I want my XP back!

[Alsenor]

Hi, everyone.
I notice there are a lot of experienced users in this forum, and am hoping for some helpful advice.
My synopsis:
After suffering a crashhappy W95, then a mildly better W98, and a disaster of a W Millenium, I came to the conclusion that new operating systems serve only one purpose - the software and hardware maker's need for more sales.
But then came XP, and I said "finally".
After happily using XP for a few years it became time for a new machine. I tried to buy one with XP, but Vista was here by then, and I had to get an XP Media Center as a compromise. It was not the same as my previous experience, so I settled with Vista, until I had enough of the sluggishness.
A few months ago I gave in to recommendations of a friend to switch to W7, and bought a new HP with W7 on it.
Very pretty, and reasonably spunky for a while, but after multiple HP and MS "updates" getting less and less so.
I am left with the feeling that all my new and much better hardware is wasted on new operating systems, which are usually introduced with much fanfare, but are mostly eye-candy and a great resource appetite.

This is my current system: http://ggholiday.com/TEMP/system-info.html
I feel it would make my old XP really fly, and am toying with the idea of swapping out the 600GB HD for a smaller one and install XP on it.

Am I wrong, or over-expecting?
Thank you for any useful advice you may have.

 

[lazyperson17]

Vista was a true flop on Microsoft's part. (and they know it)

Many people downgraded from Vista to XP just because of the very reasons you stated. BUT, some people also upgraded to Windows 7 (Win 7) Either direction is better than staying with Vista. You are not over-expecting at all from where im sitting. You just need to decide... XP or Win 7? Win 7 offers more things that can make it a bit better, but XP is the tried and tested OS. Another perk of Win 7 is that Microsoft will continue to support it for a while, as opposed to XP which is dwindling in the support sector at Microsoft.

As for your HDD, You might want to get a smaller primary Hard Drive, and then use the 600gb HDD as a "Slave" drive, or secondary drive.

But thats just my 2 cents Hope it helps!

 

[tigsounds]

Not a bad idea to install XP on a different hard drive. The one thing that sticks out as a potential headache here will be XP drivers. You should look at all hardware in Windows 7 and record what it is and then go hunt down XP drivers for that hardware. Nothing worse than a yellow exclamation mark for "unknown Device" in device manager. If your hardware works, Windows XP will work.

 

[Alsenor]

Vista was a true flop on Microsoft's part. (and they know it)

Many people downgraded from Vista to XP just because of the very reasons you stated. BUT, some people also upgraded to Windows 7 (Win 7) Either direction is better than staying with Vista. You are not over-expecting at all from where im sitting. You just need to decide... XP or Win 7?

As I was saying,
A few months ago I gave in to recommendations of a friend to switch to W7, and bought a new HP with W7 on it.
So that is what I am using now.

Win 7 offers more things that can make it a bit better, but XP is the tried and tested OS. Another perk of Win 7 is that Microsoft will continue to support it for a while, as opposed to XP which is dwindling in the support sector at Microsoft.
As for your HDD, You might want to get a smaller primary Hard Drive, and then use the 600gb HDD as a "Slave" drive, or secondary drive.

I am not sure what kind of support one may need for an older type of OS, once it works fine, like XP?
In any case, I was thinking of keeping the HD with its W7 installation in storage, in case I need to go back to it for one reason or another.

 

[Alsenor]

Not a bad idea to install XP on a different hard drive. The one thing that sticks out as a potential headache here will be XP drivers. You should look at all hardware in Windows 7 and record what it is and then go hunt down XP drivers for that hardware. Nothing worse than a yellow exclamation mark for "unknown Device" in device manager. If your hardware works, Windows XP will work.

Yes, that is always a nightmare, and one of the reasons why I appreciate a working factory installation of the OS.

 

[lazyperson17]

As I was saying,
I am not sure what kind of support one may need for an older type of OS, once it works fine, like XP?
In any case, I was thinking of keeping the HD with its W7 installation in storage, in case I need to go back to it for one reason or another.

First, let me apologize for not reading the original post correctly. I missed the line where you mentioned Win7.

As for the above quote, the reason that support is good, is not because you can call in to Tech Support to pay Microsoft to tell you to check and make sure the computers plugged in, but rather the updates to security and small bug fixes. Because security will soon (if not already) cease to be updated and bugs/open back doors will not be closed or fixed, it will become easier for viruses to adapt and find ways around the loop holes. It might not happen right away (and i think SP3 will still have SOME support... someone else tune in to correct me if im wrong) but eventually, Windows XP will be very susceptible to Malicious softwares/programs.

 

[tigsounds]

First, let me apologize for not reading the original post correctly. I missed the line where you mentioned Win7.

