I just bought Windows Vista Home Basic for like 40 bucks at a local computer show thingy. It was kind of a spontaneous purchase and was wondering if any of you guys have experience with Vista Home Basic.
Did I just waste 40 bucks?

Not planning to do anything crazy on it. Just playing some PC games once in a while.

im running vista premium, i guess its not much different, i like many things about it.The auto updates from windows seem to include all my vid card drivers among other things, very nice.Also i run many old games with no issues, including pretty much every mmo.Also keep in mind, that without disabling any options, vista takes something like 512mb ram just for the OS, so gaming with vista id reccomend 2gigs or more.

edit: dont forget vista offers DX10 options if your game and vid card support it

Yes, you did waste 40 bucks but I'm surprised you found one for so cheap? Doesn't it go for like a couple hundred? Vista does not offer any better functionality or security. It's actually a step downwards in security. Win2k was better than vista in that regard.

I'm not a huge fan of Vista. It's a very dressed up version of XP that still has quite a few flaws when it comes to playing nice with other bits of hardware and software. It eats lots of resources, but as long as you have plenty of RAM, you should be fine. That being said, it is not the ideal platform for the budget gamer. On XP, I could scoot by with a paltry 2 gigs of RAM and never feel a slowdown. On Vista, 2 gigs of RAM is essentially the bare minimum. If you're using your PC for image or video editing, you should be happy with Vista. For anything audio and/or music related, I would be much less enthusiastic. In addition, Vista doesn't seem to be a fan of wireless networks, working only when it feels like it.

Good luck with it, Leecho.

guitar:
Yes, you did waste 40 bucks but I'm surprised you found one for so cheap? Doesn't it go for like a couple hundred? Vista does not offer any better functionality or security. It's actually a step downwards in security. Win2k was better than vista in that regard.

I beg to differ on your security statement.
http://blogs.csoonline.com/which_desktop_os_had_the_most_vulns_in_q1_2008

Vista does use a large footprint, but its not that bad if you run a decent system.

guitar:
Yes, you did waste 40 bucks but I'm surprised you found one for so cheap? Doesn't it go for like a couple hundred? Vista does not offer any better functionality or security. It's actually a step downwards in security. Win2k was better than vista in that regard.

Relying on Microsoft for your security needs is a complete joke to begin with. Don't beleve the hype. Vista kicks ass, same people said the same sh*t when XP launched(google it). Unless you're using assbackwards hardware(and out of date drivers) you will not have problem one. Most people who have issues with Vista often times are running a $30 wang-chung mobo and goofy "I got a great deal" graphics card.

I built my system from the ground up, all 100% new REPUTABLE parts. Fired right up, OS install smooth as silk. Have Aero Glass enbled, been runnin' 24/7 since 2/08 with ZERO problems. Alot of Vistas bad rap came from the fact that hardware manufacturers were dragging their feet to release up to date drivers. Then you get mommy and daddy buying the "new OS" and it won't work with their current(3yo Dell)PC. The public has a responsibilty to educate themselves and not just buy something willie-nillie, hoping for the best.

Disable the "Aero Glass" option and you will save a TON of resources. But, memory is the cheapest thing you can buy for your PC and will give you the most performance gain. So don't be cheap get 4 gigs ya woman! lol. The Aero Glass feature IS Vista. Without it, it will resemble XP.

EVERYBODY will have to switch over if they want the best and brightest graphics that are soon going to be the norm(otherwise we would all be playing xbox right?)and that means DX10 and THAT means Vista.

yep, i agree like i said above,it runs fine if your pc isent pre-historic.Also i agree that other security options are the way, who relys on windows standard security? Ether way if u are a responsible common sense web surfer u avoid most compromising issues anyway. I have had no virus issues sense switching to vista, no performance issues,this includes games, and no stability issues. Currently i run Wow on a 37 in lcd tv, at 1366x768 res, at as much as 60 fps with all options maxed,and thats with a single vid card, and 2 gigs ram (+1 gig on card). This is a $5-600 pc,nothing super fancy. A better gaming example would be the LOTRO screen shots i posted in my "DX10" thread here, those pics at max settings with dx10 enabled still ran at 30+ fps. Once again,if your pc costs more then a xbox 360, the os will be fine (assuming you are smart and dont get ripped off). And the rummors that vista dosent like old games, thats bull, i havent had an issue reinstalling games that are very old, ive probably installed 20-25 games so far. I find that people complaints about Vista are much like those of un released games, usualy hear-say oriented comments with no real life experiance to back it up.......and lets not forget paranoia...cant fix that.

