Windows Vista Business with SP1

Other products by Microsoft

Product Features

• User-friendly software offers powerful new ways to organize, find, and share information
• Keeps your network running smoothly and securely without excessive reliance on dedicated IT support; ideal for organizations of all sizes
• Sophisticated data protection and auditing capabilities help simplify IT management and can help lower costs for regulatory compliance
• Warns you of impending hardware failures early on, so you don't have to worry about the devastating loss of any important business data
• Includes Small Business Resources, a built-in how-to guide leads you through everyday tasks and troubleshooting in non-technical language; more securely connects you to your business information whether you're in or out of the office

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B0013OBXPI
• Item model number: 66J-06353
• Date first available at Amazon.com: February 27, 2008
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,347 in Software (See Bestsellers in Software)

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  Software > Operating Systems > Microsoft Windows > Windows Vista

Product Description

Amazon.com
Windows Vista Business with Service Pack 1 is the first edition of Windows designed specifically to meet the needs of small businesses. You'll spend less time on technology support-related issues-so you can spend more time making your business successful. Windows Vista Business with Service Pack 1 is the definitive choice for your business today and tomorrow.

Compare Windows Vista editions.

Security alerts enable you to quickly resolve potentially damaging issues that can harm your Windows Vista PC. View larger.

Use the new Sync Center to manage the synchronization of your data with other PCs or the devices you connect to your PC. View larger.

Starting and managing file sharing and application collaboration is easy and intuitive. View larger.

Windows Vista Provides a single destination where you can access all of the related Backup and Restore features. View larger.

Windows Fax and Scan simplifies your document handling and communication needs. View larger.

Improved Reliability and Performance
Windows Vista with Service Pack 1 and improvements delivered by hardware and software partners increase the reliability, performance, and compatibility of Windows Vista-based PCs.

With Windows Vista with SP1, many of the most common causes of operating system crashes and hangs have been addressed. Windows Vista includes new, innovative technologies that help pinpoint and diagnose issues reported anonymously by Windows Vista-based PCs from millions of users who have elected to have their PC send us system information.

Windows Vista with SP1 supports a number of important new technology standards, so it will keep making your PC easier and more enjoyable to use for years to come.

The definitive choice for your business--today and tomorrow.
Windows Vista Business with Service Pack 1 is the first Windows operating system designed specifically to meet the needs of small businesses. You'll empower your entire business to work more efficiently with a stunning and improved, simple-to-use interface that makes it easier to search and find the information you need quickly and easily, both on your PCs and on the web. With powerful new safety features, you're in control and can better protect the key information that is the life of your business and that builds the trust of your customers.

And, for the growing business that always seems to be on the go, the mobile computing enhancements make it easier to stay connected to the rhythm of your business, both in and out of the office. Windows Vista Business with Service Pack 1 with Service Pack 1makes all of this work for you while helping you spend less time on technology support-related issues--so you can spend more time making your business successful. Windows Vista Business with Service Pack 1 simply makes it easier to manage how your employees connect to your network and to ensure that they get more out of their PCs, both in and out of the office. Be future-ready and lay the IT foundation that your business needs for today and tomorrow.

Windows Sidebar gives you quick access to gadgets like picture slide shows, Windows Media Player controls, or news headlines. You pick the gadgets you want to see in Windows Sidebar. View larger.

Use Instant Search to quickly find the information you need. View larger.

Use Flip 3D to navigate through open windows using the scroll wheel on your mouse. View larger.

Windows Vista Aero provides spectacular visual effects such as glass-like interface elements that you can see through.

Getting It Done Just Got Easier
It's easier and faster than ever to find, use, manage and share the information on your PC or on the Web with Windows Vista with SP1.

Most Windows Vista-based PCs boot in less than a minute, which can be an improvement over Windows XP boot times.

The Windows Vista sleep and resume features can bring your PC to life in a snap. The vast majority of Windows Vista-based PCs resume from sleep in less than six seconds.

