# Windows Vista without the hassle!



## Private Prozac (Jul 7, 2003)

Want the Windows Vista look without the hassle of bugs, patches, upgrading etc, etc?

I've found an amazing site that will give you the Vista look on an XP PC:

http://www.windowsxlive.net/?p=361

Looks the dogs if you ask me!


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## J55TTC (Apr 25, 2005)

have you installed it?


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## jampott (Sep 6, 2003)

What's the point of that?!

Just upgrade...


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## mighTy Tee (Jul 10, 2002)

jampott said:


> What's the point of that?!
> 
> Just upgrade...


What, and open up all the security holes again which XP have patched :roll:


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## nutts (May 8, 2002)

I'm going to wait until Vista SP1... I played with a virgin Vista laptop and it bluescreened once and generally didn't like being played with, without complaining :roll:

Still it DOES look good and I have no doubts it will become the most successful of Bill's OS's


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## Nem (Feb 14, 2005)

I've had vista on my main pc for well over 6 months now, and on and off in beta form for 12 months before that. I love it.

I did install XP again last week and I promptly removed it and put Vista back on the next day.

The only two times I've had a blue screen were on installing beta ATI drivers which were fooked, and this week on trying to boot my 2.4Ghz processor at 4Ghz. A blue screen was what I expected anyway, lol.

I have also tried just about every XP to Vista visual pack going and I never found one which just did it correctly. There was always something wrong and not looking or working right so I gave up.

Nick


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## Private Prozac (Jul 7, 2003)

J55TTC said:


> have you installed it?


Yep. Just finished and looks the knackers.

The point, tosspot my old chum, is that I don't fork out 200 quid + the hardware upgrade money to get a system that's going to be even more consumer restrictive than ever before i.e. musically and watching film.

I get the look, which I very much like over XP, without the handcuffs!


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## saint (Dec 6, 2002)

TT2BMW said:


> J55TTC said:
> 
> 
> > have you installed it?
> ...


Have you tried Vista though to back up your "hassle" statement? Using UI Skins is nothing new and these Vista (Longhorn) ones have been around for a number of years. Nothing more exciting than changing your screen saver or desktop background.

I like Nem have been using Vista for a long time. With the release version I've had no problems whatsoever and that's using the 64-bit one too.

BTW you can get Vista Home Premium for around Â£70.


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## Private Prozac (Jul 7, 2003)

Show me where then Saint and I'll have some.

Given my previous posts, and your advice, my PC would still need more ram and a better graphics card! :?


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## Multiprocess (Aug 9, 2004)

This is the cheapest I have found...

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Products ... bnails=yes


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## Sim (Mar 7, 2003)

TT2BMW said:


> Want the Windows Vista look without the hassle of bugs, patches, upgrading etc, etc?
> 
> I've found an amazing site that will give you the Vista look on an XP PC:
> 
> ...


Looks like OSX to me :wink:


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## Nem (Feb 14, 2005)

TT2BMW said:


> Show me where then Saint and I'll have some.
> 
> Given my previous posts, and your advice, my PC would still need more ram and a better graphics card! :?


Most online etailers ares elling the OEM versions of home premium for about Â£70, only drawback being you can only use that copy on that single pc, changing hardware after you install Vista may need you to reactivate with microsoft and after a certain point of changes they won't let you.

The other option is to buy the retail version whcih will allow you to upgrade as often as you like, but it's about Â£210for the same software.

Vista also does not need as much power as people think. 2ghz processor and 512Mb of ram will run it, personally I'd reccomend 1Gb of ram tho and if yo uhave a better processor then great. Also the fancy glass interface effects I've had running on a Â£50 graphics card, so again not needing to spend hundreds to get the "full" Vista experience.

So whats yous current spec?

Nick


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## saint (Dec 6, 2002)

TBH Nem - 1gb Ram is ok for the Basic packages. The Premium versions really require 2gb to run smoothly.


