replacing vista with xp

[feistycurves]

i need to take vista off my laptop and put xp on it. can anyone tell me how i do this?

[ChuckFickens]

buy XP disk, insert in CD drive, restart laptop and follow on screen prompts to wipe hard drive and install vista.

Beware if it's a modern laptop you may not be able to get XP drivers for everything and if you follow my instructions above it will wipe all your personal info of the laptop too.

why are you downgrading? I don't like vista but it's a huge hassle to downgrade if you don't know what your doing.

[feistycurves]

i plan on taking all my personal info off before i do it.

i'm downgrading because the computer doesn't have a lot of memory, and vista uses up so bloody much of it.

[Ethel]

It may be easier to put more memory in - I put more RAM in my laptop a few months ago and it is very easy to do.

[ACtheTROLL]

are you sure you can?

check the mfrs website to make sure that xp drivers are available before you jump ship

[vehelpfulguy]

If this is a fairly new laptop and came with Vista already installed then to be honest I would stick with it, and as others have said, add more memory, which is VERY easy.

If it is an older laptop that originally came with XP (and was later upgraded to Vista) then you may have the original XP disks so you can re-install.

As others have said, drivers are the main issue. If you have never installed an operating system before (and you sound as though you havent) then you may not understand the importance of drivers.

Every piece of hardware inside your laptop needs a driver (sound, graphics, networking, other things you may never have even heard of).

AFTER you install an operating system you then need to install the drivers. If you dont then you may find than many things on your laptop do not work.

If it is a NEW laptop it may be that nobody has ever written XP drivers so you may not be able to get these things to work at all under XP.

To be honest if you dont know what you are doing you are entering a bit of a minefield.

Just add more memory (have at least 1Gb, although 2Gb would be best) and it will solve all your problems.

[feistycurves]

it's a new (last year) laptop which came with vista.

i'd be happy to stick with vista if i could get it to run faster. how would i add more memory?

[snagged]

Go here: http://www.crucial.com/uk/

Go to the 'Crucial Memory Advisor Tool' at the top right of page.

Choose your laptop make, specs etc. from the drop down lists.

This will then take you to the correct memory stick for your machine.

Refer to your laptop's manual as to how many additional slots your laptop has - and where/how to fit it.

[vehelpfulguy]

Or go to the site above and just choose "Scan my system"

This will scan your laptop and tell you what memory you already have, and what memory you can add.

If you dont understand the reply you get then post the details here and we will help you find some memory.

http://www.crucial.com/uk/

[ACtheTROLL]

if it's a new (ish) laptop you shouldn't need to add memory

certainly if you have 2Gb - don't get more

if you run the crucial tool and it says you have 1Gb - 2x512 - I'd be reluctant to get more - cause you'll have to buy 2 new 1Gb sticks

people always say add more memory - throwing in more memory isn't always the best plan - if it was slow from new and still is - more memory could help.

if it was OK and now is slow - and you haven't just started editing movies - using photoshop or huge databases or the latest games ....

something is wrong - just installing more memory won't cure it.