Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate FULL VERSION [DVD] [OLD VERSION]

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Editorial Reviews:

Amazon.com
The most comprehensive edition of Windows Vista, Windows Vista Ultimate (DVD-ROM) is the first operating system that combines all of the advanced infrastructure features of a business-focused operating system, all of the management and efficiency features of a mobility-focused operating system, and all of the digital entertainment features of a consumer-focused operating system.

Windows Sidebar gives you quick access to gadgets like picture slide shows, Windows Media Player controls, or news headlines. You pick the gadgets you want to see in Windows Sidebar. View larger.

Use Flip 3D to navigate through open windows using the scroll wheel on your mouse. View larger.

Compare Windows Vista editions.

Use Instant Search to quickly find the information you need. View larger.

Windows Vista Aero provides spectacular visual effects such as glass-like interface elements that you can see through.

The redesigned Windows Media Center in Windows Vista lets you enjoy your media throughout your home, even on your Xbox 360. View larger.

For the person who wants one operating system that is great for working from home, working on the road, and for entertainment, Windows Vista Ultimate is a no-compromise operating system that lets you have it all.

Easier, Faster Access to Information
Windows Vista Ultimate features Windows Aero, a new interface that delivers higher levels of efficiency for any business user. This easy-to-use interface makes it a snap to navigate through the operating system and from application to application. Most importantly, Windows Aero helps you juggle multiple tasks at once by providing a three-dimensional, real-time, animated view of all your open applications and documents. And for those businesses that do work in other countries, Windows Vista Ultimate supports all worldwide interface languages.

Breakthrough Windows Vista Experience
Designed to help you feel confident in your ability to view, find, and organize information and to control your computing experience, all editions of Windows Vista introduce a breakthrough user experience. The visual sophistication of Windows Vista helps streamline your computing experience by refining common window elements so you can better focus on the content on the screen rather than on how to access it. The desktop experience is more informative, intuitive, and helpful. And new tools bring better clarity to the information on your computer, so you can see what your files contain without opening them, find applications and files instantly, navigate efficiently among open windows, and use wizards and dialog boxes more confidently.

Work From Home
Windows Vista Ultimate includes all of the features that make it easy to remotely connect to business networks. This means that when you're working from home, you'll have advanced networking capabilities, such as the ability to join a domain, support for Group Policy, and access to features such as Remote Desktop. Windows Vista Ultimate also includes Windows BitLocker Drive Encryption that provides improved levels of protection against theft for your important business data whether you are at home, on the road, or in the office.

More Entertainment Options
Windows Vista Ultimate delivers all of the entertainment features available in Windows Vista Home Premium, and includes everything you need to enjoy the latest in digital photography, music, movies, analog TV, or even HDTV. Ultimate also has helpful tools such as Windows Photo Gallery and Windows Movie Maker to ensure that you have everything you need to collect, manage, and edit your digital content. It also includes Windows Media Center for turning your PC into an all-in-one home entertainment center.

Versatile Operation
Windows Vista Ultimate truly lives up to its name by delivering all of the features both business and home users want and need. It is the ideal solution for both a small-business owner who wants a single PC that he or she can use at the office, on the road, and at home, and for someone who wants a home PC that will be used primarily for entertainment purposes but that can also be used for business purposes such as connecting to a corporate network.

Product Description
Windows Vista Ultimate combines the best of work and play, into a single easy-to-use operating system. It's easier than ever to find, manage, and share information -- and it's safer than ever to connect, enjoy personal media and sync up personal devices. Fully designed for life on the go, you'll have all the features of Windows Vista Business and Windows Vista Home Premium in one package. Download cutting edge software and services exclusively through Windows Ultimate Extras, and enjoy entertainment on TVs throughout your home with Xbox 360 and other devices. It's the best way to enjoy work and play, with its easy connection to home and school networks. Accomplishing more each day has never been easier. Use your Windows Media Center to enjoy your favorite photos, music, TV, and movies on your PC and share them throughout the home of compatible device -- including your Xbox 360. Enhanced backup and restore -- Special safeguards help protect against hardware failure, user error and other causes of lost data Get a better tablet PC experience with enhanced handwriting recognition and precise pen navigation Connect to a company network or access your PC remotely from home Get up and running with existing data and applications -- fast and easy PC migration, even without dedicated IT support Supports Windows ReadyDrive technology for improved battery performance

Customer Reviews: Read 146 more reviews...

