Vista downgrade to XP (LEGALLY)

[Runescapian321]

I have an Acer Aspire AST690-UP926A Desktop (http://www.zimbio.com/Laptop+Reviews/articles/356/Acer+Aspire+AST690+UP926A+Desktop+PC+w+19). I am fed up with Vista. It's a huge ram hog and I can't play a few games and some programs don't work right. (Can somebody tell me if it's because of the computer's specs and not vista that 2 games don't work, the games would be Age Of Empires III and Roller Coaster Tycoon, which happen to be the only games I've tried on this computer). So I want to downgrade to XP. First of all, is there any way I could have somebody do it for me (I mean like some guy at a store or w/e) for a minimal price? If not, then is there any way I could get and XP install disk from Acer? If not then...As a last resort, I have 'Recovery Disks' for a Windows XP Home computer. I used those disks to recover the computer after the HD died. However I forget if I needed a key or something to make them work :(. Would those work? Lastly, doing any of those methods would there be any way to save everything I have installed on this computer, or would I have to re-install everything?

So, in short, is there any way I can downgrade my Vista?

[mickaliscious]

If you install XP on a Vista computer you will need to:
1.) Get new drivers for everything.
2.) Probably have to downgrage your motherboard.

Its a giant pain in the... yeah.

[Runescapian321]

If you install XP on a Vista computer you will need to:
1.) Get new drivers for everything.
2.) Probably have to downgrage your motherboard.

Its a giant pain in the... yeah.

Well I don't know much about computers, but drivers are like files right? I was googling this and people said Acer had drivers for most models for xp on their website so that shouldn't be a problem... Motherboard might be a problem though :( still, I REALLY want XP...

EDIT: Hmm, maybe using my vm for everything would work? well that will be the VERY last resort...

[fom]

Don't do it! Vista is way better than XP, I can run Orange Box (Every game), World in Conflict and Bioshock.

I'm gonna look at the specs..

[bullzeye95]

Don't do it! Vista is way better than XP.

Please don't lie.

[Runescapian321]

Don't do it! Vista is way better than XP, I can run Orange Box (Every game), World in Conflict and Bioshock.

I'm gonna look at the specs..

Well yeah I suppose it could be the specs...Tycoon loads but ends up very laggy and the mouse leaves traces, AOE won't start up at all, I got it up to the black screen then Task Mananger said it wasn't responding...I'm going to try to find the one site that checks your computer and if it can play certain games. When I did it a while ago it said my video card wasn't good enough, is that it?

EDIT: Hmm can't find that, but Wikipedia says AOE III should be compatible with vista...

EDIT: Ppl all over google saying it works well...Yup, it's probably my specs, anyone know what I shoudl upgrade?

[dreamutopia]

I think you should stick with vista and add some more ram... I bought a 1gb stick of ddr2 for only $30 @ around x-mas time :) The fact that they do not advertise the amount of RAM tells me that it is probably only 512MB... Running 2GB is becoming even cheaper to do now and I think you would be greatly suprised at how much it can improve the performance of your machine. Another investment that might cost a little more is adding a graphics card or replacing your existing one.

[dreamutopia]

Vista is nice if you have the hardware to use it... Some machines just aren't ready

[Desert Storm]

Downgrade your motherboard? lol, you dont have to do that
You could make a XP install with drivers built in, but i cba to tell how to do it

[fom]

Go to yougamers.com

It will do a scan of your computer and see if it meets the min requirments for the game

[Psychor]

I was googling this and people said Acer had drivers for most models for xp on their website so that shouldn't be a problem...

This is true, but if your pc was designed for Vista you'll only find the Vista drivers and are stuck with trying to find compatibke drivers from different models. I'm in that situation with my Acer Aspire 4720z and after 2 weeks i still can't get the wireless to work properly

[tarajunky]

Recovery disks may work, but they can often be computer type specific. For instance a Dell recovery disk probably wouldn't work in your Acer.

You can always try. It would load most drivers when you install windows. It's usually much harder to find working Vista drivers for any given piece of hardware than it is to find working XP drivers.

[mpd]

I found this article on how to downgrade from vista to xp:
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9040318

it says that you need to have vista business though

[Timer]

Here, i know how...

Buy a xp disk-
when you startup your computer goto the mutiboot selection...
choose start windows from a disk... you go 3 sec to choose it.
it will say osmthing to contiune, u got 3 secs to do that. now, you should see 3 or so prepositions DELETE them ALL
Now, create 1, and contuine to install xp on your computer...
then, once in stalled your almost good.
goto dell and get all the remomended + drivers for your computer...
then after that your good! ( i know because i had to be on the dell tec line for 5 1/2 hrs... :p )

[bullzeye95]

now, you should see 3 or so prepositions DELETE them ALL

Do you mean partitions? Or, what?

