The first thing you should do after installing Windows Vista is to update the operating system. Microsoft has applauded with every occasion the pluses Windows Vista will introduce but it didn't steer clear of the operating system's faults either. In this regard, one of the minuses of Windows Vista is the quality of the device drivers the operating system will ship with.

According to Jim Allchin, former Microsoft Co-President, Platform and Services Division, the update infrastructure that Microsoft has set up with Windows Update and Automatic Update makes the "frozen in time" distribution problem basically a non-issue.

"What drivers are on all those brand-new Vista PCs that are on store shelves?" asked Steve Kleynhans, Gartner Research VP. "After all, those machines were likely assembled and loaded up several weeks ago. Will a buyer of a new machine be forced to immediately connect to Windows Update or scour all the component suppliers' Web sites to download the "real" drivers for their brand-new system?"

And the answer is yes. The first thing that Microsoft recommended Vista customers to do is to upgrade their brand-new operating system. No hard labor is involved, and in the end, it benefits the user. And in this regard, the absent drivers will impact the overall user experience for Windows Vista.

"The bottom line is that, with Vista, as with any new platform, early buyers of new Vista machines should expect that there will be a few rough spots to be worked through during the next few weeks, and they will need to stay connected to both Microsoft and their PC maker," added Kleynhans.