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Microsoft Vista
by Gail Eddy

I get a lot of people asking me if they should upgrade to Vista. Since Iapostrophem not the "Geek", I thought I would ask Chris what his thoughts are. Here goes.....

I like Vista. It has a lot of good ideas in it and generally works well.

If someone already has XP on their machine, I generally donapostrophet recommend that the OS (Operating System) be replaced with Vista, mostly because there isnapostrophet enough in Vista that is so new and wonderful and different that youapostrophere going to miss out on something.

If someone has Windows 2000 on their machine, I will recommend not upgrading the OS to Vista because there are usually a lot of hardware differences over time. In that case, the customer will be happier if they just replace the machine. But there are some things that XP does much better than Win 2000, and Vista does better too, that will just make some problems go away because the newer version of the OS is better.

On a new computer, Iapostrophell recommend Vista Business, and stay with the 32 bit version of the OS and not the 64 bit version. If the person is retired or relatively new to computers, Iapostrophell recommend XP because "change is bad". With a "younger" person, they are likely to be more adaptable to change, and will likely make the adjustment to the subtle differences in Vista just fine. Note that with a semi custom computer, the intended life is 4+ years, so in 2013, I think that most customers would rather have Vista than XP.

My general rule of thumb for memory is 1GB minimum for XP, and 2GB for Vista. For a 32bit operating system, 4GB is the max amount of memory that can possibly be seen. And even if you install 4GB of memory, youapostrophell only be able to use 3GB of that. The memory on the video card has the biggest encroachment footprint, and is located in high memory. Vista does better with more memory, and memory is cheap, so choosing 4GB over 2GB will be a minor price boost, but well worth it.

About the author:

Geek For Hire, Inc. provides Computer Troubleshooting and repair throughout the US and Canada and onsite support in the Greater Denver/Boulder area. Our ideal customer is a woman running her own small business. Geek For Hire wants you to be Outrageously Happy with your computer system! For more information on Geek For Hire, please visit http://www.geekforhireinc.com/.