Downgrading to XP SP3

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Falcon_LS

Falcon_LS

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Or maybe I should use the term "upgrading" because Vista is such a downgrade from XP as far as usability is concerned.
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Anyhow, my laptop (Asus X50RL-AP311C) originally came with Vista Home Premium and I am very tempted to switch it to XP SP3. Ever since I've bought it roughly 2 years ago, I have been facing nothing but trouble with the operating system - even after multiple clean formats. Even with 4 GB of memory, it's slow and unreliable. Sometimes it takes 20 minutes to load Windows - even in Safe Mode, or after disabling every start up application.

I'm not a fan of Windows Update, and usually disable it on all my computers...but I reckoned maybe the updates would fix the problems. Instead they made them even worse.
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Now the computer sometimes freezes whilst loading Windows, even though the green process bar is moving.

The only applications I have installed on this system are Office 2007, Symantec Antivirus, Ad-Aware Pro and Firefox. It only accesses the Internet to update anti spyware/virus definitions and occasionally check email...it's used for work so to speak, so no other applications are on it. My desktop, with XP Pro SP3, has the same applications with a whole lot more and doesn't cause any problems. I've only installed SP3 last year, and haven't reformated this system in 4 years...it also runs 24/7!

Having said that, would it be worthwhile switching this system to XP? Has anybody downgraded their computers, that originally came with Vista, back to XP? Drivers are available, so that isn't a problem...and I'm sure I can utilise the hardware better with XP, since it isn't as heavy an application. Thought I'd ask for some input from other people who have done in on their systems. Thanks!
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Based on your applications, why bother with Windows at all? I'm running a similar vintage Asus notebook (Asus W3J) with Ubuntu Linux and it just plain worked without any fiddling. For a windows user, it would be a very easy switch and you could use openoffice (which will be installed by default and has been 100% compatible for me so far) instead of Microsoft Office and Firefox and don't need anti-virus software at all. It absolutely flies compared to Vista and is 100% free.

Download Ubuntu here: http://www.ubuntu.com/

Check out Openoffice here: http://www.openoffice.org/

Or....you could buy/install XP/SP4 which also works better than Vista. Just make sure you gather all the XP drivers for your laptop devices first and have them all on a handy CD/DVD. I'd avoid the Windows 7 install since that's a time limited Beta release which Microsoft can cripple/disable at any time.

Good luck!
 
I stayed with XP and never really considered vista. I do plan to seriously consider upgrading to 7.
I tried Ubuntu on a netbook of mine. I never could get it too work to my satisfaction.
 
Originally Posted By: rshaw125
I stayed with XP and never really considered vista. I do plan to seriously consider upgrading to 7.
I tried Ubuntu on a netbook of mine. I never could get it too work to my satisfaction.


Vista is an absolute pig on most notebooks since they generally do not come with more than 2gb RAM and usually have, at best, a relatively pokey dual core processor to lessen heat and conserve battery power. It's not surprising that a netbook might have issues with a generic Ubuntu (or any generic OS) install since they usually need specialized drivers to eke out the most performance from their much more limited components (much slower cpu and usually a very anemic video processor). Asus rolls their own Linux distribution for this very reason.

For my Asus notebook, I dual booted it with XP for a few months. After going a couple of months and not needing XP even once I just zapped the windows partition and never looked back.
 
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I noticed that Win 7 is faster, even on systems with slower hard disks in them.

Nice to see MS is making things faster with the new versions, not just bigger.
 
Another option would be Linux Mint. It is based on Ubuntu but has all the plugins and codex installed which makes it more user friendly to someone that is not familiar with Linux.

Link To Linux Mint

It also comes in both 32 bit and 64 bit versions.

OpenOffice, Firefox, and Thunderbird for email included in the default install.

If you want to stick with Windows why not try the free Release Candidate of Windows 7.

We have two laptops with Vista and really don't have any issues with it. Mine has the 64 bit version of Linux Mint on it in a dual boot mode and I spend much of my computer time in Linux.
 
This T-61 Thinkpad I'm typing on came with Vista Business, 3gb of Ram and a dual-core processor and never ran a session with reasonable response and without some hangup.

Part of that might have been due to the suite of add-on utilities IBM thought was indispensable, but after upgrading to XP Pro (while keeping some of the utilities) all is fine.
 
If your laptop is taking 20min to boot, the problem isn't Vista. It sounds to me like a driver is not loaded right or you have a hardware problem of some sort.
 
^ Yeah I don't get why people are having so many problems with Vista. I have Ultimate on my cheapie Acer laptop with 2.5 GBs of RAM and I haven't had any problems yet.
 
Thanks for the input guys!
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Originally Posted By: Familyguy
Based on your applications, why bother with Windows at all? I'm running a similar vintage Asus notebook (Asus W3J) with Ubuntu Linux and it just plain worked without any fiddling. For a windows user, it would be a very easy switch and you could use openoffice (which will be installed by default and has been 100% compatible for me so far) instead of Microsoft Office and Firefox and don't need anti-virus software at all. It absolutely flies compared to Vista and is 100% free.

Download Ubuntu here: http://www.ubuntu.com/

Check out Openoffice here: http://www.openoffice.org/

Or....you could buy/install XP/SP4 which also works better than Vista. Just make sure you gather all the XP drivers for your laptop devices first and have them all on a handy CD/DVD. I'd avoid the Windows 7 install since that's a time limited Beta release which Microsoft can cripple/disable at any time.

