VistaJuice

Hello there from the MovableType Publishing Platform. This is my first post while I setup and test the blog... Soon, I shall squeeze out the juice from the pretty Vista ... (which by my gadget comes out in 7 hours and 28 minutes, even though I am already running the OEM version).

Peace.

This post will be one of the longer ones, since I kind of do not have any other at the moment, and also I'll use it to introduce the site and what I am trying to accomplish.

Even though Vista is officially coming out today, I bet not everyone is as enthusiastic about it as I am. I bet there will be people hurling out to get it (heck, I did it on the 24th - Microcenter had the OEM version there), but for some there will still be questions:

1) should you get it (answer: yes)
2) how long should you wait?

I've been using Vista since it was known as Longhorn and while it was still in Alpha. Since the first moment I laid my eyes on it - I really liked it and wanted to see the final version. It's been long 5 years of development for Microsoft, but since they are a company which loves Beta Testers (over 5 million people downloaded the beta version), people already kind of know what they will be getting.

We've all seen the beautiful Vista Aero UI and how it looks like, but since I've been using Vista for some time now I created this site in order to bring you the big picture; the juice, the froot of the loom (TM by that underwear company, sorry) or what ever you might call it.

I hear people say "Vista is the way XP shouldve been long time ago" - and I have to agree with that. It really is a nice OS; but don't worry - even though I love it so much, I am not going to say there are no flaws and mistakes. We will come to those soon enough, but just so you know - this is not going to be a web site where Vista will be worshiped in a biased way. I love Apple and Mac OS X as well, I use Linux daily on all of my servers but I wont you to experience all that Vista has to offer as well - so that you too can know why you (will) feel great when you come back home and a Vista boots up on your computer.

Ok, not to make this post too long, there are a lot more other things to talk about, some webcasts to share, first Windows Updates to introduce and more audience to amuse ... (lol) I was just on a row, forgive me ;)

Let me just answer to those questions above:
1) should you get it: definitely yes.
2) should you wait? - this depends... Vista comes with 1.5 million drivers out of the box, so the chances of your peripherals not being recognized are pretty small. With this in mind, I'd say you should definitely give it a try.

If you have some special software on your laptop - like mine for example comes with Sony Vaio's proprietary stuff - you have two options: Installing the OS anyways and wait for the software updates from Sony or other manufacturer to arrive (like I did), or wait for the software first and then go on with the install...

The choice is yours ... In one of our next posts I'll explain the best way in my opinion to install Vista on your computer in couple of different scenarios.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you find this site useful and come back often. Don't forget to sign up to our RSS Feed.

Just so you have something to watch on our site while I am working on the other posts, check out the yesterday's webcast from Times Square in New York City, where Bill Gates hosted the worldwide launch of Windows Vista and the 2007 Microsoft Office System.

Be back with more updates and finally some good content in a jiffy...

There are many ways for you to determine if you are ready for Vista. One part of it is by saying yes, and second one is checking if your computer would say "yes" to Vista.

This is not that hard to check as Microsoft provides you with a nice tool for it, called Vista Update advisor, which you may get from the link below:

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=65926&clcid=0x409

This software will inspect your computer and inform you if you can upgrade. It will give you a nice detailed report about any hardware or software component of your system that may give you trouble.

If everything seems more-less OK, then your computer is ready for Vista. If not, you will know exactly what has to be done in order for everything to go smooth. Remember, Vista is a powerful new OS which will make a good use of a nice and fast machine, therefore there may be some hardware upgrades you will need to overcome before installing - if you are looking for the optimum experience.

Below you will find hardware requirements nicely compiled by leading tech site Engadget.com, which besides Microsoft's specs also shows you their recommendation for the best experience:

click to zoom

Now, if your PC falls into "Vista Capable" category rather than "Premium Ready", you should consider getting a hardware upgrade. I'd recommend a minimum of 1GB of RAM, a fast CPU - one of the new dual core ones, and definitely a graphics card with at least 128MB of RAM.

My computer is Sony Vaio SZ370 notebook, with 2GB of RAM, 120GB Hard Drive, not too shabby Nvidia GeForce Go 7400 graphics card with 128MB RAM - and a nice and fast Core 2 Duo T7200 CPU @ 2GHz (per core).

I must admit - Vista runs REALLY smooth on this. It actually performs a lot better than XP did. Macromedia Dreamweaver and Photoshop open up really quick - and the whole experience since I'm on Vista really makes me feel more productive.

