Wiley Windows Vista Secrets: SP1 Edition
Contents
1. Secret There are other ways to acquire Windows Vista actually mentioned previously that Microsoft sells subscription based software through its volume licensing pro grams for example However this book focuses on the ways in which individuals can acquire Windows Vista t Chapter 1 Selecting the Right Vista Version 57 Summary Windows Vista clearly offers a lot of options when it comes to picking a product version but with a little know how you will be able to make the right choice one that matches both your needs and your budget This chapter has provided what you need to know to match a Windows Vista version to your needs Now you just need to figure out how much the upgrade is going to cost Remember that it s often much cheaper to acquire a new Windows version with a new PC so if you re going to be buying a new PC be sure to get the right Vista version at that time I cover this option in Chapter 2 along with other ways to install and upgrade to Windows Vista2. which is an excellent deal The upgrade to Vista Business will typically set you back oe Chapter 1 Selecting the Right Vista Version 49 quite a bit more around 100 to 130 The upgrade to Windows Vista Ultimate is about 125 to 150 These additional costs are all based on a core system running Windows Vista Home Basic and can of course change over time For example Figure 1 1 shows Dell s configurator for a typical home PC 1 Build My Dell 2 Add My Software amp Accessories 3 Protect My Investment GP Review amp Continue gt SWITCH TO LIST VIEW SELECT MY OPERATING SYSTEM as N Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium English gt Included in Price t Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium Belkin Easy Transfer Cable ra add 39 or 1 month Dell Recommends for a Faster Transition to Windows Vista Genuine Windows Vista Business English add 100 or 3 month1 Genuine Windows Vista Ultimate English add 120 or 4 month1 e WINDOWS VISTA HOME PREMIUM J MANAGE INFORMATION EASILY 7 ADVANCED SECURITY FEATURES A wwoows mena center Prevous componen EA WINDOWS AERO ENHANCED INTERFACE Figure 1 1 When you re buying a new PC be sure to get the Vista version you really want As you ll see in a moment the cost of upgrading to a better or more expensive Windows Vista version is almost always lower if you do it when you purchase the PC Regardless of cost however it
3. 4 Windows Vista OEM packaging is pretty bare bones OEM versions of Windows Vista differ from retail versions in some important ways They are dramatically cheaper than retail versions As shown in Table 1 15 the OEM versions of Windows Vista are much cheaper than comparable retail versions Note how ever that OEM pricing fluctuates somewhat so the prices you see online could be a bit different They do not come with any support from Microsoft Because PC makers support the products they sell directly Microsoft does not offer any support for OEM versions of Windows Vista This explains the cost differential by the way You are not really supposed to buy them unless you re building PCs that you will sell to others Technically speaking OEM versions of Windows Vista are available only to those who intend to build PCs to sell Furthermore online retailers who sell OEM versions of Windows Vista are supposed to verify that you are a PC builder and or sell the products with some kind of hardware For this reason you are sometimes asked to purchase a hardware tchotchske such as a USB cable when you purchase OEM software There s no box This shouldn t matter too much but you don t get the cool Vista retail packaging when you buy OEM Instead you pretty much get an install disk shrink wrapped to a piece of cardboard and a product key Secret Unlike the retail versions it s very easy to purchase both 32 bit and 64 bit OEM versions of
4. Secret and native 64 bit software can often outperform 32 bit alternatives but that s because you can add far more RAM to the 64 bit machine Systems with mas sive amounts of memory just aren t as constrained and can operate to their full potential Chapter 1 Selecting the Right Vista Version 39 Windows Vista Ultimate PRODUCT RED There are plenty of good reasons to consider Windows Vista Ultimate PRODUCT RED as this version is part of the PRODUCT RED series of products which helps the Global Fund combat AIDS in Africa When you buy a PRODUCT RED product you re helping others in need From a technology perspective however Windows Vista Ultimate PRODUCT RED is functionally identical to the normal versions of Windows Vista Ultimate so readers of this book who have Windows Vista Ultimate PRODUCT RED will be as well served as other Vista Ultimate users Note that Windows Vista Ultimate PRODUCT RED cannot be purchased at retail or online as a standalone software package It is sold only with specific PC models from the PC giant Dell S If you re curious Windows Vista Ultimate PRODUCT RED includes six unique ecret PRODUCT RED inspired wallpapers a PRODUCT RED screen saver two PRODUCT RED Windows Sidebar gadgets and a PRODUCT RED themed DreamScene animated background Step 2 Understanding the Differences between the Product Editions Once you ve narrowed the list down to the four contenders it s
