Vista Impressions UAC Hassle or Godsend

Microsoft released Windows Vista to the general public at the end of January 2007. I first started using Vista back in May of 2007, I installed it on a home built tower with modest but new generation hardware. I installed the middle of the road Vista Home Premium. I’m using a core 2 duo 1.83 ghz Intel processor with 2 gigs of ram, and a ATI Raddeon 1950 video card with 512 mbs of video ram.

Installing Vista was far easier than I expected. it took no more than 20 minutes and it was done. Vista installs and then immediately goes out if connected to the Internet gets all necessary drivers and then it just works. It installs far easier than XP  does and the whole process was very  smooth.

People using Vista for the first time should take advantage of Vista’s ability to be used under a limited user account. Although multiple user accounts are nothing new, they become much more livable for the regular user in Vista. In XP installing a new program or changing major settings to the operating system required the user be logged in as an administrator. With Vista you are able to perform many functions, such as install drivers or new software as a limited user. UAC or user account control will prompt you for administrator  password and then allow you to install the program.

UAC itself has been an object of many complaints about Vista. While it is possible to totally disable the UAC, I feel that would be a mistake. Many of the mal-ware problems suffered by Windows XP users were enabled by the user being logged in as an administrator. UAC prompts the user when a program is being installed, or the system is being modified. This feature already saved me once, one morning when checking my email while half asleep, instead of deleting an email that was obviously spam I opened the email, immediately my screen darkened and UAC asked me for the administrators password, requesting permission to install some piece of software. I woke up at that point, unplugged my Ethernet and ran my spyware and virus scans. Fortunately I didn’t suffer any ill effects from this attack but I am convinced that UAC is a worthwhile improvement in Windows Vista.

There are many other features in Vista that seem small by themselves but in total add up to a very nice experience. Although many corporate users still feel that XP serves their needs and IT departments within  may not want to invest in a large scale upgrade to Vista computers. Home users should feel comfortable upgrading to Vista when the time to upgrade your hardware arrives.

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