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## Multiprocess (Aug 9, 2004)

I bought the Home Premium and had a 3GHz processor, a 128mb VC and 512mb RAM, this was enough to run everything apart from the AERO 3D function.

So I upgraded to 3GB RAM and a Â£44.95 256mb Nvidia VC and now everything runs to perfection, this was purely down to me and not Vista requiring it.


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## saint (Dec 6, 2002)

That's one of the main differences between Home Basic & Premium - the non-inclusion of Aero.


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## Private Prozac (Jul 7, 2003)

Nem:

SiSoftware Sandra

Processor 
Model : AMD Athlon(tm) 64 FX-53 Processor 
Speed : 2.40GHz 
Model Number : 3805 (estimated) 
Performance Rating : PR4325 (estimated) 
Cores per Processor : 1 Unit(s) 
Threads per Core : 1 Unit(s) 
Internal Data Cache : 64kB Synchronous, Write-Back, 2-way set, 64 byte line size 
L2 On-board Cache : 1MB ECC Synchronous, Write-Back, 16-way set, 64 byte line size

Mainboard 
Bus(es) : ISA AGP PCI IMB USB FireWire/1394 i2c/SMBus 
MP Support : 1 Processor(s) 
MP APIC : Yes 
System BIOS : American Megatrends Inc. 1018.001 
System : To Be Filled By O.E.M. To Be Filled By O.E.M. 
Mainboard : ASUSTeK Computer Inc. A8V Deluxe 
Total Memory : 1GB DDR-SDRAM

Chipset 1 
Model : ASUSTeK Computer Inc K8T880Pro CPU to PCI Bridge 
Front Side Bus Speed : 2x 1000MHz (2000MHz data rate)

Chipset 2 
Model : Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Athlon 64 / Opteron HyperTransport Technology Configuration 
Front Side Bus Speed : 2x 1000MHz (2000MHz data rate) 
Total Memory : 1GB DDR-SDRAM 
Memory Bus Speed : 2x 200MHz (400MHz data rate)

Video System 
Monitor/Panel : SONY SDM-S94 DVI-D 
Adapter : RADEON X800 XT 
Adapter : RADEON X800 XT Secondary 
Imaging Device : HP PSC 2350 series

Physical Storage Devices 
Removable Drive : Floppy disk drive 
Hard Disk : Promise 1+0 Stripe/RAID0 SCSI Disk Device (234GB) 
Hard Disk : HP PSC 2355 USB Device 
CD-ROM/DVD : SONY DVD RW DW-D22A (CD 48X Rd, 48X Wr) (DVD 6X Rd, 6X Wr)

Logical Storage Devices 
Hard Disk (C : 234GB (176GB, 75% Free Space) (NTFS)

saint ~ So where can I get Premium for 70 quid then?


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## Wallsendmag (Feb 12, 2004)

TT2BMW said:


> Nem:
> 
> SiSoftware Sandra
> 
> ...


Loads of places do a kelkoo search.


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## Private Prozac (Jul 7, 2003)

Just have! :-*

So, can I buy the OEM Version to do the upgrade to existing XP?:

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage?MS-VHP32O

And what's this mean in Layman terms:

PLEASE NOTE : The OEM agreement for Microsoft OEM SOFTWARE DISTRIBUTION.

If the individual software license is a desktop operating system (including Windows XP Media Center Edition), we grant you a nonexclusive right to distribute individual software licenses; provided that each one is distributed with either (a) a fully assembled computer system or (b) a nonperipheral computer hardware component.

A â€œfully assembled computer systemâ€ means a computer system consisting of at least a central processing unit, a motherboard, a hard drive, a power supply, and a case. 
A â€œnonperipheral computer hardware componentâ€ means a component that will be an integral part of the fully assembled computer system on which the individual software license will be installed.


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## Wallsendmag (Feb 12, 2004)

TT2BMW said:


> Just have! :-*
> 
> So, can I buy the OEM Version to do the upgrade to existing XP?:
> 
> ...