5. Yes Shadow Copies Yes Yes System image based backup and recovery Yes Yes continues e Chapter 1 Selecting the Right Vista Version Table 1 12 continued 47 Encrypting File System Desktop deployment tools for managed networks Policy based quality of service for networking Windows Rights Management Services RMS client Control over installation of device drivers Network Access Protection Client Agent Pluggable logon authentication architecture Integrated smart card management Wireless network provisioning Domain join for Windows Server Domain join for Windows Small Business Server Group Policy support Offline files and folder support Client side caching Roaming user profiles Folder redirection Centralized power management via Group Policy Windows Fax and Scan Internet Information Server Small Business Resources Windows BitLocker Drive Encryption All 36 worldwide UI languages available Simultaneous install of multiple UI languages Subsystem for UNIX based applications Number of licenses for virtualized versions of the OS on the same hardware Feature is optional Business Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Enterprise Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 4 48 Part I Surviving Setup gt Windows Vista Enterprise was originally going to incl
6. are almost as many ways to purchase Windows Vista as there are Vista product editions This can make acquiring Windows Vista somewhat complex especially if you want to purchase a Setup disk and install the operating system on your own PC Here are the ways in which you can acquire Microsoft s latest operating system With a New PC The single best way to acquire Windows Vista is with a new PC from a major PC maker such as Dell HP or Lenovo That s because PC makers spend huge amounts of time test ing every hardware device that they sell in order to ensure that customers have the best possible experience One thing that has sullied this market of course is crapware an industry practice whereby PC makers include useless or unwanted preinstalled applications on their pre configured PCs The good news is that this practice is slowly going away Dell and other PC makers now offer new PCs without crapware either free or for a small fee The cost of Windows on a new PC varies from PC maker to PC maker and from machine to machine Generally speaking a copy of some version of Windows Vista will be included in the price of virtually every PC sold today and the actual cost to you will range from roughly 30 to 80 The cost of upgrading to more expensive Vista versions varies as well My informal research read browsing the sites of PC makers online reveals that you can typically move from Windows Vista Home Basic to Home Premium for less than 30
7. is always easier to upgrade during the purchase process because the PC maker will install and configure the OS for you Retail Boxed Copies If you walk into an electronics superstore the versions of Windows Vista you see are what s known as retail boxed copies of the software You will see both Full and Upgrade versions of the software and you should see versions of each for Windows Vista Home Basic Home Premium Business and Ultimate Here are the differences between the versions Full version A full version of Windows Vista see Figure 1 2 can be used to perform a clean install of Windows Vista only It cannot be used to upgrade an existing version of Windows to Windows Vista Full versions of Windows Vista are more expensive than Upgrade versions Upgrade version An upgrade version of Windows Vista can be used to per form a clean install of Windows Vista or upgrade an existing version of Windows to Windows Vista Upgrade versions of Windows Vista are less expensive than Full versions because you must be an existing Windows customer to qualify for Upgrade pricing The Upgrade packaging for Windows Vista Home Premium is shown in Figure 1 3 50 Part I Surviving Setup oe Figure 1 2 The retail packaging for Windows Vista includes a cool pull out case 7 MOPU Figure 1 3 Note the prominent sticker on the Upgrade packaging e Chapter 1 Selecting the Right Vista Version 51 Make sure you re getting the lat
8. Media Features Home Home Basic Premium Business Enterprise Ultimate Windows Photo Gallery Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Themed photo slide shows Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Windows Media Player 11 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Windows Media Center Yes Yes Windows Media Center Yes Yes HDTV and CableCard support Xbox 360 Media Center Yes Yes Extender compatibility Windows Movie Maker Yes Yes Yes Windows Movie Maker HD Yes Yes format support Windows DVD Maker Yes Yes Table 1 8 Networking Features Home Home Basic Premium Business Enterprise Ultimate Network and Sharing Center Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Improved wireless Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes networking Improved power Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes management Number of supported 5 10 10 10 10 simultaneous peer network connections Windows Meeting Space View only Yes Yes Yes Yes Improved file and folder Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes sharing Network Projector support Yes Yes Yes Yes Presentation settings Yes Yes Yes Yes Remote Desktop Client only Client only Yes Yes Yes continues Chapter 1 Selecting the Right Vista Version Table 1 8 continued 43 Home Home Basic Premium Business Enterprise Ultimate Join domain Windows Yes Yes Yes Server SBS Offline files and folder Yes Yes Yes support IIS Web Server Yes Yes Yes Table 1 9 Mobility Features Home Home Basic Premium Business Enterprise Ultimate Windo
