It cracks me up that there are a ton of people on here with no technical knowledge spouting off like they're IT professionals. Does anyone in here understand how Vista works and why it appears to more heavily utilize the processor and memory at idle? Do a bit of reading. The more you use Vista, the more it tracks what programs you use the most and it tries to preload them based on your habits. No, it's not reporting that info to anyone. Of course, this process is in it's infancy so it's not fully fleshed out but it's a great idea. An idle processor and unused RAM are doing you no good. And for those who will say, what if it guesses wrong and preloads the wrong software. It doesn't matter, loading the newly requested software takes no more time if other data was preloaded. Yes, Vista is not up to par with XP SP2 yet for gaming on standard rigs. I'm running a newly built rig with XP x64 on it and I'm debating the move to Vista 64. The 64 bit OS allows me address more RAM and I'll be moving from 4GB to 8GB. Add readyboost to that and I bet Vista will be running every bit as fast as XP. The issues only really effect those who have older rigs. When I add a second 8800 GTX, I'll be running any game at max settings with no difficulty. So, while it's fine to say that XP SP2 is better for older rigs, I think you need to do a bit more research before you count out Vista. Do yourselves a favor, move to a 64 bit OS as soon as you can.(XP or Vista) Most of the drivers are ready to roll. The only issues that you might have will be anti-virus products. I suggest Avast as it runs on 64 bit systems with no issues. Good luck and again, do your research before you go parroting what the mindless masses say.