Do you Like Vista?

[MilesAhead]

NightbladeXX I'm just curious. When you installed both OS I take it you had XP on then added Vista? How did it go? I'm wondering because I've seen some stuff that if you have Vista to start, then put on XP you have to mess with Vista bootup files to get it bootable again. I'm thinking when I get the next machine I might add XP to this Vista machine so it doesn't seem so slow compared to the next(hopefully quad core) PC.

[Baleno_E]

I prefer Xp, almost all the programs are compatibl with xp.

[hello people]

I just bought a laptop...of course it has Vista on it. I like it...no troubles yet. I have not tried to install much of my PC software which is running on XP. Anyway, I think it's going well. Set everything to Windows Classic view, just the way I like it. Got rid of the sidebar and all the rest of the crap.

[MilesAhead]

In the Works With Vista category I'll add Paragon Drive Backup Personal 8.51.
I had occasion to test out the restore a few days ago. Worked as advertised. The only thing I haven't done on Vista is make the hidden disk partition for the backup. I'm using an external drive. I've heard things about Vista being testy about partition resizing so I didn't want to take the chance. Anyway, I laid the entire C: partition back on and all seems good.

[RFBurns]

Well so far I have had very good results with this new Vista PC. Especially after upgrading the memory on it.

I have had only one problem with software, a racing game that wont see the 3d card correctly (nascar sim racing and its cube3d configuration program).

Otherwise its been a very good PC (knocks on wood and peers over his left at his win98SE machine still running just fine!).

[ulTRAX]

I had to get a new PC when the HD on my old XP PC fried. The old PC wasn't worth the investement in a new IDE drive. By day 2 of owning the new Vista PC I was ready to scream.

I detest with a passion the new file management system. When I want to move files between drives I want to MOVE them not copy them. But I can't find any move option between drives. So when I moved 5400 recovered eml email files to my C drive I had to then delete the originals THEN delete them again from trash. It's idiotic. Why didn't they just keep the move to/copy to icons??? No they eliminated them. I'm looking for Win Explorer replacements like PowerDesk.

Scandalous are the program incompatibilities. In those first two days as I was reinstalling key software I found the following would not work:

Nero 7
Zone Alarm Pro
WS_FTP Pro 2007
System Mechanic 6
Ghost Recon
PeerGuardian2

plus some problems with some less known programs. I was ready to go back to XP in a heartbeat... and may still.

[ulTRAX]

The only thing I haven't done on Vista is make the hidden disk partition for the backup. I'm using an external drive.

You're better off using a separate drive for backup. Don't want all your eggs in one basket. In fact besides my external... formally my second drive in my old PC... I also have a few portable drives... and when I backup files to one I keep it stored in a different location. What good are two drives at home if the house burns down LOL.

[MilesAhead]

ulTRAX on the Vista file move thing, you might want to give TeraCopy a try.
It's one of the few programs that seems to work better in Vista than XP. (I only use it
on XP to copy over the network. For some reason moves to another folder the destination doesn't always show up... might be because it's a shared folder or something.) Anyway, what I like about it is there's a slider you can use to adjust the file buffer. When you find the optimal setting, change the "Options.ini" file and make it default. Here's the link:

http://www.codesector.com/teracopy.asp

[Saqib Din]

Vista is wicked but only if u have it preinstalled

[wiki_fox]

I dislike Windows explorer. Besides there is a number of well done gadgets

[kass]

Vista

I just bought my first laptop which has Vista. I had heard from a number of people in electronics before I bought it to try and stay away from Vista do to incompatibility issues. I ended up with Vista because according to the salesman, you can't buy hardware without the latest version of Windows. Unfortunately, I have found that the warnings were warranted. I am limited to what I can do because of Vista, which defeats the purpose of buying the laptop in the first place, which was not cheap. Now I have to figure out how to downgrade to XP. I'm a complete newbie and don't know what I'm doing.

Can anyone advise on how you do this safely without losing Vista altogether?

[MilesAhead]

The best bet might be to run SIW a freeware you can download here:

http://www.gtopala.com/

to get a list of your hardware and the installed drivers. If there are
XP drivers for all the hardware then you stand a good chance somebody
can add XP to your system(you'll come up to a boot screen that will
ask you to choose to boot Vista or XP.)

If your laptop has a large hard drive then you might be okay.. depending on
what apps you run and how much data you keep on the HD etc..

[Chewy]

kass,

you might request a full refund, you can still order laptops with xp if you look hard enough online, or add more ram and upgrade to programs that like vista

[gonwk]

Hi folks,

@ Miles ... where in the world you find these "goodies" programs ... THANKS! BTW, I wonder if someone has written a step-by-step guide for installing WindowsXP on a pre-installed Vista ... you know the way you mentioned ... so a person can boot-up to whatever version he/she wants.

Also, Wishing ALL of you folks a Healthy & Happy Holiday Season!

G!

[Chewy]

I wouldn't think it was a safe proposition to install windows xp to the same partition/hard drive as Vista.