9. Part I Surviving Setup Chapter 1 Selecting the Right Vista Version Chapter 2 Installing or Upgrading to Windows Vista Chapter 3 Hardware and Software Compatibility Selecting the Right Vista Version LAR E SE SE SE SE SE SE SE SE SE JE SE SE SE E E i In This Chapter Basic differences between the Vista versions Which Vista versions you can safely avoid Differences between the 32 bit and 64 bit versions of Vista Determining the best Vista version for you Choosing between the home and business editions Choosing between Home Basic and Home Premium Choosing between Vista Business and Vista Enterprise Features available in all Vista versions Choosing Vista Ultimate LAR 2 SE SE SE SE SE SE SE SE SE E SE SE S E e g 34 Part I Surviving Setup oe I you haven t purchased Vista yet or you d like to know whether or not it s worth upgrading to a more capable version of Vista this chapter is for you A step by step pro cedure leads you through the ins and outs of selecting the right version of Vista for you An Overview of All the Vista Versions Back in 2001 life was easy Microsoft released Windows XP in just two product editions Windows XP Home Edition and Windows XP Professional Edition The difference between the products was fairly obvious and with its enhanced feature set XP Pro was the more expensive version as one might expect Over time however Microsoft muddied the waters with a wealth of new XP product ed
10. Vista If you are running Windows 2000 or any mainstream desktop version of Windows XP including Windows XP Home Edition Professional Edition Media Center Edition any version Tablet PC Edition any version or XP Professional x64 Edition you qualify for an Upgrade version of Windows Vista That said there are some limitations depending on which Windows version you are run ning Windows 2000 and Windows XP x64 users cannot upgrade to any Windows Vista version in place These users will instead need to perform a clean install That is they qualify for Upgrade pricing only 52 Part I Surviving Setup oe Those Who Do Qualify for an Upgrade Version of Windows Vista and an In Place Upgrade Sometimes If you re running any version of Windows XP except for x64 and you want to upgrade in place to Windows Vista you can do so in some cases The trick is understanding how dif ferent versions of Windows XP map to different versions of Windows Vista For example Microsoft will not let you upgrade from Windows XP Professional to Windows Vista Home Basic Table 1 13 clarifies the in place upgrade possibilities Table 1 13 Which Versions of XP Can Upgrade In Place to Which Versions of Windows Vista Windows Version Vista Home Vista Home Vista Vista Basic N Premium Business N Ultimate Windows XP Home Yes Yes Yes Yes Edition Windows XP Profes Yes Yes sional Edition Windows XP Media Yes Yes Center Edition
11. Windows Vista online However you can t purchase Upgrade OEM software because OEM versions are aimed only at new PC installs Chapter 1 Selecting the Right Vista Version 55 Table 1 15 U S List Prices for Different Vista OEM Product Editions Windows Vista Home Basic Windows Vista Home Basic Full 90 99 Windows Vista Home Premium Windows Vista Home Premium Full 99 99 Windows Vista Business Windows Vista Business Full 139 99 Windows Vista Ultimate Windows Vista Ultimate Full 169 99 Depending on which version you re looking at the savings are usually substantial All of the OEM products which are Full versions are less expensive than the Upgrade retail versions of Vista That said OEM products cannot be used to upgrade an existing PC They re for new installs only Secret OEM versions of Windows Vista are sometimes sold in multi OS packs For exam ple you can purchase a three pack of Windows Vista Ultimate if you d like Windows Anytime Upgrade Unlike previous versions of Windows Vista provides an integrated capability to upgrade from a less powerful version to a more capable version at any time You simply run the Windows Anytime Upgrade applet select a source from which to purchase an upgrade license and your PC is quickly enhanced with the more powerful version you ve selected Because of the way in which the Vista product line is designed however Windows Anytime Upgrade is available only
12. Windows XP Tablet Yes Yes PC Edition People with older Windows versions 9x Me NT do not qualify for upgrade pricing but Windows 2000 and XP x64 users do qualify for upgrade pricing they just can t do an in place upgrade Instead they need to use an Upgrade version of Vista to perform a clean install of the product Confused Your decision regarding which version to purchase is also influenced by the cost differ ence of the more capable versions In Table 1 14 you can see the current U S list prices for the different Vista versions Pricing in countries other than the United States varies but should roughly adhere to what is shown in Table 1 14 Microsoft has already lowered the prices on certain Vista product editions once since the product became widely avail able so you never know this could change again Table 1 14 U S List Prices for Different Vista Product Editions Windows Vista Home Basic Windows Vista Home Basic Full 199 00 Windows Vista Home Basic Upgrade 99 95 Windows Vista Home Premium Windows Vista Home Premium Full 239 00 Windows Vista Home Premium Upgrade 129 00 continues Chapter 1 Selecting the Right Vista Version 53 Table 1 14 continued Windows Vista Business Windows Vista Business Full 299 00 Windows Vista Business Upgrade 199 00 Windows Vista Ultimate Windows Vista Ultimate Full 349 00 Windows Vista Ultimate Upgrade 219 00 Adding to the complexity he