As for the above quote, the reason that support is good, is not because you can call in to Tech Support to pay Microsoft to tell you to check and make sure the computers plugged in, but rather the updates to security and small bug fixes. Because security will soon (if not already) cease to be updated and bugs/open back doors will not be closed or fixed, it will become easier for viruses to adapt and find ways around the loop holes. It might not happen right away (and i think SP3 will still have SOME support... someone else tune in to correct me if im wrong) but eventually, Windows XP will be very susceptible to Malicious softwares/programs.

Security updates for XP will continue for many years to come, if SP3 is installed and a ton of updates.. Bugfixes? Well, that's too bad.
Eventually, it will be a matter of we won't be able to buy new programs because they won't run on that "Old XP" system.. ATI/AMD did this with the newer Radeon video cards for people running Win 2K, the drivers won't install, need XP or newer. Adobe will eventually dump XP functionality in new programs and versions. We eventually get abandoned by everyone.

 

[Alsenor]

First, let me apologize for not reading the original post correctly. I missed the line where you mentioned Win7.

As for the above quote, the reason that support is good, is not because you can call in to Tech Support to pay Microsoft to tell you to check and make sure the computers plugged in, but rather the updates to security and small bug fixes. Because security will soon (if not already) cease to be updated and bugs/open back doors will not be closed or fixed, it will become easier for viruses to adapt and find ways around the loop holes. It might not happen right away (and i think SP3 will still have SOME support... someone else tune in to correct me if im wrong) but eventually, Windows XP will be very susceptible to Malicious softwares/programs.

I see what you mean.
I had never thought of older types of OS being targeted by hackers, since they usually look for the most popular systems to get the most return. I suppose XP might be an exception to that rule, as there are still many users of it. My old installation CD is only an SP2 though. It came with an HP laptop, but installed fine on our old Compaq PC.

 

[treefrog07]

You have 8 GB of RAM on a 64bit Win7 system. If you replace Win7 with XP, you would need to consider whether you use XPx86 or XPx64. There are more hardware drivers available for XPx86 than for XPx64, but MS 32-bit OSes are capable of seeing and using ~3.75 GB of total memory (RAM, CPU, and GPU), so you would lose the use of more than half the RAM you bought. The x64 MS OSes will be able to see and use all your memory.

I like your idea of adding another HDD and loading XPx86 on that, giving you the choice of OSes to boot. I've been doing that for a while with XPx86, XPx64, and Win7x64 to run benchmarks for each OS with the exact same hardware, configuration, and environment.

Caution: If you add XP now to your existing Win7 installation, you will need a Win7 boot disk (or USB thumb drive) to recover the Win7 boot option, and repair the MS bootloader to show your OS options. After you add the HDD and install XP, you'll need to boot to the Win7 boot disk/usb stick. Win7 will automatically find your XP install and fix the bootloader.

Adding a HHD and buying XP will cost less than $200: You can compare the speed, etc. on your computer, and you can use either OS depending on what you want to do.

 

[tigsounds]

You have 8 GB of RAM on a 64bit Win7 system. If you replace Win7 with XP, you would need to consider whether you use XPx86 or XPx64. There are more hardware drivers available for XPx86 than for XPx64,

<snip>

Adding a HHD and buying XP will cost less than $200: You can compare the speed, etc. on your computer, and you can use either OS depending on what you want to do.

Everything he just said is great stuff... (my snip was kind'a lousy though) I just want to make a small addition....

If you install XP on a separate drive, and don't mind going into the BIOS to select Hard Drive Boot Priority to switch operating systems, then you don't need to be concerned with boot loaders and boot.ini problems and the like. If one system has a boot problem, it will not affect the other.

We all like the comfort of just starting the one we want at a single startup screen but it is far from fail-safe.

 

[Alsenor]

You have 8 GB of RAM on a 64bit Win7 system. If you replace Win7 with XP, you would need to consider whether you use XPx86 or XPx64. There are more hardware drivers available for XPx86 than for XPx64, but MS 32-bit OSes are capable of seeing and using ~3.75 GB of total memory (RAM, CPU, and GPU), so you would lose the use of more than half the RAM you bought. The x64 MS OSes will be able to see and use all your memory.

I understand, and remember the reason I did that. At the time there was real concern about available applications for the 64 bit OS. Has this changed substantially by now?

I like your idea of adding another HDD and loading XPx86 on that, giving you the choice of OSes to boot. I've been doing that for a while with XPx86, XPx64, and Win7x64 to run benchmarks for each OS with the exact same hardware, configuration, and environment.

