I've had the same problems.  A friend of mine is a computer genius and it took him quite awhile to figure it out, he did get it to work with Vista.  When I download I have to save it in a folder and not open it until I pull it out of the folder. I have not had the time to play around with it yet to be able to tell you more.  It will work.

Just a reminder that you can also use the tags feature in our Community if you are looking for specific information on a product or issue, particularly the PE-700 and PE-700ii. For example, clicking on the 'brother pe-700 embroidery machine' tag gives you the following page:

http://www.annthegran.com/cs/tags/brother+pe-700+embroidery+machine/default.aspx

The page has every post in which someone has discussed this machine. It also contains a list of associated tags that helps you further narrow down the topics.

BB

OH MY GOODNESS....please let me know what you have found out and please put it in detail if you have the time.  I can bet I am as frustrated as you.  I think I read your post before I actually hit the button to purchase my pe700ll and called and talked to SOMEONE and they told me....Vista can be used.  I went ahead and bought the machine and cannot find any program that will support the VISTA.  Driving me nuts....

skbevans

I had the same problem with pedbasic not wanting to work on vista. But, I didn't add anything from the cd onto my computer. I went to brother's website and downloaded drivers and software. I did that going through Mozilla Firefox not msn. I had a computer guru tell me to download mozilla and I did and I use that as my browsing page when I want to download something for embroidery. You can also download Zipeg, a program just like winzip on this program is totally free. You don't have to buy the program. Most people don't know about it. I didn't, I found it  by mistake. Good luck.

oh yea, I had that problem on my laptop and using my 700II and on my desktop computer with installing and using ped basic.  My husband completely reformated my laptop and desktop and put xp on my laptop and reloaded it on my desktop. vista just doesn't work right with a lot of things. but rather than go through a headache everytime I want to embroider, this was my solution.

Are the design files that will not load within the maximum hoop size that PED Basics will accommodate?

I don't have my PE700 any more, but I remember the same issue.  The dealer told me that it was a number of designs limit, not a size limit.  However, if you had several designs that were huge, they may not fit either.

One thing about seeing that there is 'plenty' of space remaining is that some of that remaining space may well be 'phantom.'  By that, I mean that some space us needed for 'ram' or other technical reason.

I was sure that I could get a dozen designs, not too large, on my disk.  I do remember deleting and adding designs all the time.  That is mostly the reason that I upgraded.  I love to embroider, not to mess with cards.   I upgraded to a USB drive capable machine, and now I have an old PC dedicated to my embroidery, and hooked directly to my machine. 

Try to remember that at one time, you could only use minimal features.  Just like the rest of the world, embroidery is advancing rapidly. 

Another hint, if you are considering upgrading, all the dealers are really silent about pricing.  It is a technique they use to get as much for a machine as they possibly can.  One dealer will offer something for $1,000 while the exact same item will be $1,500 at the next dealer.

If you don't shop around, and spend time with the dealer, you will not find the best deal.  Embroidery machines make a dazzling demonstration.  They want you to salivate and take out your check book right then and there.   Try not to do that.

The Computerist / Pat, The Avid Embroiderer