windows. Windows Vista Home Basic is the operating system for homes with basic computing needs. It is easy to set up, it helps you use your PC more securely and reliably, and like all of the editions of Windows Vista, it is compatible with the widest range of software, devices, and services that you use and trust. If you simply want to use your PC for tasks such as surfing the Internet, corresponding with friends and family using e-mail, or performing basic document creation and editing tasks, then Windows Vista Home Basic will deliver a safer, more reliable, and more productive computing environment.Service Pack 1 Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) is the complete set of

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Discovering Computers 2009: Complete (Shelly Cashman) Review

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(More customer reviews)This is the first review I've written on Amazon, or anywhere else for that matter, but Discovering Computers 2009 Complete is so unbelievably bad that I had to say something, hopefully helping some poor soul from using this so-called text as a source of information. I am using this as a textbook in a required course in a community college, and am only through chapter 5 so it is possible that all of the inaccuracies and just plain wrong information will suddenly no longer be manifest in later chapters, but I'm not counting on it.
I have been a PC user since the original IBM PC, and have delved into much of the technology involved over the years, so I am at the very least familiar with most of the subject matter. I don't claim to be an expert by any stretch, but I do have my strengths and it is this prior familiarity that permits me to evaluate the text's accuracy. Also consider that this is a book that is supposed to teach those with little or no experience with computers beyond perhaps some very basics, so misleading or unclear statements can be just as damaging to such readers as the outright incorrect statements.
OK, I just opened to a page... this one's not a biggie, but I'll start here. "Today, AMD is the leading manufacturer of Intel-compatible processors, which have an internal design similar to Intel processors..." I think that Intel would like to know about that! The architecture is not similar at all, and remember that we are talking about a college level text here. The very next paragraph: "Originally, Apple computers used only an IBM processor or a Motorola processor..." No, originally Apple used a MOS Technology 6502 processor; the Mac used Motorola and then IBM processors. Nothing critical here, so I'll move on.
At the end of chapter 4: The Components of the System Unit is a page entitled Keeping Your Computer Clean, in which the book suggests using "small attachments on your house vacuum" on the "wires, chips, adapter cards, and fan blades."!!! Even if the user is wearing an antistatic wristband -which the text recommends but makes no mention of how to ground- a house vacuum should NEVER be used on such electronically sensitive parts, as the static electricity generated by the dust flowing through the tube will very efficiently zap those chips and adapter cards. Additionally, they instruct the user to unplug the computer from everything, not necessarily a bad thing, but make no mention of grounding the case or at the very least placing it on a grounded anti-static mat. BAD BAD BAD!
Under the topic of Digital Cameras, a sidebar states that a "digital zoom digitally alters the pixels at the center of the CCD..." If it had said that it only uses the pixel data from the central areas of the CCD it would have been somewhat better, but as it stands the reader is led to believe that the CCD is somehow altered. The text attempts to explain image resolution and pixel density, delving into ppi(pixels per inch), which should almost never be mentioned in the same sentence as image resolution and pixel density. Again from the text: "For example, a 2304x1728 (pronounced 2304 by 1728) ppi camera has 2,304 pixels per vertical inch and 1,728 pixels per horizontal inch." This is just plain wrong in both a fundamental and conceptual way, and exemplifies how the entire book seems to have been authored by someone who does not understand much of the subject matter, and has simply performed a few Internet searches on the topic and then cut-and-pasted his way into a text. If you do not understand why the above sentence is wrong then how would you know it was when you read it in the text. It is not a particularly difficult concept but is misunderstood by the general public (Pixel density, ppi, dpi, etc.).
I have other studying to do, or I could spend the rest of the semester picking this waste of a tree apart. If you have any choice in the matter of selecting a book with which to learn about computers and the technology, please please please do not buy this one. I have nothing to gain what so ever by trashing this one, but I can tell you that it is very aggravating to have to memorize 'facts' that I know without question are wrong, simply to pass an exam.
Speaking of exams, you should see (not!) some of the 'edutainment' the publisher has on the associated 'learning' Web site; neither 'edu' nor 'taining'. I will say this though: I did learn to capitalize Web and Internet.

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MCTS 70-620 Microsoft Windows Vista: Configuring Practice Questions Exam Cram Review

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(More customer reviews)I picked this book up to supplement the MS Training guide for this exam. I've been very happy with the Exam Cram series in the past however this one falls short in one specific area - accuracy. Many of the answers contradict what is in the MS Training guide, are flat out wrong, or even contradict themselves. For example, Chapter 5, Question 67 (Windows Fax), the explanation in the answer key contradicts the answer given. There are several other instances like this which should have been caught during editing (Question ID 1.4-3, 3.3-54, 1.1-25, etc.). After reading through this book and taking several practice exams from CD(which use the exact same questions) I was left with less confidence than if I had simply stayed with the MS Press book. I suppose one benefit is that I was forced to do more research when I read something that didn't seem right, which probably helped me pass the exam.

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