Some tips before leaving Vista for XP

Leaving Vista for Windows XP

Published: March 13, 2008 (NYT)

Q. I recently bought a small laptop for travel but it only came with Windows Vista, which I find troublesome. I love the laptop for its size and would like to keep it, but can I remove Vista and install Windows XP instead?

A. Windows Vista comes installed on most new machine these days, but there are ways to “downgrade” the operating system to the older Windows XP. Before you take the backwards leap, however, there are a couple of things to consider.

Microsoft is rolling out a major update to Vista this month. Vista Service Pack 1 — a collection of bug fixes and enhancements to the operating system — may take care of many issues like frequent browser crashes, driver incompatibilities and other performance problems. You may want to install SP1 when it becomes available for your system (if it isn’t already) to see if it helps with your Vista frustration. Details about the upgrade can be found at www.winsupersite.com/faq/vista_sp1.asp.

But if you just don’t like Vista, there are some options to explore before Microsoft stops selling Windows XP at the end of June. Before you get too far, however, check with your laptop’s manufacturer to make sure Windows XP drivers are available for components like the hard drive and video card, so the hardware will work with the XP system software. Some computer makers offer Windows XP as an installed option, so you might try asking the manufacturer about an exchange or an operating-system swap. Some Vista Business and Ultimate laptops actually come with a downgrade disc to Windows XP Professional, or the manufacturer has a program in place to deal with the downgrade. If none of these options are available and you’ve checked to make sure there are XP drivers for your laptop’s hardware, Amazon, Staples and other stores still offer Windows XP for sale. If you aren’t comfortable extracting data like e-mail, contacts, documents and other personal files from the Vista system before you replace it with Windows XP, you may want to have a computer-repair shop handle the whole job for you.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/13/technology/personaltech/13askk-001.html?em&ex=1206072000&en=5f7499d342d4f0f9&ei=5087%0A