Windows Vista Home Premium

Windows Vista Home Premium is the edition that delivers more ease of use, security, and entertainment to your PC at home and on the go

Here it is: the preferred edition of Windows for home desktop and mobile PCs. Windows Vista Home Premium delivers the productivity and entertainment that you need from your PC at home or on the go. It includes Windows Media Center, and that makes it easy to easier to enjoy your digital photos, TV and movies, and music. Plus, you'll have the peace of mind of knowing that your PC has a whole new level of security and reliability. All together, Windows Vista Home Premium redefines enjoyment in home computing.

It starts with a breakthrough design that makes your PC easier to use every day. With Windows Aero, you'll experience dynamic reflections, smooth-gliding animations, transparent glass-like menu bars, and the ability to switch between your open windows in a new three-dimensional layout. Instant desktop search capabilities and new ways to organize your information mean that you can instantly find and use the e-mails, documents, photos, music, and other information you want.

Windows Vista Home Premium also helps keep your personal information, your PC, and your family computing experience safer than in previous versions of Windows. For example, Windows Internet Explorer 7 in Windows Vista includes automated defenses against malicious software and fraudulent websites so you can use your PC online with greater confidence. Windows Vista Home Premium also provides automatic backup of your files, such as your valuable digital photos, music, movies, documents, and other files, so you can relax and focus on the things you care about most. And, by using the built-in parental controls, parents can help ensure their children's computer use is appropriate and safer.

And what about fun? A major advance in Windows Vista Home Premium is the dramatically improved digital entertainment experience. Windows Media Center makes it easier to organize and enjoy photos, music, DVDs, recorded TV, and home movies. Enjoy the entertainment on your PC or even on your TV in the living room with an Xbox 360 wirelessly networked to your PC¹,². Windows Vista Home Premium makes it easier to burn your photo slide shows and home movies to a professional-looking video DVD that your friends and family can watch on a DVD player or PC whenever they like. Combined with unbeatable support for gaming and music, Windows Vista Home Premium delivers a complete home entertainment experience.

If you want a PC that can keep up with you while you're on the go, then you'll appreciate how Windows Vista Home Premium helps you get the most from your mobile PC. It provides simplified power management, easier wireless networking, and streamlined ways to sync with the devices that keep you connected. Because it's incredibly flexible, you can even draw and write by hand on a Tablet PC, and enjoy all of your entertainment through Windows Media Center when you're on the road, in a coffee shop, or relaxing on the couch. Mobile computing has never been like this before.

Finally, Windows Vista Home Premium makes it easier than ever to set up and maintain your new PC. There are new features that make it easier to transfer all of your data and settings from your old PC to your new one and technology that helps keep your system running quickly and reliably.

Whether you're balancing your checkbook, studying for school on your mobile PC, watching a downloaded or recorded movie at home, or sharing your favorite photos with friends on a custom DVD, the experience is much better on a PC running Windows Vista Home Premium.

Note: If your system features a 64-bit processor, you can take advantage of its advanced design in this edition of Windows Vista. Read more.

Get things done more easily and intuitively

The spectacular Windows Aero user experience features stunning visual effects, including helpful animations, transparent glass menu bars, and live thumbnail previews of open programs. Your desktop experience never looked this good.

A unique part of the Windows Aero experience is Windows Flip 3D, which enables you to dynamically flip through your open programs in a three-dimensional, stacked view, so that you can quickly locate and select the one that you want.

You can instantly find information on your computer—including documents, e-mails, photos, and even music files—with Instant Search, which is integrated throughout Windows Vista.

Searching for information on the Internet is easier than ever with Internet Explorer 7, which includes web searching right from the browser, with no additional toolbars necessary. Tabbed browsing also enables you to simultaneously browse multiple web pages in one window.

See the information you care about instantly with Windows Sidebar and gadgets, which bring real-time information, like weather and news, directly to your desktop.

Flexible organization makes it simple to instantly find and view your files any way that you want.

Relive a lifetime of memories using Windows Photo Gallery. It's now easier to download photos from your digital camera, and then organize, edit, view, and share them with family and friends.

Get up and running fast using Windows Easy Transfer to automatically copy your files, photos, music, e-mail, and settings from your old PC to your new Windows Vista-based PC.

Windows Vista works in the background to take care of itself, giving you a better and faster computing experience. Using new performance self-tuning and diagnostics technologies, Windows Vista can improve the responsiveness of the applications you use most often and help to decrease file download times.

Windows SuperFetch also helps to improve the responsiveness and performance of your PC by tracking which applications you use most often and then preloading them into memory for faster access.

