downgrading from vista 64bit

[megadave]

I've been on 64bit for only about 2 weeks and i'm fed up with it, loads of stuff isnt compatible so i want to 'downgrade'.

Is it possible to do go back to XP without formatting my HDD? Infact is it even possible to go to vista 32 bit without formatting? I've got loads of stuff i want to keep and my external HDD is now full

 

[Deebs]

You can install into another directory or overwrite the existing windows directory on the boot drive.

What you will not be able to do is to keep all your programs "installed". They will need to be reinstalled into the newly installed OS (wow lots of use of the word install...).

 

[Dr_Weasel]

What isn't compatible? I've been using it for 18 months and generally don't have much of a problem with compatibility.

 

[Kryten]

Was gonna ask - if something works in Vista 32 it'll almost certainly work in Vista 64 unless it's a really aging POS.

 

[megadave]

To be fair i get most stuff to work eventually, after a little tweaking, but today i wanted to use my ps3 controller on my pc and apparently you cant on 64bit, and i want to

 

[Moriath]

get a xbox 360 controller and stop being a pussy

it works in vista 64-bit

 

[Kryten]

yeah, there are a million and one PS3 controller clones for a PC that do work, and most of them are better quality than the real things

 

[megadave]

oh yeah i didnt even think of that really. guess its because i dont own an xbox but theres 2 in my house and a lonely controller in my living room, sorted.

 

[Roo Stercogburn]

Isn't downgrading from Vista some kind of oxymoron?

 

[Cadelin]

Isn't downgrading from Vista some kind of oxymoron?

I think I still have a copy of windows ME lying around that he could downgrade too

 

[Overdriven]

I think I still have a copy of windows ME lying around that he could downgrade too

Actually threatened a Mac user with that "Piss me off, and your OSX turns into Windows ME"

 

[dysfunction]

I don't know why Vista gets such a slating all the time.
I think its a big improvement on XP...

 

[Cadelin]

I don't know why Vista gets such a slating all the time.
I think its a big improvement on XP...

I'll tell you why. The normal (casual) user just wants a computer that works. They never really use their computer to its full potential, but they do expect it to work with everything. XP did this very well.

Vista was a large step back in this respect. Work arounds, compatibility problems, running things in admin mode and the 32/64 bit issue didn't help. It was easier before than it is now, therefore Vista must be shit.

I am sure for the advanced user such as yourself you see many improvements in vista but the majority of people they only consciously use a very small subset of the operating system and that changed and made things more difficult for an awful lot of people.

 

[Dark Orb Choir]

been using windows 7 beta and i think its great, Vista is just slow imo

 

[nath]

I'll tell you why. The normal (casual) user just wants a computer that works. They never really use their computer to its full potential, but they do expect it to work with everything. XP did this very well.

Vista was a large step back in this respect. Work arounds, compatibility problems, running things in admin mode and the 32/64 bit issue didn't help. It was easier before than it is now, therefore Vista must be shit.

I am sure for the advanced user such as yourself you see many improvements in vista but the majority of people they only consciously use a very small subset of the operating system and that changed and made things more difficult for an awful lot of people.

I completely disagree. Vista may well have been shit in the early stages but post SP1 it's actually very solid and in my opinion does a far better job for basic users than XP did/does.

 

[Cadelin]

I completely disagree. Vista may well have been shit in the early stages but post SP1 it's actually very solid and in my opinion does a far better job for basic users than XP did/does.

Then you have not met the typical basic user. Even actually quite clever people can have real trouble using computers. Any changes make things harder for them.

 

[JingleBells]

I've not really had any problems with Vista, my TV tuner caused it to BSoD once, but some new drivers for it fixed that (it's done the same to XP too), and I was unable to connect to work VPN to do work (shame) until work tweaked something.

I'm running Vista 64-bit on this PC and it's 32-bit support seems pretty robust, although granted I don't generally want to play games I bought for my Win 3.11 machine, I might run into issues then

 

[nath]

Then you have not met the typical basic user. Even actually quite clever people can have real trouble using computers. Any changes make things harder for them.

It's funny you mention that, because I'm a freelance IT technician and 95% of my business is home users. I frequently do training sessions so I'm *very* aware of how average users deal with computers and how simple/difficult things are for them.

Granted, Vista does a lot of things differently which means working out how to do stuff again but it's a new operating system. If they want to make improvements, things are going to have to change. I can appreciate it's a bit jarring moving from one to the other but that doesn't make Vista a bad operating system and if you're entirely new to computers, Vista would be a far better start than XP.

Aside from all that, Vista is quite a bit more robust than XP which means in the long run they'll have to deal with less problems.

I think it's more likely that you're an above-average user and just dislike the fact that lots of things have changed with Vista but I expect you'll grow to like it once you've become more accustomed to it.

 

[megadave]

i now know why i didnt think of using the xbox controller; because it's a piece of shit xd

 

[nath]

i now know why i didnt think of using the xbox controller; because it's a piece of shit xd

A strong dislike of the X360 controller and a preference for the PS3 controller. Yup, severe psychological disorder there dave... you wanna get that checked out.

 

[Ctuchik]

I think I still have a copy of windows ME lying around that he could downgrade too

anyone want my 3.11 discs?

no?

 

[Cadelin]

Granted, Vista does a lot of things differently which means working out how to do stuff again but it's a new operating system. If they want to make improvements, things are going to have to change. I can appreciate it's a bit jarring moving from one to the other but that doesn't make Vista a bad operating system and if you're entirely new to computers, Vista would be a far better start than XP.

I never said Vista was a bad operating system, I was just explaining why it is perceived to have failed. The fact is windows success was based around the fact that everything worked with it and in the past 3.1 -> 95 -> 98 -> XP there were noticable improvements in stability and major things got added. Vista did not provide that.

Why should people learn how to do the same thing again? How many people these days are genuinely new to computers?

I think it's more likely that you're an above-average user and just dislike the fact that lots of things have changed with Vista but I expect you'll grow to like it once you've become more accustomed to it.

I don't use Vista. All the work computers run linux and my laptop is a macbook. I have windows XP as dual boot on my home desktop in order to run DaoC, WAR and any other games that I like playing. I am only going to upgrade my windows operating system when there is a game I want to play that requires it.

 

[nath]

The fact is windows success was based around the fact that everything worked with it and in the past 3.1 -> 95 -> 98 -> XP there were noticable improvements in stability and major things got added. Vista did not provide that.

Why should people learn how to do the same thing again? How many people these days are genuinely new to computers?

I don't think Vista *initially* provided that, it was a bag of shit when it first got released as far as I recall. However now it's a decent solid operating system that I feel is quite a bit better than XP.

As to why people should learn how to do the same thing again, well why should Microsoft (or any company for that matter) be restricted to making things similar when they feel they can make something better. Besides, Vista has far more similarities to XP than it has differences. Plus, in my experience, home users want to access their email and web browser and photos, and not much else. All of that is dealt with in more or less the same way.

 

[Ctuchik]

However now it's a decent solid operating system that I feel is quite a bit better than XP.

sure its better, but its still just a polished XP

 

[megadave]

A strong dislike of the X360 controller and a preference for the PS3 controller. Yup, severe psychological disorder there dave... you wanna get that checked out.

Well it's good for FPS but i'm using it on a PC and it's far inferior to a keyboard+mouse in that respect.

 

[Embattle]

The reason XP seemed so great was because most came from the 98 arena, in reality if you shifted from W2K you felt the same as what people did when Vista initially appeared and moved from XP.