13. a Ultimate x64 Windows Vista Ultimate PRODUCT RED Sold only through Dell on select machines o o oo ooo HT HT HF HF HF ooo H 36 Part I Surviving Setup oe Microsoft originally planned an Itanium version of Windows Vista which would run on high end workstations However the company canceled this project dur ing the beta process due to a lack of customer interest Thus the mainstream PC platform of the future is now secure It will be 64 bits and it will be x64 not Itanium t Notice anything else missing in that product lineup That s right There s no Embedded iR version of Windows Vista Yet Confusingly you also have to choose how you ll acquire Windows Vista In addition to the most typical method simply getting it with a new PC you can purchase retail boxed copies of Windows Vista and other not quite retail versions of the software It s confusing but then that s why you re reading this chapter no Here s my advice Don t get bogged down in semantics or complicated counting exercises With a little bit of knowledge about how these product editions break down and are sold you can whittle the list down quite a bit very easily Then you can evaluate which features are available in which editions and choose the one that s right for you based on your needs Understanding the Differences and Choosing the Right Version The first step is to understand the differences between each Vista product edition Th
14. ed to enhance competition in the market for media players such as the downloadable RealPlayer application However because Microsoft sells its N versions for the same price as its full featured Windows versions demand for the N versions never materialized Until there s a big price difference consumers will continue to treat N as not interested Ditto for the K versions You re Not the Enterprise Windows Vista Enterprise is a special version of Windows Vista aimed at Microsoft s largest corporate customers As such it is very much like Windows Vista Business but with two main differences One it s available only through a corporate volume licensing subscription program Two it includes special licensing terms that allow you to run up to four more copies of the OS under a virtual machine on the same PC Because of the unique way in which you must acquire this version chances are good you won t be hunt ing around for Windows Vista Enterprise That said if you do get a PC from work with Windows Vista Enterprise on it you re pretty much running a slightly souped up version of Windows Vista Business 38 Part I Surviving Setup oe 64 Bit Versions of Windows Vista The differences between 32 bit x86 versions of Windows Vista and 64 bit x64 versions are more complex But here s the weird bit Though virtually every single PC sold today is x64 compatible virtually every single copy of Windows Vista that goes out the door on those ne
15. en you need to understand the various ways in which you can acquire Windows Vista either as a standalone product or as an upgrade to an existing version of Windows including confusingly Windows Vista itself Finally you can weigh the various trade offs of each option features price and so on and choose accordingly Step 1 Whittling Down the Product Editions List I was really just having some fun at Microsoft s expense in the previous section it s pos sible to categorize the Windows Vista product editions into four basic flavors To do so you need to temporarily forget about the differences between 32 bit versions and 64 bit versions don t worry I ll get to that and just skip over the versions that aren t relevant Once you do this the following list emerges Windows Vista Home Basic Windows Vista Home Premium Windows Vista Business Windows Vista Ultimate t Chapter 1 Selecting the Right Vista Version 37 This is a much more manageable list but how did I arrive at it After all there were 18 product editions in the original list It s time to take one more look hopefully for the last time at all those missing options Windows Vista Starter You don t need or want Windows Vista Starter It s that simple Windows Vista Starter is limited to 32 bit processors supports only the basic Vista user interface and addresses a limited amount of RAM It s designed only as a loss leader to get Windows pricing down to a leve
16. est version of Windows Vista when you purchase Secret at retail At the time of this writing that means a version that includes Service Pack 1 but expect Microsoft to update its Vista retail packaging at least a few more times over the years That s the rub Understanding how you qualify for an Upgrade version of Windows Vista can be somewhat confusing and even then it s not very clear when you can perform an in place upgrade over an existing Windows version Here are some guidelines Those Who Don t Qualify for an Upgrade Version of Windows Vista If you are currently running any MS DOS based version of Windows including Windows 95 Windows 98 Windows 98 Second Edition or Windows Millennium Edition Me or any version of Windows NT 3 x and 4 0 you don t qualify for any Upgrade version of Windows Vista That means you need to grab a more expensive Full version instead Because the Full versions of Windows Vista cannot be used to perform an in place upgrade to Windows Vista you need to back up all your documents and other data and your application settings and find all your application install disks or executables so you can reinstall them after Vista is up and running Looking for an easy way to back up documents settings and other data and then Secret restore it on Windows Vista Good news Windows Vista includes a tool for this purpose called Windows Easy Transfer Those Who Do Qualify for an Upgrade Version of Windows
