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re: Getting Rid of Vista! Thursday, June 11, 2009 at 2:22 pm Posted by MartinM (7551 messages posted) Probably you can, but you FIRST have to make sure there are XP drivers for the main components in your new PC. You might get answers ofrm the manufacturer. If its a laptop you really will have to be sure - if a desktop you have a better chance of success. Personally I'd take an image backup with Acronis first, then if it all goes wrong you can simply revert to the Vista you currently have. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Getting Rid of Vista! Thursday, June 11, 2009 at 3:13 pm Posted by Alan Whinery (1 messages posted) Robyn, If you currently are running a valid Vista license, Microsoft may trade you for an XP license. Computerworld article: http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9040318 On Thursday, June 11, 2009 at 2:22 pm, MartinM wrote: > >Probably you can, but you FIRST have to make sure there are XP drivers for the main >components in your new PC. You might get answers ofrm the manufacturer. > >If its a laptop you really will have to be sure - if a desktop you have a better >chance of success. > >Personally I'd take an image backup with Acronis first, then if it all goes wrong >you can simply revert to the Vista you currently have. > [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Getting Rid of Vista! Thursday, June 11, 2009 at 11:19 pm Posted by Chris (14 messages posted) One thing you need to check on before changing your OS, is to make sure that you won’t lose the warranty from the laptop manufacturer. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Getting Rid of Vista! Friday, June 12, 2009 at 5:51 am Posted by Charlie Hadden (1338 messages posted) MS made a deal with the Manufacturers to provide XP as an alternate to Vista. It is charged to the manufacturer, but is supposed to be passed on free to the customer. This is on a volunteer basis only and there is no requirement that they do so. Secondly when one of the major manufacturers build an install disk for their machines they usually put in some recognition search to identify the machine. I know Compaq did this, therefore I assume HP does also. If you try to run those disks they in all probability will only come back with an argument saying it does not see a Compaq or what ever type the machine it is made for. In most cases you will need a plane Jane install upgrade disk or OEM copy to do an install. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Getting Rid of Vista! Friday, June 12, 2009 at 6:05 am Posted by Robyn Forgy (8 messages posted) Thanks so much for all the wonderful and helpful answers. I have a Gateway Desktop which is still under warranty which I'll ask about, it came with Vista 64 bit Home Premium and I kept the legal XP CD as well as a disc that says XP Drivers. My last computer was a 'mutt' with a small HD and only 126mb(?) of RAM. I'm disabled and the computer is what I spend most of my time with. I don't care for all the fancy bells and whistles or big programs, I'm learning web design and alot of my old programs won't run on Vista, I guess I just need something a little simpler, but I'm happy that I have a huge HD for all my Scrapbooking and a ton of RAM. Luckily I have everything saved to disc so if anything goes wrong I won't be losing anything. I guess I'll get in touch with Microsoft and Gateway and see what I can work out. I'm hanging onto the link to that website, it looks like it can be a great help. Thanks again! Robyn Robyn, Be kind, I'm new to this place, but have lurked for years. On Thursday, June 11, 2009 at 11:19 pm, Chris wrote: >One thing you need to check on before changing your OS, is to make sure that you >won’t lose the warranty from the laptop manufacturer. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Getting Rid of Vista! Friday, June 12, 2009 at 6:41 am Posted by Ricer46 (23825 messages posted) That driver disk is most likely for your old computer, and won't help you on this one. You need the specific drivers for your current system. On Friday, June 12, 2009 at 6:05 am, Robyn Forgy wrote: >Thanks so much for all the wonderful and helpful answers. I have a Gateway Desktop >which is still under warranty which I'll ask about, it came with Vista 64 bit Home >Premium and I kept the legal XP CD as well as a disc that says XP Drivers. My last >computer was a 'mutt' with a small HD and only 126mb(?) of RAM. I'm disabled and >the computer is what I spend most of my time with. I don't care for all the fancy >bells and whistles or big programs, I'm learning web design and alot of my old programs >won't run on Vista, I guess I just need something a little simpler, but I'm happy >that I have a huge HD for all my Scrapbooking and a ton of RAM. Luckily I have everything >saved to disc so if anything goes wrong I won't be losing anything. >I guess I'll get in touch with Microsoft and Gateway and see what I can work out. >I'm hanging onto the link to that website, it looks like it can be a great help. >Thanks again! >Robyn > > > > Robyn, >Be kind, I'm new to this place, but have lurked for years. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Getting Rid of Vista! Friday, June 12, 2009 at 10:57 am Posted by Gavin (4 messages posted) Depending on your disability you may find some of the new features of vista extremely helpful if you know about them. Talk to someone with real knowledge of Vista and your disability before changing to XP or you may later find that you made a big mistake. On Friday, June 12, 2009 at 6:05 am, Robyn Forgy wrote: >Thanks so much for all the wonderful and helpful answers. I have a Gateway Desktop >which is still under warranty which I'll ask about, it came with Vista 64 bit Home >Premium and I kept the legal XP CD as well as a disc that says XP Drivers. My last >computer was a 'mutt' with a small HD and only 126mb(?) of RAM. I'm disabled and >the computer is what I spend most of my time with. I don't care for all the fancy >bells and whistles or big programs, I'm learning web design and alot of my old programs >won't run on Vista, I guess I just need something a little simpler, but I'm happy >that I have a huge HD for all my Scrapbooking and a ton of RAM. Luckily I have everything >saved to disc so if anything goes wrong I won't be losing anything. >I guess I'll get in touch with Microsoft and Gateway and see what I can work out. >I'm hanging onto the link to that website, it looks like it can be a great help. >Thanks again! >Robyn > > > > Robyn, >Be kind, I'm new to this place, but have lurked for years. