Please speak slowly, I get confused, lol. I need to know how much trouble it would be to take Vista off my machine, and put XP or something similar on it. Would I lose everything? Music, programs installed, etc? And I need to know how much to expect to pay for such a thing. Thanks!
The best thing would be to complete erase the hard drive and start over. So that would be a yes. But you can back the hard drive up and just copy things back after the re-format.
Which version of Vista do you have? Some PC manufacturers are giving downgrades to XP free if you have Vista Business or Vista Ultimate. They realize it's a POS. Would I lose everything? Music: No, if you back them up to a partition on the drive or another drive. Programs installed: Yes, if they were packaged on the PC ("maybe", if they are on the original CD as a seperate program) If they were loaded from a non-packaged CD you can reload the software. To backup your existing "important" files and load XP should run you about $60 to $70 if XP is free. XP is around $90 if not.
I forgot an important question, Laptop or Desktop? If a Laptop, the drivers on the CD provided with the machine may not work with XP and the person loading XP would have to search the web for the correct drivers. This may add a few dollars to the cost. Note: Before you erase the laptop drive, the person should identify all the harware items in the machine first. After it's erased you'll be pulling out your hair trying to do so. A desktop you can open the case and read whats in it.
Ok, it's a desktop. So basically what you're telling me is that I can just back up to disk, any pics/music/files/programs that I want to save, remove Vista from the machine, and put in XP? I may have an XP disk from our old computer....
ddrdan, I have Windows Vista Home Premium on a Dell Laptop....have you heard if Dell is making the downgrades? or any suggestions on where I could find that out?
Thanks SS. I appreciate the link and the non smart a**ness. I am still not sure about all this, but they have live chat, so I am going to go on there and see what my options are. Have a great weekend, and behave for goodness sakes.
Sorry for the delay Jen. Yes You can. If the XP disk is from a proprietary computer like HP or Dell or others it won't work. It has to be a full version. The XP disks for those PC's will only work on that series of PC. The steps you want, Identify the Hardware and print it. Web search and find the drivers and create a CD with them on it. Backup the files you want to an alternate hard drive, DVD or CD's. Make SURE you have the license # for the XP disk. Format the PC hard drive. Load XP. I'm curious, what did Dell say? I pee'd and moaned to them about 2 months ago for a customer on a laptop and they outright refused. Even after my going thru three tiers of management. Found it was not their choice. It is Microsoft who is standing hard on the issue. They said "Microsoft says people will get use to it after time and the problems will go away." I believe that's what they said about Windows ME too???
Well they were actually very helpful. I chatted with a support specialist who would walk me through the steps to install XP and get rid of Vista (at no charge too), however, once I got rid of Vista, Dell won't give me technical support. They will continue with the hardrive and troubleshooting with the XP. So the support tech offered me a 60 day trial of Windows Office, which will help with the Word problems I have for the short term. Of course, she supported Vista and encouraged me to be patient with the new system transition...which they have to, understandably. So for now, I am going to keep the Vista, use the 60 day trial and then decide what what to do! She also said it was a 'common complaint/request'.
Hey Jenn, call me tomorrow and i will give you DS phone number and you can call him and i am sure he can take care of it for ya - what will i do when he moves out i have no idea.