[footballjds]

dude, the kids only 11, he's gunna spell some stuff wrong. yes im sure he meant partitions.

[firemaker272]

there's a better way, sell your acer, but have all your programs and files backed up..

then buy a dell with xp, because dell still make xp comps

put all your programs on ur new xp comp =-)

[bullzeye95]

dude, the kids only 11, he's gunna spell some stuff wrong. yes im sure he meant partitions.

Hey, I didn't know. I was wondering if he meant partitions, or was talking about something I've never heard of. If the second case, I wanted to know :p

[[S]paz]

don't buy an xp disk, windows charges £97 for that and thats stupid,
i did it with my other computer, all did was back-up files on a spare hdd, format the vista one, install xp and the replace files that i needed, only took bout 2-3 hrs to do

~Spaz

[Runescapian321]

Hmm, well I got my games working (I had to Run as Admin and then change some mouse settings) so I don't really care if I have to stick with Vista for now. If I ever have some money to blow I guess I'll buy an XP disk, but until then, I'm staying with vista :\

[fom]

Hmm, well I got my games working (I had to Run as Admin and then change some mouse settings) so I don't really care if I have to stick with Vista for now. If I ever have some money to blow I guess I'll buy an XP disk, but until then, I'm staying with vista :\

Don't go back to XP, many people don't have the patience to try new things. Once you've tried Vista out for a bit, you'll love it.

Did you try www.yougamers.com ??

[Timer]

hehe sorry for meh spelling thx footballjds!

[Runescapian321]

Don't go back to XP, many people don't have the patience to try new things. Once you've tried Vista out for a bit, you'll love it.

Did you try www.yougamers.com ??

I've had vista since the summer, and I've found almost nothing better with it over XP (The only things are the better looking stuff and a search on like every window :p) others, compatibility issues and limiting my computer (everyone knows it's a RAM hog) is why I don't like it. The cons greatly outnumber the pros.

What do you want me to do on yougamers?

EDIT: Nvm, scanning now will tell results in sec...

EDIT: Lol


Game-o-Meter Result:

Either your hardware is too new, too old or too rare - we don't know enough of it to give an accurate estimation. Sorry.

But it works now (after I set all the graphics options to the bare minimum). I think it might be my graphics card, somewher eI had done a test (I forget what site it was) and it did it and told me my graphics card wasn't good enough.

[bullzeye95]

Don't go back to XP, many people don't have the patience to try new things. Once you've tried Vista out for a bit, you'll love it.

Did you try www.yougamers.com ??

Tell me some as many pros as possible about Vista, besides the looks of it, which you can get for XP anyway.

[n3ss3s]

prepositions

are:

On top of
Under
Next to
In between
In front of

x)

[fom]

Tell me some as many pros as possible about Vista, besides the looks of it, which you can get for XP anyway.

Ok,

Faster (Dont give me bullshit about this, I have a XP computer with similar specs and Vista is faster)

Cooler/Better options

Very compatible

Excellent gaming capabilities

Auto-Matic Driver download/updater

More secure

Sidebar with really cool gadgets

Search button on startup menu


Don't feel like posting anymore....

[Runescapian321]

Ok,

Faster (Dont give me bullshit about this, I have a XP computer with similar specs and Vista is faster)

Cooler/Better options

Very compatible

Excellent gaming capabilities

Auto-Matic Driver download/updater

More secure

Sidebar with really cool gadgets

Search button on startup menu


Don't feel like posting anymore....

Faster - NO way. My dad has an XP and I have a Vista. My dad's XP has worse specs yet runs WAY better

Cooler/Better options - He asked other than appearence :p

Very compatible - Bull...

Excellent gaming capabilities - Sure, If you have the best specs you can get

Auto-Matic Driver download/updater - I thought XP had this? If not, ok +1 for Vista

More secure - That's an annoyance, you have to click 'Run as admin' on everything unless you disable the security, anulling this...

Sidebar with really cool gadgets - Tbh the only one I ever even look at is the calender...+1/2 for vista

Search button on startup menu - yeah I like that +1

So appearence, updater or w/e, gadgets, searching, +3.5 compared to like +15 on XP (I don't use an XP much, I used too, but not anymore, so I feel that I couldn't get all the good things about it :p anyone else feel free to post the advantages of XP)

[ba3]

Try right clicking on the mainapp of the nonworking game, and go to properties. Then change the compatability settings to xp sp2.

