what is windows vista beta?

It is the beta version of Windows Vista, which is the next version of Windows that will probably become available in final version next year. You can see info about it here:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/

The beta (i.e. a test version, intended for people to find bugs) was publicly available, not sure if it still is; if it is, I have seen that Microsoft are now charging a few dollars for it.

However, unless you are an experienced user with a separate test PC, I would advise against trying it. Not all current PCs can run it, not all hardware components have drivers for it, not all current versions of software run in it and if you install it on your PC you cannot simply roll back to Windows XP (a complete format/reinstall will be required, unless you install it on a separate partition).

 

PS. If you like, you can download and run the Windows Vista upgrade advisor; it will tell you whether your PC could run under Vista, and which components or drivers would need upgrading (this app does not affect your current XP installation).

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/getready/upgradeadvisor/default.mspx

 

 

Message Edited by JRosenfeld on 08-10-200608:01 PM

I had to install Windows Vista for work. I did a clean install. Is there a way to install some of the apps that were previously on here? I'm specifically looking for Bluetooth right now. Can anyone help?