In this issue:

• Upgrading To Windows Vista
• Microsoft Security Bulletin
• Recent Support BBS Postings
• Administrivia

Upgrading To Windows Vista

by Arie Slob

Hello Windows users,

When you want to upgrade your current operating system to Windows Vista, there are several things that you have to consider.

First you need to know that if you plan to upgrade from within a current running version of Windows (Microsoft calls this an 'in place' upgrade), this might not always be possible, depending on which current Windows version you are running, and to which Windows Vista version you want to upgrade.

Below is a listing outlining the upgrade options for various Windows Vista editions.

Current OS	Home Basic	Home Premium	Business	Ultimate
Windows XP Professional
Windows XP Professional x64
Windows XP Home
Windows XP Media Center
Windows XP Tablet PC
Windows 2000

While all Windows versions listed above are eligible for the Windows Vista upgrade version, only the Windows Vista versions represented by the green check-mark can be used for an in-place upgrade, the others will need a 'clean install'*) instead.

*) Microsoft's notion of a clean install in this case is running the Vista upgrade from within the previous OS. But instead of upgrading your previous OS, what you basically end up with is a parallel install, whereby your old Windows version will be renamed to Windows.old (Figure).

Clean Install?

With previous versions of Windows, Microsoft always made it easy to do a clean install with the 'upgrade' version: You just started running the installation from the upgrade CD, and the installation routine would ask you to 'insert proof of your current Windows version', at which point you inserted your previous Windows version's CD. After that the upgrade would happily continue.

Not so with Windows Vista! Microsoft has removed the 'compliance check' from Vista's upgrade routine. When asked about it, a Microsoft representative told me that this was done because compliance checking was so easy to beat in Windows XP, so it was decided to skip it and just limit the use of the upgrade key to installing from within a running OS.

Now, as most of us know, this does not constitute a clean install. Not only will the Windows version from which you are upgrading be renamed to Windows.old and stay on your hard drive (quite easy to remove), but there will also be remnants in the "Program Files" folder, which would be hard to remove for the average user.

And the funny part of this new Microsoft policy? You can do a clean install with Windows Vista using a 'work around' that is being touted on various Web sites. It's a bit of a PITA, but here it goes:

• Start installing Windows Vista on a cleanly formatted hard disk by booting your system off the Vista DVD. You can also format the drive from within the Vista setup routine (Figure).
• When setup prompts you for your product key, don't enter it. Also uncheck the option Automatically activate Windows when I'm online (Figure).
• Next setup will prompt you to choose your Vista edition that you purchased. Select the correct version, check the option I have selected the edition of Windows that I purchased and you can continue (Figure).
• When Vista is installed and running, do not activate it. Your activation at this point would fail, because you have not done an upgrade. Now, with Vista running, re-insert the Vista upgrade DVD, and run setup again. This time do enter your product key. Also, select the 'Upgrade' option when asked. Let setup 'upgrade' your current Windows version, and when completed you'll have a 'clean' install using the Windows Vista upgrade version.