See everything you're working on more clearly with Windows Aero and quickly switch between windows or tasks using Windows Flip 3D.

Find it fast! Simply type something about a file, picture, or song, such as a word contained in a document or e-mail message, the artist of a song, or the date a picture was taken, and Instant Search will bring back any matches instantly.

Get the most from digital images and video. Easy-to-use tools within Windows Photo Gallery help you retrieve, view, and edit photos for your business or website--without costly outsourcing.

View multiple web pages simultaneously with Quick Tabs in Windows Internet Explorer 7.

Get up and running faster than ever with Windows Easy Transfer that automatically copies your files and settings from your old PC.

You can more conveniently share your work with co-workers on your network. With a simple file-sharing tool, you can choose just the people with whom you want to share files.

Enhanced Windows Fax and Scan provides flexible, integrated faxing and scanning in one location on your PC.

Work in a more simple and intuitive way. With the Windows Aero user experience, which includes glass-like visuals, you can easily navigate open files and programs.

Built-in Peace of Mind
Windows Vista with Service Pack 1 helps protect your family and your personal information from threats from malicious software and phishing scams and helps you keep your PC backed-up and running smoothly.

PCs running Windows Vista are 60% less likely to be infected with viruses, worms and rootkits than PCs running Windows XP SP2.

Windows Internet Explorer 7 helps protect your PC and your personal information against malicious software, fraudulent websites, and online phishing scams. New phishing attacks are more than 25 times as common as new viruses, and over 20,000 fraudulent phishing websites are created every month. Internet Explorer 7 is now blocking nearly one million inadvertent attempts to access fake phishing sites per week.

Help defend your PC against pop-ups, slow performance, and security threats caused by spyware and other unwanted software with Windows Defender. Windows Defender in Windows Vista automatically scans Internet Explorer 7 downloads to help bring spyware to your attention before it can infect your computer.

More easily back-up the content on your PC--including digital photos, music, movies, and documents--with Scheduled and Network Backup.

If you have serious PC problems, Complete PC Backup and Restore makes it easier to restore your PC by not only backing up all your files, but also the entire operating system and all of your applications.

Shadow copy automatically archives previous versions of your files. Should you accidentally save a change to a document, or should a document become corrupted, you can easily recover by restoring a previous version of the document.

Encrypting File System helps protect sensitive information and data from being shared outside of your company by enabling you to password-protect shared documents.

Provide the critical first line of defense. A smarter, more easily configured, and automatically running Windows Firewall helps protect you against many types of malicious software.

Help keep your PCs up to date with a genuine, licensed copy of Windows Vista Business with Service Pack 1 that will provide you with automatic updates throughout the life of your PC through the enhanced Windows Update feature.

Ready to Grow When You Are

Get new PCs up and running right away. Quickly transfer data and settings from your old PCs to newly purchased PCs running Windows Vista, with the help of Windows Easy Transfer.

Spend less time managing your PCs. User Account Control and enhanced Group Policy capabilities allow you to simplify network administration tasks so you can better protect, update, and maintain your company's PCs.

Manage your network easily. Use the Network and Sharing Center to visually check the connection status of PCs and devices, and troubleshoot connection problems from a single interface and without additional IT support.

Windows Vista Business with Service Pack 1 is ready to grow when you are, supporting connectivity with servers and domains in multiple PC environments.

Your Workplace Unplugged
With special features to help you go mobile, Windows Vista with SP1 makes computing and connecting away from home or the office easier than ever.

Conduct business when and where it's convenient. Use Remote Desktop Connection to access your PC remotely, whether across your company network or through the Internet from your home PC.

Work the way you want with touch and digital input and handwriting. Tablet and Touch Technology makes your notebook PC experience truly personal.

Set up a wireless network at home with Network and Sharing Center--so you can experience the freedom of working virtually anywhere in your home. Then easily find and join a wireless network at your favorite hotspot--so you can stay productive wherever you go.

