Vista install and FSX

[pwjoy]

This is a cautionary tale.

[Stubbedtoe18]

So will I have to reinstall FSX if I upgrade to Vista?  And will my performance be hurt, stay the same, or improve if I upgraded?  I'm not going to be installing a graphics card though, I already have an updated one that FSX is working fine on.

[pwjoy]

Yes.  You will have to reinstall every program you have added including FSX.  I can't say what will happen to your performance, but I suspect it will suffer to some degree.

[MattNW]

Yes.  You will have to reinstall every program you have added including FSX.  I can't say what will happen to your performance, but I suspect it will suffer to some degree.

In that case why do the Vista upgrade? Just get a full version of Vista and new hard drive and reload everything from scratch. If you use a removable drive bay you can keep XP or whatever you had and swap out drives as needed. Some programs just don't run on Vista anyway so you'll need your old OS if you want to use those programs.

[macca22au]

I agree with MatNW

Whatever hardware choice you make - do not go the upgrade route with Vista.  Withoiut being smart, I followed advice in other forums and uninstalled XP, and did a clean install of Vista Home Premium.  My tech backed everything up on to an external drive,

and though I cursed I then did a clean install of FSX and .  The clean Vista and the Clean FSX have worked well - of course with all of the limitations the over-specified game imposes on present generation hardware.

But take a deep breath.  Do a clean install of Vista and a clean install of FSX.

[uncleyuk]

 I must live right at least part of the time because I installed the vista premium upgrade and everything works just great.  (Within FSX limitations of course).  Any programs that had a problem with vista I opened with the option to open in XP sp2 mode.  It took a litlle getting used to the new vista format but I wouldn't change back for the world.  My opinion anyway.