Therefore, if you got those hardware requirements out of the way - it is definitely time to install Vista (finally).

You have a lot of choices here, but one important decision to make is - Should you upgrade, or Clean Install?

Most of these pretty-box Retail versions are Update Only - and these two words mean a lot. If you choose the Update Only path - you must have XP already installed on your PC. Vista will validate that your copy of XP is Genuine and if you follow the instructions everything should go smoothly; but remember: If you ever want to reinstall Vista "clean", you will have to install the XP back again, and then update it to Vista (again!).

My advice though is not to go this route. Even though Microsoft says that the update process is really smooth (and I believe them) - not like XP was 5 years ago, when you clean install an OS on your computer it's simply the nicest thing. Think about it this way, would you rather have your furniture reupholstered or would you rather have it brand new? It's almost like that ... Dust mites may stay.

In order to Clean Install - you will need to do couple of things:

1) Get a Full Version of your choice of Vista
2) Backup all of your files somewhere
3) Run the installation and install Vista.

Sure Vista costs a lot, but you may save a buck or $100 by getting an OEM version which comes at a really good price of about $200 bucks for a full Ultimate version, which beats the Retail version at $390. With OEM, you do not get a pretty box, you cannot transfer Vista from one computer to another - the one you install it on it's tied to it forever, and you do not get Microsoft phone support - but if you think you can live without that - then you're in luck.

This would complete the step #1 from the above quote. Step two consists in backing up your files. You can do this manually or using the software provided to you on Vista DVD itself.

One suggestion, something I found really useful since years ago even while I was testing the Longhorn versions, make a copy of your current Windows and Program Files directories form XP. Put them on a DVD or something and have them ready (I'll explain in a moment).

I will not go through the Installation process, it is really simple that a 7 year old could probably follow it through. You insert the DVD, start the process, enter your Serial Key, and that's it ... Next thing you know - Windows will ask you for your name and you can log in ... Simple as that!

People say, a picture is worth a thousand words, therefore, here you can see the full installation process in pictures and know exactly what to expect:

http://flickr.com/photos/freeed/sets/72157594490796701/

Tip, tip, tip:

Once you log in to Vista, even though it comes with over 1.5 million drivers out of the box, there is always a chance something you have may not be detected. Here come in play the Program Files and Windows folders from the old XP installation I told you to back-up. If Vista complains about a device - insert a DVD and point it to Windows folder on it. From my experience I found that 99.9% of times - Vista will find the driver from either one of those folders and make a really good use of it. Do not worry since if the driver is NOT compatible with Vista, it will complain and let you know. Therefore no harm can be done.

This way I got all of my devices running on Sony before Sony even shipped the updates. All I am waiting now for is Sony specific software since they include some of their proprietary apps which don't work on Vista yet.

Last thing left is for you to copy all those personal files of yours you backed up and install all of the software you may need. Surely, there are some apps which may not work (yet) - but pretty much all of the important ones seem to be ok. I had no trouble with Photoshop, AVG Free Antivirus from Grisoft, Adobe Reader, Google Talk, Skype, Azureus, Google Earth, Zen Cast Organizer, Flickr Uploader, AI RoboForm IE Add-in, Alcohol 120%, Counter Strike Source, etc ...

Also, the server software I run on the same machine works just fine: Apache 2 Web Server together with MySQL Database Server work like a charm.

So, I hope this quite-long of a read can help you decide if you are ready for Vista. Maybe it's a time for a computer upgrade, maybe even for a new computer. If you choose the latter route, you may even get Vista with the computer so - the choice is entirely yours.

If you are going to get a computer though, please, either wait until you can, or cash in immediately for a good machine that will make you happy - 1GB of RAM is OK, 2GB is really good, Single Core CPU is OK, Dual Core will rock your world... Also, make sure not to cheap out on the graphics card since this version of Windows will really make a good use of it - so if you can afford a nice 256MB card or even 512MB card - do so. You won't regret it.

If you are getting a laptop, you may want to wait just a little bit longer and see what comes out. As you may know, Vista supports SideShow (something I'll write about tomorrow), and many of the new laptops like ASUS come with integrated second screen with SideShow capabilities. This would be the way to go, so check it out:

Read about Asus W5Fe on Engadget.com

I follow a lot of technical blogs and one I like the most is Engadget (Gizmodo is my second choice).

