xp

[blondieb]

i have windows vista on my pc, but also have an old pc with xp pro, i hate win vista, can i use my xp disk and re format my pc and install xp over vista

[Ethel]

It depends - have you got full XP on disks, or just a recovery disk?

If it's the former - yes. Otherwise no.

[blondieb]

i have the full disk with xp, and also have the full motherborad and drivers disk for the pc with vista, is it just a case of reformatting and installing ie clean install, then reinstalling my other software that ive put on my self,

[VHG]

If you have the "OEM" version of XP then you are not allowed to move it to another PC, it is part of the licensing agreement.

If you put it on the new PC then you are likely to get a warning from Microsoft that it is being used on more than one PC and may stop working.

You can make Vista "look" like XP if you want. It is possible to change the user interface to give it the XP look. Try that.

While I prefer XP over Vista I think going back to XP on a new PC is not a great idea.

Remember that Microsoft wil lprobably stop building securoty fixes for XP soon, whereas they will continue building Vista security fixes for a long time.

[beso]

Vista Home does not have downgrade rights.

OEM Vista Business and Vista Ultimate can be downgraded to XP.

You will need the XP drivers for your new PC. Depending on your hardware XP drivers may not be available for some components but they probably will be. I would go looking for the drivers before making a decision.

[rojash]

You could always try Windows 7 Release Candidate 1. It's free (2.3GB download) and will run for a year before it expires - at which point you will need to buy a copy.
It's waaaaay better than Vista, and you shouldn't have any problems using Vista drivers with it.