Windows Vista Build 5536 Pre-RC1

Short personal history here: I found the Two Alpha and first Beta totally un-useable for two main reasons. The networking has been completely rewritten and simply didn't work, this was a known issue, also the security settings (UAP) User Account Protection etc had been well over-cooked. There were also known serious memory leaks with the side-bar/Explorer.

I recieved the latest version on DVD in a twee boxed set on thursday, installed it on friday, and if past experience had been anything to go by, would have been a coffee mat by Saturday!, well, I'm still using it now.
Installed in a fraction of the time it took the originals (over an hour with beta-2) and found all hardware apart from my RAID. The only user intervention was to put the serial number in, and whether I wanted to activate on completion.
After the first reboot the system runs through a procedure called "System Optimization" where it tries to assess all available assets and set it up for optimum performance, and I gotta admit, I'm was very impressed with the results.
A normal boot takes about half the time of an XP machine, and is slick and clean. No driver hangs or pregnant pauses!
Using system defaults, it is awkward to install old non-MS Software, you keep getting 'Are you sure you want to install this archaic software?" or "Are you truly positive this is what you really want?" or words to that effect
Well, thanks to a friend of mine over at Winbeta I have a breakdown of all the important tweaks already. I turn off the UAP and IPV6 and all the other crap, get it running like a proper OS and hey, it's nice.

I have installed ALL the software I need to run it as my working machine, Adobe, Office, Quark, Ultra-Edit and other odds and ends.

I couldn't get Nero to install (blue screened all over the place) but installed Cyberlink 'Power2Go' which is more than adequate for CD/DVD burning.
Also I like to have a virtual CD handy (run all software from ISO images) but they all insist on installing pseudo scsi drivers which Vista abhors. So am having to search for alternatives.
I downloaded the full Vista drivers supplied by nVidia but they are relatively old (designed for earlier beta's) but they blue screened all over the shop as well, so no games yet.

Apart from those last two little problems I am quite happy to start using this as my main OS, I realise it has only been 48 hours, but it's fast, looks sexy, feels good and gets the job done far quicker than XP.

Oh, almost forgot, I also installed a third party Anti-Virus and Firewall designed specifically for Vista (mind you it's PC-Cillin) but it enabled me to turn off the M$ crap! None of the previous releases would allow that.

IMAGE (it's a biggy)

p.p.s like my desktop piccy? always liked that one of Hermione