Windows Vista Home Basic

bslutsky

Member Since
Nov 2004

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Vista Home Basic Upgrade - It Works

Strengths:

It runs your computer

Weaknesses:

Initial tests indicate it is a little slower than Windows XP

Posted 1 year ago - Vista is getting a bad rap and that's good for you. Why? This product can be had dirt cheap -- under $40. As far as I am concerned, it's pretty much the equal of XP. Initial tests rate it a little slower but newer tests with newer drivers have it surpassing XP in speed, and of course it has new functionality. Some things you NEED to know: (1) Reviews say you are in for headaches if you install this over an old OS, but since this is the upgrade version supposedly you have to install it over an old OS, right? Wrong. Read this for a way to clean install it: www.winsupersite.com/s.... Make sure you own an old OS though so you are really upgrading. (2) Some people will tell you that you should pay more for the Premium (or higher) version to get the new Aero interface. You could do that, or you can just enable Aero in Home Basic: news.softpedia.com/new.... Well worth it if you can find it for less than $40!

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rogergraves

Member Since
Oct 2007

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User has 6 Days of experience with this product

A mixed bag

Strengths:

Has the latest DirectX 10 (if you're into games), good safeguards against doing stupid things (like running malicious code), excellent power management for laptops.

Weaknesses:

Crashes a lot when transferring large files, the changes from XP are very non-intuitive (way more of a learning curve than there should be).

Posted 1 year ago - After using Vista for many months, my assessment is that it is a slight step up from XP, but not nearly enough to justify actually paying money for. The biggest changes I noticed was how the My Documents are structured (totally different place and different way to get to them and use them), and also network connections (connecting to Wi-fi, the internet, etc.) Once I got used to them I liked them better than XP, but it took me weeks to figure them out completely. The big selling points I've heard in Microsoft advertisements (the new Aero look and feel, better searching/indexing) is a complete joke. Sure, Aero looks cool, but you stop noticing that in about 20 minutes. As for searching, it works fine if you search by file name, but if you are searching by file contents, it's terrible and you're better off using 3rd party programs. In short, if you're getting a new computer, I'd give Vista a try, especially if it's a laptop because the power management on Vista is good. But if you're doing fine on XP, stay where you are. The small baby step improvements will most likely be outweighed by the new negatives and surprisingly steep learning curve.

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BigNinja from CA

Member Since
Apr 2004

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User has 1 Days of experience with this product

Windows Vista Home Basic Upgrade

Strengths:

Bargain priced, easy install over XP Home, and has all the features that most people use at home .

Weaknesses:

Not the best choice for use on laptops.

Posted 1 year ago - If you have XP Home, this is the upgrade to get. Else, if you have XP Pro, you will need to get the Vista Business Upgrade. You can use any of the Vistas but they will require a clean install. I prefer the Home Basic Upgrade because it is much cheaper and it doesn't contain the Aero feature that slows down my PC's performance. I have heard a lot of bad stories about Windows Vista but, to me, it seems to work better than XP. Programs seem to open faster, too.

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N/A

User has 2 Months of experience with this product

What a Pig!

Strengths:

Make Bill Gates Richer!!

Weaknesses:

Need a 6 Gig CPU and 8 Gig of ram

Posted 1 year ago - If you want every piece of software that you currently own to run just as slow as possible that this is the OS for you. I am positive that all new software will run slower too. If you haven't notice yet all new software is coming out with two sets of "Minimum" requirements. One for XP and one for Vista. It goes something like this. XP: CPU 1.5Gig, Ram 512Meg Vista: CPU 2.5Gig Ram 1Gig. And they leave out that even with more horse power Vista will still run the software slower. If you want to make a Billionaire even richer than by all means buy this OS! Notice how the price has come way down? It is because no one is buying this P.O.S.!

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SC4SHURA

Member Since
Jan 2004

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User has 4 Months of experience with this product

Strengths:

Least expensive among Vista product.

