Have you successfully dumped Vista and returned to XP?

[fredpowledge]

I (unfortunately) bought a new Toshiba Satellite notebook with Vista
home "premium" on it. The operating system is dangerous, unreliable,
and slow. I want to return to XP Pro. I have a paid copy of XP Pro.

Has anyone successfully removed Vista from a computer that came with
Vista installed and replaced it with XP? I've seen plenty of
speculation from people who haven't actually done it, and I've read
all the "just get a Mac" advice. But has anyone actually *done* this
"upgrade"? Thanks.
--Fred Powledge

 

[Frank]

I (unfortunately) bought a new Toshiba Satellite notebook with Vista
home "premium" on it. The operating system is dangerous, unreliable,
and slow. I want to return to XP Pro. I have a paid copy of XP Pro.

Has anyone successfully removed Vista from a computer that came with
Vista installed and replaced it with XP? I've seen plenty of
speculation from people who haven't actually done it, and I've read
all the "just get a Mac" advice. But has anyone actually *done* this
"upgrade"? Thanks.
--Fred Powledge

I've done the reverse on my laptop. I reformatted the HDD, wiping out XP
Pro SP2, booted from the Vista DVD and installed Vista Ultimate (32bit).
My laptop is 1.3gighrtz with 1gig of RAM & 32megs of video. It's a
Compaq X1010US purchased new in '03.
It runs Vista in basic video mode and I've successfully loaded every
software program I want.
I have no problem with it at all.
Sorry, but going back to XP is not an upgrade.
Frank

 

[john]

yup, just booted off the XP CD, reformatted, no problem.
for me that was an UPGRADE

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

Please be advised that if you remove the preinstalled Windows Vista
from your new notebook, Toshiba will no longer support your PC.
Perhaps all you need is some additional RAM installed and then
learn how to use Vista correctly.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows - Shell/User

---------------------------------------------------------------------------­-----

fredpowledge wrote:

I (unfortunately) bought a new Toshiba Satellite notebook with Vista
home "premium" on it. The operating system is dangerous, unreliable,
and slow. I want to return to XP Pro. I have a paid copy of XP Pro.

Has anyone successfully removed Vista from a computer that came with
Vista installed and replaced it with XP? I've seen plenty of
speculation from people who haven't actually done it, and I've read
all the "just get a Mac" advice. But has anyone actually *done* this
"upgrade"? Thanks.
--Fred Powledge

 

[philo]

I (unfortunately) bought a new Toshiba Satellite notebook with Vista
home "premium" on it. The operating system is dangerous, unreliable,
and slow. I want to return to XP Pro. I have a paid copy of XP Pro.

Has anyone successfully removed Vista from a computer that came with
Vista installed and replaced it with XP? I've seen plenty of
speculation from people who haven't actually done it, and I've read
all the "just get a Mac" advice. But has anyone actually *done* this
"upgrade"? Thanks.
--Fred Powledge

If you read the newsgroups you'll see that there are plenty of folks going
back to XP...
I'd check in again on Vista toward then end of the year and see if any of
the bugs get fixed.

 

[Richard Urban]

I have only worked on one Toshiba laptop that came with Vista installed.

I would gladly trade my desktop with 4 hard drives (over 750 gig of drive
space), a CD-RW drive, a DVD-RW Combo drive, 2 gig of RAM, an Nvidia 6600
(256 meg DDR RAM) video card etc. for this fellows laptop that came with one
160 gig hard drive and a core-duo CPU. It flies - and everything works fine.

--


Regards,

Richard Urban MVP
Microsoft Windows Shell/User

 

[Deb]

When I try to open some word attachments in emails I get the message: "this
file does not have a programme associated with it for performing this
action. Create an association in the Set Associations control panel". I've
tried doing this in default programmes but not sure how I can do it. All my
other attachments open, it's only word. I have office 2007. Any ideas? As
you can probably tell, I am quite new to this. Thanks.
Deb.

 

[XS11E]

When I try to open some word attachments in emails I get the
message: "this file does not have a programme associated with it
for performing this action. Create an association in the Set
Associations control panel". I've tried doing this in default
programmes but not sure how I can do it. All my other attachments
open, it's only word. I have office 2007. Any ideas? As you can
probably tell, I am quite new to this. Thanks. Deb.

You need to start a new thread and not hijack an existing one.

Repost this message with a new header so people will know it's not
related to the previous topic

 

[Dan]

And what are the specs of your machine?

Dan

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP Windows Shell/User\)]

When I try to open some word attachments in emails I get the message:
"this file does not have a programme associated with it for
performing this action. Create an association in the Set Associations
control panel". I've tried doing this in default programmes but not
sure how I can do it. All my other attachments open, it's only word.
I have office 2007. Any ideas? As you can probably tell, I am quite
new to this. Thanks. Deb.

Deb, are you able to open word documents other than the attachments?

 

[Michael Solomon]

Deb, are you able to open word documents other than the attachments?

Whoops, and I am no longer an MVP...sorry about that. Just imported this
information into OE and forgot to check the properties.

 

[Dustin Harper]

Yes, I've done it. Have to reformat and reinstall. No big deal, another
clean install of XP. The girl's computer I was working on had some programs
that just wouldn't work with Vista (Really niche software for treatment
plant operation). She needed them for work. Can't work? Back to XP for now.
She says she will try and see if she can get a replacement that will work
with Vista.

 

[kirk jim]

and then

learn how to use Vista correctly.

ARRRRRGGG!!!!
It is arrogant replies like this that make my stomach tumble...

Then they ask why I am allergic to most MVPees......

 

[Dale M. White]

Which model is it ?

