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Buying a new PC may be a fast and safe way to upgrade, but it's much cheaper to just buy Vista and install it yourself- hopefully after reading our articles you will be able to! If your computer is fairly powerful and meets Vista's high standards (go here to see if your system is up to the job) then nothing can stop you from buying a Vista disc and installing it yourself. We explained the various types of Vista, but most users will choose Windows Vista Home Premium - you can get this version for around £150 or less. To save even more you could buy an upgrade edition of Vista, these can be installed on any PCs running Windows 2000 or any version of XP (incl. Media Center and Tablet PC) or even on Vista itself (though installing on Vista itself could be seen as unethical so I won't be talking about that...yet). After choosing your Vista version, yo will have to choose how you want to install it...

Installing from within Windows
This is the easiest way to install Vista, simple insert the Vista DVD and installation should begin automatically. If it doesn't, go to My Computer and double click the CD icon, if nothing happens, right click the CD in My Computer, select Explore and double-click Setup.exe to begin installation.
There are two main types of install offered 'Upgrade' and 'Custom' - Upgrade means that your settings, files and programs will remain while the operating system is upgraded. You can use Custom which will delete everything on your hard disk and install a blank copy of Vista - but all your files and folders can still be found in a special folder called WINDOWS.OLD - these can then be dragged where you'd like them to be at any time.

Installing on a blank hard disk
If you have a totally blank hard disk or have just finished building your PC, then this is the choice for you. Here you must boot from the Vista DVD, which means starting your PC with the CD in the drive. This should be a full edition, though there is an upgrade trick which can also be used but that is violating vista's terms. Google "Vista upgrade trick" for more info on that. Select Custom(advanced) when Vista asks you what you want to do and follow the on-screen instructions.

Run XP and Vista and the same time
This involves using a program called Microsoft Virtual PC, which is a free program that works on most versions of Windows and simulates on computer being inside another. Vista won't run as fast if you try it this way, but you can evaluate vista without compromising your existing programs, files and setting or hardware drivers and you can make the decision to move to Vista if you are ready. You can use vista like this for 30 days on the Virtual PC until ti will ask you for a key, this should be long enough to check out the OS.