While browsing around Engadget today, I stumbled upon a really nice comparison between features in Windows XP vs. those in Vista.

So here is what they say in short (to read the full post on their site, click here):

A common thing I noticed everyone who likes Vista is doing, is writing about top 10 or 15 things about what they like. I do not know how many favorites I have, but I'll just start writing about things I found cool, useful or just plain pretty and let's see where it ends.

1. Windows Start Menu
   Start menu is something we're all used to. Since the old days it hasn't changed much, until now. Finally, it is easy to use and navigate through; it has a bunch of options, and a nicest thing of all – if you make a good use of it you'll have to see it only for less than a second when starting an application. The reason why this is possible is thanks to an integrated search right into it. Sure thing, before it was easy to just click a Windows button and R (Run command), and then run say "notepad" or "calc", but what if you want to run Photoshop, Dreamweaver, or any other application which does not lay in your system's path for easy find? Well that's where this search bar comes into place and if you make yourself use it to run applications instead of looking through the list of all programs you will be amazed! I just type "dream" and a Dreamweaver opens up. Productivity boost? You bet!
   
   

   Default Start Menu		Dynamic change while typing

   
   
2. Sidebar and Gadgets
   Sidebar in Vista is OK. It is really not as cool as widgets are done on Mac OS, but it's good enough I suppose. I really like a simple design it presents, and it's nice to have couple of widgets like weather, analog clock, system up-time and maybe battery monitor always at a glance. Check out my sidebar below.
   
   

   My Sidebar and Gadgets

   
   
3. User Folders
   You'll see that Microsoft finally changed the way things are stored and named in your personal User Folders. Namely, there is no more My Documents, My Pictures, etc. but rather, since it is logical that all of those are My folders, they followed common sense and named everything without that annoying "My" prefix.
   This helps in couple of ways, firstly if you have a lot of folders in your personal user folder, you can start typing the name and get to the folder in matter of milliseconds. On the other hand, your Pictures, Music and Videos do not reside in your Documents folder any more (thank God), but rather in the user folder itself. This way you can put all of your stuff in the user folder where it is easily found, and accessible. This makes backups of all of your files really easy easy as well since they all share a common place.
   
   

   User Folder (if you click on the left empty corner twice you can close the window ;)

   
   
4. Shadow Copy
   This is a really important and great feature. How many times it happened that you overwrite or make changes to a certain file (document, photo, etc.) and then you realize you wish there was a way to go back and undo the change, either immediately or couple of days later. With Vista, this is possible thanks to the Shadow Copy. You can go back in time and revert to any version of a file at your convenience. Thank you Microsoft! :)
   
   

   Shadow Copy - the Time Machine

   
   
5. Network Center
   Networking took a major overhaul and it is really user friendly. Everything is controlled through a Network and Sharing Center and all of the little but important options about your network preferences are right there in one window. Besides connection to other networks you may set Sharing and Discovery preferences and easily control (and always know who) has access to your files, printers, media, etc.
   A very cool thing is that you can specify the location type for any network connection, and Windows will automatically apply the correct settings for that location. For example, you can designate any network you connect to as Home, Work, or a Public location and Windows will do the rest.
   
   

   Network and Sharing Center

   Setting up Network Location

   
   
6. Backup
   Finally there is an simple way to backup files in Windows. Windows Backup existed for a long time but for a novice user it is definitely too much to set up. Now, with Backup and Restore Center at our fingertips it is easier than ever. Within two minutes you can have a daily backup scheduled and then you can simply forget about it. The interface could not be simpler, you choose what types of files you wish to backup, (Documents, Media, etc.), set the backup location (say your external HDD), and that's it. Vista will go through at the times specified and create an incremental backup of all files you desire. There is also an option which allows you to do a full system backup – which you can restore in case of a system failure, emergency, or whatever may come your way…
   
   

   Backup and Restore Center

   
   
7. Mobility Center
   For laptop users, this is a really cool gadget. You get a small control panel with an instant access to the volume controls, battery status, network status, external display configuration, sync center and presentation settings. The most important details for any laptop user all in one place. If you are about to give a presentation you can easily turn on the Presentation Mode, and your default settings for such task/event will be applied immediately. You can set special wallpaper, turn off the screen saver, access the external display and set the desired volume with one click of a button.
   