2 out of 5 stars

Second verse, same as the first but twice as loud and a whole lot worse. May 2, 2007
193 out of 214 found this review helpful

Meh.

Vista reminds me of Windows XP except:
1) It's prettier. Hey, translucent window frames! Neato.

2) It's far more annoying. Have you seen that "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" commercial where the secret service guy is standing behind the PC asking him to approve or disapprove everything? Vista is totally like that. It's extremely annoying. Simply trying to run a built-in program from Windows' own control panel will pop up a box asking me if I want to run it. What's up with that? I just clicked it, so yes, I want to run it. You'll run into a lot of these and they don't really improve security because after the first 100 times, you're not even going to read the box anymore. One day it will say, "A hideous virus wants to delete your hard drive and send nastygrams to the President. Approve?" and I'm going to say yes simply out of habit.

I also say this feature fails the "dad" test. Is my dad going to know when to approve or disapprove things? I can picture him puzzling over the dialogue, wondering why it's asking him that.

3) There's a problem with Vista wireless networking. You can find people talking about it through Google but there's nothing on the Microsoft site about it. Every 60 seconds, Vista polls for new wireless networks whether it needs to or not, which will give you a ping spike. If you're surfing or downloading you won't notice, but if you're gaming, it's extremely aggravating. If you switch to a wire, the problem will go away. If you switch to XP, the problem will go away. It's purely a problem with Vista wireless.

4) What I really care about are my other programs, not my operating system. We are getting an ever more aggressive, annoying and resource hogging operating system when all we really want it to do is shut up, sit down and enable me to run my other programs without too much interference. Microsoft seems to think that most people log on purely to enjoy the operating system. No, we log on to enjoy our OTHER programs so this big bloated operating system is just getting in the way and hogging the resources that our other programs wish they had.

I would love to see a "Windows Skeleton" operating system that simply stripped out all the annoying, resource hogging junk I didn't want and let me run my applications in peace.

Edit:
I've been using Vista for a while now and I just want to say I still stand behind my initial 2-star rating. My final analysis:

Stick with Windows XP for as long as possible.

I think the bottom line is that Microsoft's efforts to improve security and kowtow to concepts like DRM have created a problem worse than the initial threat. I've gone for years with nary a hit on the various anti-virus programs I've used, and yet here I sit with a crippled operating system which seeks to save me from a problem that I never really had to begin with.

And it's true what they say about gaming: some of my games are experiencing problems which only occur in Vista. I don't know the technical source of those problems, but only Vista users are getting them.

The semi-mandatory "driver signing" is annoying too, and will only get worse with Windows Server 2008. I download brand-name drivers from companies like Nvidia and I have to follow their directions that basically say, "ignore all the Vista warning messages you're going to get".

Vista is just downright unfriendly to the consumer AND to the developer.

I second the motion that you should at least wait until Service Pack 1 is out, but truthfully, I'd suggest just running Windows XP until you're absolutely forced to upgrade for some reason.

Edit 2 (December 07):
The way Vista separates Administrators from Peasants on your home system really doesn't help anything. A lot of the programs out there have an auto-update section which doesn't work unless you run the program as an Administrator, which means quite a lot of stuff has to be run as an administrator, which means the whole act of separating it out is nothing but another poorly thought out "security" measure that adds way more in annoyance than it adds in actual security.

Also, I was going to access Microsoft Support to notify them of a bug I'd found, which is highly annoying and easily reproducible. On their support web site I find this gem:
"90-day no-charge support begins on the following dates:

* From the date you place your first support request.
* For Windows Vista, from the date you activate the product.

