Save yourself the hassle of a Vista anytime upgrade
Windows Vista has had its fair share of problems, a good few of those have been solved though some still linger around. Microsoft is preparing to release Vista SP1 next month which has been known to solve some of the existing problems but has created new ones. The company also introduced a feature in Vista called the “anytime upgrade.”
Say you aren’t happy with the version of Vista your PC shipped with, well, you can purchase the anytime upgrade. The only people that really benefit from this are Vista Basic users but even then a PC that shipped with Vista Basic can’t run all of the features included in the better editions.
Most PCs ship with Vista (Home) Premium or Vista Business which can be upgraded to Vista Ultimate, your only choice with those operating systems. Some may think its worth the extra price to upgrade but it’s usually not. Premium, Business and Ultimate share so many features it can be hard to tell what you’re missing out on.
Premium and Ultimate have media center, business does not. Business and Ultimate have drive encryption and a built-in backup utility, Premium does not. All feature Aero glass with Premium and Ultimate having Xbox 360 networking abilities which is lacking in Business edition. That’s the short list, there are a few other things that most would never notice.
Let’s say for one reason or another you want to upgrade your Premium or Business copy of Vista to Ultimate. Great, fine if you’re just putting it overtop your existing installation but pray you never have to reinstall Vista.
Every IT professional will tell you to NEVER upgrade an existing XP installation to Vista and the best way to repair your operating system and solve issues that develop over time is to wipe your drive and reinstall it. All versions of Windows from 95 to Vista have/will require reinstallation at some point.
If you purchased the anytime upgrade, it becomes even more of a hassle to reinstall. According to InformationWeek the version of Vista that shipped with your computer must be installed first and then your upgrade must be installed over top of that. Doing otherwise will result in Vista failing “authentication.”
Performing a clean install with just your “upgrade” license is not possible. I’m only talking about what’s purchased through the Anytime Upgrade service, not with retail upgrade copies which can be used for a clean install, if done twice which is as bad if not worse.
Just buy the copy of Vista you’ll be happy with to start and avoid the anytime upgrade completely. The same applies when buying a computer with Vista preinstalled, order it with the version you want.
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