Do I have to install my Windows Express Upgrade immediately?

[Guest]

Ok, so I have recently received my windows express upgrade from Cyberpower in
the mail. This has brought forth a lot of questions from my parents and
me. First my parents think I should wait until they come out with more
drivers and updates for Windows Vista, so any excuses for not waiting would
be great, unfortunately the immense amount of computer gaming options has not
been considered a plus for them. Second I want to know if there are any
penalties for waiting, already my clock that receives updates from Windows
has begun malfunctioning about the time when I knew my express upgrade was
sent. So many more problems could begin to surface themselves with the COA
number and Ip address of my computer the longer I wait. Finally I was really
wondering how much the drivers and updates will change in time and if there
are really that many issues with Windows Vista right now. This whole phobia
of using it in the media and from small retailers has turned many people off
and I don't want to be misled. Thank you for your time and any information
would be greatly appreciated.

BTW: Posted this at another thread was wondering if it was better here?

 

[DP]

Second I want to know if there are any
penalties for waiting, already my clock that receives updates from Windows
has begun malfunctioning about the time when I knew my express upgrade was
sent.

If you're having computer problems, it may have nothing to do with the
upgrade, it could be the machine you got.
Cyberpower has very spotty ratings.
http://www.resellerratings.com/store/CyberPower
Great prices (I know because I bought one once), but spotty ratings.

 

[John Barnes]

immense amount of computer gaming options

Most find just the opposite. Many games won't run on Vista or run poorly.
Especially as video drivers are just evolving
Your malfunctioning is not related to the unapplied upgrade. They don't
even know for sure when you receive it.
Unless you have a static IP address and they know it you are not being
stalked by Cyberpower

 

[Guest]

Cyberpower is actually pretty reliable or at least for me, I loved this
computer but anyway I doubt it is a computer problem because it is to
coincidence for me to not receive time updates from Windows after they sent
it out or maybe I just need to get it fixed anyway nevertheless. I wanted
excuses to download it and I am getting very few. I am feeling a lot of
negative fibes. Someone’s got to like Vista out here I hope.

 

[John Barnes]

No negative vibes here. Just pointing out that OP have said some games
don't work on Vista. When the newer games are made for Vista, DX10, they
should be awesome. You can think what you want about a conspiracy
(Cyperpower and Microsoft) if you need to feel important enough anyone would
care.

 

[Guest]

Ok so on to finishing this question quicker so I can actually download this.
So does anyone have any resources that show the benefits of Vista?

 

[John Barnes]

Start here
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/features/default.mspx

 

[Lang Murphy]

Ok, so I have recently received my windows express upgrade from Cyberpower
in
the mail. This has brought forth a lot of questions from my parents and
me. First my parents think I should wait until they come out with more
drivers and updates for Windows Vista, so any excuses for not waiting
would
be great, unfortunately the immense amount of computer gaming options has
not
been considered a plus for them.

Well... have you done any research on whether Vista drivers are available
for your hw? Or that XP drivers for your hw will work with Vista?

Second I want to know if there are any
penalties for waiting, already my clock that receives updates from Windows
has begun malfunctioning about the time when I knew my express upgrade was
sent.

What do you mean, "...my clock that recieves updates from Windows has begun
malfunctioning..."?

So many more problems could begin to surface themselves with the COA
number and Ip address of my computer the longer I wait.

Not sure I understand what you mean by this... does your windows express
upgrade say you must use the upgrade within a certain time period?

Finally I was really
wondering how much the drivers and updates will change in time and if
there
are really that many issues with Windows Vista right now. This whole
phobia
of using it in the media and from small retailers has turned many people
off
and I don't want to be misled. Thank you for your time and any information
would be greatly appreciated.

Depends on the vendors... I have a TV card that will never, according to
what I've read, get Vista drivers. So I'm SOL on that piece of hw. Have to
get a new TV card if I want to install Vista on that computer.

Yes, there are issues with Vista. Some are bugs in the OS itself, some are
crappy 3rd party drivers.

If the PC on which you are considering installing Vista is your family's
main computer shared with your other family members, I'd hold off on
installing Vista.

If it's your PC alone, and you're just champing at the bit to try Vista,
then there are a couple of things you could try:

1. Invest in some imaging software (Acronis seems to get high marks from the
folks in this NG) and make an image of your computer in its present state,
install Vista (highly recommend a clean install, which is possible even with
an upgrade DVD, see below for expansion on this) and, then, if Vista doesn't
work for you for whatever reason, you could use the imaging software to get
your PC back to the state it was in prior to installing Vista.

2. Buy the least expensive hard drive (they are relatively inexpensive these
days) you can find (30GB minimum, I'd guess) and swap out your existing hd
and install Vista on the new HD. If Vista sucks for you, put your old HD
back in and use the "Vista" hd as a second HD. We're talking internal HD's
here... no external USB HD's...

3. If you just want to play with Vista, you can download Virtual PC from
MS's website (free download, free to use) and install Vista in a Virtual
Machine (VM). Of course, that won't tell you if Vista will work on your PC,
driver wise, because the VM is using it's own drivers totally unrelated to
your PC. Also, you'd want to have at least 1GB RAM on your PC so you could
assign 512MB RAM to the VM running Vista. More RAM is better, especially
when it comes to running VM's.

On the clean install... I wouldn't do an upgrade. Too many folks have issues
with upgrading, methinks. The drawbacks to upgrading are:

1. You would have to back up all your data files to an external storage
location, or, at the very least, another partition on the HD.

2. Using the upgrade DVD, to do a "clean install" you'd have to install
Vista twice; once without putting in the serial number, then run the upgrade
from within Vista, putting in the serial number.

3. You'd have to reinstall all of your software.

Yeah, sounds like a lot of work, but it seems to be the best path to having
a stable Vista install.

Good luck,

Lang