Its means its only to be put on one pc (defined roughly by your current m/board) but the upgrade version is 3 times the price so you could buy it 3 times before you lose out.


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## Private Prozac (Jul 7, 2003)

Cool. Thanks mate.

So, is my card capable of running Aero?


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## Wallsendmag (Feb 12, 2004)

Should be fine but do you not want the 64 bit version?


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## Private Prozac (Jul 7, 2003)

I dunno. I'm a div!

Think I tried to run the 64bit Beta version and it didn't like it at all.

What's the difference?


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## Multiprocess (Aug 9, 2004)

Multiprocess said:


> This is the cheapest I have found...
> 
> http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Products ... bnails=yes


Here!


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## Wallsendmag (Feb 12, 2004)

TT2BMW said:


> I dunno. I'm a div!
> 
> Think I tried to run the 64bit Beta version and it didn't like it at all.
> 
> What's the difference?


Anyone any views ,I'm running a 64 bit processor so I thought the 64 bit version would be the best bet. I've seen a few reviews that say stick to the 32bit version. :?


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## saint (Dec 6, 2002)

I'm running the 64-bit version. As long as your hardware is nothing too out of the ordinary and the manufacturer has updated 64-bit Vista compatible drivers then there is no reason why not to make the transition.

There are still some software conflicts esp where using virtual disks - but most of these have been dealt with.

If your system is designed for 64-bit operation then I don't see why not. Just be very careful what drivers you install!


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## saint (Dec 6, 2002)

Yes - that's already been stated. As I posted - all i would suggest is a Ram upgrade!


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## saint (Dec 6, 2002)

lol - where did his post go!?!


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## CH_Peter (May 16, 2002)

Vista, Vista. Hmmm.

When installed, only recognised one CPU. Network card not working. Sound not working. These are fixed.

Counterstrike Source and any Half Life game running dog slow, had to ramp the graphics right down (effects and resolution), ran perfectly under XP. Not fixed - yes all latest drivers. Other games run fine, oddly.

AVG refuses to run as a startup item (something about not being able to start the interface), but will run when selected from the start menu.

Windows Mail gets mail fine, but report rejected password from server every time it checks mail anyway.

There's nothing odd about my system. AmD processors, good Nvidia card, onboard sound and networking. Not overly impressed. May have to go back to XP for now (and Mac OS X as my main mail / internet / media solution), because these niggles are too much.


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## saint (Dec 6, 2002)

Upgrade or fresh install, 32-bit or 64-bit, when did you do the install? You mention two processors - are you running Opteron?


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## CH_Peter (May 16, 2002)

saint said:


> Upgrade or fresh install, 32-bit or 64-bit, when did you do the install? You mention two processors - are you running Opteron?


Fresh install. 32-bit. Dual Core Athlon, IIRC.


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## NIIK_TT (May 7, 2002)

Saint what advantages are there with 64 bit upgrade?


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## Toshiba (Jul 8, 2004)

Nothing other than OS really - a program run over the OS has to be 64bit aware for it to make any difference.

OS running at 64bit is quicker.


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## Private Prozac (Jul 7, 2003)

Still sounds a bit of a mish-mash if you ask me.

Ran a scan and half of the drivers I need can't be found. For simple things like wireless card, HP Printer etc. Not really things I can do without! :?

Looks like I'll 'do without' Vista for the time being and stick with my Vista skins!


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## Private Prozac (Jul 7, 2003)

Now I've got the Aero look too:

http://www.otakusoftware.com/topdesk/

This just gets better, (and everything still works!! :wink: ).


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## ratty (May 18, 2004)

saint said:


> TT2BMW said:
> 
> 
> > J55TTC said:
> ...


You can also get Vista Ultimate (OEM 32bit) for Â£115 from:

www/novatech.co.uk


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## Dotti (Mar 9, 2003)

I have a nice brand new Acer Laptop with 17inch widescreen with Vista Home Premium and loving it so far. Today is my first day of using it. Being blonde and a bit airhead too, it is so easy to use and grasp   :wink: :wink:


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