10 things to know before upgrading to Vista

Windows Vista has officially launched the business user object and there have been many considerations and plans to upgrade to this new operating system version.

However, upgrading to a new operating system version such as Windows Vista is not an easy task for businesses. Therefore, experts suggest that the following factors should be considered when you decide to upgrade.

1. Hardware ready?

To be able to install Vista, your system must be equipped with powerful hardware. The minimum hardware configuration to be able to install Vista has also doubled the configuration suggested for installing previous versions of Windows. So before you decide to plan an upgrade to Vista you should check the recommended Microsoft Vista installation hardware configuration and the existing PC configuration in your unit.

There are two hardware systems currently labeled " Vista Capable " and " Vista Premium Ready ". The difference between these two hardware systems is that " Vista Capable " meets the minimum requirements for Vista installation and " Vista Premium Ready " allows you to install the Vista Premium version with all the features and interfaces. Best graphics. Usually " Vista Capable " configuration is as follows: 1GHz or more processor chip, 1GB RAM, high-end discrete graphics card .

2. Which version of Vista is used?

Choosing an appropriate version of Windows XP is a relatively simple thing. But this problem has become quite complicated when faced with Vista. Windows Vista has five different versions, including: Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, Enterprise and Ultimate.

The Home Edition version cannot be used in an enterprise environment so any of the 3 versions of Business, Enterpries or Ultimate is suitable for enterprise IT environments.

Vista Business Edtion can compare the equivalent of Windows XP Pro. Meanwhile, Vista Enterpries Edition adds some more advanced features such as BitLocker Drive Encryption, SUA, multilingual support . Vista Ultimate is fully equipped with the features that Microsoft claims will have in Vista.

3. Find out the licensing system for using Vista

The Vista Enterpries Edition is the only version for customers who have signed a Software Assurance or Enterpries Agreement with Microsoft. Small businesses may prefer Microsoft's Windows Anytime Upgrade program because it allows customers to upgrade some versions of Vista to a higher version of Vista - for example, from the Home Basic version to the Home version. Premium or Business to Ultimate.

4. Check the compatibility of application software

New applications are important, not operating systems. So if you have an upgrade to Vista you must make sure that all your everyday application software is compatible and works well on Vista. Microsoft has provided the Application Compatibility Toolkit, which allows users to check the compatibility of applications. The most important thing is that you have to make sure that all of your application's critical software applications work best with Vista.

5. Check the network infrastructure

This is a really unnecessary problem, but when you upgrade to Vista, you have already started migrating to IPv6 because the new operating system version better supports this network procedure. Switching to IPv6 does not mean increasing security, but new network procedures allow users to integrate better video / audio applications.

6. Who needs, who doesn't need Vista?

One thing is certain: you do not need and should not upgrade all the PCs in your unit to Vista because someone needs someone. So, it is best to do an investigation to assess which objects in your unit need new features of Vista and which objects do not. For example, those who do spreadsheet or text processing work probably don't need it.

7. User is ready?

You can't ignore the human factor in evaluating an upgrade plan to Vista because people here will be the ones who directly enjoy the fruits of your plan. You must make sure the object will be using the new version of the operating system that is ready to use Vista fluently. Or you must conduct training on how to use the new operating system for the objects in your unit.

8. Are technical staff ready?

Speaking of people, there are not only direct users but also your technical team. You must ensure that their technical support team understands and can answer any help requests from users. Or you have to consider temporarily adding a temporary support staff during the upgrade process.

9. Is the data safe?

In order to make the upgrade process smooth and successful, it is best to secure all data of the unit by backing up the data to a safe location. Not only will you back up your data, but you should also check your data recovery method to make sure that if you lose your data, it will completely restore your data.

10. Upgrade costs?

After considering all of the above factors, you can start to estimate the cost to upgrade to Vista. This will be a factor that greatly influences your decision to upgrade to Vista. Whether the benefits that Vista brings are worth the cost you have to buy copyrights, hardware upgrades, application modifications, network infrastructure upgrades .

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