Microsoft plans update to "misleading" Vista Upgrade Advisor

If you've been frustrated because Microsoft's Vista Upgrade Advisor gave your blazing-fast, three-month-old, $10,000, gaming monster PC a bad rating, you're not alone. In addition to consumers, chipmakers such as VIA and AMD have commented to Microsoft about the program's deficiencies. Now, Microsoft, admitting that the results can be "misleading," plans to revise the tool, including changes to the user interface to make information more accessible, and possibly fine-tuning the results so that they're more in line with standard industry benchmarks. So, if your PC flunked the test, your best bet is to wait a while before splurging on upgrades -- besides, it's not like you don't have plenty of time before you'll need to be Vista-compatible.

[Slash @ May 26th 2006 1:14PM]

My rating was fine
i think i had 3 things checked but i cant remember which.

the only thing i need is a new graphics card with at least 128mb so i can use the aero look :)

[jfox @ May 26th 2006 1:21PM]

You know this is interesting. Because I actually installed Vista Beta 2 just yesterday, and looked at their integrated upgrade advisor (or whatever is is). My system was given a rating of 2, on a scale of 1-5 (5 being best). I have a 256 Meg GeForce video card, 2GB of Ram, and an overclocked 64-bit Sempron (yea, my weak link). None-the-less, I was surprised with low rating.

[Korey @ May 26th 2006 1:31PM]

MY eMachine is like 3 years old 2.3 ghz intel celeron 512 ram soon to be 1024 and the upgrade said i just need a 128mb videocard to run aero so idk why anyones bitchin

[Berre @ May 26th 2006 1:57PM]

#2: are you sure that 5 is the max? As far as i understood, it was an open ended scale.

[Chris @ May 26th 2006 2:04PM]

Can't run the upgrade advisor on xp x64 :(

[Brendan @ May 26th 2006 2:04PM]

"it's not like you don't have plenty of time before you'll need to be Vista-compatible." LOL

You mean Vista is actually real, I thought Microsoft made that up :P

[alabij @ May 26th 2006 2:17PM]

Microsoft is offering free beta downloads of Office 2007 on their website.

[Bruce @ May 26th 2006 2:36PM]

When the OS comes out your 3 month old $10,000 gaming system will be old and outdated, you'll need to upgrade to support the OS. but only WHEN it comes out. err...uh...maybe not when but IF?

[iomatic @ May 26th 2006 2:36PM]

Just get a Mac; probably more likely to be compatible than cobbling a half-baked PC anyway. I know I was guilty once of trying to save coin, but in the end, my time's worth more than that.

While you're at it, just run Mac OS X with its infinitely more powerful, sometimes free, Unix-based apps and server software and soon-to-arrive, as well as existing, Universal Binaries.

:)

[Andrew VanderVeen @ May 26th 2006 2:41PM]

I used the upgrade advisor from the Microsoft website and I said that I would be using my PC for all the available options they provided and they suggest I get Vista Ultimate. They also said that the only upgrade I needed was my hard drive, which is understandable seeing as how I only have a 40 gig HD (lol :D).

[crescentdave @ May 26th 2006 3:12PM]

As always, it's less than a joy and a delight to read the amount of uninformed, ill-informed and simply erroneous commentary on these articles.

Hint: download the advisor from: http://download.microsoft.com/download/6/d/2/6d27774c-07af-4a2a-b5a1-f961458f6d4b/VistaUpgradeAdvisor.msi

You won't get a number system. You will get a breakdown of whether or not your sytem is up to running Vista in the areas you show interest in.

I have an athlon 64-3700, radeon x800GT with 256 mb and 2 GB of memory. It tells me I'll be able to run anything and everything.

Download it and post your results so others can have an idea of Vista (should be called Horizon) requires.

[Ben @ May 26th 2006 3:12PM]

Well, the Vista Upgrade Advisor will not run from Windows XP Professional x64 Edition... Crazy.

[mike @ May 26th 2006 3:23PM]

Microsoft is offering free beta downloads of Office 2007 on their website

--

You can also try BitTorrent, that includes Vista, when it ever gets released.

[Pip @ May 26th 2006 3:42PM]

Video card makers better get their DX10 cards out soon. People are waiting in the wings to plunk down some serious cash for uber enabled DX10 cards but dont want to buy the ones out there now that will pale drastically in comparison.

C'Mon nVidia and ATI, bring those DX10 cards out!

[Luke @ May 26th 2006 4:18PM]

#8 - thank you for pointing out how uniformed people are. however next time you might actually want to read their posts:

"...Because I actually installed Vista Beta 2 just yesterday, and looked at their integrated upgrade advisor... "

The person that was talking about the number system wasn't using the standalone upgrade advisor.

ass.

[Mischa Lockton @ May 26th 2006 4:19PM]

My 'puter is more than enough, however, 0% of drivers for installed components I have were available. Get working people... stop reading Engadet and write those drivers!

[tom @ May 26th 2006 5:17PM]

My Laptop (Dothan 1.7GHz, 512mb, x600se w/hypermemory) comes up showing that it will run every vista feature, so i don't many people will have a problem

[Intrepid @ May 26th 2006 9:14PM]

They aren't being misleading. They said capable and it is.

[crescentdave @ May 26th 2006 11:02PM]

Way to critique my comments on #3, #5 and #9. So glad to see you read minds, Luke (there's a disturbance in your field). It just wasn't mine.

Kudos, by the way, to #1, #2, #4 and #6. (Just to be aero-glass clear).

Is "ass" your signature or ... ?

[Caz @ May 27th 2006 8:03AM]

Huh "including changes to the user interface to make information more accessible, and possibly fine-tuning the results so that they're more in line with standard industry benchmarks."

You mean like DIY bench results?
So useful and convenient...

Is it just me, or rather than correcting what could have been "misleading" in their earlier software, it sounds like MS is providing with a tool that will instead put all the "misleading" responsability in the user's hand? (just a matter of fine tuning, not MS fault)

[Karl Viklund @ May 27th 2006 6:17PM]

Strange. My PC passed all the test. It's an AMD 3000+ so it's not bad but it only got 512 MB of RAM. The only thing that I needed was "15 GB!!!!!!!!" of extra storage as I'm a little bit short of that right now. But I mean, 15 GB????? Where is the world going...

[Emrah Gunduz @ Feb 7th 2007 7:19PM]

try this one instead of microsoft's. you don't need to install a really big and misleading program to do a simple job. this is just a safe java applet by system requirements lab, and it is really better on analyzing the computer...

http://ati.amd.com/technology/windowsvista/AreYouVistaReady.html