Checked it out Windows Vista Home Premium

Windows Vista, Home premium, I have checked it out over the past two months.

According to the geeks, it is no good and has all kinds of problems, with the stark warning, keep away until the service pack upgrade in the new year.

Well, my experience, as a Computer user, doesn't support that view. It is easy to use, easy to set up and easy to manage.

One of the complaints about Vista, is the processing capacity required by the computer to run Vista. Sure, an old computer is going to struggle, but on a relatively robust 6 - 12 month old system, it really is no big deal. The PC I have been running it on, has 512mb Ram and a processor speed of 2ghz, the dashboard tells me, I can't watchTV on my monitor using Vista comfortably. Hey strangely enough, my world isn't going to end, as I have a TV.

The operating system throttles back to accommodate the computer being used, which is ideal for someone who doesn't want, or know how, to tweak their PC.

The widgets available for the system home page, are a bit gimmicky for my use, but if you want rss feeds, weather and a host of other applications on your screen when you start up, Vista has it.

The ability to tile windows in a 3d style format is a cool application, which I happen to like.

One bug bear when you first get Vista, is the security settings are so high, you almost need to confirm you really want the computer switched on. But that is easy to change, like the security settings on a browser.

I guess the technicians don't like Vista, because it enables the user to do much of what they used to pay technicians to do.

One pain, is compatibility. There are many applications which are not Vista compatible, which will undoubtedly change as the system becomes more widespread.

In my view, for the average home user, small business application, it is a better, more stable product that XP.

Marks

Ease of use 4 stars, easy to manage and set up, does need tweaking when you first start
Stability 5 stars, not had a crash
Speed of start up 4 stars, as slow or quick as XP
Gimmicks 4 stars, if you like them it is full of widgets

Overall 4 stars, it is a Microsoft product, which you can view as either a good or bad thing.

Make sure you keep coming back to see what else is blogged in checked it out.

Checked it out freewebs

Having used Freewebs for a couple of months I can safely say, I have checked it out.

Freewebs, is a great site for blogging, as it provides many gadgets and widgets which can be added to a site, from videos, images, through shopping, to fun ideas. Freewebs, offers a free blogging service, which really comes with all many people will need for a blog, but there are also premium services available.

Although I was impressed with the site I have always found the statistics on visitors to be useless. It is nigh on impossible, with a free account to add one of the proprietary trackers and I therefore didn't use the service to anything like it's full potential.

That now is all behind us, as freewebs have just added a tracking system to the blog.

While blogger, remains a perennial favourite for new blogs, freewebs is fast on the tail, with it's comprehensive widgets and tools. Well worth having a look.

My own site over there is pretty basic, but will give you some idea.

Visit My Website

Ease of use 4 stars, easy enough, but a lot to learn
Personalisation 3 stars, a free account is a little limited with the templates

I will certainly be staying with freewebs and expect to use it more frequently, now the stats issue has been resolved