Anyone using Vista x64 for home computer?

I've been using it for quite a while. I haven't had any problems finding drivers for my hardware. Where there haven't been Vista x64 drivers available, the XP x64 drivers have worked well. I HAVE had some issues where the drivers were crappy, and it was an old piece of hardware that the vendor didn't support anymore.

You might want to try the newly-launched Vista Compatibility Center. It will give you info on the hardware that's supported, and links to the vendor's website if you need to download drivers.

You can use that as a resource before/after purchasing hardware. Another pre-purchase guideline is to look for hardware that has the "Certified for Windows Vista" logo. More info here. I believe that in all cases now, devices with that logo must have 32-bit and 64-bit drivers available. If you're looking for drivers for a product and can't find any, send me a PM and I'll do my best to help.

You might have issues with some older antivirus programs. Those programs load drivers (just like hardware does). You should be able to go to their website and download a more recent version.

Out of curiosity, what PC did you purchase and where was it purchased? I've noticed that Office Depot ads point out which PC's have 64-bit OS's, but I haven't noticed that at other stores (at least not in the ads).

My limited exposure to x64 operating systems (mainly XP but a little Vista) has taught a handful of important things to keep in mind.

The older the hardware, the more difficult (if at all) you will find getting drivers. ALL device drivers must be 64-bit. For a brand new computer this should not be a problem, however. More of a problem integrating older components.

Software gets a bit trickier even as it has some flexibility.

Applications can be either 64-bit or 32-bit... No 16-bit support, so if you have an application that is 32-bit but relies on a 16-bit legacy component either to install or for some features... then you can kiss it goodbye or at least partially goodbye. Some apps will run but will not install because of 16-bit installer code. Some apps will install but some features will be unavailable. Some apps will not run at all. As already suggested, check the compatibility list or you can experiment on your own to see what works and what doesn't.

Another thing... An application must be all 64-bit OR all 32-bit. The aforementioned problem with Flash not having a 64-bit version yet is why he is forced to use 32-bit Windows Explorer. Can't run the 32-bit Flash plugin within 64-bit IE... so the lack of a particular 64-bit plugin forces the use of 32-bit IE if it is something common you will run into. Other such things exist. I'm aware, for example, that ACDSee will install but the Explorer extentions do not function. The app itself runs, but since it is 32-bit it cannot integrate with the 64-bit desktop and Explorer so some loss of functionality occurs.

It is a huge YMMV situation because some folks will run into all kinds of problems while others will not see a glitch at all, depending upon what you need to run.

Not only must all hardware drivers be 64 bit, they must be digitally signed. I have one PC running Vista Ultimate 64 bit, which previously ran XP 64, then one running Windows Server 2008 64 bit and one running Windows Server 2003 R2 64 bit. No problems on any of them that I can think of. I did check however that all my hardware had 64 bit drivers before installing, as I do with any O/S. I guess the one issue that I do have is that MSI (who happens to make the motherboards on my 64 bit PCs) does not yet have Live Update for the BIOS that works on any 64 bit O/S and upgrading the BIOS with no floppy drives on the PC and NTFS on the hard drives doesn't make it as easy as it should be.

The only app I can't get working is the DIVX converter on the 2003 R2 Server, which is strange because before the 2008 Server had 2003 R2 before I formatted and installed clean... and it worked just fine on that one and they are virtually identical in hardware. One uses an Opteron 64 bit and the other uses a X2 64 bit. Same Mobos, same graphics cards, same NICs etc etc. Just one of those quirky things.

Everything else is fine.

Thanks for all the replies everyone.

Getting a new computer has been quite a saga for me. My old one was going bad in May, so I bought a new HP-Compaq at Best Buy on May 8th. At the end of May, the new computer went bad....screen went black, power stayed on, fan speed/noise of CPU fan doubled. Took it back to Best Buy, and exchanged it for another one. Well, on July 3rd, the exact same problem occurred with this new one...screen goes black, fan speed/noise increases, and can't do anything.

I had the protection plan from Best Buy, however, they were not able to fix it. My guess is that something shorted out on the motherboard and couldn't be replaced.

Needless to say, after 2 of the same failures, I switched from the Compaq Presario to HP Pavillion. The main problem with x64 was my wife does call center work from home, and the company she works for appears to be behind the times, as they were stating that she would have problems staying on x64. They also just started supporting Vista in April, and IE 7 in December....they are definitely not cutting edge with supporting their apps on the latest software.