Use Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor

The first thing to do when thinking about upgrading one of your Windows XP PCs to Windows Vista is to evaluate your PC and its system components to ensure it can be upgraded. Although you can manually review and evaluate your PC against the requirements and recommendations for Vista, as discussed in the next sections, you can make the whole process easier by simply using the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor. The Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor is a blessing for beginners.
Tip
In addition to using the Upgrade Advisor when upgrading from Windows XP, you can also use it with Windows Vista to evaluate your system for an upgrade to a different flavor of Vista.
In addition to quickly showing any compatibility issues with your PC’s hardware or software, the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor also tries to come up with solutions to any found issues, and gives recommendations on which Vista version would work best with your system and for your computing needs. The Upgrade Advisor also lets you know if your system will support new, resource-hogging features, such as Vista’s Aero interface.
Tip
If you find that the location of the Upgrade Advisor has changed from the address given in step 1, you can visit the Microsoft Windows main website (www.microsoft.com/windows), browse to the Windows Vista section, and find a link to the Upgrade Advisor.
Let’s get started by downloading and installing the advisor:
1. Open your web browser and go to the following web page (see Figure 1.1):
Click the Download Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor link to download the program to your computer. The Download Details page will appear.
3. To begin the download, click the Download button.
4. On the File Download–Security Warning prompt, click Save
5. Browse to and select a location to place the file (Figure 1.3 shows the file being saved to the Desktop), and click Save.
6. After the download is completed, click Run (see Figure 1.4) to begin the installation of the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor. Microsoft Internet Explorer should display a warning dialog box, asking you to confirm that you want to run this software. Click Run.
7. The Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor Setup Wizard will appear. Click Next (see Figure 1.5).
Tip
To get the most out of the Upgrade Advisor, you should make sure all your devices, such as external drives, printers, and scanners, are plugged in and powered on before running the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor. This allows the Upgrade Advisor to provide feedback on the compatibility of these devices as well.
8. Complete the installation by following the directions given by the setup wizard.
After the installation is complete, you can run the advisor:

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