Vista: Whether to update it or Fresh Install?

A fresh instalation on full-formatted or brand new hard drive is the best insurance against potential problems (rule of thumb); leftover registry items and other orphaned legacy files can lurk in your system for months, only to cause unanticipated conflicts with a newly-installed program or driver at a later date. A fresh install is alwasy recommended. However, in my scenarion I had to maitain a dual-boot system between Leopard OS and Vista, nevertheless it is still better to install Vista on a newly formatted partition rather than as an overwrite or additional on an existing one.

Choosing an Edition

Windows Vista is not just one operating system. It is a collection of several editions, each designed for a specific function and user base. Complete side-by-side comparisons can be found on Microsoft's website, but for our purposes, the editions and major differences relevant to a DAW user are:

• Home Basic: 512 megabytes (MB) minimum required RAM; maximum 8 gigabytes (GB) RAM in 64-bit edition; Aero interface not supported.
• Home Premium: max. 16 GB RAM in 64-bit.
• Business: 128+ GB RAM support in 64-bit; Windows Complete PC Backup.
• Ultimate: 128+ GB RAM support in 64-bit; Windows Complete PC Backup; BitLocker drive encryption.
• Enterprise: 128+ GB RAM support in 64-bit; Windows Complete PC Backup; BitLocker drive encryption; simultaneous multi-language support.

While any of the editions will be sufficient for most DAW users, these difference may come into play when choosing an edition (especially the 64-bit editions).

Vista DAW System Requirements

All software should display minimum system requirements to give you an idea of what the application will consume. It!s important to realize that the minimum is never the recommended configuration for a DAW. Here are Vista's recommended requirements:

• 1 GHz processor (x64 if you are using a 64-bit edition of Vista)
• 1 GB RAM
• 40 GB hard drive with 15 GB free space
• Graphics card with support for DirectX 9, 32 bites/pixel, Pixel Shader 2.0, and a WDDM driver
• A DVD drive
• Internet access (for activation)
• Additional requirements for each edition of Vista can be found at www.microsoft.com/windows/products/ windowsvista/editions/systemrequirements.mspx
• Note that most DAW applications have minimum requirements that are higher than these.