   

   Windows Mobility Center

   
   
8. Windows Defender
   With all kinds of Malware going around the internet, it's nice to have Windows Defender inside Vista by default. Besides protecting you against malicious software, it also comes with Software Explorer tool which gives you a nice view for managing important security-related areas of the computer such as: Startup Programs, Currently Running Programs, Network Connected Programs and WinSock Service Providers.
   
   

   Windows Defender - Software Explorer Tool

   
   
9. Reliability Monitor
   This tool is a great thing, especially for a geek like me. If you ever wonder what's going on inside your computer at any given time, open up the Reliability and Performance Monitor and check out anything, from what the CPU is working on, what applications are writing/reading from a hard drive, to what applications are using the network, as well as how much memory is being used by currently open programs. Really, just an amazing informative tool!
   It also lets you run System Diagnostic test which generates a beautiful Report on pretty much everything! It even gives you suggestions on how to improve system's performance if such action is needed.
   
   

   Reliability and Performance Monitor
   System Diagnostics
   System Diagnostics Report

   
   
10. Parental Controls
    I do not have kids yet but I find this feature to be really great. In the world we live in today, it really is important to protect your family in all ways possible. Parental Controls in Vista let you do just that, so you can rest assured that when your kid (or a friend) is On-Line, they can do everything within specifically preset limits. You can restrict certain websites, set log in time limits so you can make sure your kid is doing homework and not playing on-line, set game ratings you approve, and limit any specific applications from being run on the computer by that user. It also comes with Activity Reports which let you see at any time top 10 websites visited, logon times, applications ran, games played, etc.
    I use Parental Controls for a special Friend account, to set the applications friends who visit me can run, and what they can really see on my computer. There is a Guest account in Vista as well, but I prefer to do it this way since I have more control.
    
    

    Parental Controls

    
    
11. Clock
    Looking at a clock is such a trivial thing, but once you get some more options you realize what you've been missing on. In Vista you can set two more different times you'd like to keep an eye on, and with a simple click on a clock in the taskbar, you can pull up a widget with a calendar together with all of your time zones. Calendar is also integrated so effectively that getting to a date you desire can be accomplished with minimal effort.
    
    

    Ah, the Clock

    
    
12. Photo Gallery
    Not that I use the Photo Gallery much, but I just may start doing so. It is beautiful, useful, and with everything just a click away. You can touch-up photos, tag them, rate them, add captions, print, email, burn them to a CD or DVD, and make movies with them – all with a click of a button. Everything is accessible right from the Photo Gallery itself, so you will have no more excuses why your photos are not organized and why your friends are still waiting for a disk with photos from a New Year's party a month ago.
    
    

    The Photo Gallery

    
    
13. 3D Flip
    Yea, everyone brags about this as being a really cool thing. Flipping through the running applications as if they were slides in a 3D environment. I think it's nice, but I am not yet used to it that much. Mostly beacause I forget it exists, unless someone stops by and then I have to show off my Vista a little bit. Therefore, once I get into my head that it exists – I bet I'll use it more often. It's pretty!
    
    

    The 3D Flip (nice screenshot)

    
    
14. Power Options
    Finally some more power to the (mobile) users; we are now able to fine tune everything from hard drive running time, wireless adapter preferences, even PCI Express, USB and Processor Power Management. There's a lot more too, and I really love it since it really means a lot when I can set up my laptop to last 3 and a half rather than 2 and a half hours on battery!
    
    

    Advanced Power Options

    
    
15. Ready Boost, SuperFetch and Hybrid Drive Support
    Vista comes with couple of never before seen terms which all spell: performance and efficiency.
    There's never enough RAM on a computer, so if you are not really looking for a RAM upgrade, or you just can't fit more into your machine, Ready Boost comes in handy. Some of those super fast USB flash disks and hard drives can be used by this Vista feature and pretend like they are RAM – therefore – you get to work with more applications without need for Vista to bother too much with those slow swap files on the hard drive.
    SuperFetch is a memory –management technology built in right into Vista that keeps track of all applications you use most frequently and it preloads them into memory. Its algorithms are able to detect even which programs you most likely run on weekends, and load those into RAM for a faster access just before you're about to use it. Maybe this is why I am experiencing a really fast opening of both Dreamweaver and Adobe Photoshop. They are just snappy!
    Hybrid Drive technology is developed jointly between Microsoft and Samsung. Hybrid drives are those hard drives which come together with some amount of Flash Memory on board, besides the conventional hard drive space. They offer an extended battery life for laptop computers, faster application access times and faster resumes from the sleep mode. When the drive is not much in use it can turn off and use its energy-efficient flash memory for data storage until that buffer is filled up or new data is needed directly from the drive. It is a promising technology and definitely something I'd like to have – therefore it's in my faves. Vista supports it right out of the box.
    
