A few Vista Qs

Hi.

A few months ago i tried vista ultimate x86 on my laptop and, despite the fact that i only had 1 gb of ram it ran great. Now i'm thinking on migrating permanently, but i have a few Qs. System specs are in sig.

1. Will it badly affect battery life? I know that Aero and superfetch would drain more juice but can i set them to automatically turn off when on battery?

2. Are there known issues like big performance hits on games like Mass Effect, UT2004 or CS:S?

3. Will i get Sp1 automatically through windows updates?

4. Is the included firewall enough? On xp i've always used zone alarm, but with vista's enhanced security i think that won't be needed anymore.

5. Do nero 7 and avg 7 work?

 

1) toss it on power saver it would last longer than XP

2) You will see a hit but if you can live with a small hit then its fine (TURN TRANSPARENCY OFF FOR MINIMAL HIT)

3) It should, if not you can try standalone installer if you are comfortable

4) Do you mean an anti-virus or a firewall? Vista does have Windows Defender

5) It should, here is a guide to do so: http://www.nero.com/enu/support-nero7-tutorials-vista.html

 

Yes , but it would be very small .

Yes , You might see some FPS drop in Vista

Yes , You'll get it , if not then you can download the standalone SP1 installer .

Yes , if you're behind a Hardware Firewall then Built-in Firewall is sufficient ( Outbound Enabled) or else Try Comodo Firewall

 

Thanks for the help guys.

I don't have a hardware firewall. My laptop is directly connected to a cable modem. Will vista firewall be enough then?

And one more thing: will the laptop heat up alot more because of aero? I know it's using the gpu, but i don't think it's stressing it too much.

 

Usually in the reviews, laptops have better battery life when running Vista than when running XP on the same profile, specs, computer, etc. As for the firewall, I've just used Windows' default firewall for a year and a half with AVG, no problems.

 

OK, everything's installed and updated. But how do i know wheter sp1 is installed or not?

 

There are many ways

1. using winver : Type winver in run (Win+R)



2. Using System Properties ( Right Click My Computer and select Properties)

 

I'm running Vista Ultimate 64 Bit sp1. Nero 7 and AVG does indeed run, at least on my Laptop.........................

 

I've got my system set up so that when I switch to battery, my laptop automatically disables transparency in windows and stops my DreamScene desktop.
I can get about 4 hours of battery life if I stretch it.

 

You will probably want 2GB, but leave Aero and 'fetch alone.

IDK

If all your drivers are up to snuff, yes.

Vista firewall is good, but if you are used to being able to set program accesses (like you can in the paid versions of Zonealarm) you will be disappointed with the Vista firewall.

[/quote]
IDK

 

Could you please tell me how to do that? I put my battery in, disconnected AC and set the power plan to Power Saver, but aero remained on(and started to run badly due to GPU downclocking)

 

bump (10 char)

 

Anyone????