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Microsoft Windows Vista review

From £99 to £323 depending on version

Manufacturer: Microsoft

Our Rating: We rate this 4 out of 5 User Rating:

By PC Advisor staff | PC Advisor | 30 January 07

Windows Vista finally launches on 30 January – and we've got a comprehensive review to help you decide whether to upgrade.

Expert Review
User Reviews
Required Specs
Our Verdict

Has any OS been so maligned and so praised during a painfully long development cycle as Windows Vista? The march to Vista's launch has sometimes seemed longer than the Hundred Years War. UPDATE: UPDATE: Windows Vista SP1 - the final, definitive review

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Now that Microsoft's new system is at hand, the debate can begin. Is it a look into the future of OSes or the last, dying gasp of an old way of computing? Should you upgrade your system to meet its considerable hardware needs? Is it anything other than Mac OS X Lite?

Some may complain that Vista isn't as revolutionary as it should be after five years. But you don't judge an OS by the amount of time developers have put into it. You judge it by how useful and how pleasurable it is to work with – and in these respects, Windows Vista is a clear winner. It's beautiful, has greatly improved security features, offers superb networking capabilities and, maybe most of all, it's fun to use.

There are so many new features in Vista that it's hard to take them all in at once. To help you, we've broken down the key aspects into four key categories, all of which bring significant improvements.

Aero interface

Click here for PC Advisor's review of Vista's new Aero interface, which revolutionises your view into Windows.

Security Center

Click here for PC Advisor's review of Vista's new Security Center, which attempts to put protection at the heart of the operating system for the first time.

Windows Search

Click here for PC Advisor's review of Vista's search tool, Microsoft's best-ever attempt at helping you find files using a Windows tool.

Windows Vista Expert Verdict »

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Reviewed by peterh1 on Friday 31 October 2008

Duration of ownership: 9 months

Strengths:
I've never had a problem that was'nt resolved quickly and efficently... vista is the bomb and flows like water..love it for speed and hate it for hardware resource starvation... you decide!!?

Weaknesses:
Not to many software choices at the moment..? But the giants of the computer world learn fast and will step up to the stage and provide...

Overall Evaluation:
vista homepremium run's like a dream on my acer 5920 laptop with an 4-GB upgrade and standard intel t5550-1.83ghz so fast and great effects... love it -love it can't get enough of it...

Reviewed by dragonmist on Monday 29 September 2008

Duration of ownership: 3 months

Strengths:
Are there any? Apart from resolving minor crises quickly... most of which never happened with XP.

Weaknesses:
Unstable compared to XP. Crashes easily. Resource hog. Came ready installed so no choice.

Overall Evaluation:
If I was able to remove it and install XP without having to pay the PC shop to do it I would, but it seems to be impossible. I did try, but it said I didn't have permission to do so. ???? My PC. I bought it. Whose permission do I need?

Reviewed by jay123456789 on Sunday 21 September 2008

Duration of ownership: 2 years

Strengths:
Everything

Weaknesses:
Nothing except 1 or 2 simple bugs to be solved in the new service pack in one month

Overall Evaluation:
Excellent because you can you can use almost any software by just going on there website i prefer the look aswell a lot better than XP

Reviewed by oojimmyflip on Saturday 20 September 2008

Duration of ownership: 90 days

Strengths:
None I can see took ages and ages to load it onto my AMD 6000+ dual core 4 GIG ram machine that put me off straight away.

Weaknesses:
Not enough compatable software available and I'm not going to buy more software to do the same thing but with a different operating system.

Overall Evaluation:
Vista is junk unless youve been hiding in the cellar for 20 years and never heard of Windows XP pro service pk2. I build home PCs and Vista will do nothing better than windows XP Pro and in my view it is much slower in many respects. Has no one noticed that the demand for windows XP is such that it has increased dramatically in price in the last year?

Reviewed by Cabeza on Monday 08 September 2008

Duration of ownership: 7 months

Strengths:
Not at all liked here, especially with teenages. Can't download msn explorer on vista. Having had all the window releases from windows 95, I rate XP as the best to get along with.

Weaknesses:
No operating disc to re-format. Vista crashed after 5 months. Would not recover from built in recovery. Had to send computer back to manufacturers to be re-formated.

Overall Evaluation:
Lap top, with vista premium, now being used by daughter at university, fingers crossed. Desk top in spare room, hardly used. Upgraded old desk top to make XP a bit faster. Will stick with XP until planted in chipboard box.

Reviewed by FrankC on Friday 16 May 2008

Duration of ownership: 8 months

Strengths:
Looks pretty.

Weaknesses:
Security features are a nightmare. Its slower. Power hungry. In short I want XP back. XP is faster, more reliable much better

Overall Evaluation:
You can keep Vista. About the only good thing is the Aero interface but that slows down your computer even more. All in all I consider Vista a DOWNGRADE rather than an upgrade. Dont buy it, stick to XP. Easier, faster, more reliable XP.

Reviewed by skeek on Tuesday 06 May 2008

Duration of ownership: 2 months

Strengths:
Ease of use, easily installed, looks great,

Weaknesses:
Took too long to come to market and can be very expensive not many 64-bit programmes written for it

Overall Evaluation:
I use Ultimate and it is just great really shows how old XP has become. There is nothing that I don't like about Vista and once you get used to getting around it feels like you've always used it.