Weaknesses:

Lack in Aero. Upgrade may cause troubles.

Posted 1 year ago - This is an upgrade version of Windows Vista for people who own Window XP. For those who are familiar with installing operating systems, it is not a good idea to override the existing OS. Upgrading an OS instead of new installation sometimes causes troubles. Vista Basic lacks in the famous (or infamous) Aero, which adds a nice and stylish look. If you prefer performance and functions of windows, you will not miss Aero much. Becasue Vista Basic is packed with essential features that are more than enough for everyday use plus security features that were absent in XP. Considering the price, this is a great choice for non-high-spec PC's

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clarkejf1939

Member Since
Jun 2008

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User has 3 Weeks of experience with this product

My experience with Windows Vista Basic

Strengths:

works well on Athlon 2400, Shuttle motherboard, 1gb Memory

Weaknesses:

haven't found any yet

Posted 4 months ago - After hearing all the horror stories about Windows Vista and how useless Windows Vista Home Basic is, I find it easy to use and stable. The programs Microsoft doesn't supply with Vista Basic are not needed (by me) or are easy to replace with much better programs (sometimes with free ones).

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PGreviewer05 from VA

Member Since
Jul 2005

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User has 3 Months of experience with this product

Windows Vista is not that bad after all

Strengths:

latest OS, not bad with SP1

Weaknesses:

you need a faster machine to make it run smooth

Posted 5 months ago - The first time I tried Vista, it was so slow. I could not stand it and uninstalled it. Since I ran out of XPs, I had to give Vista a try on my newly built machine. With SP1, AMD 4000, 4GB ram (though 32-bit Vista can only recognize part of it), The machine runs pretty good. I needed to change the settings to turn off the fancy stuff. If I have a choice, I probably still pick XP, but Vista is decent after all.

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deshwasi from PA

Member Since
Apr 2004

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User has 30 Days of experience with this product

Windows Vista basic

Strengths:

inexpensive

Weaknesses:

not full-featured

Posted 5 months ago - This is the most stripped down version of windows vista but is good for getting a taste of vista before springing for a higher version that come with other features like media-center etc. This is an upgrade version and install is straighforward and quick. should be good to go within half-hour. keep in mind that vista is more resource-intensive and you need 2GB memory and a decent graphics card to run it smoothly.

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dcp693 from NY

Member Since
Sep 2005

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User has 1 Day of experience with this product

Be prepared to slow down

Strengths:

Installation is pretty straightforward

Weaknesses:

SLOW

Posted 1 year ago - Microsoft has a habit of writing code for the "next" generation of computers. Vista is no exception. M$ft basically wrote this OS hoping people would upgrade their hardware in order to use it. If your computer is a few years old, be prepared to upgrade it to get it to run Vista so you won't tear your hair out. If you've got a capable computer Vista runs OK on it, though I'd never describe it as "snappy".

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dric

Member Since
Jan 2006

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User has 1 Year of experience with this product

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic UpgradeEdition

Strengths:

Latest version of OS, cheapest version of vista, less resource intensive than other versions of Vista

Weaknesses:

More resource intensive than previous versions of windows, lack of support for many legacy programs and peripherals

Posted 1 year ago - I purchased this software directly from Microsoft through their Technology Guarantee program. Vista is Microsoft’s latest line of operating systems, released in early 2007. It contains a host of new features as well as a new UI (on some versions) and a number of security improvements. These improvements come at a cost – namely higher system requirements when compared to earlier versions of Microsoft OS. Fortunately, processor technology has increased and memory pricing has decreased to allow new systems to keep up with these requirements, and to allow older systems to be upgraded cheaply. . I believe that Vista Home Basic (upgrade) is the cheapest of the Vista line of OS’s. Basic is probably the most similar to XP in terms of look and feel, and is less resource intensive than the other Home or Business Editions. It works well, is stable, and seems to be on par with XP in terms of performance. . On the downside, it is still more resource intensive than earlier Microsoft OS’s, and if you are really upgrading your OS to this version then a system upgrade might be required as well. When I upgraded to Vista there was a big problem with driver support for much of my software and peripherals. It has taken some time, but Vista support is getting better and this has not been an issue for me recently. . All in all, I was not happy with Vista early on, primarily due to support issues. That said, it has been getting better and I would not longer be hesitant to upgrade to it.