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Getting Rid of Vista! Friday, June 12, 2009 at 11:37 am Posted by Robyn Forgy (8 messages posted) Thanks Lots Gavin. I just get to live with Chronic Nerve Pain and there's nothing on there that'll help but thanks for calling attention to that. I know there's alot of helpful accessories on there. TY! Robyn, Be kind, I'm new to this place, but have lurked for years. On Friday, June 12, 2009 at 10:57 am, Gavin wrote: >Depending on your disability you may find some of the new features of vista extremely >helpful if you know about them. >Talk to someone with real knowledge of Vista and your disability before changing >to XP or you may later find that you made a big mistake. > > > [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Getting Rid of Vista! Saturday, June 13, 2009 at 9:16 am Posted by Gavin (4 messages posted) If you have more than 2GB of ram XP wont be able to utilise all of your hardware, also a dual core machine wont perform to it's best either. Make sure you use an imaging tool like Acronis before installing XP or at least use a tool to get your serial no. For Vista if you have access to a Vista disc.(the one on the back of your laptop is not usable for installing.) Unfortunately that is the reason I am on a Disability Pension too On Friday, June 12, 2009 at 11:37 am, Robyn Forgy wrote: >Thanks Lots Gavin. I just get to live with Chronic Nerve Pain and there's nothing >on there that'll help but thanks for calling attention to that. I know there's alot >of helpful accessories on there. TY! > > > > Robyn, >Be kind, I'm new to this place, but have lurked for years. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Getting Rid of Vista! Saturday, June 13, 2009 at 11:36 am Posted by Robyn Forgy (8 messages posted) I have 4GB of ram and a duel core CPU, I have my serial # and Product ID. I emailed Microsoft and they gave me a link to download recovery cd's for Vista. Would I need a regular Vista CD if I have the recovery discs? I've never used those so know nothing about how that works. Thanks! Robyn, Be kind, I'm new to this place, but have lurked for years. On Saturday, June 13, 2009 at 9:16 am, Gavin wrote: >If you have more than 2GB of ram XP wont be able to utilise all of your hardware, >also a dual core machine wont perform to it's best either. >Make sure you use an imaging tool like Acronis before installing XP or at least use >a tool to get your serial no. For Vista if you have access to a Vista disc.(the one >on the back of your laptop is not usable for installing.) >Unfortunately that is the reason I am on a Disability Pension too > > [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Getting Rid of Vista! Saturday, June 13, 2009 at 2:22 pm Posted by Mary (3 messages posted) Robyn, The recovery disks do not contain Vista itself. They are only for repairing a current Vista installation. It might pay to wait for Win 7. I have the RC and it is so much faster than Vista. You will need to get an email client such as Thunderbird if you go Win 7. I use it and do like TB. Did not like Windows Mail. You do probably have the recovery partition on your desktop. That should allow you to reinstall Vista if necessary. I did order recovery CDs from Gateway for my own desktop. There are about 8 CDs and should contain everything that was on my computer when I got it. You can probably also order them from Gateway, especially if the computer is still under warranty. I think I paid $20 for the disks. Another option is a program such as Ubuntu, a version of Linux that you can download or order CDs with the program. Mary On Saturday, June 13, 2009 at 11:36 am, Robyn Forgy wrote: >I have 4GB of ram and a duel core CPU, I have my serial # and Product ID. I emailed >Microsoft and they gave me a link to download recovery cd's for Vista. Would I need >a regular Vista CD if I have the recovery discs? I've never used those so know nothing >about how that works. >Thanks! > > > > > Robyn, >Be kind, I'm new to this place, but have lurked for years. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Getting Rid of Vista! Saturday, June 13, 2009 at 11:02 pm Posted by Gavin (4 messages posted) Your XP is most likely a 32bit version and will only be able to use 3gb ram max so it will just ignore the rest. Vista is better at utilising the dual core processor but once XP has all updates it should run about as well as it can. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Getting Rid of Vista! Sunday, June 14, 2009 at 4:14 pm Posted by MartinM (7551 messages posted) "If you have more than 2GB of ram XP wont be able to utilise all of your hardware". Simply not true. XP just ignores RAM it cannot use. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Getting Rid of Vista! Sunday, June 14, 2009 at 4:16 pm Posted by MartinM (7551 messages posted) "Your XP is most likely a 32bit version and will only be able to use 3gb ram max " Actually 32 bit XP will not even use 2GB of RAM. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Getting Rid of Vista! Sunday, June 14, 2009 at 4:17 pm Posted by MartinM (7551 messages posted) "Vista is better at utilising the dual core processor " Not so, the way Vista handles dual cores is very similar to XP, and anyway the critical factor is not the OS but the way the applications are written. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Getting Rid of Vista! Monday, June 15, 2009 at 5:56 pm Posted by Gavin (4 messages posted) Unfortunately I will have to stop helping here because of some other people on this board trying to argue for arguments sake. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Getting Rid of Vista! Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 8:45 am Posted by MartinM (7551 messages posted) Its a bad idea to leave incorrect information in public postings, so my comments are there so that others who may read these threads in future are not misled. Don't take it personally - we all make mistakes . . . I've made my share over the years and have been pleased to be put right when appropriate :-) [Reply or follow-up to this message] Tip: Use one of the [Reply or follow-up to this message] links above to add a message to this thread Search this forum Start a new thread on a different subject Report abuse of the forum Return to the Windows Vista Discussion Forum