hi i am changing 2 laptop computers over to xp as vista is too much of a hog to work properly on them, they are really slow as well because of vista. i am just wondering if there is anything i have to do before formatting the hdd and uploading xp (apart from obviously backing up up the stuff i want to keep).

thanks

louise

You need to be sure you can obtain the unique XP drivers for the laptop, and make sure they support whether you're planning to use 32bit or 64bit XP. The manufacturer may have a set of motherboard downloadables at its website, and may even have some specific advice on reverting their laptop to XP. But, if you can't find XP drivers, you'll have problems.

However, you may be able to resolve some of your resource-hogging issues and keep Vista.

You can disable services you don't need, stop extra features (disable aero, window animations, flipping, etc), and such. Basically get rid of all the glitz-ware and un-required services. You can do online searches for "optimizing vista performance", "tweaking vista", "minimizing vista footprint", and variations on that theme for more ideas and more detailed instructions. A number of people have been able to get Vista to work reasonably well on fairly minimal computers.


edit to add-
According to some, Vista SP1 reduced resource hogging to some degree and improved performance on their systems.

BTW, I still prefer XP myself. I'm not particularly arguing for you to keep Vista. All I'm saying here is you may find a way to make your Vista environment a bit more tolerable and providing another choice.