[Mr.SRL]

I dont understand what the point of downgrade would be

[Lee Lok Hin]

THe point of downgrade? Well, its just maybe because Vista isnt a really good operating system. While it looks nice and all that, XP actually gets the work done without using another 1GB worth of ram

[Mr.SRL]

lol so what your trying to say is that vista uses too much ram?

[Runescapian321]

lol so what your trying to say is that vista uses too much ram?

Pretty much :) All for no good reason too. The only thing it does is look better than XP, which nobody cares about. I decreased the appearance settings and now it looks very crappy, but it runs almost as smoothly as XP so I'm happy.

[Mr.SRL]

niice, but does it use up ram just for the appearence or for applications that run smoother on xp

[Runescapian321]

niice, but does it use up ram just for the appearence or for applications that run smoother on xp

Well the main thing is the appearance, but I'm sure theres a bunch of other useless things too that take all that RAM up.

[Mr.SRL]

lol yea, I Have 2 xp and 1 vista, And I enjoy useing the XP more. Its just more classy

[stnrscott2]

If you wanted XP to appear better just get something like Windows Blinds.. It doesn't use all your RAM and makes XP look sexy =]

[rkroxpunk]

Well Vista isn't all bad, for example on my new computer I plan on getting Vista. Mind you it's going to be a pimped out computer so the memory usage of Vista is no prob. But I'm going to be using it for gameing that's why i'm going Vista.

Best things that Vista has that XP doesn't.
-DirectX 10.........can't believe no one has mentioned that! Better graphics pl0x

-XP no matter what only supports 4gig RAM I think. Vista 64 bit can support up to 16. Mind you my new comp is only gonna have 4gig but i want directx 10.

Also Microsoft being the impatient people they are released Vista way before they should have and it was shit, but they keep on releasing more updates and Vista is slowly but surely makeing its way there.

Just a random fact, did you know Microsoft sux in terms of security because it has too? They could make it just as secure as any Mac or Linux OS but they can't because their customers would crack the shits. In order for them to make it secure they'd have to get rid of a lot of things that would could screw up some stupid people. E.g. the floppy disk drive would need to be gotten rid of but they can't because there are some people that still require it. Apple being the smart people they were got rid of it before Windows, making it their problem now. Mind you I don't quite get how that works with Linux, maybe Linux doesn't support floppy disk, i dunno never used before. anyways im rambling now, bye.

[Davis_223]

I have an Acer Aspire AST690-UP926A Desktop (http://www.zimbio.com/Laptop+Reviews/articles/356/Acer+Aspire+AST690+UP926A+Desktop+PC+w+19). I am fed up with Vista. It's a huge ram hog and I can't play a few games and some programs don't work right. (Can somebody tell me if it's because of the computer's specs and not vista that 2 games don't work, the games would be Age Of Empires III and Roller Coaster Tycoon, which happen to be the only games I've tried on this computer). So I want to downgrade to XP. First of all, is there any way I could have somebody do it for me (I mean like some guy at a store or w/e) for a minimal price? If not, then is there any way I could get and XP install disk from Acer? If not then...As a last resort, I have 'Recovery Disks' for a Windows XP Home computer. I used those disks to recover the computer after the HD died. However I forget if I needed a key or something to make them work :(. Would those work? Lastly, doing any of those methods would there be any way to save everything I have installed on this computer, or would I have to re-install everything?

So, in short, is there any way I can downgrade my Vista?

i think that there is a way to do this because at my school there is a sticker on the computer that says it is windows vista but then when you log in, it says it is windows xp lol :garfield:

[Mutant Squirrle]

Okay everyone stop talking lol, I read one post and wanted to shoot the person who made it.

I have built 4 computers and rebuilt many more for people who have done stupid things and lost power supplys and other things. I have reformatted and completely reinstalled windows more times than i can count.

To downgrade from windows vista to xp, you dont need to fucking change your motherboard or anyother hardware for that matter.... All you need to do is get a copy of windows xp (legit or.... well not legit).

If its legit then you simply need to find out what all of your hardware is and obtain the proper drivers for the hardware. Video cards, sound cards... blah blah blah.... Reformat it start it up install those drivers and.... tah dah... new install of xp.

If its not legit... well make sure you dont install the genuine checker and there is a program out there called autopatch it patches almost up to the latest... and you dont have to get the stupid genuine check lol.

Other than that if you have any questions ask, I just (shakes head) i know im a mod and i shouldnt have said i wanted to kill people but o my.... sometimes i just cant handle the silly things people can say. So i apologize if you were offended by my post but.... come on.... really