Online Vista Readiness Test

Long ago, I had submitted a request to AMI (You know those guys who build PC BIOS) for a BIOS update for one of my friend's old PC. At that time I had registered my email address there. Since then every once in a while I got an email from them about this or that. Today I got an email from them that caught my attention. It said "Vista Readiness Test". I at first thought that it was a test for the BIOS to check if it was Vista ready or not. Though the test checks for the BIOS readiness, it does more than that and checks your system against the minimum and recommended hardware specification as laid down by Microsoft.

You can go to their website (http://driveragent.com/vista) and get the test done. It's free and its secure. They claim that it is certified and free of any type of malware. I tested it and it did not give me any kind of warnings.

The test is quite comprehensive and it also give recommendations on what should be done for the failed components. Of course, it tries to sell you something, but then isn't that everyone does? Microsoft also has an upgrade advisor which tells you whether you can install Windows Vista on your computer. However, the Microsoft upgrade Advisor has serious limitations. It works only on Windows XP SP2 and Windows Vista (?). This tool works on all incarnations of Windows since Windows 98. Not that you would be running Windows 98 or Windows Me, but hey, you never know. The Microsoft upgrade advisor requires a download and separate installation for the advisor MSI. This tool add a small piece of ActiveX control (file name: driveragent.ocx) in the c:\Windows\Downloaded Program Files folder for Internet Explorer. For Firefox, it downloads a Netscape Addon file (file name: driveragent.xpi).

I have done some basic testing on the security of the tool and so far, I have not discovered any issues like malware of phoning home tendencies by my computer. I would recommend you to use this tool if you are planning to upgrade the OS on your existing computer to Windows Vista. This will give you a fair idea as to what you would be required to do in case your PC is not "Vista Ready".