Back to XP, and loving it. [props to Vista haters]

My wife has a spiffy new Vista laptop. It handled with grace connecting the external projector without having to dive into the display properties and taping the usual Fn+F4 keys to cycle the displays till it worked.

Mind you I did eject Norton with prejudice and there was no real crapware on the machine so my experience is better than most.

Bob

know what you are saying...VISTA sucks...just tried to scan from my hp all in one printer... guess what...no good...vista does not recognize it to scan...but it prints...just another problem to go with all the rest...

Just a note to say I had the same problem with Vista and trying to get the HP scanner feature in my all in one (C7180) to 'function' with my new Dell E521 system. After numerous and various attempts to solve the situation, including an HP tech talk (no help) I stumbled across the solution! REMOVING the McAfee Virus software from the system!!! I'm now using the free AVAST antivirus program and everything works FINE! (I actually ended up doing a reinstall of Vista just to be certain I had COMPLETELY removed all the old virus files AS WELL as all the HP files prior to doing the HP reinstall.)

jan

All the programs that ran on my XP machine run great under VISTA. Everything is faster, networking is absolutely awesome. Booting in 19-24 seconds with my Intel Core 2 Duo. There?s no comparison in my opinion.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but in case you haven?t figured this out yet, nobody's making old MSDOS and Win 3.1 programs anymore.

Casey

Search: you can get free third-party search tools for XP

System diagnostics, event viewer: not sure about these, but they probably aren't all that great and most likely have third-party counterparts for XP

Speech Recognition: Windows XP has this, and it can be upgraded

Photo Gallery: there are countless free and commercial apps for this

Multiple USB Peripherals: I don't know what you are talking about, I have tons of USB devices plugged into my XP machine with no problems.

Loads faster: I'd like to see some hard data backing that up...

The GUI: Wow, not that it really matters, but you can get plenty of add-ons that make XP look/act like Vista, some even free from Microsoft *gasp*

Do I have to partition my XP for use of Ubuntu? Any problems in using the two together on the same computer? I am looking for a Microsoft alternative but I am not going to cut my nose off to spite my face by going with Mac since I would be in the same boat. They are just as proprietary about their software as Microsoft has become if not worse. Where is are the systems that lets the consumer choose? Why do we have to be railroaded into using all of one or all of the other? If their products are as good they claim to be they won't be able to keep them on the shelves if they are garbage as most of the junk they force us to adjust to, is then they will stay on the shelf where they belong. Maybe I just answered my own question.

If you wish to install Ubuntu then yes, you would have to partition your hard drive. However, you can also boot to/run it from the Ubuntu LiveCD instead of installing it, avoiding some of the fuss and letting you try it out before committing. Problems with partitioning and boot manager issues can arise, but most are caused by user error and glitches can usually be dealt with.

John

Hi Guys, It makes me wonder how mankind has moved on, as a once dedicated X P freak I tried Vista when it first came out....wow and its still wow, so much hidden depth, I only have 2 minor faults, windows calendar and defender which have irritating pop ups, my gaming seems better than ever, you do need a Gig of memory but we knew that. I get my kicks from seeing if it does what it says on the box, sad I know but hay Ho.
All the best Mick

I have been following the history of Vista for a long time. I became so convinced that Vista would cause me trouble that I went out and bought a new laptop with Windows XP Pro so that I could get reliable operation with my printer and other peripherals for the forseeable future. Since I have never trusted MS with security I believe I am better off with free third party firewall and virus protection. Thus the claim of better security in Vista did not convince me.

One day we all have to face the truth, Microsoft are experts at brainwashing. I mean, its just an operating system, its not the program(s) we turn a computer on to use! XP works, no need to think about the operating system any more! Instead we proceed to start up the program/reason we pushed the "on" button for in the first place!

Now to put this in true perspective, Vista upgrades cost big money. Yet we search out free or inexpensive shareware programs, or buy programs that REALLY do something WE want, not fiddly things MS TELLS US we want! We shop pricing on programs or games that provide hours and hours of exactly what we wanted.

We've been had!