Cost:$59.00 US per support request after all no-charge support is used."

So wait...

It's going to cost me $60 to report this bug in your software?

And if I'd bought XP, I could report it for free since it would be my first support call, but since I bought Vista and activated it more than 90 days ago, it's going to cost me?

Chalk that up as yet another reason to not buy Vista. Stick with Windows XP.

5 out of 5 stars

The best things about Vista - My Two Cents... January 31, 2007
95 out of 192 found this review helpful

Here is what I love about vista, for a full review with photos go to [...]

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!

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.

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.

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! :)

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.

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...

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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!

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.

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.

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!

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!

4 out of 5 stars

RTM is a surprising improvement over beta builds and RCs. December 22, 2006
48 out of 62 found this review helpful

I tested various beta builds of Vista throughout its development process, and I must confess I thought I would end up hating the end product. However, Microsoft has cleaned up the final build nicely and the RTM is very much a polished product. The new Aero interface is pretty slick, and the visual effects are delightful (though hardware intensive). In addition, the new Sidebar allows you to customize your desktop with various gadgets such as calendar, weather, news headlines, or notes. User Account Control will take some getting used to, although it does help to bolster Vista's security; anti-virus software is incompatible with Vista due to hardened security, so the onus is now on users not to click anything stupid.

While the new eye candy and tightened security are certainly exciting, there are a few drawbacks that prevent me from giving this product a 5-star rating. Most are "what ifs" but are still worth considering.

First, Windows Vista has been thought to contain significantly restrictive DRM technology. In particular, I have not yet been able to determine whether or not Vista complies with the CGMS-A standard and obeys broadcast flags on analog TV signals. If so, this would allow broadcast and cable channels to specify whether or not content could be recorded. It seems ironic that your 20-year-old VCR might serve you better when it comes to recording television than your brand new Vista PC's Media Center would.

Second, Microsoft has been pushing its Genuine Software Initiative. The Product Activation scheme devised for Windows XP has been taken a step further, with Vista reverting to a "Reduced Functionality Mode" if it is not activated. However, one major difference in Vista is the ability to force a machine into Reduced Functionality Mode once it has already been activated. If you have Windows XP and ever tried to download anything from the Microsoft site (including Automatic Updates), you might remember having to validate your copy of Windows. If your license was deemed "genuine" you were able to download your updates or the new version of Windows Media player, and if you were determined to have an illegal copy of Windows you were refused access to the downloads. The consequences of having an illegal copy were minimal: you couldn't get some of the latest and greates utilities, but you could still use your operating system. In Vista, this has all changed. If your computer fails a Genuine Advantage check, Microsoft will flip what techies lovingly refer to as the "kill switch". Once you fail the genuine advantage check you will be constantly prompted to reactivate and your computer will revert to Reduced Functionality Mode if you fail to do so. Most people would say "so what? I paid for my license, so I'll be fine." However, the first round of the Genuine Advantage program under Windows XP caused so many problems that even Microsoft published a workaround for if your machine was erroneously denied access. Unless Microsoft has made some drastic improvements to the Genuine Advantage technology, many people will again find themselves blacklisted by Microsoft for no apparent reason - and this time the stakes are higher because the end result can be that your operating system is forced into Reduced Functionality Mode, effectively rendering it useless.

DRM and licensing restrictions have long been a gripe of technology enthusiasts. Together, they combine to offer the end user less control over his/her machine than ever before. This, coupled with the ever-present privacy concerns over Windows needing to "phone home" all the time just to guarantee a valid license, is no small cause for concern. It remains to be seen how intrusive these new technologies will be, but the potential for disaster is certainly present.

Big brother aside, performance issues also work against Vista. Windows is now more of a CPU, memory, and graphics hog than ever before. While I have not noticed considerably slower performance, I have noticed shortened battery life on my laptop while running Vista. Despite the "advanced" options for enhancing the mobile experience, I am not convinced that Vista will be a viable choice for laptops.