Optimize your power and mobile settings centrally with Windows Mobility Center.

Keep your information in sync. With Sync Center, you can synchronize PDAs, mobile phones, and other devices all from one place.

Collaborate with others by using Windows Meeting Space to create ad hoc wireless networks when you're meeting with colleagues or customers.

Product Description
If you own a small business, Windows Vista Business is for you. This is the first Windows operating system designed specifically to meet the needs of small businesses. You'll empower your entire business to work more efficiently with a stunning and improved, simple-to-use interface that makes it easier to search and find the information you need quickly and easily, both on your PCs and on the web. With powerful new safety features, you're in control and can better protect the key information that is the life of your business and that builds the trust of your customers.

Easy-to-use tools within Windows Photo Gallery help you retrieve, view, and edit photos for your business or website - without costly outsourcing Elegant Windows Aero desktop experience with glass-like menu bars, Windows Flip 3D, & Live Thumbnails Windows Backup & Restore Center - back up everything on your hard disk drives to any device Windows Fax & Scan - Easily send and receive faxes or scan documents and images Remote Desktop Connection - remote access for your business User Account Control & enhanced Group Policy capabilities - simplify network administration tasks to better maintain your PCsSystem Requirements 800 MHz processor & 512 MB of system memory 20 GB hard drive with at least 15 GB of available space Super VGA graphics support

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I'm Pretty Impressed, So There You Go 5 Stars, April 8, 2008

By	Sara Hackett (from the Darkside) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

I've been using Vista with SP1 for a couple weeks now on two different computers, my MacBook Pro and my iMac, both running on Bootcamp partitions and I have to say I'm pretty darned impressed.

I have lots of ram, ram to spare in both my machines, as I'm a Photoshop girl and both my machines are the latest and greatest Apple has to off, so I was good to go as far as hardware was concerned. I had no problems running the Aero eye candy and though it's no Leopard, it's quite nice. I liked the transparent window frames and I liked the minimizing and restoring effects, but again, I'm used to the Mac, so for me they were no great shakes.

I like the search box in the start menu, but I like spotlight better. Still it's very handy. The Widgets are a copy of Mac's Dashboard and Flip 3D is a copy of Expose, but then again Microsoft has been copying Apple for years.

I had to go online and download the printer driver again for my Brother printer, but that was no big deal and a couple of my Photoshop plugins had to be updated, but then I hadn't used them for awhile. I was just checking everything because of the new Vista install.

In conclusion I guess I'd say if you've got the hardware and are not a Mac person, this is a pretty good operating system and it seems stable. I know, I know, you've probably read all the same stuff I have about how Vista crashes and crashes and crashes and I've experienced plenty of crashes myself, but those problems seem to have been solved with the SP1 upgrade.

The Home Premium version I have on my MacBook hasn't crashed yet and Vista Ultimate on my iMac has only brought down my machine one time. Granted, it's early days yet, but as for now I'll say it again, I'm pretty impressed.

However there is one thing I just cannot seem to wrap my mind around. Why oh why are there so many versions of Vista. Well that bothered me with XP as well. Do you really need:

Vista Home Basic with SP1
Vista Home Premium with SP1
Vista Business with SP1
Ultimate with SP1
Vista Home Basic Upgrade with SP1
Vista Home Premium Upgrade with SP1
Vista Business Upgrade with SP1
Ultimate Upgrade with SP1

That's an awful lot of Vistas. Then there's:

Vista Anytime Upgrade Pack with SP1 [Home Basic to Home Premium]
Vista Anytime Upgrade Pack with SP1 [Business to Ultimate]
Vista Anytime Upgrade Pack with SP1 [Home Premium to Ultimate]
Vista Anytime Upgrade Pack with SP1 [Home Basic to Ultimate]

Come on, Microsoft, how about a one size fits all operating system like they do over in the Mac world. And this business about your copy protection, lighten up. Maybe some people do rip off Mr. Jobs' Leopard, you know buy it and put it on more than one machine, but how many computers can they use at a time. Yes, yes, maybe a husband and wife could be on at the same time, or one of the kiddies, but sheesh, give us a break.