Windows Vista includes new self-healing technology that can identify problems and fix them so you can keep system disruptions to a minimum.

Windows Vista contains built-in diagnostics that look for hardware failures, network problems, and slow performance issues so they can be resolved before they affect your productivity.

Better protection for your PC, your personal information, and your family than with any previous version of Windows.

Windows Defender helps automatically safeguard your PC against pop-ups, slow performance, and security threats caused by spyware and other unwanted software.

With dynamic security protection, Internet Explorer 7 helps you achieve a higher level of security protection than ever before when browsing the web. Internet Explorer 7 includes anti-phishing technology that helps to protect you from fraudulent websites that attempt to steal your personal information.

Unique to Windows Vista is Internet Explorer protected mode, which makes browsing the web with Windows Vista even safer by preventing unwanted malicious software downloads.

With Parental Controls, you can manage the rules for your children's computer use. You can set time limits for use and also manage their access to the web and to PC games.

Using Standard user accounts, you can confidently allow your children to use your PC, and lessen the risk that they will install malicious software or make harmful changes to the PC.

A scheduled backup automatically backs up your files—priceless digital photos, music, movies, documents, and more—so you can relax and focus on the things you want to do.

Enjoy home entertainment in a whole new way

Use Windows Media Center¹ to enjoy your entire digital entertainment library on your PC or television using the easy-to-navigate Media Center interface. Use a Media Center remote control, a mouse, or a touch screen to view your photos in a cinematic slide show, browse your music collection by cover art, play DVDs, or watch and record your favorite TV shows. Media Center even makes it easier to download movies and enjoy them when you want.

Burn your photo slide shows and home movies to a professional-looking video DVD with Windows DVD Maker, and watch them on a standard DVD player or PC wherever you like.

Take Windows Media Center to the next level and enjoy all of your digital entertainment on TVs throughout your home with support for Xbox 360 and other consumer electronics connected to your home network^1,2.

Play the next generation in gaming, with hyper-realistic visuals and incredible performance. From the simple to the spectacular, there are Games for Windows on your PC or online for every age and ability. And with DirectX 10 included, only Windows Vista will be able to run the latest, most graphically advanced PC games in the market.

Install, manage, and enjoy all of your games in one easy-to-access location using the Windows Games Explorer.

Have more fun on your PC with three new premium games included with Windows Vista Home Premium: Mahjong Titans, Chess Titans, and InkBall.

Capture, edit, and publish your digital home movies in standard or high-definition format with the updated Windows Movie Maker.

Windows Media Player 11 includes new features that are designed to help you manage your library of digital music, photos, and video that you have stored on your PC. And you can easily connect to a variety of portable players so you can take your media collection wherever you go.

Stay productive and entertained with your mobile PC

Use your mobile PC whenever you want without worrying about battery life by using Fast Sleep and Resume. By pressing the power button, you can pause and then resume your computer session in just seconds while conserving your battery life in sleep mode.

Network and Sharing Center helps you more easily and securely connect to wireless networks whenever you're out and about, and more easily set up a secure wireless network at home.

The Windows Mobility Center saves you time and worry by enabling you to quickly access and set key mobile system settings, all from one location.

With Windows Meeting Space, you can wirelessly connect your mobile PC to a friend's PC and share photos, videos, and documents when you're at a coffee shop, working on a group project, or in many other situations—even when you're not connected to the Internet.

Keep your supported digital media devices, Smartphones, and other digital devices synchronized with your PC using the Windows Vista Sync Center.

Express yourself more naturally and more personally with a Tablet PC or any PC using the new touch screen technology that enables you to draw, touch, or write directly on the screen when you are composing e-mails, editing photos, or interacting with your favorite applications.

Windows Vista Home Premium
Recommended system requirements

• 1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor

• 1 GB of system memory

• 40 GB hard drive with at least 15 GB of available space

• Support for DirectX 9 graphics with:

  • WDDM Driver

  • 128 MB of graphics memory (minimum)

  • Pixel Shader 2.0 in hardware

  • 32 bits per pixel

• DVD-ROM drive

• Audio Output

• Internet access (fees may apply)

Additional requirements to use certain features

• TV tuner card required for TV functionality (compatible remote control optional)

• Windows Tablet and Touch Technology requires a Tablet PC or a touch screen

Actual requirements and product functionality may vary based on your system configuration. Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor can help you determine which features and edition of Windows Vista will run on your computer.

Windows Vista Home Premium
Minimum supported requirements

Certain product features are not available with minimum supported requirements.

• 800 MHz processor and 512 MB of system memory

• 20 GB hard drive with at least 15 GB of available space

• Support for Super VGA graphics

• CD-ROM drive