It's not a revolution, but Windows Vista grows on you

By DWIGHT SILVERMAN
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

More than five years ago, Microsoft embarked on an ambitious plan to overhaul Windows.

Fresh from the release of Windows XP, the company decided that the next version needed a rewrite.

But the company soon realized it had bitten off more than it could chew. In August 2004, it jettisoned many of its ambitions. That caused major delays and rumors that Vista had the makings of a debacle on the scale of Windows ME.

But starting today, consumers can buy the end result — Windows Vista. Given the negative buzz and the often-agonizing time most folks have with major Windows upgrades, we're not likely to see stampedes to buy it. Most users' first encounters with Windows Vista are likely to be on new PCs they buy.

I've been using Vista for months now. My feelings have evolved from "Oh, this is not good" to "Hey, this is not bad" to, finally, "I'd rather be using this than Windows XP."

If it sounds like I'm damning with faint praise, well, it's not quite that simple. This is an excellent release of Windows. Is it worth going through the pain normally associated with any major OS upgrade for most users? If you're quite content with Windows XP and don't feel constrained by it, I'd say no.

Would you be pleased with the results if you did go through the process? I think so. Vista grows on you.

It's not the major leap in computing that Windows 95 was over Windows 3.1, or even Windows XP was over Windows 98/ME. It contains evolutionary, but welcome, changes. The more you use it, the more you discover.

There are three Vista editions aimed at consumers: Home Basic, which is roughly equivalent to Windows XP Home Edition; Home Premium, which equates to Windows XP Media Center Edition; and Ultimate, which contains all the features found in both the consumer and business editions. Which edition you buy depends largely on your PC's hardware.

For example, Home Basic is designed for lower-end PCs that lack graphics cards capable of displaying Vista's new Aero Glass interface, which includes transparent window borders and other 3-D features.

There are two sets of system requirements — one for running Home Basic and the other for running the other two consumer editions.

I'd suggest ignoring the requirements for Home Basic. They call for an 800-megahertz processor and 512 megabytes of memory. Those don't even meet my minimum recommendations (www.chron.com/pcspecs) for Windows XP systems.

The requirements for Home Premium and Ultimate are more in line with modern PCs — a 1-GHz processor, a gigabyte of memory, a modern graphics adapter that has at least 128 megabytes of video memory and a 40-GB hard drive.

Here are the major new features in Vista, and an assessment of how much each feature compels upgrading:

• Aero Glass. Yes, Vista is pretty, and if you're serious about the aesthetics of your PC's desktop, it's a major attraction. But there's a practical aspect as well. Aero uses 3-D graphics tricks on the desktop that gamers have enjoyed for years. Technologies used to slay monsters and race cars through the fog now make your desktop more pleasant to use.

Aero also makes it easier to navigate.

If you have a lot of windows open at once, being able to see through window borders makes it easier to find a specific window.

Holding your cursor over an item in the taskbar brings up a thumbnail of what's in that window. And the Flip 3-D feature, in which windows seem to march across your desktop, is cool and useful.

• Improved security. This may be the biggest reason to upgrade to Vista. I detailed the security improvements in my Christmas Day column (www.chron.com/vistasecurity). Vista's layers of security do provide barriers against viruses and spyware, but they still require users to not click blindly past warnings and alerts. Those determined to put something stupid and/or dangerous on their PCs are going to be able to do it.

Microsoft says there are under-the-hood reworkings of Vista's components — ways in which programs are handled in memory, for example — that should also help.

This, along with excellent parental controls — which can limit everything from the kind of games kids can play to when they can actually use the computer — may be among the most practical reasons to upgrade to Vista.

• Faster, better search. Anyone who has used Windows XP's slow file search feature knows how irritating it can be. Search technology has improved dramatically since XP was introduced, and Vista reflects that. Search is a part of every folder and dialog box, and is even built into the Start menu. In fact, you'll quickly find that typing the name of a program into the Start menu search box will launch the program faster than hunting through the Program groups.

And you can save searches as folders, which means you no longer have to worry about where exactly you're storing something. You can create a search-based folder for all documents that contain, say, a specific name, and everything with that name — documents, pictures, audio, video — will show up there. You can also tag files with keywords, ensuring they show up in the proper folder.

• Networking. Vista has improved the security features for connecting to wireless networks. When you jack in to a new one, it asks you whether it's at home, work or in a public place, and changes the security settings accordingly.
• Better performance. One of my favorite features in Vista is ReadyBoost, which uses flash drives and the type of memory cards used in digital cameras to speed up the system.
Vista copies parts of its virtual memory system — RAM that's simulated on the hard drive — and moves it into a flash drive or memory card that meets certain specifications. This can noticeably speed up your system, and given how inexpensive this kind of memory is, it can be a low-cost way to get a significant performance boost. You can see more details at my blog at www.chron.com/readyboost.

There's a lot more, and I've been detailing various features in my blog at www.chron.com/techblogvista.

Yes, there are minor bugs and issues, as you'd expect with any new OS.

I found Vista's sleep and hibernation features don't work as well as they did in XP, for example, particularly on older machines. And many hardware makers have not yet updated drivers for Vista, while some older peripherals may never have drivers written for them.

This is one Windows release that, while impressive, isn't a must-have for most users.