There really isn't too much to speculate about. If you have a full copy of
XP, it's pretty much a given that it will work. The only catch is if there
is any special drivers needed to load at boot time, you would need to get
them. More than likely if you go to Toshiba's website they will list
whatever OS files they have for that model of laptop. I just did a sample
search and looked at the cheapest laptop they had with Vista loaded the
Satellite A130-ST1311 and it list XP drivers and support. Most than likely
had you bought that laptop 4 months ago, it would have been a XP laptop.

I understand you're concern about theory versus application. I can't say
that I downgraded\Sidegraded whatever a Pure Vista system to a XP. But I
have taken XP system, loaded Vista and then reloaded XP when I was done. And
as Always, your mileage will vary from PC to PC, based on whatever hardware
is installed. I don't know there is any Special Vista only hardware out at
this time, and probably won't be for a while. After all, Vista is too small
of a market share to go after

But if you look up your model and Toshiba offers XP drivers for it, then
it's pretty safe to say that it was an XP laptop before it was a Vista
laptop.

Use what you feel best serves you. Right now, Vista isn't for everyone.

 

[Bill]

Sometimes Vista works, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes Vista works real
well for awhile, and then stops dead. Sometimes an update will fix a
problem, sometimes the same update will shut down a different machine.
Sometimes you have to reinstall the operating system, sometimes you cant
because you dont have a DVD, only a downloaded file. Sometimes you have
to reinstall the operating system again, sometimes you don't. Sometimes
you feel like a nut, sometimes you dont. I prefer Almond Joy (tm) to
Vista.

 

[DanS]

and then
learn how to use Vista correctly.

If that isn't snooty.....

What is there to learn to do 'correctly' ?

All you should need to do is power up and launch a few programs. Not much
to re-learn there.

You make it out like it some all new powerful OS that can be mind-
controlled, when you learn how to do it correctly.

 

[Frank]

Sometimes Vista works, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes Vista works real
well for awhile, and then stops dead. Sometimes an update will fix a
problem, sometimes the same update will shut down a different machine.
Sometimes you have to reinstall the operating system, sometimes you cant
because you dont have a DVD, only a downloaded file. Sometimes you have
to reinstall the operating system again, sometimes you don't. Sometimes
you feel like a nut, sometimes you dont. I prefer Almond Joy (tm) to
Vista.

You too must be having an out-of-body experience.
Love those Almond Joys!
Frank

 

[Dale M. White]

Yeah, I know alot of caveats. I would like to say, "If I had the laptop, I
could install XP, no problem". But since I don't know the technical
abilities of the Poster, and I don't know the exact model number to show XP
drivers, then I have to give as warm and fuzzy of a feeling as I can,
without leading him astray.

 

[Guest]

Give MS credit. It only took them 5 years to create Wind95 2nd Edition :>)

I bought a new Dell with Vista Home Premium edition. A "multimedia" version!
Yea, right. USB drives work sporadically, NAS drives barely work at all,
wireless networking can't seem to emulate what ethernet can do, and Windows
Explorer can't even recover from network errors that Vista itself creates
because these feature don't work right - and I'm going to build a multimedia
solution on top of that?

I'm definately going to have to dual boot this machine with Windows XP and
maybe the latest version of PCLinuxOS when its finalized. I'm sure not going
to get any reliability out of Vista.

 

[fredpowledge]

I (unfortunately) bought a new Toshiba Satellite notebook with Vista
home "premium" on it. The operating system is dangerous, unreliable,
and slow. I want to return to XP Pro. I have a paid copy of XP Pro.

Has anyone successfully removed Vista from a computer that came with
Vista installed and replaced it with XP? I've seen plenty of
speculation from people who haven't actually done it, and I've read
all the "just get a Mac" advice. But has anyone actually *done* this
"upgrade"? Thanks.
--Fred Powledge

Thank you (well, most of you) for your comments. Like one of the other
repliers, I also gag at the sight of the initials "MVP," especially
when they're accompanied by some self-serving, faux-superior, snobby
flapmouth.

The machine in question is a Toshiba Satellite A135-S4407. The part
number is PSADOU-03J00P. It came with 1GB of system memory, which I
have changed to 2GB. It has a 160GB hard drive.

Someone raised the question of my abilities. Fair question. I have
been using computers since the 1980s, and am no stranger to their
insides. I know how to format a drive. Because I have used only
Microsoft inadequate OSs, I am more than familiar with having to
reformat and restore drives. It is one of the abiding shames of my
life that I never achieved the exalted status of MVP.

Despite what someone said in the replies to my original message, this
machine (with Vista installed) will *not* run several of the programs
I depend upon. Also, I am (perhaps unreasonably) unwilling to put the
machine on a shelf and wait until Micros**t fixes some of its faults
just before the next Christmas shopping season. What unnerves me most,
actually, are (1) its inability or unwillingness to easily synchronize
data with my desktop, (2) MS's delight in renaming pretty much every
procedure used on the computer, thus wasting more of my time, and (3)
its eerie message, when I try to overwrite a data file (that exists on
a thumb drive, say) to a similarly-named file on the Toshiba, that
asks me if I want to "merge" the files. Replace, yes. Overwrite, yes.
Ignore, maybe. But merge? To me, this is a glowing example of how bad
a job MS has done on this computer.

Two more points of information: As soon as I started using the
computer, I called Toshiba "support" and was told that this computer
would only run Vista. And I took the computer to an authorized Toshiba
shop and asked them to perform the "upgrade" for cold, hard cash. They
tried for several hours and said they couldn't get the drivers and
that I was stuck.

--FP