Laptop Problem

[tha_rock220]

I bought a laptop today, and I'm pretty happy with it. The only problem is that it runs Windows Vista. I might be old fashioned, but in my opinion Vista sucks, and XP Pro is far better. Does anyone know if XP can be installed on a computer that already has Vista??? Yeah I'd have to format and find all the drivers and whatever for the computer, but that's little price to pay. I haven't gotten a definitive answer from anybody I know.

[moofs]

Yeah, you can install XP over Vista, no problem. I was asking today and had Windows 7 recommended to me as being FAR superior to either of the other two, if you're willing to wait a bit (it's not released yet, but it's out with corporations in a limited facility as a Beta)

If you can find or borrow a cheap/free copy of XP, why not?
I wouldn't run with pre-installed software anyway, but then again, my PC's been down for 11 of 14 months (RAIDs are awesome, but they suck..., and I lose patience in dealing with them without them being from a good vendor very quickly)

[chan4wan]

The best suggest i give u is install vmare. Create virtual machines and then install any os you'd like. xp, ubuntu..
If vista sucks and you dislike it ,just format the disk and install XP .

[syj805]

I'm sure you can dual boot with two operating systems (installing it with Vista present), but I would probably remove Vista first. I dislike it too, a lot of redundant security features that get in the way. Most of the time, you have to run Admin in order to run certain programs.

[jove9]

Most retailers are offering free upgrades to Windows 7 if you buy a computer with Vista installed, since Win7 is right around the corner. Check back with who ever sold it to you.

Maybe you're missing out on a deal.

[moofs]

The best suggest i give u is install vmare. Create virtual machines and then install any os you'd like. xp, ubuntu..
If vista sucks and you dislike it ,just format the disk and install XP .

He's asking if you can install XP on a Vista machine and you're telling him to create, install, and run VMs and/or Linux? KISS man, KISS. (and no, not like this kind: : , this one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KISS_principle )

And yeah, check into what Jove said.

[tha_rock220]

Most retailers are offering free upgrades to Windows 7 if you buy a computer with Vista installed, since Win7 is right around the corner. Check back with who ever sold it to you.

Maybe you're missing out on a deal.

Yeah, that was offered.

The best suggest i give u is install vmare. Create virtual machines and then install any os you'd like. xp, ubuntu..
If vista sucks and you dislike it ,just format the disk and install XP .

I don't want to create VM's. That's just a waste of drive space.

Anyway, I finally just called Geek Squad and asked if it was possible. They said yes, but it might not go well and it will void the warranty. So I'm just going to wait for my windows 7 upgrade and hope it works well.

[jove9]

Posted today on Lifehacker:

Use Windows Easy Transfer to move all of your files and settings from your XP computer to your new Windows 7 PC.

http://lifehacker.com/5335812/easy-tran ... -windows-7

Keep it handy for when you or anyone you know decide to make the jump from XP to Win7.

[old rem]

I'm sure you can dual boot with two operating systems (installing it with Vista present), but I would probably remove Vista first. I dislike it too, a lot of redundant security features that get in the way. Most of the time, you have to run Admin in order to run certain programs.

You can do a boot/disc manager like Acronis Disk Director and multi boot. Create partitions for OS's,partitions for storage. You can have Vista+XP or W2k or a Linux...take your pick.

i prefer XP but a new puter will have the power and Ram to do Vista okay. I'd do a defrag (I like Ashampoo Magic Defrag which works in the background perfectly. Then Disk Director or Partition magic can create partitions. Disk Director includes the boot manager. Partition Magic usually comes with Bootmagic

VM...Virtual machine, is okay for experimenting but there's a performance hit. I also like distinct partitions as a guard against a crash. If you have many of your files on a seperate storage partition...they won't go down in an OS fail. If you have a second bootable OS...it's easy to access a partition with a dead boot sector or other damage...save stuff..and re-install.