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lordwu from CA

Member Since
Oct 2004

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Windows Vista Basic Upgrade

Strengths:

Less demanding on hardware comparing to other versions of Vista. Better security settings.

Weaknesses:

Lacks some of the better Vista features. Still uses quite a lot of hard drive space and memory comparing to XP.

Posted 1 year ago - Got it for a bargain price and installed fine on a desktop with AMD X2 4200 and 1GB memory. Installation took longer than XP although it's still acceptable. You can't do straight upgrade from XP Professional to this version so you'll have to do a clean install of Vista Basic first (you could use the same media) and then do upgrade from there. Vista Basic does not have the bell and whistle of other versions such as Aero. You could still activate Aero by editing registry. Make sure your machine has enough power to support Aero though. I have Aero running with 1GB memory but you could hear hard drive running for swapping quite frequently. You may need 2GB or more if you want to run Vista Basic with Aero smoothly.

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itsbroke

Member Since
Mar 2008

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User has 20 Days of experience with this product

Windows Vista Home Upgrade

Strengths:

It's the latest version of Windows.

Weaknesses:

It's not free but is reasonably priced.

Posted 1 year ago - Search for yourself and you'll likely see that the "advantages" of any version of Vista are largely overblown and for the majority of users (like myself who own both Vista Home and Ultimate) Vista Ultimate is far more money for the very small bit of "extra" features and all the more so for the price. The first extra upgrade that I recall getting was for Texas Hold 'Em....

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asktoknow

Member Since
May 2001

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User has 1 Week of experience with this product

Basic, but an Upgrade

Strengths:

improved graphics, improved security, better interface

Weaknesses:

not same capabilities as Home Premium or Ultimate; need to increase RAM for best results

Posted 1 year ago - Vista Basic is pretty musch "as advertised"--not the bells and whistles of the more expensive versions, but (at least when loaded on a clean hard drive) more capable, prettier and secure than Windows XP. I ordered this for a computer that was not going to be used for heavy media work, but did decide to add 512MB of RAM to facilitate the program operation.

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marc420

Member Since
Jun 2006

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User has 2 Weeks of experience with this product

My thoughts on the Windows Vista Basic

Strengths:

Next-gen operating system, simpler/efficent ways to do old tasks. Direct X 10 gaming.

Weaknesses:

Memory hog, "Basic" version dosen't include Aero 3D Desktop, OS only reads up to 3.25 of my 4GB memory kit.

Posted 1 year ago - I purchased Vista Basic to run on a new gaming rig I was building. The system would only be used for gaming so I needed a DirextX 10 compatible OS. This version of vista is called "Basic" and it is exactly that. It has all the perks and improvements of Vista, but is missing a few bells and whisltes like the Aero 3D desktop. Overall I am happy with this purchase. Just make sure your system has plenty of RAM because this OS is a resource hog, I recommend atleast 2GB of RAM because just the desktop alone uses close to 1GB of memory.

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Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic

Product Upgrade - MPN: 66G00003

Vista Home Basic Upgrade - It Works

A mixed bag

Windows Vista Home Basic Upgrade

What a Pig!

Windows Vista Home Basic

My experience with Windows Vista Basic

Windows Vista is not that bad after all

Windows Vista basic

Be prepared to slow down

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic UpgradeEdition

Windows Vista Basic Upgrade

Windows Vista Home Upgrade

Basic, but an Upgrade

My thoughts on the Windows Vista Basic

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