New PC w/Vista but want to install XP, etc how!??

obeyray · 12 May 2009 at 22:38

So I'm being given this PC setup from work:

AMD Athlon X2 Dual-Core 4850e Processor (Operates at 2.5GHz | 512KB x 2 L2 cache)
Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit with Service Pack 1
NVIDIA GeForce 8200 Chipset
4GB DDR2 Memory
Integrated NVIDIA GeForce 8200 Graphics
320GB SATA 7200RPM Hard Drive
SuperMulti Double-Layer DVD+/-RW, DVD-RAM
Multi-in-One Digital Media Card Reader
56k ITU v.92 ready Fax/Modem (RJ-11 port)
9 - USB 2.0 Ports (5 Front, 4 Rear)
1 - HDMI Port
1 - IEEE 1394 Port (1 Front)

First off, this is a HUGE upgrade compared to my outdated PC, but what do you more experienced users think of this?!

Second, I am not too fond of Vista and would like to install XP. What is the best way to go about this. I also have another 250GB HDD that I believe already has XP on it, can I somehow just format it and install XP on that or what could I do with it!? Please let me know guys/girls, thanks....

Kennysevenfold · 12 May 2009 at 22:44

pop in the other hard drive...

boot from xp cd

format and install xp,

set that drive as the first bootable drive in the bios so it loads instead of the vista drive..

and go install the drivers etc

Glaucus · 12 May 2009 at 22:55

stick xp cd in. Boot pc up, press any key to boot of cd and install. however why on earth would you install xp. Give vista a week or two. Turn uac of. It is a far superior OS.

neil_g · 12 May 2009 at 22:58

turn the classic theme on, job done

would your work wanting you putting xp on it?

StevenRaith · 12 May 2009 at 23:10

AcidHell2 said:
stick xp cd in. Boot pc up, press any key to boot of cd and install. however why on earth would you install xp. Give vista a week or two. Turn uac of. It is a far superior OS.

Get the Windows 7 release candidate - it's a bloody good OS.

You can't have Classic Start Menu in it, but it's leaps and bounds ahead of both Vista and XP in every respect - this coming from a dedicated XP appreciator.

If you get any problems with it, you can always just wipe it and pop XP on it, but the release candidate is free, it works [and works well] and it will be quite, quite zippy on that spec. Zippier than XP 32bit in my experience [Q6600, 8gb RAM, 4850].

Mattus · 13 May 2009 at 02:37

Yep, either keep Vista or install the 7 RC. No point downgrading to XP on a system of that spec - you'd be changing to an outdated OS which wouldn't make the most of your hardware. Assuming it's 32-bit XP you'd be changing to, it wouldn't even use all of your RAM.

Does your bad impression of Vista come from the pre-SP1 days? It's really very good now and I'd only recommend XP for netbooks these days.

Louis_Y · 13 May 2009 at 04:25

+1 for don't bother unless you really have to. Vista has finally become mature in terms of drivers, and with UAC off is pretty nice to use once you get used to the differences from XP. I don't see the point downgrading tbh.

wrayvon · 13 May 2009 at 11:31

Agreed, UAC is a complete waste of time, turning it off was the first thing I did! I still use XP on my laptop as its not that powerful, but I use vista on my pc.

Fire Wizard · 13 May 2009 at 11:41

I can't really add anything more to what everyone else has already said. Give Windows Vista another try since it really is a great operating system. Regarding User Account Control, after you have gone past that initial stage of installing and configuring Windows Vista, the prompts should quieten down and they really shouldn't be much of a problem.

wrayvon said:
Agreed, UAC is a complete waste of time, turning it off was the first thing I did! I still use XP on my laptop as its not that powerful, but I use vista on my pc.

User Account Control may be considered to be annoying to some people but it certainly isn't a waste of time.

wrayvon · 13 May 2009 at 11:56

Fire Wizard said:
User Account Control may be considered to be annoying to some people but it certainly isn't a waste of time.

It is if your the only one using the pc ever

Fire Wizard · 13 May 2009 at 13:54

wrayvon said:
It is if your the only one using the pc ever

It doesn't matter how many people use a computer, User Account Control benefits everyone.

reflux · 13 May 2009 at 13:56

^^Hmmm, fair enough. Personally I turn it off practically as soon as Vista/W7 has installed as I find it irritating, intrusive and unnecessary.

wrayvon · 13 May 2009 at 14:08

Fire Wizard said:
It doesn't matter how many people use a computer, User Account Control benefits everyone.

Can't say its ever benefited me...

I understand why its there though, people who are probably less aware of how a computer works will find it beneficial to have it on.

Louis_Y · 13 May 2009 at 16:05

UAC isn't a bad idea in principle, but it becomes so intrusive as to be counter productive. After a short time, I can pretty much guarantee that no-one will be reading the prompts anymore, just clicking to get rid of the dialogue boxes.

DrMekon · 13 May 2009 at 17:30

stick xp cd in. Boot pc up, press any key to boot of cd and install. however why on earth would you install xp. Give vista a week or two. Turn uac of. It is a far superior OS.

lol.. you got a version that no one else has tried...???

Ive tried vista 3 times now.. and give up after a couple of weeks.. must admit, not tried sp2 yet.. Loving 7rc though, but xp is still os of choice for me, and most of my friends and colleagues who work in i.t...

Glaucus · 13 May 2009 at 17:32

Vista is far superior. what didn't you like on vista. vsta is simply head and shoulders above xp.

Mattus · 13 May 2009 at 18:56

DrMekon said:
Ive tried vista 3 times now.. and give up after a couple of weeks.. must admit, not tried sp2 yet.. Loving 7rc though, but xp is still os of choice for me, and most of my friends and colleagues who work in i.t...

I'd be interested to know what it is that makes you hate Vista but love 7?

daz87uk · 13 May 2009 at 19:42

Just a point to make you have 4GB of ram, although I prefere xp to vista. xp only supports 3Gb of Ram unless by chance you like Xp64bit? you will only be able to use 3GB of ram :/. On the other hand I found the rc1 release of 7 to have gotten rid of most of the vista "hate" parts except the start menu which im afraid I also hate

daz87uk · 13 May 2009 at 19:53

Mattus said:
I'd be interested to know what it is that makes you hate Vista but love 7?

Personally I think they made the options harder to change,
not being able to choose a default location for Data storage using the "my profile".
The start menu is just far to weird I only like the search function,
Forcing IE on you. I use firefox and apps etc would use IE8 instead of firefox even tho I had changed the default to firefox. 64bit had a lot of problems at the time as well. I wont list all the issues I had but 7 has corrected a lot of them apart from the start menu :rolleyes:

obeyray · 13 May 2009 at 21:14

Thanks for alllll this feedback fellas...
So the reason why I didnt like Vista was because the errors and or little things I missed from VISTA, but this was before any SP's were released for Vista. Also, as somebody else mentioned, if XP only uses up to 3GB of ram, then yeah I wouldnt want to downgrade if I cant take full advantage of my PC.
Another thing, I found that a lot of various programs or tools, or other "torrents" I used or have had problems runnning on Vista. Is this something that maybe the SP fixed or is that just maybe because many of these tools or programs, etc werent made with Vista in mind??!