    

    ReadyBoost

    
    
16. And for grandparents – BIG ICONS
    Vista icons have changed, and they can be rapidly resized and still stay very smooth. This makes it just awesome when my grandma is browsing the computer, since she does not have to wear glasses in order to look for a CD icon in My Computer, but rather see it immediately because it can almost be sized up to a real-life CD ROM. Check out the screen shot! I love it, and she loves it. Also, with a nice control over the fonts, I can easily size those up too, and then everything will be Crystal Clear for her.
    
    

    Nice Big Super Clear Icons YES, that really is an icon!

    
    
17. And last, attention to detail
    Even though many say Vista needs some more polishing done, and I agree to a certain extent, do note that developers at Microsoft did pay attention to those nice little details we all start appreciating once we experience it. When renaming a file, in most cases we do not want to rename the extension as well, so to make our life just a little bit easier and more productive, developers went a step further. When you click the file name, only the name is automatically selected so if you start typing - the extension will stay the same. Thanks!
    
    

    Sweet...

    
    

So, this has been my two cents why I will definitely NEVER ever go back to the Windows XP again. It just doesn't cut it!

If you like this post, please comment and also Digg it...

It seems that there has been a loophole discovered which enables you to do a complete Clean Install using the Upgrade only DVD without even needing to have Windows XP on your machine...

Not that I condone such activities, since I guess it is against the License Agreement you agree to when installing Vista, but for the sake of education you may see below how it's done. The main thing is that Vista Update DVD in order to work with your product key has to detect a valid OS on your computer before the install. If you install Vista in 30 day trial mode as a clean install without providing the product key, and then run an update of this Trial version from the DVD - everything will seem legitimate. You'll have to install Vista twice, but that's about it.

I've been running Vista for some time now, since 24th, and right away there were some updates available. These below are all of the updates Vista currently installed from 24th of January, 2007 - 1st of February, 2007.

Some were expected and highly awaited, like the two Windows Vista Ultimate Extras and one update, but we also got couple of patches and enhancements as well, so here are all of them:

1. NVIDIA GeForce Go 7400 driver has been updated
2. Mail Junk Filter for January 2007
3. Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool update for January 2007
4. Three Definition updates for Windows Defender (1.14.2120.1 / 1.15.2220.1 / 1.15.2224.9)
5. Update for Windows Vista (KB931573) - Fixes an issue where you may be prompted to activate Windows Vista on a computer on which Windows Vista activation was not previously required.
6. Update for Windows Vista (KB929427) - Fixes some of the know application compatibility issues with Vista.
7. Update for Windows Vista (KB928089) - Fixes a performance issue with Internet Explorer Phishing Filter when visiting pages with multiple frames.
8. Update for Windows Vista (KB930857) - Fixes an issue with Windows Error Reporting that may cause some information about application errors to be sent to Microsoft without notifying you.
9. Update for Windows Vista (KB929685) - Fixes an issue of High Definition Audio Devices from initializing after system resumes from sleep, hibernation or stand by.
10. Update for Windows Vista (KB929735) - Fixes an issue where you may not find the file that you want when you use Advanced Search to search by date if you use a non-Gregorian calendar format in Windows Vista.
11. [Ultimate Only] Update for Windows Vista (KB929327) - DreamScene Package
12. [Ultimate Only] BitLocker and EFS enhancements -The Windows Ultimate Extra includes two tools that make it easier to use some of the security features that come with Windows Vista Ultimate: Windows BitLocker Drive Preparation Tool, and Secure Online Key Backup for your BitLocker recovery key and EFS certificates.
13. [Ultimate Only] Hold 'Em Poker Game

Make sure you keep the system Up to Date, but then even if you do not - you can always find out here when the updates come out. Do note, these are 32bit Version updates. I bet there are some other different ones streaming for the 64bit versions, so if you are in that camp - you better check out Windows Update directly.

I wonder how many of these small patches we are going to receive before the first Service Pack kicks in ... Any guesstimates?