Do I hve to buy a complete install of xp? to replace vista? or is there some kind of a backwards upgdrade I can find? I got the little laptop at walmart w/vista, started installing Word,AOL,Streets and trips and a few other programs I use a lot...one is a Bible program called Quick Verse... Ive got that program on 2 other laptops and 3 other pc s it works great on xp and pro... but NOT on Vista also my Defrag program has stopped working and the support people at Vista say there is no Program restore option.. only a system restore which means I ll have to back up before the hours of installing my programs, do a system restore and then hope things work out when I start re installing.. good grief what a mess... I hate vista.....I just laid the new laptop over in the corner and thats where it will stay till I decide if Im going to take it back to Walmart or attempt another fix... thanks for any help or suggestions... Grant

No real solution, I'd take it back and start fresh with a proper system. Lots of computer stores etc. will sell you a competitively priced XP Pro based system.

Yep your probaly right.. however I got it on sale for less than $400 and its a small fast internal wifi laptop, sure was hopeing to keep it, my Toshiba is much larger and heaver... thanks Grant

I looked and looked for Xp on a computer and the ONLY place I found that had it available was dell. Maybe I did not look hasrd enaough but 3 days of looking you would think I could find something. Dell was the only place I found,

One cannot downgrade Vista, meaning a complete reinstallation would be necessary. In addition, the right to receive a free downgrade to Windows XP is limited, making it doubtful that you'd qualify. Thus, you would have to purchase a full copy of Windows XP for installation.

Aside form that:
* What defrag program are you referring to? Windows Defragmenter or another?

* Windows XP didn't support individual program restoration either, only System Restore.

* System Restore automatically creates restore points before most individual installations, and you only have to revert as far back as you need to.

John

Thanks John for your reply...and I DO have a full install of XP and Pro as well... however I really dont want to go through the
"format c:" mess... I had hoped Vista would be ok... next, Of course Im talking about Windows Defrag! it has stopped working!!!! next, I know XP doesnt have a stand alone Program restore but I have Toshiba laptops that come with a PROGRAM RESTORE program that works great with XP and Pro but not VISTA... next, I know that the Vista system restore creates restore points... probaly you didnt understand my comments about that issue... I meant to say that if I go back to where my Windows defrag will work again, I will have to spend another 5 hours reloading all the programs I need again and who knows if one of them might knock the windows defrag out again.. I didnt have these problems when I loaded them on 95 or 98 or 2000Pro or XP... why should I be haveing them now??????

As far as I know no one is offering a downgrade option but some manufacturers are now offering choice on a new computer purchased online such as Dell and Gateway. You can use the upgrade version of XP if - you have a previous version of Windows - Me or 98, during install it will ask you for the CD to verify you have a previous version, your only problem may be if the laptop has a SATA drive, XP will not see it for installing so you will need to disable this feature in BOIS if it is there, since nothing comes with a floppy drive any more getting the drivers on during install can be a chore. The other down side is hunting down XP drivers for the hard ware on the computer, video, LAN, modem, sound as XP may have the generic versions of some of them but you won't have full use of the features. It must be an XP CD that is not installed on any other computer, it can't be an OEM CD from another computer. Other then open source software I do not know of any software maker that allows you to use one copy on more then two computers - usually a laptop and a main computer are allowed.

As for the defrag program I have used this one and it seems to do the job and is free: http://www.iobit.com/iobitsmartdefrag.html I have never been a fan of Windows defrag as it is slow and frankly I don't take the time and never do it. Since I test software, a lot is beta, for allot of people before I recommend it to them I do allot of install and uninstall so for me I also run a reg cleaner now and then and usually every year or so I do a complete format and install to start over again so it's like getting a new computer.

I purchased "good deal" Vista computer and put over 30 children's games on it ranging from old 95 to this year, what I did with the older programs that didn't want to install, is open the CD and right click on the installer and choose 95/98 compatibility, close that down and double click on the installer and they installed and run fine on Vista, I had problems with this in XP. I am down to one old version of Motorcycle Madness that will not run correctly but it did not run great on XP either.

