Vista does take more advantage of the Microsoft update site than XP, and many drivers that aren't included on the install DVDs can be downloaded during the install, or upgraded after your first connection to the Internet. It's a good idea to keep any machine you're installing or upgrading Vista to connected to the network, as the installer will go online and download appropriate drivers from Windows update before starting the installation.

Vista performance can be increased by taking advantage of ReadyBoost. This uses a USB 2.0 flash drive to act as a disk cache. However it can't be just any flash drive - Microsoft requires a certain minimum performance, including a high random access speed. We found that most USB 2.0 drives we had didn't meet Vista's requirements.

Don't expect to just plug in a stick and see it working; you may need to try out several before you find one that works. Also, the larger the stick, the better the performance gain. We found that 1GB of flash or higher gave the most improvement.

User interface

Live thumbnails make it easier to see just what you're doing in each window, and if anything has changed while you were using another application. A huge change from XP is the integrated search. XP's desktop search tools were slow and inefficient. Things are very different with Vista. Taking a cue from desktop search products such as Google Desktop and Copernic (or Microsoft's Desktop Search tool), you'll find high speed search built into all aspects of Vista.

The word wheel search in the Start menu makes it easier to track down applications, documents, control panels, IE favourites and email - though not files in the Pictures or Music folders - by typing a few letters. This finds files with matching names, keywords and metadata.

Once you get the hang of searching for applications rather than scrolling through Start menus you'll stop missing XP's fly-out program groups. Search is also built into Explorer. Just type a query into the new search box, and Vista will start a search in the directory you're using. You don't need to restrict searches manually - Vista will do it automatically.

If you start a search in Documents, then Vista will only return results from files and folders below the Documents folder. The same search tools are built into the control panel and into many of Vista's bundled applications. Explorer's makeover is finally complete. Windows' workhorse remains familiar, but with plenty of Vista flair. The icons are a big improvement over XP, with smooth scaling and a 3D effect that matches Explorer folders. Even the largest icon looks good on big screens - ideal for media centre PCs with large LCD panels.

You can group and stack icons to improve views. Stacked folders are actually a search query, which can be stored in the Searches folder; a useful feature Microsoft has buried where only power users will find it. The revamped Explorer improves navigation, with a breadcrumb bar that shows you where you are, with options to quickly jump up the folder hierarchy.

Security and UAC

Vista is touted as the most secure version of Windows to date. Microsoft has finally provided a version of Windows that lets you run applications and handle basic system configuration without always running as Administrator.

It's not just users that have lower privileges than in Windows XP, some applications such as Internet Explorer 7 run as limited users, with little or no ability to make changes to your system or install unwanted programs. This has led to perhaps the most criticised feature of Vista: User Account Control (UAC).

Any time you need to do something that requires administrator privileges - even if you're running as an administrator - Windows pops up a dialog box that asks for permission to complete the action. If you're running as a standard user you'll need to enter an administrator password. In early versions of Vista UAC was both persistent and a regular visitor, stealing focus from running applications.