Windows vista home premium sp2 review

And Home Premium users will have limited use of the built-in Tablet PC features; this feature seems better suited for the Business and Ultimate editions.

Performance Upon installation, Windows Vista rates each system's overall hardware performance, with the final score reflecting your system's lowest individual score. This is handy. For example, if you suspect that everything's running a little slow, you might find that your hard drive is returning the lowest score. Windows Vista will then recommend a faster hard drive or a drive with larger compatibility. Mostly, though, the video card will be the sore spot for most users. There's also an event log viewer to show, for example, after a specific software install your system performance started to degrade, and that uninstalling the software may restore your overall performance.

Under the hood, Microsoft has moved device drivers for DVD burners and printers out of the system kernel; Microsoft says that a majority of system crashes can be traced to improperly installed third-party device drivers. Indeed, after testing several early builds, we found Windows Vista to be remarkably stable and robust.

Support Along with the diagnostic and performance monitors, Microsoft has improved the Help section considerably. Of these, we really like a feature available on some, not all, FAQs that allows you to automate the solution by executing a script.

This method doesn't teach you how to do it in the future, but it will accomplish the task at hand. For example, if you choose to update a device driver, Windows Vista will darken the desktop; highlight and open the Start menu, the Control Panel, and the Device Manager; then pause to ask you what device you want to update. It's like having a technician at your desktop, walking you though the process. There's an increasing reliance on user-generated support forums, which leads us to believe that Microsoft is shying away from its own live technical support.

At press time, Microsoft's final support policy was unavailable. Conclusion Perhaps we're spoiled, but after more than five years of development, there's a definite "Is that all? Like cramming an info-dump into a book report the night before it's due, there certainly are a lot of individual features within the operating system, but the real value lies in their execution--how the user experiences or doesn't experience these--and like the info-dump, we came away shaking our heads, disappointed.

Compared with Mac OS X Despite the addition of a system-wide, built-in Search, and various efforts to break away from staidly old directory trees, you still need to drill down one level to even access Search. And there are far too many dependencies on Microsoft products; this is not a very objective operating system, as preference is always given to Microsoft products of which there are many , from MSN search to RSS feeds only from Internet Explorer.

But is Windows Vista a bad operating system? It's just a disappointment for PC users who hoped that Microsoft would deliver something truly exciting to finally leapfrog ahead of Apple. They failed. But stick around; this is just Windows Vista 1. Windows Vista Service Pack 1 is due out sometime before the end of the year. Windows Vista SP1 promises to fix what's known to be wrong within Windows Vista and should offer a few concrete reasons to switch.

Robert Vamosi. Windows Vista Home Premium does not put Search on the desktop it's buried within applications, within the Start Menu ; no new software yet written exclusively for Windows Vista; optimized only for the Microsoft Windows ecosystem for example, RSS feeds from Internet Explorer 7 get preferential treatment ; Tablet PC support unnecessary; fax and scan support missing; and there are too many editions of Windows Vista.

On the other hand, if you need a new computer right now, Windows Vista Home Premium is stable enough for everyday use. Windows Vista Home Premium Compare editions. For a side-by-side comparison chart of Windows Vista editions, click below. See full specs. Click View available updates.

If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation. Install any updates listed as Recommended or Important , return to the Windows Update page, and then click Check for updates.

Follow the instructions on your screen. The computer might restart several times during the installation. After installation is complete, log on to your computer at the Windows logon prompt.

You might see a notification indicating whether the update was successful. If you have problems obtaining the service pack from Windows Update, you can download SP2 as a standalone installation package from the Microsoft Download Center website, and then install SP2 manually.

Depending on whether you're running the bit or the bit version of Windows Vista, download the update for bit versions or download the update for bit versions. To determine whether you have the bit or the bit version of Windows Vista, click the Start button , right-click Computer , and then click Properties.

To install SP2 immediately, click Open or Run , and then follow the instructions on your screen. To install SP2 later, click Save to copy the installation file to your computer. When you're ready to install the service pack, open the file you copied to your computer. You'll receive a message indicating whether the update was successful. If you installed SP2 yourself, you can uninstall it. However, if your computer came with SP2 already installed an integrated installation , it can't be uninstalled.

Click the Start button , click Control Panel , and then click Programs. Under Programs and Features , click View installed updates. Windows Vista More Before you install SP2, we recommend you do the following: Log on to your computer using an administrator account, make sure all other users are logged off of the computer, and close all open programs.

EMBED for wordpress. Want more? Advanced embedding details, examples, and help! Reviewer: nt - favorite favorite favorite favorite favorite - January 9, Subject: good effort It flatly refuses to install from a memory stick If you are not in Egypt, you should modify the. It takes up 2. It is willing to install on less than recommended space.