For anyone worried about whether the forthcoming Microsoft Windows Vista operating system will run on their computer, help is at hand.

The Microsoft Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor scans computer hardware and warns of any part that may need replacing to be able to run Vista.

In addition, more information is now been made available on the Get Ready section on the Windows Vista website. This includes advice on which version of Vista is right for different people.

There will be several versions of Vista available for home users: Vista Home Basic, Vista Home Premium and Vista Ultimate. All will be available in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions, depending on the processor in the computer.

Microsoft is placing great store in the Aero Glass graphics interface in Windows Vista, and this will require a fairly powerful computer to run.

As a result, a recent announcement revealed that Microsoft will give two brandings for computers: Vista Capable and Vista Premium Ready. The difference is that the former will denote a PC that meets all requirements except the ability to display the advanced Aero Glass graphics.

You can read more about the practicalities of getting ready for Vista on sister site PCW's Test Bed blog, where this software was run on both an ordinary PC and an iMac.

The Advisor software requires the Mircrosoft .NET Framework to be installed.