Good luck!



Thanks! I've got a lot of experience with SuSE Linux, but haven't tried any other versions.
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Originally Posted By: SrDriver
Another option would be Linux Mint. It is based on Ubuntu but has all the plugins and codex installed which makes it more user friendly to someone that is not familiar with Linux.

Link To Linux Mint

It also comes in both 32 bit and 64 bit versions.

OpenOffice, Firefox, and Thunderbird for email included in the default install.

If you want to stick with Windows why not try the free Release Candidate of Windows 7.

We have two laptops with Vista and really don't have any issues with it. Mine has the 64 bit version of Linux Mint on it in a dual boot mode and I spend much of my computer time in Linux.


Cheers, I'll take a look at Mint as well! I'll test them both first on my desktop and other laptop to see how well I get along using both. Don't think there will be any problems.

Although having said that, I might consider Windows 7 if it is really worth the price. I ended up paying a small fortune for Office 2007, and ended up going back to 2003 prior to the SP2 release.
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Originally Posted By: tmorris1
If your laptop is taking 20min to boot, the problem isn't Vista. It sounds to me like a driver is not loaded right or you have a hardware problem of some sort.


Sorry, should have mentioned this only happens when I install the first set of recommended updates after a fresh install. Something is incompatible, but I'm not sure what. I've even done hardware tests, disabled several hardware items and even took out the memory chips, thinking one of them could be faulty...still the same. Ended up being an update incompatibility.
 
Originally Posted By: Falcon_LS
Thanks for the input guys!
thumbsup2.gif


Although having said that, I might consider Windows 7 if it is really worth the price. I ended up paying a small fortune for Office 2007, and ended up going back to 2003 prior to the SP2 release.
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Win 7 is nice. I understand the Office 07 vs. 03 situation, and Windows 7 is not that.

I'm neither a basher or chearleader for Microsoft, or operating systems in general, but I'm impressed by Windows 7 because it just "feels right". I'm not a tinkerer - I don't like diddling with endless skins and configurations, so something either feels good out of the box or I don't use it. I like Win 7...
 
You mentioned that you had Norton installed, have you tried removing that? I have seen Norton bring a machine to its knees.
 
Norton is a pile of [censored], as are most other anti-virus programs. Practice safe browsing, and you won't have an issue. Anti-virus free for 5 years, and no issues.

As for Vista, poweful machines seem to handle it fine. Anything not packing a nice dual core with at leat 2-3gbs of ram will run like [censored] on even the most basic version of vista.
I run Vista Ultimate 64bit, and its just as fast as XP. That said, my machine is powerful enough to make up the difference...and if I need more speed, I'll just crank up the overclock.
 
Originally Posted By: tmorris1
You mentioned that you had Norton installed, have you tried removing that? I have seen Norton bring a machine to its knees.


+100

Not only is Norton not terribly effective, but it is extraordinarily adept at sopping up system resources...resources that were allegedly intended to do work for you rather than serve Norton.

For Windows machines, I use the free/home version of Avast:

http://www.avast.com/

That combined with a little common sense has kept me and various non-techie relatives out of virus trouble for years. It is MUCH gentler to your pc than Norton or McAfee.
 
Originally Posted By: pzev
Norton is a pile of [censored], as are most other anti-virus programs. Practice safe browsing, and you won't have an issue. Anti-virus free for 5 years, and no issues.

As for Vista, poweful machines seem to handle it fine. Anything not packing a nice dual core with at leat 2-3gbs of ram will run like [censored] on even the most basic version of vista.
I run Vista Ultimate 64bit, and its just as fast as XP. That said, my machine is powerful enough to make up the difference...and if I need more speed, I'll just crank up the overclock.


My PC can handle it too (and then some). However, the purpose of a home computer is to accomplish work for the owner, not to simply consume power to support its own dead weight. If I hire a chef and he spends $500/month on food and $400 of that money is used to feed HIM while he's cooking, then he'd better be a [censored] good chef. Vista just isn't that good to be worth all the excess resources required to support its bloated body. As a result, I've punted it on every Windows machine that I've been asked to "help" with since it was introduced. The machines either get "downgraded" to XP or "upgraded" to Linux. Both options result in a much speedier machine that can do more real work for the owner. :)
 
Originally Posted By: asiancivicmaniac
^ Yeah I don't get why people are having so many problems with Vista. I have Ultimate on my cheapie Acer laptop with 2.5 GBs of RAM and I haven't had any problems yet.



I've had my hands on four vista machines. 1 Desktop and 3 laptops. All laptops had 3-4gb of ram save for one Dell that got vista right when it came out. Has 1GB. The 1GB machine actually runs fairly quick, but it tends to crash a lot even with all current updates. You can be using the wireless and it crashes. You can try and run a program and it crashes (crashes in the term stops responding).

The other laptops I've used with more RAM have been SLOW, and full of nonresponding instances. too much UAC. Heck the one I turned on the hidden administrator account in order to attempt to repair a botched AVG install by someone, and it turned it on once, and then when I went to do it again, it wouldn't.


I'll stick with XP and W7.
 
As fate would have it, I had the chance to play with the Windows 7 release candidate today on my "game machine." It's a definite improvement over Vista and I actually liked it more than XP once I got over the initial learning curve. A couple of devices didn't have Win7 drivers so I just used Vista 64-bit drivers instead (it's a quad Opteron machine with dual Radeon 4870's) and everything appears to work.
 
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