Interesting this topic should crop up now. I decided to take the plunge for DX10 prettyness and upgraded to vista home premium about a week ago.

First impressions have been good. Once UAC is disabled and it's all set up as I like it it's really nice. Auto updates are a million times better than XP, yes it detected my gfx card too, as well as my mouse and my sound card (I use a horrible old CMI8738 chipset on my sound card, usually this requires an hour of trawling for drivers on XP, vista found them right away). In fact the only drivers it didn't find right off the bat were for my logitech g15 keyboard, not too shabby.

Compatability has not been an issue so far. Even games I installed on my second hard drive under windows XP are still running fine. I've not noticed any performance drop in my gaming sheanigans, yes my CPU meter constantly shows my RAM at 50% usage on the desktop, but it seems to have little effect in-game. Bioshock and Crysis are looking gorgeous under DX10 and running just as well as they did under XP.

I have all the sexy advanced desktop effects turned on and it's smooth as silk, and it really makes you smile seeing the windows fade in and out (I had the same grin marvelling at the prettyness of compiz in ubuntu). I have a selection of sidebar gadgets that I actually use and I enjoy having at the side of my desktop.

In fact the only slight issue I've had thusfar was a bluescreen during crysis, though my pc died a horrible death, the gfx driver stopped functioning, desktop was choppy, eventually it locked up and died. Though I suspect this is more to do with crysis misbehaving than vista.

Overall I'm damn impressed and heartily endorse it as an OS for everyday use.

Thanks for the reply guys. I'm actually going to be running it on a Mac Pro 2x Quad 2.8 Intel Xeons, with 8gigs of Ram. Making a small partition for Vista so I can play some of my pc games that I've been missing.
I read some reviews for the basic edition, and they weren't that great. But I'm just using Windows to play games, nothin more. Good thing is Microsoft has a program where you can upgrade a version of Vista to a different version of Vista. So if I'm not too happy with Basic, I'll just upgrade to Home Premium or if I really want, Ultimate.

lol cheese glad to see you join the ranks, dont let crysis get you down, it still lays the slave whip on $5k machines

I'm not too pissed about it, i can run it with all settings on high and 8xQ AA

Good enough for me.

I use Vista Home Premium 64-bit. Works great no problems at all.

Stotan:
I use Vista Home Premium 64-bit. Works great no problems at all.

Same here on both my laptop and my home PC. No problems at all.

Heh, for all the vista naysayers still out there, those of us with it seem perfectly happy with it.

Goes to show how much they've improved it since launch (i used it on day 1, it was horrible).

Kalia:

Stotan:
I use Vista Home Premium 64-bit. Works great no problems at all.

Same here on both my laptop and my home PC. No problems at all.

mrcheese:
Heh, for all the vista naysayers still out there, those of us with it seem perfectly happy with it.

Goes to show how much they've improved it since launch (i used it on day 1, it was horrible).

What they said.

Thats good to know. I was foolin around with a friend's computer that had Windows Vista Home Premium installed, and I have to say it was different.
I've been so used to Mac OS X after using it exclusively for about two years now, that foolin around in Vista was kind of a breath of fresh air. But in all honesty, I just want to play some Counter Strike Source again.

mrcheese:
Heh, for all the vista naysayers still out there, those of us with it seem perfectly happy with it.

Goes to show how much they've improved it since launch (i used it on day 1, it was horrible).

Yea, I waited until service pack 1 I usually never upgrade until the first service pack.

Microsoft managed to push enough patches to stabilize Vista in the last few months.

I was a victim of an OEM machine that I bought recently, that had a MoBo specifically "tailored" for a Vista, and crashed constantly with my local XP installation (go figure!).