17. ical consumers should stay away from x64 versions of Windows for the lifetime of Windows Vista There will be niggling hardware and software compatibility issues on Vista x64 because Microsoft requires hardware vendors to ship different drivers for the 32 bit x86 and 64 bit x64 versions of Vista Guess which one is easier Though hardware and software compatibility has already improved dramatically since Vista first shipped typical users will be frustrated by the one or two incompatible applications or devices that are likely to appear It s just not worth it Not yet Put another way if you have to ask that is if you re unsure whether you should be using Vista x64 then the answer is still the same You shouldn t be running Vista x64 That said Vista x64 is considerably more viable than it was when Vista first appeared and it s moving quickly into the mainstream though it s not quite there yet Maybe by the next version of Windows For the coming year gamers digital content creators CAD CAM workers science and engineering users and other power users who run into the 4GB ceiling in 32 bit versions of Windows are ideal candidates for Vista x64 These types of users understand the risks and limitations of the x64 platform and don t need my advice anyway Enjoy the headroom Contrary to the conventional wisdom 64 bit software isn t magically faster than 32 bit software That said 64 bit PCs running a 64 bit version of Windows Vista
18. ideration here price For example while Windows Vista Ultimate may seem like a best of both worlds product it also comes with premium pricing Later in this chapter l Il describe the various ways in which you can purchase Windows Vista and the cost of each version tip Choosing between Home Basic and Home Premium Table 1 11 shows some of the features that differ between the Basic and Premium versions of Vista for home users If you ve decided that a Home version of Vista is all you need Table 1 11 will help you decide which of the two available versions will best suit you Note that Windows Vista Ultimate also supports all of Vista s Home features Home Basic Choose this if you don t need Media Center capabilities the capabil ity to burn DVDs or any of the other features that come with Home Premium Home Premium Choose this if you have a Tablet PC actually itis hard to buy a Tablet PC that doesn t have at least Vista Premium installed on it or if you want the more extensive multimedia features of the Premium version Table 1 11 Comparing Vista Home Basic and Home Premium Home Basic Home Premium Parental Controls Yes Yes Windows Movie Maker Yes Yes Themed slide shows Yes Windows Media Center Yes Windows Media Center high definition TV Yes Windows Media Center CableCard support Yes continues 46 Part I Surviving Setup gt Table 1 11 continued Home Basic Home Premium Su
19. in three Vista product editions Windows Vista Home Basic can be upgraded to Windows Vista Home Premium or Ultimate via Windows Anytime Upgrade Windows Vista Home Premium can be upgraded to Windows Vista Ultimate via Windows Anytime Upgrade Windows Vista Business can be upgraded to Windows Vista Ultimate via Windows Anytime Upgrade Windows Anytime Upgrade is shown in Figure 1 5 56 Part I Surviving Setup oe DE Owe g System and Maintenance Windows Anytime Upgrade p Search P File Edit View Tools Help m Windows Anytime Upgrade Your operating system is A convenient and affordable way to upgrade Windows Windows Vista Home Premium You can learn more about editions of Windows Vista or you can upgrade immediately What do you want to do gt Compare the editions of Windows Vista i i A feature list that shows which features are available in different editions of Figure 1 5 Windows Anytime Upgrade enables you to upgrade from certain Vista versions to other more powerful versions Note that you cannot upgrade Vista Home Basic or Premium to Windows Vista Business or Enterprise Likewise there s no upgrade path from Vista Enterprise to Vista Ultimate Purchasing a more capable version of Vista Upgrade version at retail and installing it over a lesser version is the only way to migrate in these cases Windows Anytime Upgrade is described in more detail in the next chapter
20. ing including most importantly a flat 64 bit memory address space that obliterates the 4GB memory ceiling in the 32 bit world For the purposes of this book when refer to 64 bit computing mean x64 You may occasionally hear Vista s versions referred to as SKUs a term that stands for stock keeping units typically use the more common terms product edition version and product version throughout this book instead What follows is a review of the major Windows XP versions that Microsoft shipped between 2001 and 2006 In a moment I ll compare these products with their corresponding Vista versions Windows XP Starter Edition less developed countries only Windows XP Embedded sold in embedded devices only t Chapter 1 Selecting the Right Vista Version 35 Windows XP Home Edition Windows XP Home Edition N European Union only Windows XP Media Center Edition Windows XP Tablet Edition Windows XP Professional Edition Windows XP Professional Edition N European Union only Windows XP Professional Edition K South Korea only Windows XP Professional x64 Edition Windows XP for Itanium based Systems o o o o o O All Windows XP product versions except Windows XP Professional x64 Edition were available only in 32 bit versions For Windows Vista Microsoft surveyed the market and came away with two observations First an experiment bifurcating the Microsoft Office product line into multiple product edi
21. itions Three major product editions were added Windows XP Media Center Edition which received three major releases and one minor update between 2002 and 2005 Windows XP Tablet PC Edition which received two major releases between 2002 and 2005 and Windows XP Professional x64 Edition which took most of XP Pro s feature set and brought it to the x64 hardware platform Other XP versions such as XP Embedded and XP Starter Edition can t really be considered mainstream products because they target specific usage scenarios and aren t broadly available to consumers Most PCs sold over the past decade are 32 bit computers based on Intel s x86 platform While the industry was widely expected to make the jump to 64 bit Secret computing at some point that leap has come from an unexpected place Intel s tip tiny competitor AMD developed the so called x64 platform which is essen tially a 64 bit version of the aging x86 platform x64 based PCs are completely compatible with x86 software and though all PCs sold today are in fact x64 compatible most PC operating systems including Windows Vista are sold in 32 bit versions for compatibility reasons Even Intel is on board Though the x64 platform was created by AMD all of Intel s PC oriented microprocessors are now x64 compatible as well Though not as technically elegant as so called native 64 bit platforms such as the Itanium x64 does provide all of the benefits of true 64 bit comput
