Microsoft QuickTips

I asked about going back to xp from vista. one or two of you suggested putting the xp disc back in, but i don't have one. my packard bell laptop (bought in march 07) came pre-installed with xp; when i eventually got my free vista premiun upgade disc, i downloaded a new vista bios from the packard bell website as instructed, then installed the new vista disc. i don't recall reformatting the hard drive as such. i did make a complete reco dvd when the laptop was brand new (and still running xp) so if i boot up from that should not it in theory return the laptop to its factory fresh condition: i.e. getting rid of vista and returning it to xp? or will i have to download a new xp bios from the packard bell website? alternatively the laptop instruction book suggests all the original settings are kept on a hidden partition on the hard drive, so by using the packard bell reco program from boot up, i won't have to use the reco dvd and can keep my data: but will this work?

Many users are going back to xp,and to be honest i dont blame them although vista is a excellent operating system its not as "user freindly" as xp,i mean the one thing that makes xp so popular is its ease of use,the layout is basic and options are easy to comprehend but even the start menu in vista is confusing for begginers,the run command has been replaced and the control panel has some parts that can screw up your computer if not used properly unfortunately,you cant install xp from a vista desktop,however in theory if you "boot from cd"with xp it should install over vista,it will warn you you have windows installations installed and do you want to delete them with regards to getting a xp disk your 2 choices are 1.ring up the company who you bought the computer from and ask them if they could let you have a xp reco disk,they may have one you can buy for a nominal fee or 2.buy a new windows xp disk from a company like scan.co.uk(http://www.scan.co.uk/products/productinfo.asp?webproductid=487053) the bios update is not a valid option,especially if you aren't experienced enough to do it however if your laptop has a hidden partiiton that does the system reco the key you need to press is normally f10 this will then give you a list of options ,were you can keep your data and restore the p.c or delete your data and restore the p.c but the hidden partition may have been replaced with a vista ghost image during the vista installation,especially if the vista disk came from packard bell my advice is to format the drive totally and instal a fresh copy of xp on your drive good luck mate