UPgrading from Vista to XP

Im really tired of the bloated, slow, and buggy performance of Vista on this Acer AST180 . It has an Athlon 64 3800+ processor. I want to Upgrade to XP, and yes I DO consider going from Vista to XP an upgrade, because i think Vista is crap . . My question is, what is the best way to do this without spending $100 on a new box of XP at the store ? I've heard rumors that i can use a keyfinder, and use my Vista key to activate XP - and that it will work. I have the System Restore discs from my Gateway 827-GM. Would I be able to use those discs on the Acer computer to successfully change over to XP ? There are obviously some hardware differences, the one that concerns me most is that this Acer's HD is SATA, while the Gateway is PATA. Other drivers I should be able to download without any problem, but if the HD isnt going to function, im sure this could lead to big problems. I was not present when my parents had GEEK SQUAD rolleyes set this ACER up, and cannot find, and dont even know if any system restore discs exist if anything goes wrong with my changeover to XP . Suggestions, anyone ?
Thanks !

 

Erm, I'd look back at your avatar and take the hint, no, no and no. Even with a full XP disk, you might not have the proper drivers. Too bad, it's a decent OS. I bet the Acer you got was underpowered.

 

Im having issues every day with Vista hanging, many minor glitches, compatibility problems with applications, and other things like why in the heck do i need 55 proccesses running when the only thing im doing is looking at some websites. I realize that there are background processes always running, but 55 ?!?! Yes, this Acer only has 1gig RAM, but my other computer with an AMD3500+ only has 1gig (and XP) and runs MUCH faster than this one, never crashes, I dont have any compatiblity issues, etc. I have spent hours on process library trying to trim the fat from the running background processes, with little (if any) effect . I guess i could expand the memory on this computer, but i dont think that is going to solve compatibility issues, and the 'hanging' problems i have, and other issues. As far as I know, getting more memory MIGHT only increase the overall operation speed .
Am i correct in that assumption ?

 

I seriously doubt that you'll be able to use the XP Gateway restore discs on an Acer machine running Vista. My wife bought a Dell Inspirion laptop a little while ago and really got fed-up with Vista also, but Dell had a program that if you were not satisfied with Vista, they offered a downgrade to XP at no charge. After about 45 minutes on the phone with Dell Support they walked her through the steps and she now has XP on her machine. I only told you that because maybe, MAYBE, Acer offers a similar program. I don't know if they do, but it may be worth checking into to see if they do.

 

you should probably up your ram to 2gb at least anyway. maybe give that a try before you switch back to xp? unless youre really not satisfied with vista at all, thats up to you.

 

Well FED UP, I ran Vista on a AMD Venice 3000+ with 1 GB of RAM with no issues at all. except if I compare it to my current system, it did run slower but snappy enough. Yup on compatibility, my issues were with my peripherals lacking drivers and one software app. Good luck on what Stubby mentioned.

 

I concur with Stubby. Usually restore disks are designed to work only on the computer/brand they are made for. The only way for you to legally downgrade to XP is to either already have a "Vista downgrade to XP" license or to buy a license for XP. Also, you will want to check that your manufacturer has drivers for that computer in XP.

If you're main concern in performance, maybe you should consider switching to Linux. Ubuntu should run well enough on your system, and there are shells (user interfaces) designed to be lightweight when it comes to system resources.

 

I got Acer on the phone. All their representatives were busy assisting other dissatisfied customers, but my call was very important to them so I was treated to half an hour of Michael Bolton. Just as I was about to vomit, a representative came on line, and after explaining my situation, and mentioning the Dell program that Stubby mentioned, the representative proceeded to give me a :flip . So no help from those jerks . Guess ill try a memory upgrade if i ever get the extra money that I can spend on such luxuries .
Thanks for your help guys , seriously .
Oh, i am checking into linux as well.

 

I used my Compaq notebook PC for about 17 months with Vista Home Premium and 1GB of RAM and it actually performed satisfactorily when doing email, web browsing (usually with mutliple tabs open), and one or more MS Office 2007 applications open at the same time.

You may be able to improve performance merely by doing some cleanup steps, as advised in this article, written by MajorGeeks forum moderator Adrynalyne: http://adrynalyne.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!AB9DE24BE9AF1B9F!303.entry

IMO, 55 processes is not really alarming. Regarding the compatiblity issues, have you tried using vista compatibility mode with any of your applications where you have compatibility issues?

 

55 processes may not seem alarming to you, but to me it seems entirely unnecessary . I dont want my limited CPU cycles wasted on processes that arent really needed. I think Vista is way too bloated . After talking with the Acer rep last night, i realized that before i attempt to change OS's to anything else, that i better make sure all the appropriate drivers are available for download somewhere. This seems like an awful lot of work to do on a computer that isnt even mine. This computer is actually my parents, and all it is used for is online Poker by my dad, and it serves that function just fine. I only wanted it to run decently while i am temporarily staying here at my parent's house, but i am coming to the conclusion that i should probably just leave this one alone, and focus on upgrading my own computer . I cant afford to buy a new technology system that i want, so im just gonna update some of the components on my own computer, and probably just clean this one the best i can with software, and let it be. Ive got all the recovery discs for my own computer, so im not nervous about changing OS's on that one, Id like to try out something linux-based for increased performance . :major

 

Yeah, I've done all those tweaks long ago. I had to deal with BSOD's (resolved those) , i still get the system hanging (freezing up), winamp drops frames when watching videos, so i DL'ed VLC player - havent tried it yet, and i just get various weird things happen like program tabs start flashing orange in the tool bar for no reason, i use p2p and bittorrent apps, and my ports, which have been correctly forwarded, seem to enjoy "closing themselves". If i don't do a restart every single day, then everything i do moves at a snails' pace. There are other minor annoyances that never happen on my XP system. Vista isn't unusable, its just so many minor annoyances that im tired of it. In fact, just now, while writing this post, the keyboard stopped functioning for about 30 seconds . I have my XP system tweaked well, and it runs flawlessly . Thanks Mark !

 

I have Vista running on a AMD chip no problems. I'd say stay up on Vista because Xp is going to have less and less support just more frustration. Yike!http://wii2youonline.com/img/1506/z08g1210dsiz/angry.gif

 

You are correct in the inconsistency of my statements. Perhaps i failed to mention that i am staying here at my parents house temporarily, and i do many other things with the machine(i dont even play online poker) . I have decided to just leave this computer as is, and when i move back out of my parents house, i already have my older XP computer ready to roll, and it runs flawlessly .
Sorry for the confusion.

 

Vista does have minor irritations. I remember th9inking the same of xp when that first came out. I thought it was bloated and too many processes running in the background. But with more ram and a decent processor it ran fine. I got the hang of it. I do like the way vista looks, but I'm too comfortable with xp. My xp has all the visual bells and whistles vista does (oooooooh!) so for now I am content. I will presently keep two operating systems until xp becomes forgotten. But I will keep up with the vista because I don't want to end up like the old guy that lives around the corner who swears win98 is still the best and refuses to upgrade.