22. l that s competitive in less developed countries where it can compete against low cost PCs running the open source Linux operating system More important perhaps Vista Starter is available only in a limited number of regions and cannot be purchased at retail so it s a non starter I m here all week folks for any mainstream or enthusiast Windows user Unless you re buying a PC in one of the few countries in which you can acquire Windows Vista Starter you probably won t hear much more about this product and if you are buy ing such a PC your computing needs are pretty basic so it s unlikely that you re ready for this book just yet The K and N Editions Aren t for You Either Whatever Vista versions are being offered in Korea with a K moniker or in Europe with an N moniker they re designed to satisfy the antitrust regulations and rulings in those locales and you should ignore them also because these versions are more limited than the non K and non N Windows Vista versions sold in South Korea and the European Union EU respectively In addition they don t cost any less so there s no reason to even consider them even if you do live in these areas Consider the N editions of Windows Vista which are sold only in EU markets These products came about because of a 2004 EU ruling that required Microsoft to offer versions of Windows without the Windows Media Player included The requirement for a separate version of Windows was intend
23. n of Windows Vista on the same system you would have access to the entire 4GB of RAM 64 bit Vista versions have dramatically improved memory capacity as noted in the preceding tables Regarding that 128GB address space on Windows Vista Business Enterprise and Ultimate it s a moving target and could in fact go up in the years ahead When Secret Microsoft first shipped Windows Vista a PC with 128GB was almost science fic tion It still is today frankly but as PC and workstation makers make ever more powerful machines it s possible that one will eventually cross the 128GB of RAM barrier during Windows Vista s lifetime If that happens Microsoft will evaluate increasing the memory limit in x64 versions of Vista Business Enterprise and Ultimate With the exception of the Remote Desktop and Mobility Center features for portable PCs both of which are limited in the Home versions most of the features of Windows Vista are the same in all versions The home oriented versions of Vista are more limited than the business versions in some ways but they also include some unique multimedia functionality that s not available to Vista Business and Enterprise users If the restrictions of a given version prevent you from using a feature you need in a more capable version it s easy to upgrade Vista s Home and Business versions to Vista Ultimate To do so you can use the built in Windows Anytime Upgrade applet described later in this cha
24. pport for Media Center Extenders including Xbox 360 Yes Windows DVD Maker Yes Windows Aero user interface Yes Windows Tablet PC with touch screen support Yes Windows SideShow Yes Windows Movie Maker HD Yes Backup of user files to a network device Yes Scheduled backup of user files Yes Network Projection Yes Presentation settings Yes New premium games Yes Windows Meeting Space View only Yes Choosing between Vista Business and Enterprise Table 1 12 shows the features present in the Business and Enterprise versions of Vista but not the Home versions and the few features Enterprise has that Business doesn t Note that Windows Vista Ultimate also supports all of Vista s business features Both the Business and Enterprise versions unlike the Home versions support domain networking This enables users to log on to a network server using Microsoft s Active Directory AD technology and share centrally managed resources Enterprise supports a few additional features that might be crucial for your busi ness For example BitLocker Drive Encryption enables you to securely encrypt files and folders You can require users to have a physical token to decrypt and access these resources protecting them from view if a PC is stolen or otherwise used by an unauthorized person Table 1 12 Comparing Vista Business and Vista Enterprise Business Enterprise Support for processors in two sockets Yes
25. pter and in Chapter 2 Step 3 Making the Right Product Edition Choice Armed with the information in the preceding tables you can think of Windows Vista as being divided into three basic product types There are the consumer or home oriented versions such as Windows Vista Home Basic and Home Premium These products tend to include interesting digital Chapter 1 Selecting the Right Vista Version 45 media functionality but not some of the more technically advanced reliability features such as system image backup and recovery EFS support and domain support The business oriented versions of Windows Vista including Windows Vista Business and Enterprise include all of the business reliability and security fea tures but are light in the digital media arena e g there s no Media Center DVD Maker Movie Maker or so forth On the high end there s Windows Vista Ultimate which very neatly combines all of the consumer oriented features from Windows Vista Home Premium with all of the business and reliability benefits of Windows Vista Enterprise Windows Vista Ultimate is quite literally a superset of all the other Vista product editions In any event your options roughly break down between the consumer business and uber versions of Vista so you need to decide into which category you fall and then choose accordingly The next sections help you break down these choices Obviously there is one other critical cons