So I had to learn the hard, and stripped most annoying Vista baggage of the system memory tree, with few other hacked tweaks. So far, not a single crash in the last 3 months.

Looking forward to Windows 7 *sigh*

Vista is really a matter of personal opinion. Yes, at first it will seem like shit, but it does grow on you unless you just flat out hate microsoft. Security is not something you should rely on Microsoft for, just use a good anti-virus/anti-spyware program and your good. One thing I suggest turning off is the repeated "Do you want to run this program" feature, as it gets very irritating, very fast. If you look at task manager performance, once you start loading programs, you dont see much of a difference in ram usage, it actually splits if you pay attention, or so thats what ive noticed. All the keyboard shortcuts still work, windows key + R still brings up the run box, windows key + L still locks the computer. I say give it a shot, if your unhappy, its not hard to go backwords, as some people would lead you to believe. I got a copy of Vista Ultimate for 32 and 64 bit for about 30 bucks from the microsoft store thanks to my sister in law. There are quite a bit of flaws, but if you can handle what your doing, you can notice the differences. I hated Vista, but I decided to give it a shot, and it isnt all that bad. Windows 7 will be better, since Microsoft isnt rushing to release it like they did with Vista. Try it out, then make your decision. Think back to IE7. Alot of people who tried it in the beginning will say dont touch it. It has changed quite a bit, even though its essentially a Firefox clone with less security.

NaotaFLCL:
One thing I suggest turning off is the repeated "Do you want to run this program" feature, as it gets very irritating, very fast.

Called the "UAC" switch it off in the account settings.

Vista isn't the hellspawn Mac makes it out to be. While there are problems, as long as you don't do horribly silly things that incur the wrath of teh intrawebs, they should be manageable/survivable.

Stotan:

NaotaFLCL:
One thing I suggest turning off is the repeated "Do you want to run this program" feature, as it gets very irritating, very fast.

Called the "UAC" switch it off in the account settings.

thank you, i was having a dead brain moment

I don't understand why everyone hates Vista.

You know drivers didn't work when XP was first released; it takes time. If something you have doesn't get updated for a new OS then it must be old.

Kanaru:
I don't understand why everyone hates Vista.

You know drivers didn't work when XP was first released; it takes time. If something you have doesn't get updated for a new OS then it must be old.

You do also realize Microsoft released Vista too early thus the super slur of problems right?

I had issues with many of my components not being updated, and they were released within a few months of Vista. It took many of the manufacturers - Creative, nVidia, Asus, etc. - months to get anything near 'proper' support. Everything runs fine now, but XP still runs much smoother.

Interesting piece of information: When using Aero on Windows Vista, the required specification of the computer that runs it would be as powerful as a supercomputer from the early 1990s. Waste of power, waste of resources and still technically inferior to Linux, even if it runs more professional software.

I have it, I hate it.

Wow, first post on Warcry... Maybe I should check it out more often

Kanaru:
I don't understand why everyone hates Vista.

You know drivers didn't work when XP was first released; it takes time. If something you have doesn't get updated for a new OS then it must be old.

well when the previous os is considered an upgrade to it, then it's pretty bad, most corps aren't buying into vista and have no plans to ever upgrade

there's a lot wrong with vista, xp at least had the bsd tcp/ip stack, vista has the win9X one if i'm not wrong, they didn't even go back to the win2k one but that might stll be the bsd stack

XP had all these problems at launch too. Admittedly they were smoothed out a lot faster for XP.

Ah well, windows 7 is hurtling towards us for November '09 ish.

I must be awfully lucky. I've had less problems with Vista than I did with XP, and I didn't have a many with XP.

I've actually had more problems with XP than vista, especially with networking.

Feh. I'm amazed that people expected the change-up to Vista to be devoid of issues. It's a new OS. Most of the problems always happen when you upgrade.

Although, perhaps the more important issue, is... $40? Seriously? That's one hell of a price cut.

I only dislike it because of the fact you have to have permission to do absolutely everything.

I have Vista and it works just fine. At first I thought I was having problems with it, but it turned out my video card was messed up. =/

Never used it, but my Geography teacher does, and it seems like shit, it's slow, and just generally inefficient.