I know you have to protect yourself from the hordes who want free software, but Apple's making a pretty penny with Leopard even while they trust their users, you could too.

Still, I guess I have to give all your Vistas with SP1 five stars, grudgingly, because of the way I think you do business, but I've got Vista working fine on two different computers, plus my husband has it on a couple others and we're not having major problems, so there you go, five stars.

Reviewed by Sara Hackett

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Use Vista at Home; I'd Rather Have A Root Canal Without Pain Medicine., April 5, 2008

By	1 WOLF CITY PLAZA "Wolf & Its Bears!" (Baltimore, Maryland USA) - See all my reviews

If it were possible to give Vista a negative rating I would do so. Vista is unlike every other Microsoft Operating System ever produced. Every new Microsoft Operating System came with its annoying little bugs. Those of us who liked Microsoft Windows myself among them usually got used to living with the MS bugs or "Features" as they are called by the company.

Vista was inflicted on PC users because somewhere Microsoft got the notion that a more complex difficult to use memory hogging buggy wizard filled operating system was more secure thus much better. Vista is indeed far more secure than any earlier Microsoft product for one basic reason it never lets you do anything. You can not be productive on Vista unless you jump through more operating system generated hoops than you will ever see during a lifetime at the circus.

Don't get me wrong. I am not one of these geeky guys that wants everyone to switch to Linux or Apple. I love my Microsoft Windows XP PC but, Microsoft Vista is a gigantic LEMMON no amount of Service Pack tweaking will ever fix. I have XP systems and I will be keeping my XP computer. If I buy a new computer with Pretty but way lame Vista pre-installed I will reformat my disk and install my trusty capable XP operating system workhorse.

To say Vista is super slow at start up, during regular use and at shut down is an understatement in its most profound incarnation. If you buy a system with so much memory, new graphics, sound and other high priced, hogh powered hardware producing a system that costs a kings ransom Vista will speed up a little. Vista is a money hog because many old XP devices do not work on Vista at all and others need lots of tweeking to get them to work. Now Vista is so improved it will never crash, naw Vista just freezes up so completely you can not do anything productive. Vista will make you more productive because all its freeze up's will have you doing the same work again and again and again and again hoping it won't freeze before you can save it!

Finally Vista is a big useless paranoid fat nag. I mean at every turn Vista wants to reformat, check or otherwise make sure something you are doing is allowed. Vista is the Fort Knox of Operating Systems but think about it who wants to live and work in Fort Knox. Vista is an operating system as such it is an extention of your home or business. Adding Vista to your computer is like stationing thousands of nagging police officers whose job it is to challenge your every move every time you become even the least bit productive. Vista is an operating system with so many paranoid subsystems built in that it is effectively useless for its intended productive purpose.

For all the reasons I list herein I would strongly advise against purchasing Vista. I feel Vista is the prettiest operating system Microsoft has ever produced. Unfortunately under that pretty VISTA surface is a code filled of maggots that grow into extremely pretty productivity killing computer bugs.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Unusable, August 24, 2008

By	Reader (Stanford, CA USA) - See all my reviews

I recently bought a Dell quad-core workstation, which had Windows Vista Business pre-installed. Apart from Internet Explorer, no program requiring internet access is working, including Opera, Firefox, CuteFTP, and Skype (all of which were working fine under Windows XP). I re-installed Windows Vista multiple times from the recovery DVD that came with the workstation, but it did not fix the problems. After about a month and 30 hours of wasted time, I upgraded to the Ultimate edition. Now everything is working fine, but my experience with Windows Vista Business has been very frustrating, time consuming, and expensive.