Sprkus

After waiting a month and a half for Dell to feel comfortable enough to ship Vista to its users as part of the Windows Vista Express Upgrade program, I finally received my copy in the mail yesterday — and three hours later received an e-mail from Dell saying it had shipped.

I purchased myself a new computer for Christmas from Dell and part of the deal was a free copy of Vista when it launched.

I installed it last night. It took 5 hours and I still have a few tweaks and minor installs to make, but overall I have to say I’m satisfied.

Headaches are expected with every operating system upgrade — at least for us PC users — and there were a few with this transition.

Dell shipped a separate CD which acts as an upgrade adviser, scanning your computer for known Vista compatibility problems prior to the upgrade, then describing to you how to fix them.

On my pre-install, the adviser instructed me to update my bios, then directed me straight to the file to run. Easy enough. After a restart, it instructed me Norton Internet Security 2006 needed to be upgraded to the Vista-compatible version, then directed me straight to the file download. It installed an entirely new version of Norton, so between computer restarts and live updates, that upgrade lasted about 30 minutes. The new version however, came with new features such as scanning for phishing sites plus looked like Vista visually, so two thumbs up again there.

Then the adviser told me I was ready to insert the Vista upgrade CD and fire it up.

After I entered my product key, I chose to upgrade from XP so I could keep current files and settings (It also gives you a clean install option).

Windows then downloaded some upgrade updates to further analyze my computer and then asked me to exit the Windows Vista installer and uninstall Nero 6 and some Web cam software. No problem, done and done.

After I fired Vista back up, entered the key and downloaded the updates again, it told me there was a problem with the driver which controls how Windows Vista would “wake up” after a period of no use and to go to the Windows Update Web site. I went to the site to be told Windows XP was already up to date. I then Googled the problem and found another guy with the same issue who advised to ignore it. So I did.

After Vista warned me that a few other minor programs may not work properly after the upgrade, like The Sims 2, I was ready to go.

I launched the upgrade and waited about an hour, during which I passed the time by installing Ubuntu, a version of Linux, on my now old machine. On a side note, Ubuntu’s not a bad little free operating system. And yes, I realize this was one of the dorkiest nights of my life.

Anyway, Vista got to the final percentage bar where it was finalizing the install, rebooted itself and delivered a “windows cannot boot properly” error screen. I tried to start Windows normally a few times to no avail and after five minutes, cut my loses and rolled the machine back to XP.

At this point, between installing Vista, Ubuntu and doing laundry, about three hours had gone by.

But I was persistent and I decided to try a clean install this time around — I keep all my important files on a second hard drive which wouldn’t be erased by the new install anyway.

This time everything went smoothly. Vista was completely installed about an hour later. Because of the recent Vista release, Symantec even let me download the full Vista-compatible version of Norton Internet Security 2006 for free. I already had the key for the program, but normally Symantec charges you for the service of re-providing the software as a download.

So after re-installing Firefox, setting up my mail accounts, downloading iTunes again, etc., I really like it. And the upgrade really wasn’t that bad. Windows Gadgets needs a better scheduler program, but that’ll come soon.

The only worry I have left is if iTunes is gonna screw me over when I validate all me legally purchased music with the new operating system. If it counts the operating system upgrade as a whole new computer — you’re only allowed to approve iTunes songs on a total of five total computers, or in my case, only allowed to upgrade one computer five times — it might be my “sixth” computer. I think I’ll be alright, though. Unless Steve Jobs is a complete ass. He DID wear a ponytail once. No wait, that was the guy from Gateway.