It makes sense for what you are doing, but would it make sense for me to go to the potential trouble of dual boot? I mean, if I like one OS better than the other, I might as well just run one HDD, no?

Caution: If you add XP now to your existing Win7 installation, you will need a Win7 boot disk (or USB thumb drive) to recover the Win7 boot option, and repair the MS bootloader to show your OS options. After you add the HDD and install XP, you'll need to boot to the Win7 boot disk/usb stick. Win7 will automatically find your XP install and fix the bootloader.

...as I was saying - is it worth the trouble in my case, when I am simply looking for a zippy OS?

Adding a HHD and buying XP will cost less than $200: You can compare the speed, etc. on your computer, and you can use either OS depending on what you want to do.

I have an installation CD from a previous system, and could use it to install XP. As for comparing the speed of a lean XP86 with W7, I can just take your word for it. But - oops, that old installation CD is a 32 bit version, so I will have to buy a retail XP SP3 CD from MS I guess.

 

[Alsenor]

We all like the comfort of just starting the one we want at a single startup screen but it is far from fail-safe.

I am afraid you are right, and the older I get the more I prefer reliable simplicity.

 

[aford10]

You don't need to add another hard drive to dual boot Windows 7 and XP. Here's a guide on how to do it with a single hard drive.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/8057-dual-boot-installation-windows-7-xp.html

Before deciding to install windows XP, make sure there are XP drivers for your hardware.

 

[Alsenor]

You don't need to add another hard drive to dual boot Windows 7 and XP. Here's a guide on how to do it with a single hard drive.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/8057-dual-boot-installation-windows-7-xp.html

Before deciding to install windows XP, make sure there are XP drivers for your hardware.

Yes, I am aware of that. I did it on my old Compaq machine by just installing W7 on the same drive as XP. It seemed critical for the easy dual boot option to install W7 last. Now the boot screen offers the choice of W7 or "previous version of Windows". BTW, I understand 32 bit and 64 bit, but why is 32 bit also referred to as x86? These numbers are confusing if the are not multiples of 32!

 

[imdaman6909]

I have an installation CD from a previous system, and could use it to install XP. As for comparing the speed of a lean XP86 with W7, I can just take your word for it. But - oops, that old installation CD is a 32 bit version, so I will have to buy a retail XP SP3 CD from MS I guess.

Well, you wont really need to buy a Windows XP SP3 Disk from Microsoft. After you install all updates to SP2, You will be offered (through windows update) the option to download and install SP3. I have worked with Win XP for a good time and either started with SP 1 or SP2 and always ended with SP3. Of couse, when i had SP 1, i had to download all updates to SP1 in order to get SP2 and then all updates to SP2 to get SP3 and then theres even more updates for SP3. All this was through Windows Update. Its a long process, but it works for me.

 

[lazyperson17]

I see what you mean.
I had never thought of older types of OS being targeted by hackers, since they usually look for the most popular systems to get the most return. I suppose XP might be an exception to that rule, as there are still many users of it. My old installation CD is only an SP2 though. It came with an HP laptop, but installed fine on our old Compaq PC.

just FYI, you can take SP2 and upgrade to SP3 (which is still supported) for FREE (my favorite word... for the most part)

 

[aford10]

Yes, I am aware of that. I did it on my old Compaq machine by just installing W7 on the same drive as XP. It seemed critical for the easy dual boot option to install W7 last. Now the boot screen offers the choice of W7 or "previous version of Windows". BTW, I understand 32 bit and 64 bit, but why is 32 bit also referred to as x86? These numbers are confusing if the are not multiples of 32!

It's shortened and has to do with the intel 80386 named architecture.

 

[rattman169]

believe it or not but microsoft will be supporting XP till 2015, this is due to netbooks and the small SSD drive (8Gb) in half the model, Win7 take minimum 8 Gb installed and Vista is like 14GB minimum (not including other apps, OS only) so a stripped down XP can be less then 700Mb....so as a space saver most companies using netbooks use WinXP, BTW you can download the whole SP3 for XP from shareware sites instead of doing a long update.

 

[Alsenor]

believe it or not but microsoft will be supporting XP till 2015, this is due to netbooks and the small SSD drive (8Gb) in half the model, Win7 take minimum 8 Gb installed and Vista is like 14GB minimum (not including other apps, OS only) so a stripped down XP can be less then 700Mb....so as a space saver most companies using netbooks use WinXP, BTW you can download the whole SP3 for XP from shareware sites instead of doing a long update.

