Vista is the first new version of Windows for more than five years and promises many advances in terms of look and feel, as well as security and performance.

But those extra features come at a price and although Microsoft reckons many PCs bought in the last two years will be able to run Vista just fine, they may not be able to take advantage of the fancier new features.

To find out whether a PC can run Vista lock, stock and barrel, download and run Microsoft’s Vista Upgrade Advisor which will poke around inside the hardware and come back with any recommendations.

In issue 234 of Computeractive we explore how to use Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor. So, refer to the magazine and then click to transfer to the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor download page.