“Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor”

Thinking of upgrading to Windows Vista? Are you currently running Windows 2000 Professional or Windows XP? Which flavor? XP Professional? With Windows 2000, you need to do a clean install. XP has some nice upgrade options. Running Windows ME? Forget it, unless you happen to run it on modern or less than 1 year old hardware (I am estimating here, but you get the point).

Regardless of your situation, if you want Windows Vista on your current PC or laptop, then you definitely want to utilize this fine tool from Microsoft before diving in. It is called the “Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor”. The idea is that you can run this smallish software in order to gain an understanding of the PC or laptop’s Vista readiness. Results are given after the software analyzes your system hardware. This is far more important than people think. Many folks believe that because they have a “pretty good” (read, ‘I have a 100 Gigabyte hard drive!’)or a “pretty solid” (read, ‘I have 512 Megabytes of RAM!’) computer that this equals Vista readiness. It may be true. It may not be true. Or the truth may lie somewhere in between, in other words an upgrade may be possible, but the 3-D features of the interface (Aero) may not be available due to RAM or graphics card limitations. This article covers version 1.0 of the “Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor”.

The GUI for this application is very straight forward, and in fact filled with Vista Theme fonts, styles etc. Before beginning the analysis, plug and power on as needed all USB or peripheral devices that you use on the PC or laptop, especially printers, USB drives, etc.

The beginning Welcome screen is an ample introduction, giving you needed information before beginning:

While the system is being scanned, Microsoft asks, “Which Windows Vista edition is right for you”? You can see the 4 Vista editions that are available: Home Basic, Business, Home Premium, or Ultimate. You can compare versions and also view highlights of each edition specifically.

In summary: the more check marks in each column, the more expensive the edition!

When done scanning, the software gives a “See Details” link to open. After opening the link, hopefully you will see this:

So, in my case, Windows Vista Business is recommended (mainly because the PC the Advisor was run on is Windows XP Professional). Results vary from PC to PC. If you do NOT get the green check mark, it is likely due to outdated hardware or operating system. The summary given:

But maybe all is not so perfect in operating system paradise. A little further down the page, I received this notice that in fact I may not be able to use all Windows Vista Business features.

The culprit? A video card. This is not uncommon, considering the hefty hardware requirements for Vista to run Aero, the sleek Vista GUI interface:

As you can see, much more information can be gleaned from the scan. A little further down on the System page, the software determined that the primary PC components, that is the CPU, the RAM (I have the 1 Gigabyte minimum for Aero), and the DVD player are all compatible. This is the kind of good news you want!

So, the scan details can be reviewed further, i.e. Devices, Programs, and task List

The Devices tab provides and excellent overview of your PC or laptop devices, such as your network interface card (NIC), your monitor or your storage controllers. It is useful, pretty straightforward, but I skip a screen shot on that one.

The Programs tab is self explanatory. Applications installed on your system are analyzed. If there is an application or software package that is not compatible, you will see something like this with a required action recommendation:

Be very sure to review this part carefully! If a treasured software program you cannot live without is listed as incompatible, it is time to explore other options: i.e. hold off on the upgrade, buy the latest Vista compatible software (if available), etc.

Also, the software informs as to any software that has the Vista logo. This means that software is compatible with Vista.

Just for the record: the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor is in fact compatible with Vista. Whew!

The Task List is basically a summary of the above. It gives recommendations on what to do before and after a Vista upgrade or installation. It is a step-by-step guide.

After the review is complete, it is wise to click the “Save report“ link and maybe print it out if the details are too many to remember and you plan on following through on the recommended path.

Happy Vista’ing!

Windows Vista advice:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/buyorupgrade/upgradeadvisor.mspx

The upgrade paths to all Windows Vista editions

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/buyorupgrade/upgradepaths.mspx