26. re is that all retail versions of Windows Vista except Secret for Windows Vista Ultimate are available only in 32 bit versions If you want a 64 bit version of Windows Vista Home Basic Home Premium or Business you can purchase the 32 bit version and then mail away for a 64 bit install disk Windows Vista Ultimate includes both 32 bit and 64 bit installation disks OEM Versions One of the biggest secrets in the software world is that Microsoft s operating systems are available from online retailers in special OEM versions which come in just the Full SKU that are aimed at the PC builder market These are the small mom and pop type PC makers who build handcrafted machines for local markets OEM packaging can be seen in Figure 1 4 If you re buying a retail copy of Vista and you already own a previous version of Windows such as XP don t buy a full version of Vista Find out what Microsoft s Secret current requirements are to qualify for an upgrade version which is much cheaper To successfully load an upgrade version you usually must be installing onto a machine that has the old version installed or you must have the old ver sion on a CD which you insert briefly during the installation of the new OS as proof Note however that you can in fact use an Upgrade version of Windows Vista to perform a clean install you ll learn how in the next chapter 54 Part I Surviving Setup oe ny Windows Vista Home Premium Figure 1
27. s Yes 64 bit processor support Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Maximum RAM 4GB 4GB 4GB 4GB 4GB 32 bit version Maximum RAM 8GB 16GB 128 GB 128 GB 128 GB 64 bit version Physical processor support 1 1 2 2 2 Processor core support Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited Unlimited Table 1 4 Reliability Features Home Home Basic Premium Business Enterprise Ultimate Manual file backup and Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes recovery continues Table 1 4 continued Chapter 1 Selecting the Right Vista Version 41 Home Home Basic Premium Business Enterprise Ultimate Automatic backup Yes but Yes Yes Yes Yes not to a network location Shadow Copies Yes Yes Yes System image backup and Yes Yes Yes recovery Encrypting File System EFS Yes Yes Yes Windows BitLocker Full Yes Yes Drive Encryption Windows SuperFetch Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Automatic hard disk defrag Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes mentation Table 1 5 Internet Features Home Home Basic Premium Business Enterprise Ultimate Internet Explorer 7 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes RSS support Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Windows Mail Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Table 1 6 Bundled Applications Home Home Basic Premium Business Enterprise Ultimate Windows Calendar Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Windows Contacts Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Windows Sidebar Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Games Explorer Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Premium games Yes Yes Yes Yes 42 Part I Surviving Setup oe Table 1 7 Digital
28. time to evaluate them and understand which features are available in each product edition There are various ways to present this kind of information but tables logically divided by category are easy on the eyes and mind Tables 1 1 through 1 10 list the five main Windows Vista product editions from which you can choose and indicate which features are included with each Table 1 1 User Interface Features Home Home Basic Premium Business Enterprise Ultimate Windows Vista Basic Ul Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Windows Aero UI Glass Yes Yes Yes Yes Windows Flip Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Windows Flip 3D Yes Yes Yes Yes Live Taskbar thumbnails Yes Yes Yes Yes Instant search Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Live content organization in Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Explorer windows 40 Part I Surviving Setup oe Table 1 2 Security Features Home Home Basic Premium Business Enterprise Ultimate User Account Control Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes UAC Windows Security Center Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Windows Defender Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Windows Firewall Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Internet Explorer 7 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Protected Mode Phishing Filter IE7 and Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Windows Mail Windows Update can Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes access Microsoft Update Parental Controls Yes Yes Yes Table 1 3 Performance Features Home Home Basic Premium Business Enterprise Ultimate Windows ReadyDrive Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Windows ReadyBoost Yes Yes Yes Ye
