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Windows Experience Index

What exactly is the Windows Experience Index?I saw this section displayed prominently in the System screen of the Control Panel and asked, what the blazes could this be (Figure 1)? My first thought was that maybe it was computing my level of experience based on my clicks and time spent (lost) on each page.

Well, according to the Help and Support, it is the following:

"The Windows Experience Index measures the capability of your computer's hardware and software configuration and expresses this measurement as a number called a base score. A higher base score generally means that your computer will perform better and faster than a computer with a lower base score, especially when performing more advanced and resource-intensive tasks.

Each hardware component receives an individual subscore. Your computer's base score is determined by the lowest subscore. For example, if the lowest subscore of an individual hardware component is 2.6, then the base score is 2.6. The base score is not an average of the combined subscores." (Figure 2)
Now, read between the lines. Your PC (or a component thereof) is obsolete. Go out and upgrade if you want the FULL experience. Okay, if my 1.8Ghz Pentium M notebook with 1Gb of memory isn't good enough because the gaming graphics don't have enough memory to run the Windows Aero theme, eh, I can live with that. Can you?
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