Windows Vista annoyance

[inxolly]

Hi, btw, new member!

So I've been running Vista for a while, but I can't think why I bother.

I'm currently running a Dell Vostro 1700, which is fine. But it just doesnt like Vista which its shopped with.

I've turned lots of settings off that supposedly slow it down, which helped a bit...but still its far too slow.

Am I mad in thinking "downgrading" to XP might not be a bad idea?

[JLK03F150]

Downgrading to XP isn't a terrible idea, but finding all the XP drivers for some newer notebooks can be a challenge. The good news is Vostro is a business oriented model so Dell probably has all the drivers. You'll want to confirm that before you format.

How much RAM is in your Vostro?

[wambulance]

JLK is right. While "down"grading to XP might be a viable option for speed and stability, in regard to what he mentioned, with notebooks a lot of time the hardware is proprietary and if it shipped with Vista, there may never have been any drivers for the hardware that were made available for XP.

If you can find the necessary XP drivers, I say go for it.

[BipolarBill]

Quote:

Originally Posted by inxolly

But it just doesnt like Vista which its shopped with.

Hmmm..."it" doesn't like it? Let's be honest - you don't like it. That's OK, just say it.

Until you actually load XP on this thing, you can't know if it will be any better.

I have a Vostro 1500 and Vista runs just fine on it with 2GB RAM. The laptop seems to "like it" just fine.

You haven't said how much RAM was onboard. It's likely 2GB, but may be less. You should bring it up to 3GB if you can.

You also haven't mentioned whether you've cleaned out all of the extra Dell software from the Vostro. You should do that.

You haven't told us if you're sure that this unit is clean of viruses and spyware. That would slow it down quite a bit. Have you scanned for spyware?

Malwarebytes.org

Lastly, the standard hard drives on these units are rather slow. Swapping out for a 7200RPM unit would speed things up a lot.

[jasonz0rz]

Going from Vista to XP doesn't make manufacturers happy - some won't support you unless you go back to Vista. Also, before you make the swap, make sure drivers are available from the manufacturer's site.

[TimeDeatH]

If you are downgrading to XP, im just throwing a warning out there to have a backup computer with a youtube link on it on how to do it with laptops, most laptops you have to change a BIOS setting in order for it to work, and your gonna need that backup for getting drivers too. I would first run disk defragment and clean up all the dell software before downgrading though, to see if its faster. IMO i like vista, but thats probably because i have a killer gaming rig, and its vista ultimate 64 bit, not vista home premium 32 bit.

[bigBonehead]

All good ideas there... I'd like to through in my $0.02...

Turn off 'Aero', go with 'Classic Menus' , and check out this site:
Super Tweaks for Windows Vista by Black Viper