29. tions had proven enormously successful for the company Second customers were willing to pay a bit more for premium product versions such as XP Media Center Edition that offered extra features Clearly Microsoft s experiences over the past few years led directly to the situation we have with Windows Vista The company has created six core Vista product editions two of which can be described as premium versions If you include the so called N and K editions for the European Union and South Korea respectively there are actually nine product editions If you count the 32 bit and x64 64 bit versions separately since they are in fact sold separately for the most part there are 17 product editions Add the PRODUCT RED version of Windows Vista Ultimate which is available only with select new PCs from Dell and you ve got 18 Here s the complete list Windows Vista Starter Windows Vista Home Basic Windows Vista Home Basic x64 Windows Vista Home Premium Windows Vista Home Premium N European Union only Windows Vista Home Premium x64 Windows Vista Home Premium N x64 European Union only Windows Vista Business Windows Vista Business K South Korea only Windows Vista Business N European Union only Windows Vista Business x64 Windows Vista Business K x64 South Korea only Windows Vista Business N x64 European Union only Windows Vista Enterprise Windows Vista Enterprise x64 Windows Vista Ultimate Windows Vist
30. ude a unique feature called Virtual PC Express However before Windows Vista was finalized Microsoft decided to make its entire Virtual PC product line which lets you run operating systems and applications in virtualized environments under a host OS available free Therefore now you can download Virtual PC without cost regardless of which version of Windows Vista you have There are even separate versions for Vista 32 bit and 64 bit x64 products See www microsoft com virtualpc Choosing Windows Vista Ultimate Windows Vista Ultimate combines all of the features available in all of the other Vista versions and does so at a premium price The only compelling reason to pay extra to get Vista Ultimate is if you absolutely must have two features one of which exists only in Home Premium such as Windows Media Center and the other of which can be obtained only in Business or Enterprise such as domain login Windows Vista Ultimate also includes a few unique features of its own the most promi nent of which is Windows Ultimate Extras a series of Windows Update based downloads that add new features and expand on existing Vista technologies To date Microsoft has made games animated desktops and various enterprise related features available only via Ultimate Extras Of course if cost is no object you might purchase Vista Ultimate just because you want everything Microsoft has to offer If so enjoy Purchasing Windows Vista There
31. w PCs is a 32 bit x86 version If you do manage to purchase a new PC with a 64 bit version of Windows Vista prein stalled and yes they are out there if you look hard enough that PC will come from the factory with all of the 64 bit hardware device drivers that are needed to support whatever add ons and peripherals ship with the machine Consumers who are building their own PCs or adding Windows Vista to an existing PC have an additional issue to consider that is outside of the basic capabilities discussion covered in this chapter Should you purchase a 64 bit version of Windows Vista After all 64 bit versions of Windows Vista can access far more RAM than 32 bit versions up to 128GB as of this writing compared to less than 4GB of RAM in 32 bit versions In addition 64 bit versions of Windows Vista are nominally more secure than 32 bit ver sions as discussed in Chapter 8 Does that mean that 64 bit versions of Windows Vista are better Not exactly Though 64 bit versions of Windows Vista are widely compatible with the hard ware and 32 bit software that Windows users have been using for years these products simply aren t as compatible as 32 bit versions of Windows Vista For very many people compatibility is the most important consideration when it comes to upgrading their PC because they want everything they ve been using to continue working Moreover few people need 4GB of RAM today let alone more than that Here s my advice Typ
32. ws Mobility Center Partial Partial Yes Yes Yes Sync Center Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Tablet PC functionality Yes Yes Yes Yes Touch screen support Yes Yes Yes Yes Windows SideShow auxil Yes Yes Yes Yes iary display support Table 1 10 Other Features Home Home Basic Premium Business Enterprise Ultimate Windows Anytime Upgrade Yes to Yes to Yes to Home Ultimate Ultimate Premium or Ultimate Windows Ultimate extras Yes Speech recognition support Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Accessibility settings and Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Ease of Access Center Windows Welcome Center Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes XPS document support Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Windows Fax and Scan Yes Yes Yes 44 Part I Surviving Setup One big feature you don t get with Windows Vista Home Basic is the beautiful Secret Windows Aero user interface described in detail later in the book If you want the absolute best graphical experience don t pick Home Basic That said you might be surprised that the default Windows Vista Home Basic UI called Windows Vista Standard is pretty decent You can find out more about this and other Vista Uls in Chapter 4 Though 32 bit versions of Windows Vista support 4GB of RAM they can access only about 3 1GB of RAM even when a full 4GB of RAM is installed in Secret the PC This is because of a limitation in the way that 32 bit versions of Windows handle memory access If you were to install an x64 versio
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