I’ve had Windows Vista for a month now on brand new computers intended to replace our XP boxes, which are still running alongside the new Vista machines.

However, the proportion of time spent on Vista has increased to 90 percent and more. The exceptions are jobs which require the printers. None of the old ones will work with Vista, so I’ll be replacing them very soon.

Of course, I’d switched a lot of stuff online before moving over : all email is now done on Gmail — a huge relief on new computers — and much else too.

Thankfully, the desk-top-publishing program works seamlessly on Vista, but not the image-handling one. As a temporary measure I’ve been using the Office image software bundled with Windows itself. It works so well, I’ll probably stick with it for the duration.

I know a number of people are looking for new computers with XP pre-installed, as they don’t trust Vista yet. Let me tell you, put your doubts aside. Get as much as you can online — Google is a blessing here, buy new printers, tweak your internet connection, and you won’t look back.

The “Protection Mode”, which is the default setting for Vista, may have to be temporarily disabled while you add new stuff or get your broadband connectivity working. Thereafter, it’s surprising how quickly you will adapt to the loss af admin powers, which is what it effectively does.

My advice? Go for Windows Vista now. There’s nothing to keep you on XP but your fear of the unknown.