I have very limited experience with Vista, but I found it to boot faster than XP. I noticed no slowdown at all and now regret shying away from Vista all this time on my home pc.

Urlee,
I agree with "pkponder". Perhaps people have had problems when they install Vista as an upgrade to XP. Mine was a completely clean install- my son- a systems engineer, rebuilt my PC ( same old case, new innards, Vista Ultimate, Athlon 64x2 processor, 4200+ 2.21 GHZ 2 gb. Ram). He bought me a book- "Windows Vista- the ultimate guide"- it makes a great bookend, I haven't opened it as I have had no problems, maybe I just donÂt know enough. No slow down, in fact just the opposite. I regret not letting him make the change earlier.
Pam

Urlee,

Like the release of XP there have been "doom and gloom" reports of Vista. There have also been naysayers to its operational capabilities. There has never been an O/S that has completely satisfied all users.

The major stumbling block for Vista was the elimination of code and support for older perihperals. MS felt, and rightfully so, that they had to move forward. In fact, a release that I read recently regarding the new XP timetable reiterated their position.

As far as bloated and speed it just depends on the system condition, the demands placed on the test system, and who you listen to when results are reported keeping in mind the slant of the reporter.

I've been using Vista for 14 months now and have absolutely no concerns. The SP1 installed fine too. It works much better than the XP at work and of course extremely better than my prior Win98 systems. IS it a mirror of ME? Absolutely not! If anyone reports that don't listen to them and stay away from them.

There are many, many users who entered the computer/cyber world on XP and I suspect are overly concerned about their ability in learning a new O/S. Users are going to have to adjust to the loss of XP. It is in the twilight. A new O/S is currently scheduled for release in late 2009. However, with MS history that date is far from firm.

My basic recollection of the aforementioned article is XP will only be available in low, low end computers now and total support for XP will be ending in 2014. I will try to find the release and share it with you.

DA

Here you go Urlee. I originally read the article on the msnbc.com website.

Here is a link that might be useful: Windows XPiration

Ditto what pkponder said. I just got a new laptop mid May with Vista and have completely migrated to it from my XP desktop. Love it, and the booting process is SOOOOO much faster. Vista is easy to learn too, once you know where everything is.

WOW! You people sure brightened up my feelings.
I think I have been reading too much and better get down to brass tacks and ORDER my LONG AWAITED laptop!

One just slipped through my hands on account of my pokiness.
Then I found another one I LOVE but is a 64 bit which left me confused again.
SOOOOO, I definitely will stick to 32 bit for compatibility etc.
Still leery of site unseen Toshiba Satelites but am a hair away from taking the plunge and surely will write here to you first to let you know of me being a proud owner of one!
The ones I have been dickering with have a T8100 processor and wonder if the one I may have to settle for with the P7350 will be just as good if not better?
I left the specs on my "Laptop" post.

Thanks again for making the sunshine for me.
I know I shied away from XP for the longest time only to find it so beautiful compared to Win98.

Urlee

I dont know what compatability issues you might have heard about 64bit Vista as I have had Vista Ultimate 64bit since Jan and run the same programs Ihad on my XP laptop. The good thing about 64bit is that if your new laptop is 4GB or higher memory capable, then all the 4GBs will show up and be available. If using 32Bit, then only a max of 3GBs will show and be usable

Oh no Genes,
Not again? Back to square one.

I called Toshiba and was told not to get the 64 bit Toshiba A305-S6844 cause my programs, such as, PSP7,9,X and Photostory movie maker etc. will not work.

Well, Urlee, that may be the case, as I dont run any of the Paint Shop Pro. Sorry about that

There was an article in the NY Times last week which said that Intel decided not to upgrade their machines to Vista. The whole company is sticking with XP. Over 25,000 machines.

Jane

Urlee like some of the others I have been running Vista for just over a year and have had very few problems with it and those problems were relatively minor in nature. As you might remember I was a diehard tried and true fan of my old 98se machine so I skipped all of the other OS's when I bought my new computer. It will take some time to get used to but if you are experienced with XP you shouldn't have any difficulty with it. Even back a year ago when I was researching computers it seemed that the people having the most problems were the ones trying to upgrade to Vista as opposed to those that were preinstalled.

Bob

with many updates and a new service pack out it is definitely getting better.
I luckily am not in the need of a new pc anytime soon, I have too many as it is! And I am primarily using Linux for day to day use.
I happened to see this really impressive compilation of Vista tips and tricks and info, to me the best thing I can do prior to moving to anything new or unfamiliar is really prepare myself by doing a lot of research and learn as much as possible so there won't be as much shock. Here are the links.
Windows Vista How-Tos
Teching It Easy
Vista Tricks

Oh wow!
Now what? More homework?
I just read THIS now. Hope it opens and to the right page about Vista Users etc.

Don't know what to do now again but think I will bite the bullet and order that new Satelite when it comes out.

Posted by genes (My Page) on Thu, Jul 3, 08 at 17:35

Well, Urlee, that may be the case, as I dont run any of the Paint Shop Pro. Sorry about that

Genes,
No Apology.
I am sure he meant ALL programs. I just put those in for an example.

for those that have xp but would like some of the cool things that are on vista you can get a lot of them to add to your xp.
Things like the vista sidebar, the dock, the vista start menu, and even the aero look. I like some of those and do have some on my xp machines. If you just take a look at this search you will find many great little apps you can use.
Make XP like Vista

Urlee yes more homework LOL The way I look at it is for me they are just trying to make me force my old brain to keep on functioning! Work those brain cells! LOL Some days I just rather take a nap!