Overall, new features and a revamped GUI provide a nice experience - if your hardware can handle it. Despite the improvements, I still have concerns over DRM and the "kill switch" that prevent a 5 star rating. Hopefully time will prove me wrong.

3 out of 5 stars

OK, but don't expect too much! January 28, 2007
47 out of 76 found this review helpful

I have used the official company ultimate version for about a month now and i will cut right to the chase. unfortunately the cons outweigh the pros....

pro: more modern interface, somewhat more securer, better networking

con: way too expensive, vista is more like an upgrade than an entirely new OS, some menues (like windows explorer) are very confusing, several popular programs (divx, quicktime) do NOT work right, or at all, including some MS programs (visual studio, sql server)

verdict: unless you like to have the latest of everything or the money doesn't matter, keep on using xp until the first vista service pack.

2 out of 5 stars

Five Years And This Is It? January 31, 2007
34 out of 82 found this review helpful

For some time now Windows has been nagging customers about their new software. Well, not nagging, but over-advertising, should I say. I currently have XP. I will keep buying Windows's operating systems for the simple fact that not only are their OS's are cheaper, but are much, how to I put this, more intruitive to the internet world. I might as well be the very first person to "see" and play around with the Vista so far (just through reading reviews). Microsfot promises a much more stable and secure computer, two factors Mac has ALWAYS and probably will forever have above them. The question is, what really are they doing back there in Microsoft land? No offense to all the hype of the OS, I'm sure I will want to upgrade within the next two years but I must ask, how on earth is this consdiered better than XP?

Now there are many factotrs to an OS, this one not so complicated. Really the most unimpresive thing was that it was already made. And chances are, you own it. There's not much of a difference between XP and Vista other than some new features that may spike an impulse buy. But please BEFORE you do that, know what you are buying into. There are really only a few reasons to upgrade from XP to Vista.

1. You want to network with Windows. XP doesn't really have such a great networking stradegy, if it really is one to begin with. It is a way better OS than XP as far as linking computers together. This also makes it much easier to share a DSL internet connection, but even then XP has this feature, and its not that hard. Wireless networking also comes in, thanks to ethernet, Bluetooth, and other collabrations.

2. The way you open windows. And even then, is that really a reason to upgrade your version of Windows. Anyhow, it comes with a slick black/chrome scheme. Opening and minimizing Windows becomes more like a Mac. You can view your Windows like a flow or in 3D.

Otherwise, most of Vista is a true dissappoint.

Security is a big issue with Windows computers and you should always have Norton, McAfee, AVG, or some sort of third party anti-virus vendor. And in Vista, you still do, because much like its big brother XP, it is full of security holes. The firewall is really nothing more than the one you have with XP. It asks you when certain files try to download onto your computer, but that's about it. It doesn't really try to stop viruses or adware, something a Mac is virtually prone to. Otherwise, same old, same old. Firewall, and that's about it as far as what Windows offers for security. They also have their Spyware detector, but Ad-Aware is not only cleaner and more efficent but has a longer list of definitions. Lame. And the look, nothing more than having your Windows XP taskbar, menus, and start button black. Nothing at all has yet to be added on to it. No dock, no easy search, no nothing. Just your same old XP look, only black and chrome. Yawn. (Besides, can't you get those for free online?) The so called "Aero" graphics window frames are nothing special. The only interesting feature is that you can mouse over the items you have open. Lame. Also, no multimedia enhancements. Same Windows Media Player and same DVD maker. Lame. The so called backup program is awful. You have to back up a whole thing of files, like "My Computer" or "Documents". Lame. Also know if you are planning on upgrading Vista you must have a pretty good computer or your sstem will just keep on crashing. Of course XP does that enough. Not very comforting to know Vista does that more than XP. Lame.

Oveall, not a needed upgrade for your Windows XP system. Some networking features are nice, and the look is slightly appealing, but otherwise it's Windows XP packaged into a different box. The enw security features aren't really anything, nothing new with multimedia, and the new backup program is a complete dud. Keep your XP system, this isn't worth the extra hundred dollars. 2 stars.

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