Old Dogs Can Learn New Vista Tricks

Many moons ago the venerable David Keller, a.k.a. Compu-Doctor, when queried by a client as to whether it was wise to upgrade from a 286 to a 386 computer, uttered this sage advise - if your computer is doing all you want it to do - don't upgrade.

Although I do not often receive this question from Good Booters contemplating upgrading their 286, I do from those contemplating upgrading from XP to Vista. And because I receive so many inquiries, periodically I dedicate a Good Boot to the question.

I recommend you should not upgrade to a Vista computer if your XP computer is doing all you want it to do. And unless you really know what you are doing, do not waste money upgrading your XP hardware to make it Vista friendly.

By the way all the brouhaha about Microsoft not allowing XP to be installed on new computers in no way effects current XP users. Support for XP will most certainly continue until the new version of Vista is released and most likely for many years to come.

However, if you must or just want to purchase a new computer, I recommend it be a Vista computer with at least Vista Home Premium.

With all the doom and gloom you may have heard about Vista, I suggest if you do diligence before you purchase a Vista computer and then make a concerted effort to become up close and personal with Vista's features, you'll come to appreciate it as much as I have.

The do diligence I refer to is:
* Check the Web sites of your legacy hardware peripherals for Vista drivers. Although most legacy peripherals (printers and scanners) now have Vista drivers, there are some that do not.
* Insure your current software is either Vista ready or has Vista updates. And by the way, don't be fooled by software vendors trying to entice you to purchase a Vista version when your current version my be Vista ready or can be made Vista ready with a free update.
* Chat with your technician. He can save you a heap of heartache.

Most important, become "an old dog willing to learn new tricks". Vista's presentations are different than XP's, but not so different you cannot expeditiously master them.

If you're a bit concerned on your ability to expeditiously master Vista, why not attend my summer Vista seminars or those of any qualified instructor.

Here's wishing you a Good Boot.