Can a first-time computer user handle Vista?

Jardinier.

Its not that hard to get the hang of, you will have to have a little play about with it, when I first used it wasn?t that bad.

and no the 95 98 software wont work, some of the XP stuff does.

Thanks
Tom

you state:

'I have never looked at Vista and do not intend to'

Think of vista as a modified XP... Its all the same, just in different places. I would say about 25% of your old software will run... But what all do you really need? Open office, AVG, Spybot S&D, and FireFox3 will all run and are free...

#1 You shouldn't have too much trouble with Vista, and the intended user will most likely have no problems as it will be their first encounter with the OS, where you have had some preconcieved ideas from having worked with WIN95/WIN98.
#2 I do however think you will be met with a brick wall trying to run any software made for any previous versions of Windows. Possibly some will work and you will have to work with the compatablity section on Vista to determine what will and will not work.

[i]Can a first-time computer user handle Vista? [/i]

Yes, absolutely. In fact, in my opinion, it would be better to learn the newest technology rather than the older.

[i]Question 1: Will I be able to figure it out and help her get started?[/i]

You won't have as high a learning curve as she will, but you will find that things are quite different, and you might struggle to find certain things that are named differently, in different locations, and so on. As such, I believe you would be more helpful if you learned it first.

If you have no intention of learning Vista, then I would suggest you refer her to someone else for help. You might make it even more difficult for her to learn Vista. For example, you might have a tendency (as most people would) to say things like, [i]in Windows 98 blah, blah, blah...... and, I'm used to blah, blah, blah....... and, let's look here.... no, it's not there, let's go here..... no, it's not there either.[/i] Those kinds of things might only go to confuse a new learner more, not less.

[i]Question 2: I have a large library of software, covering just about anything you could think of. Most of it was designed for Windows 95 or 98. How much of this stuff will run on Vista?[/i]

All software license requirements should be followed. Sharing software is usually a violation of those requirements (unless it's freeware). Learning software licensing requirements - and following them - should be part of the computing learning process for a first-time user.

When a person purchases software, the compatibility list is made available. If it's freeware, you might just have to install it and see if it works. Be advised, however; by installing a bunch of software, only to uninstall it later (or worse yet, leave it there) will only serve to junk up the Windows Registry. I'm a strong advocate of installing only what you'll need and what you'll use; leave all the other stuff off of it.

and if it doesn't work, you can always wipe it and load PCLinux or Mepis LInux or Kubuntu, all of which have a strong Win 98 feel to it so they'll feel at home.

But give the Vista a go first just so you know what it' s like.

Another aspect, when you look at buying the system, some of the Dells etc come with a special disc if you ask for it, the disc will allow you to Upgrade it back to Win XP using the same licence as the Vista install.