Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3229 in Software
• Brand: Microsoft
• Released on: 2007-01-30
• Platform: Windows Vista
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .0" h x .0" w x .0" l, .66 pounds

Features

• Windows Vista Home Basic EN, DVD

Manufacturer's Description:

Windows Vista Home Basic offers search and organize innovations as well as improved networking opportunities. Vista Home Basic is the edition of Windows Vista for users with the most basic computing needs. The features in this user-friendly software also form the foundation of all of the other editions of Windows Vista, including Windows Vista Home Premium and Windows Vista Ultimate.

Breakthrough Windows Vista Experience Designed to help you feel confident in your ability to view, find, and organize information and to control your computing experience, all editions of Windows Vista introduce a breakthrough user experience. The visual sophistication of Vista helps streamline your computing experience by refining common window elements so you can better focus on the content on the screen rather than on how to access it. The desktop experience is more informative, intuitive, and helpful. And new tools bring better clarity to the information on your computer, so you can see what your files contain without opening them, find applications and files instantly, navigate efficiently among open windows, and use wizards and dialog boxes more confidently. Secure and Effective Vista Home Basic helps people use their PCs securely and reliably, makes it simple to stay better connected, and, like all of the editions of Windows Vista, is compatible with the widest range of software, devices, and services that people use and trust every day. For those who simply want to use their PC to surf the Internet, correspond with friends and family using email, or perform basic document creation and editing tasks, Vista Home Basic delivers a safer, more reliable, and more effective computing environment. More Productivity Vista Home Basic helps encourage better personal productivity while providing digital entertainment on your PC through its improved reliability, security, and performance. It also helps you to accomplish tasks faster, with a rich new interface and innovative ways to organize and find the information stored on your PC. Safer and More Reliable Specifically designed to be the safest operating system Microsoft has ever delivered, Vista Home Basic frees you from worry about the safety and security of your time on the computer. In fact, every edition of Windows Vista, including Vista Home Basic, provides the essential tools and technologies to help protect you whether you are browsing the Internet, connecting to a wireless network, or just reading e-mail. In addition, Vista Home Basic includes innovative tools that warn you of impending hardware failures long before you have lost any important personal data. Additionally, this system comes equipped with up-to-date parental control features that allow you to manage and monitor your family's use of games, the Internet, instant messaging, and other activities on your PC that might concern you as a parent. Easy Set-Up and Operation As with all of other editions of Windows Vista, Vista Home Basic makes your PC significantly easier to use thanks to helpful tools that let you painlessly move your personal files and settings from your old PC to your new Windows Vista-based PC. Additionally, Vista Home Basic integrates new search tools throughout the operating system to help you quickly find the precise file or program you need. Even if your existing PC seems to be adequate for basic tasks such as reading e-mail and browsing the web, by upgrading your PC to Vista Home Basic or by purchasing a new PC installed with this software, you will benefit from a better computing experience and more peace of mind.	Compare Windows Vista editions.
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Customer Reviews

A fairly basic offering of the latest operating system.

There are four versions of Widows Vista available to the public:
* Home Basic
* Home Premium
* Business
* Ultimate
Each version offers a different set of options with ultimate offering all options and a little bit more.
This edition is Home Basic which is the most basic of the product suite; the nice new Aero interface is not available. This would make a good choice if your computer is not up to the requirements standard for the other editions but you wanted to get the latest security enhancements. It provides all your basic home computing needs if you only need to use your home pc for tasks like browsing the internet, word processing, using e-mail and viewing pictures then this could be the right version. The enhanced security features will help protect your system from unwanted intrusion.
One aspect to be aware of before upgrading to windows vista is some manufacturers have not released drivers for this platform yet, you should check with their websites before upgrading to vista to avoid disappointment.

Pointless waste of money
Don't bother - no really, don't bother. Offers minimal facilities and doesn't even have the new interface. Many essential features are disabled in this version.

I can't think of any good reason to buy this software. It's a cynical marketing exercise by Microsoft to tempt buyers into parting with their cash to buy something that needs to be upgraded before it's any good.

It will strangle many older machines because of the massive size of the program and the system requirements. It really needs at least 1GB of RAM, not 512k, especially if you need to multi-task, and you will also need at least 128MB of video RAM bear this in mind if your PC video RAM is shared with your main RAM that Vista will hog the RAM for graphics thereby slowing the machine down further.

If you really MUST buy Vista (which I would not recommend) then go for Home Premium as a minimum.

I would give this zero stars if it were possible.

Not for a games machine....
I made the mistake of buying a new, high-spec gaming PC with Vista, thinking this would ensure forward compatibility with new game releases. What I hadn't bargained for was the problems getting games on an XP platform to run, even with the relevant patches downloaded. Even Halo, the flagship Vista game, proved a disappointment and hung regularly. Ultimately, I went back to PC vendor and begged for a swap back to XP.

...all of which is a shame, because Vista is nice to handle, and appears to have some good features. I'd happily run it for my own, more pedestrian needs (Office / Net etc - not games), and really liked one or two of its innovations, such as its automatic hunting down for solutions to program failures on the net. Other aspects, like the constant 'Are you sure you want to allow this?' messages were an irritant, but could probably be confuigured away if I were to persevere.

In short, then, not (yet) for a games machine. Pretty otherwise, but I have to ask myself what it does better than XP, which seems to me to be a reliable, steady OS. Maybe after SP1, allegedly coming soon, Vista will be a better buy. No doubt XP will be withdrawn anyway before too long, but for now, XP still gets my vote.