When it comes to trying out advance test versions of Windows, I'm a veteran of the wars. I understand that war is hell.

Microsoft gives advance copies --- called betas --- to testers for the purpose of finding problems. The newest version of Windows, called Vista, is scheduled for public release during the last half of 2006. But the first beta copy is in the hands of 10,000 testers, as well as a few reporters.

Beta testers stumble through the minefield, exploding the most obvious mines so the worst of the bugs can get fixed before public release.

Like I said, I've used a lot of Microsoft betas in my time. So I prepared for this adventure with a fresh Mountain Dew and a fatalistic attitude. Both were needed.

My adventure started the moment I put the installation disc in my PC. I selected my oldest computer --- which has enough oomph to meet the requirement for graphics cards and 512 megabytes of RAM --- because I didn't want to tie up my two newer PCs. The disc spun for a moment, but the PC failed to recognize it.

I tried the disc on a second and then a third machine, with the same experience. When I finally tried it on a fourth computer at work, I realized that the disc was a DVD, not a CD. Have I mentioned I can be a bit dim-witted? None of the machines I used had a DVD drive.

So we reach Vista lesson No. 1: If your computer doesn't have a DVD drive you may need to add one, or replace the computer, to use Windows Vista. I say "may need" because last time I talked to Microsoft the company hadn't decided whether it would be available on CD.

Next I got a modern laptop from the computer techs at work, popped in the DVD and watched installation begin. Things were looking up. For a while. Toward the end of the installation, an on-screen message told me installation had failed. I was battle-hardened by then and figured out that the laptop did not have a separate graphics card --- necessary for Vista.

Lesson No. 2: Your old computer, or even an inexpensive new computer, may need a new graphics card before you can even think of installing Vista.

I abandoned the laptop and went back to my original PC, to which I'd added a DVD drive (a process that had me thinking more about my Visa bill than Vista). I tried to think of a creative way to explain the expense to my wife.

Lesson No. 3: Vista encourages creative thinking.

With the new DVD drive installed, Vista loaded without problems. I was greeted with a screen welcoming me to Longhorn. Longhorn was the product's original name. Maybe marketing executives changed the name because they were worried consumers would confuse Windows with a steakhouse.

With Vista finally installed, I was eager to see how it worked with the programs already on the test computer. But when I clicked the Start button and searched for my old programs, nothing appeared.

So lesson No. 4 is that you may still have some installing left to do after you install Vista. The good news is that this is a test version. The commercial version may keep all your old programs intact.

I hunted for my copy of Microsoft Office to see how Vista works in the real world. It installed with no problems. Even on the old computer, the programs in Office seemed to load and work faster.

I didn't have an accurate way to test the speed, and I may have been influenced by test reports that show Vista is faster than XP. But the increase in speed did seem apparent, even when I tried the same tasks on a faster and newer computer at home.

Lesson No. 5 seems to be that speed may be one of the payoffs for the time and expense of upgrading to Vista. Couple that with the fact that Vista is more stable than XP --- and XP was a huge improvement over Windows ME and 98 --- and you get a nice performance boost.

Lesson No. 6 was also readily apparent. All those extra graphics requirements pay off in a screen and icons that look crisper, brighter and more modern than Windows XP.

That made me want to browse the Web with Vista and see how the new look translated to the online world. Only the test computer refused to recognize the connection to my wired router. It also fails to recognize my printer. It's been as haughty as a movie star at a fancy restaurant when it comes to recognizing lesser mortals.

Truth? There's no lesson here. The problems may involve one of two things: my own incompetence, or the fact that I'm working with a beta copy. In fact, Microsoft discouraged me from even loading this copy and asked that I wait for the next, more polished, beta release. This first beta is intended for software developers and technicians more interested in the inner workings of Vista than in fine-tuned features that will be part of the finished product.

But since Windows is used by so many people, it made sense to take an early look.

As a battered veteran of the Windows wars, I can tell you that Vista is likely to bring more good news than bad. And like it or not, most of us will be enlisting in the Vista corps within the next year or so.

tecbud@ajc.com