Alright, Vista, I've had it. I'm leaving you and taking the kids.

[Sarge51]

Okay, I've been having tons of issues with Vista. At first it was fine, but it's becoming a real crotch-knot right now. It's like Windows 95 with better graphics. I don't get it. It locks up at the slightest issue and turns everything faded white and locks me out. Then when installing or uninstalling it takes like 10 minutes to actually start installing, but once it starts it actually zooms right through. Even though, I turned off the UAC. Which I thought at first was making it take awhile to start. and in the middle of downloading a 20MB MOV file it craps out and leaves a file I can't delete even in the Command Prompt. I'm sorry Vista. But your flashy looks isn't worth all this trouble. Your system restore doesn't fix anything, you've locked me out of two programs already, and I'm sick of it. I'm downgrading ASAP to XP.

/rant

Now. I don't really care about backing up my files or anything. I really only care about my music and I can re-download programs when I'm done installing the OS, and getting a hold of an OS Disc won't be too hard. So I really just need to check if my drivers are XP compatable. Dell has a site that could explain this, if when I click to expand for more information would actually work... Anyway. How do I go about checking if my Vista Drivers are Compatible with XP on my Dell Inspiron 530.

Specs:
Intel Duo Core 1.86GHz.
Ram Maxxed at 3.25 Gigabytes.
32 Bit OS - Vista Home Premium.
Nvidia Geforce 8600 GT Video Card

[SODA]

I'll admit I never really gave vista a chance, but when it came with my laptop after trying it for a few days, I went back to XP. I'm sure it's better now, and most of the issues I had with it are probably fixable somewhere else, but honestly it isn't that much better than XP to justify using it.

But at your issue, Vista drivers will not work with XP. They just won't, your best bet is to go to Dell's website and trying to find XP drivers for everything, if that doesn't return any results, try going to http://driveragent.com/ they have a utility that scans your system (so do it after installing xp) and finds the best drivers for you to be using. It isn't free but, in my opinion it is worth the $20 or so dollars for one month.

[Matterialize]

Oh look, yet another Vista rant.

I originally bought Vista just to play DX10 games and then dual-boot to XP for anything else, but now I use Vista for everything. It works for me and I have experienced no problems with it whatsoever.

If you really insist on just giving up, I don't think you need to spend $20 just to find out what drivers you need. It might be a handy utility but you can just go to the manufacturer's websites for all your devices and look for the drivers yourself. (display driver, sound driver, net adapter, that sort of stuff).

[Beefynick]

I have Vista as well and have minor problems with it (mainly compatibility issues with programs) that were easily fixed. You may try downloading the service pack. This seems to fix a majority of issues. If you want to go back to XP that is fine, but you will need to basically wipe the hard drive. Almost nothing in Vista is backwards compatible with XP.

[SODA]

Oh look, yet another Vista rant.

I originally bought Vista just to play DX10 games and then dual-boot to XP for anything else, but now I use Vista for everything. It works for me and I have experienced no problems with it whatsoever.

If you really insist on just giving up, I don't think you need to spend $20 just to find out what drivers you need. It might be a handy utility but you can just go to the manufacturer's websites for all your devices and look for the drivers yourself. (display driver, sound driver, net adapter, that sort of stuff).

The manufacturers don't always provide a set of XP drivers for notebooks or desktops they ship with vista. That is why I suggested driveragent.

[Sarge51]

I guess that's what I should do. I guess if I can't get things to work on XP, I can always reinstall Vista. Either way, a complete wipeout of my Hard Drive and OS is going be done, tonight, which would ultimately fix my current issues, if not momentarily.

I'll see how much I can get done as far as the drivers are concerned.

[Matterialize]

The manufacturers don't always provide a set of XP drivers for notebooks or desktops they ship with vista. That is why I suggested driveragent.

Ah, I missed where he wrote Inspiron in the op. My bad.

Yeah do the driveragent thing.

[woweokaywtf]

Oh look, yet another Vista rant.

I originally bought Vista just to play DX10 games and then dual-boot to XP for anything else, but now I use Vista for everything. It works for me and I have experienced no problems with it whatsoever.

If you really insist on just giving up, I don't think you need to spend $20 just to find out what drivers you need. It might be a handy utility but you can just go to the manufacturer's websites for all your devices and look for the drivers yourself. (display driver, sound driver, net adapter, that sort of stuff).

The same thing as this guy, you should give it some time really, find correct drivers, and your vista PC is just.. Wouwe, its actually good.

I used to be a "vista, lol.. that sucks" kinda guy, but atm i use it for everything, and if your PC is bought just about after 2007+, there should be a cd with drivers following with, or else just use another computer to find the drivers, or just find the net driver, and then use windows update to grab the rest for you. really that simple

[Rockon1015]

That's funny I have Vista and it works perfectly. Its because I have a very reliable computer. If you get a new computer like mine your Vista may work better

USER WAS PUT IN TIMEOUT FOR THIS POST. (http://forums.explosm.net/eventlog.php)
Reason: Shitpost

[Beefynick]

Somehow I think it would be cheaper to install Windows XP than get an entirely new computer.

[Sarge51]

Vista came on my new computer. I got it when they first started selling this type online, just last summer. I think it's too soon to buy a completely new PC. But I think this one won't last but another year before I get annoyed of having 2 year old tech.

[Spastic]

If they made DX10 for XP I would have absolutely no use for Vista at all. It is a resource hog for no reason other than to look overly pretty.

As to your problem Sarge, I honestly know very little about Vista since I think it is just a waste of resource, but from the symptoms it sounds like you are going to need a fresh install of Vista on your hard drive. Back up any files you want to keep and reformat, that is a solution that should fix your problems, albeit a little bit of a rash decision, but it should do the trick if all else fails.

[Rockon1015]

Somehow I think it would be cheaper to install Windows XP than get an entirely new computer.
That makes sense but then Windows XP would suck. I had an old computer
with XP and It sucked.

[Rockon1015]

Crap. sorry for accidental post I was going to edit and I hit reply on accident.

[Rockon1015]

Well nevermind. it was just a virus or something on my computer

[Bernardo]

Now. I don't really care about backing up my files or anything.
Tip. After you do this for the first time you'll never want to be without it again. Partition (don't know if that's a verb) your hard drive. When installing XP, it'll ask you how much space you want for your C drive. Don't use the whole drive, put a few GB for windows, and later make partitions for MP3, images, games, etc. I did this and don't regret. If you don't know how to do this, ask again and I'll break it into little steps for you.

[Clerlic]

I've tried Vista and didn't like it, although it does have some improvements, it has it's own issues aswell, besides, Windows 7 is coming in two years, I'm gonna skip Vista and go straight to 7.

[Sarge51]

I decided to reinstall Vista instead of trying XP, because I wasn't so sure my driver would work. Now a few things don't work correctly. i.e. Accessories didn't show up in Programs, I had to mark it as unhidden; my user account image reverts to default except for when I turn on the computer or log off; no registry data on the UAC Controls, so I cannot shut the little box in the bottom right corner telling me my UAC is turned off. DUH YOU FUCKING DIPSHIT I TURNED IT OFF.

I noticed Vista had a partition maker already in the system, so I used it even though it was unbearably slow. I set off about 75.5GB of space for my 'back up' drive. Now whenever I install something or download something that is incredibly hard to find, I save it there. Documents are backed up as well. A pity because I liked the 10 Gig already partitioned, except you can't make it any bigger. So it's pretty much just 10 wasted gigabytes.

I'll probably reformat again in a few weeks just to clear some minor errors. and if I still can't give it a chance, I'm trying XP and seeing what I can do with it.