My thought is if I got a computer for around $300 it would not be a deal if I had to also purchase XP for it - ram is given since even on inexpensive XP machines when it first came out, I have purchased that and now it is at a low so for $24-44 on sale, I upgrade that, where XP with Service Pack 2 has a sweet spot of at least 512RAM I would say Vista is 1GIG. Since we are not serious gamers this has always worked for me.

I purchased a mid priced computer with Vista on it the day it came out I have been able to do pretty much everything I need to do on it, since then I have purchased a laptop and another computer with it on it. I did actually purchase the XP upgrade for my main computer when Nero, my U3 flash drive and HP all in one didn't work as expected and then decided to switch between the two with dual boot, now for the past month I have been in Vista only, I can do with out Nero, the all in one has HP supplied generic drivers which they gave MS and I didn't use the U3 program past using it to safely eject the drive.

My only grip is wasting horse power on an operating system when I would rather use it for the programs I run on the computer, I have found some computers deal with Vista fine and actually do better where others are just a dog with it on there no matter what you do, I do allot of tweaks on the operating system as I run programs on my computers not look at the eye candy of the operating system hence I have no need for Areo or slide in and out stuff - all that gets turned off - I like nice wallpaper that's it. I turn off User Account Control as I haven't had that for 12 years I don't need it now.

What I do find amusing is how people bashed XP and now it's the best thing since the wheel. This entire thing has been a win win situation for vendors, some people are buying new hardware to conform, some are buying XP to go back and then some are just coping and dealing and are able to move on with Vista with out much ado. I have gone from Windows 3 to 95, 95 to 98, 98 to Me, XP was the biggest jump and caused a stir, now Vista is the same hub bub but more people have computers and actually use them so the roar is louder. Not much of my current software would run on the old Pentium 166MHz I have here so we have progressed and paid for it each time.

Hope this helps,
Northlite

Thanks Northlite for your comments however it seems no solution to the Vista inadaquces are present or avaliable, I really liked the small light Acer laptop, which made it great for traveling, I also have a perfect size travel bag with it... I ll keep the bag and hope to find another small laptop like the Acer maybe an HP or another Toshiba, but I can guarantee it will have XL or Pro on it....but in the mean time my VISTA gets returned to Walmart... thanks again to all.... Grant

Dell and HP still sell laptops with XP on them. After all the hue and cry a couple of months ago by those who didn't like the way Vista was going, Dell knuckled under and started selling XP machines again, as an option.

Microsoft will still support XP security patches until at least 2011, so that will give the market plenty of time for an alternative. Who knows, Microsoft may even rethink the way it does business by then. They may be knocking on wood, though...

WGA,

You are not alone. I spoke with a sales rep at Circuit City over the weekend and he said that they have had a lot of people return their computers because of Vista. Most people just want a new computer that they can turn on, add any of the games or programs that they have grown comfortable using and on which they depend, and get to work. Vista not only does not allow them to do this but they have to keep reaching in their pocket. Bells, whistles and cool applications get pretty old when you find out the trip you paid good money for never leaves the station and making you pay additional to get the train moving only succeeds in making you feel ripped off. Vista needs a whole new marketing campaign. People may not be so put off if they are told everything up front and if Microsoft is completely honest with them. Honesty, now that is a novel idea for a business plan.

Can you tell me which SONY CLIE did not work with Vista....I have an NX70V.

Hi there,

I'm running a Sony Clie PEG-T625C, and Vista (Home Premium OEM)wouldn't recognise it.
Any ideas or work around would be very much appreciated.

Thank you.

I'm not surprised your fresh install of Vista was faster, because your XP was probably far from its prime at that point. Do a clean install of XP and it will probably be even faster and you won't need a RAM upgrade or to replace your perfectly functioning "legacy" products.

The only software that didn't work with Vista was 8 years old.
Even Nero provided a free update patch. Ohotoshop 7 worked, no problem. Tried Linux the learning curve required a lot of time. I could use Vista on first bootup. The first few days with UAC were annoying, but that soon faded.