Really? That would be great.
I am just thinking... it is not the smaller space XP occupies on the drive, since storage is so much cheaper these days anyway, but the (hopefully) snappier performance. When I use my wife's old Compaq (Athlon XP 3200 2.20 Ghz, 960MB RAM), I look at a boot time of about one minute, while my new HP with quad CPUs and 8 GB RAM, running 64 bit W7 takes twice that long. Looks like a waste of hardware to me, wouldn't you say?

 

[aford10]

Windows 7 has benchmarked as good, if not better than XP in most cases. It's best to have at least 2GB of RAM for W7, and 1GB for XP. There are several things that can affect the boot time besides the OS.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/help/end-support-windows-xp-sp2-windows-vista-without-service-packs?os=other
Support for Windows Vista without any service packs ended on April 13, 2010.

Support for Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (SP2) ended on July 13, 2010

 

[Alsenor]

Windows 7 has benchmarked as good, if not better than XP in most cases. It's best to have at least 2GB of RAM for W7, and 1GB for XP. There are several things that can affect the boot time besides the OS.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/help/end-support-windows-xp-sp2-windows-vista-without-service-packs?os=other
Support for Windows Vista without any service packs ended on April 13, 2010.

Support for Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (SP2) ended on July 13, 2010

Well, what you are saying then is that with my hardware I should get better performance with my current W7 OS, right? Is that because W7 takes better advantage of the newer hardware?

 

[treefrog07]

I understand, and remember the reason I did that. At the time there was real concern about available applications for the 64 bit OS. Has this changed substantially by now? I have found only 1 game that will not install on WinXPx64. The 64-bit Windows use Windows on Windows (WOW) to run 32-bit apps. and install the 32-bit programs to the ProgramX86 folder. MS-Office, Open Office, and all my utilities except one install and work fine in the 64-bit versions.

It makes sense for what you are doing, but would it make sense for me to go to the potential trouble of dual boot? I mean, if I like one OS better than the other, I might as well just run one HDD, no? I have XPx86 and XPx64 on a RAID 1 volume, and Win7x64 on its own HDD; you can install two OSes on a single HDD - partition it, make sure both partitions are Primary, and set to Active.

...as I was saying - is it worth the trouble in my case, when I am simply looking for a zippy OS? I am using Win7 as my primary OS, and keeping XPx86 for maintenance/recovery purposes. With the system specs you posted, I would believe Win7x64 is your best choice.

I have an installation CD from a previous system, and could use it to install XP. As for comparing the speed of a lean XP86 with W7, I can just take your word for it. But - oops, that old installation CD is a 32 bit version, so I will have to buy a retail XP SP3 CD from MS I guess.You can use your XP installation disk - the MS Update website will install/recommend you install SP3.

x86 goes back at least 20 years to the Intel x86 architecture CPUs and motherboards, which.....ready for this..could run 32-bit applications!

^above

 

[aford10]

Yes, based on your specs, you should be able to run windows 7 pretty well.

 

[Alsenor]

@treefrog07:

you can install two OSes on a single HDD - partition it, make sure both partitions are Primary, and set to Active.

In addition to HP "C" and Factory Image "D" I now have a 78GB "healthy (Primary Partition)" on my HD, but it doesn't let me set it to active. Only "Delete" and "Help" is available, the rest is grayed out. It does not have a drive letter either. What should I do with it?

 

[treefrog07]

@treefrog07:
In addition to HP "C" and Factory Image "D" I now have a 78GB "healthy (Primary Partition)" on my HD, but it doesn't let me set it to active. Only "Delete" and "Help" is available, the rest is grayed out. It does not have a drive letter either. What should I do with it?

I recommend adding another HDD for XP. Factory Image "D" is the partition (and it should be hidden) the mfr installed to allow you to re-install Win7 in case of corruption or failure of the system. You want to keep that intact, well I would want you to leave it alone if you were planning to bring it to me to fix after a failure.

The 78GB partition: 2 choices:
1) format it and assign it a drive letter so you can use it for Your Documents in Win7 - this would be helpful if you add XP because you could then set XP's My Documents to that same partition. The result is that if either OSes crash, your data is intact on that primary partition (if the HDD fails, you lose the OS and the data anyway, so back your data up).
2) Move it to the C partition, expanding the Win7 partition capacity.

If you add a HDD for XP, I would choose 2) above, then partition the new HDD (say a 500GB size) into two partitions: First partition 75GB, Primary, active for installing XP. Second partition 425GB, Primary, for data. Then I would set My Documents in both Win7 and XP to that partition.

I've used three different partitioning programs (Partition Wizard works on x64 systems and it's Home edition is free). The first two partitions must be used for booting to OSes, and they should be Primary, not Logical (an OS failure will cause the loss of a logical partition), and Active.

(I hope these posts are helping, the possibilities are many, but only you know how you use your machine, and what you want to do.)