Reviewed by nw.wolf.uk on Sunday 02 December 2007

Duration of ownership: 2 months

Strengths:
Improved user interface and many vast improvements to menus which are now less cluttered. In addition to this it seems a lot more stale and secure than a lot of people will have you believe.

Weaknesses:
Getting started is a little strange as it does not confirm fully to what we have come to expect from the Windows OS however, play around with it and it soon becomes easy!

Overall Evaluation:
Home Premium is fantastic! Have to admit had been looking at going away from Windows to Linux. However, the updates and bugs seem to have been ironed out pretty much since first release. Have to admit would encourage anyone not sure to at least have a play around and make their own mind up and not be lead!

Reviewed by brj on Saturday 24 November 2007

Duration of ownership: 3 months

Strengths:
Easy to resize Vista partition to permit dual boot with Linux. Good for leisure use.

Weaknesses:
Slow to load, resource hungry, crashes more than XP. most new features unwanted. Poor for business.

Overall Evaluation:
Now co-exists with Ubuntu which has become my OS of choice.

Reviewed by garfinkle on Monday 05 November 2007

Duration of ownership: 8 months

Strengths:
Windows Vista is visually stunning. Dual Core support is far superior than previous versions. Windows Solution finding works excellently for issues. Overall performance is excellent.

Weaknesses:
UAC needs improving. Windows Indexer slows down explorer quite a bit. Copying multiple files are a bit slow due to time calculations. Ultimate extras havn't been as good as expected yet.

Overall Evaluation:
In overall evaluation Windows Vista is the best windows system to date with excellent performance and constantly improving support for older hardware and software. Applications and multitasking is handled a lot better in Vista. Graphically this is the nicest operating system available (from base install, not including shell extensions). 5 out of 5 for me. Keep up the good work.

Reviewed by alanw5 on Monday 05 November 2007

Duration of ownership: 9 months

Strengths:
I have a medium to high-end PC and Vista runs like a dream on it. Quick boot, quick shut down, smooth operation. Clean-installed OEM 64 bit Vista Ultimate amazingly fast (20mins or so).

Weaknesses:
Very occasional error messages, but always been resolved.

Overall Evaluation:
I would recommend to anyone with a PC running dual/quad core Intel (6600 or above) and at least 2GB ram. I build my own PC's so I always ensure component compatibility. Mine is Intel E6850 Dual Core Intel; 4GB Corsair XMS2 memory; XFX 8600GT Grahics; all running on Abit IP35 PRO mobo. powered by Seasonic 600watt PSU.

Reviewed by thespian1 on Thursday 09 August 2007

Duration of ownership: 7 months

Strengths:
Search is excellent, especially quick with indexed locations; Explorer has some well-thought out shortcuts or changes.

Weaknesses:
Although it has been long in development there is very little to no support from hardware and software vendors. UAC is so fustrating, yet you can't afford to turn it off. Roll on SP1.

Overall Evaluation:
I wish I had kept with my XP OS until SP1 had come out. Vista is a leap forward, but everyone should wait until Nvidia, Microsoft and everyone else has got the majority of problems sorted.

Reviewed by MikeBabb on Friday 20 July 2007

Duration of ownership: 3 months

Strengths:
Very sleek design. Some useful additions such as resizing thumbnails of pictures in Explorer. Better help files and fault finding wizards.

Weaknesses:
Feels 'dumbed down' compared to XP. Great for home users but painfully obstructive for proper business use.

Overall Evaluation:
Feels a bit like XP SP3 gone wrong. The few nice additions could really have been done with minor tweaks to XP. A business would already have proper security in place so I feel that there are few benefits of using Vista in the workplace other than the usual "must have the latest and up-to-date version" psychosis.

Reviewed by Pine Man on Thursday 19 July 2007

Duration of ownership: 5 months

Strengths:
Very fast loading and closing down. Excellent search program. Good looking. Far more stable than any other Microsoft o/s.

Weaknesses:
The only weaknesses I can find are Windows Mail, which is much, much, much slower than Outlook Express and the intrusive use UAC.

Overall Evaluation:
Very good indeed but not helped by third-party vendors, a lot of whom, still haven't upgraded their hard/software to enable it to operate properly with Vista.

Reviewed by Crikey on Monday 16 July 2007

Duration of ownership: 4 months

Strengths:
Pretty plus I like its new search capabilities

Weaknesses:
Price scandalous, too resource hungry, poor support from software and hardware vendors, not a lot of NEW features for a new OS and especially for one costing so much.

Overall Evaluation:
Vista should simply have been released as Windows ME II - it is about as useful as it. Poor value for money. A sad state of affairs that so many software houses have not written drivers for current versions of their products to suit Vista meaning further outlay of money for new software WHEN/IF it becomes available. My suggestion is Microsoft, quick release SP3 for XP

See more MICROSOFT Windows Vista reviews on Reevoo.com

800MHz processor
512MB system memory
DirectX 9.0-compatible graphics processor

Ease of Use:
Features:
Value for Money:
Overall:

The user experience and the revitalised appearance are significant advances, and most people will immediately take to the new OS. But is it good enough to justify an immediate upgrade? You can probably afford to wait until your current PC is on its last legs before buying a new PC. But if you want to keep up with the bleeding edge of technology, and make the most of the innovative applications that will make the most out of Vista's advances, the temptation to upgrade sooner rather than later will be hard to resist.

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