Quick thoughts on coming back to XP.

Hi everyone. Just taking a quick break from typing my Psych term paper and wanted to share some quick thoughts on what it's like to going back to XP from Vista. Now don't expect I'm gonna post a ton of benchmarks, because you can find those anywhere. Just want to share some real-life experiences.

Why I switched back to XP:
I've owned a Sager 5760 for about a month now with Vista 64-Bit pre-installed. At first, I was hesitant to going to Vista because I wanted to atleast wait until service pack 1. But I said "what the hell", and decided to be an early adopter. I jumped on XP when it first came out (mainly because Windows ME was god awful). Plus, I wanted that new 'shock and awe" that comes with a new rig and operating system.

First thoughts were Vista was BEAUTIFUL. Customizing was prettier, the layout was much smarter, and finding files and system controls was much easier.

Now the bad part. I use a lot of free software like AVG, Zone Alarm, etc. To much of my dismay, they either didn't work for Vista, or they don't work with the 64-bit version. So I proceed to reinstall the 32-bit version instead. So now some things were more compatible.

Things were going ok for awhile, but then things started to get buggy. I was receiving line code errors with many programs, and was asking me to "debug". Microsoft's own software like Visual Studio.NET wasn't even loading right. It took me 2 hours to install it, and for some reason took me 4 HOURS to uninstall!!! I thought it was extremely unusual, but my professor said that other students were having the same problems. Programs would even shut down without any notice, and I would constantly lose some work. Don't even get me started from the lack of games support.

The last straw was when I couldn't figure out why I was using 95% of 2gigs of RAM when I wasn't even using any programs. Along with using 100% of both cores.

I've tried doing a dual-boot with XP twice with VistaBootPro, but for some reason I keep getting errors. All this is annoying since it's EXTREMELY time consuming having to do the drive partition, installing the OS, and re-installing the drivers. The NTLDR keeps getting corrupted, and all the tricks I've googled won't work.

Now back with XP:
It's been 3 days now since I've reinstalled XP Pro, and let me tell you, it's like "coming home". No longer do I feel a sense of paranoia and not knowing what Vista is going to do today. All the programs I reinstalled work exactly how they're supposed to. I can play older games without crashing, and seeing no difference with newer games. I've noticed that I'm getting at least a HALF-HOUR more battery life! That's huge considering the 5760 is such an energy beast. I'm also using less hard-drive space, which is great since 160GBs is really nothing. I'm finally getting 100% wireless signal, while the Vista drivers never got me over 60%, even when I'm 10ft away from the wireless router.

One thing that's awesome is that I'm currently only using 8% of my RAM! With Vista, I never dropped to lower than 38-40%. I've read that Vista is truly optimized for 4GBs of RAM, which is financially impossible. My system now is much faster, and feels rock solid. There also seems to be less stress on both processor cores, and I'm able to run many more programs with no hiccups.

Overall, it feels like I've come back to an "old girlfriend". Sure Vista is way sexier, but with XP the feelings are more comfortable, familiar, and the *** is more satisfying. Just kidding (yet probably true). I'll wait for Microsoft to iron out the problems, then I'll give it one more try later down the line.

OK, back to writing this Term Paper. I gotta stop procrastinating. Wish me luck...

 

I have been using Vista Ultimate 32-bit since it came out in January; while I enjoy the GUI and a few of the other features (desktop gadgets, better search), I do miss XP. It sounds like your version of Vista was really buggy; the 64-bit version has more problems than the 32-bit.

Thanks for posting, your post was a good read.

 

I wouldn't get a vista, until I really need it.. which is probably not anytime soon.

 

I'm real brave I have been using it since Beta 2. I have it installed on 3 laptops and my girlfriends laptop is next after she finishes her last class in June.

 

I am currently using Vista 64bits and have not encountered any castrophic errors (although i hit 2 bsods within 3 days). Overall everything seems great and it feels like i'm just using Vista without remembering it's a 64bit version.

You might want to try doing a clean install with another Vista x64 disc.

 

I went through a very similar experience. For reasons related to work, I had to, er, upgrade(?) my aging tablet and my new M570u to Vista. End result was essentially a litany of frustration.

Two weeks ago, I wiped both machines and reinstalled XP. My blood pressure has dropped, the flowers are blooming, and choirs of angels serenade me throughout the day.

Yes, that's hyperbole, but the fact remains that Vista, while pretty and indeed offering many good enhancements, is still of beta quality.

Throw in lousy driver support, which is to be expected of a juvenile OS, and the best advice for those with a choice is most definitely to wait at least until the first service pack. Possibly longer.

 

Haha! Xevious. You took the words right out of my mouth!

 

What a great way of wording your thoughts on leaving Vista

 

The rule of thumb has always been to wait for SP1 to be released for the o/s and then you consider jumping on board. Nice post sneekgeek, it echos many sentiments of people who I know went Vista and then returned to XP, for now.

By the way, I finally cleaned up my XP registry with registerbooster2 and it seemed to cure my 9750 of the midnight BSODS and I am wondering if Vista would have the same issues with crap in the registers causing instability...?

 

I'm actually having a pretty good experience with Vista 64bit. I've had to hunt a driver down here and there, and use the "compatibility" tab and "run as administrator" quite a bit. But I do prefer it overall to XP. Once the drivers and performance matures, it'll be even better.
I've run OLD games that were never even officially compatible with XP, found 64 bit editions and patches for the software I use, and came up with work arounds and alternatives for the software that had no updates.
I can see where people would be annoyed by the beta-ishness of it though. I guess I strangely enjoy fine tuning it myself. :GEEK: