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PCs & Mobiles Forum - Need to replace Vista with XP - Page 1
Elite
I have had a Dell laptop for about 3-4yrs with Vista and its getting slower and slower. I would like to format and start again but want to install XP to speed it up. Do you know of any reputable places that sell original copies of XP for erasonable prices?
I found it for £22 at http://www.mswinxpro.co.uk/index.htm but it looks dodgy. I mean they cant even get the colours of the text correct.
Elite
Why not go for Windows 7. My 3 year old Dell laptop is a whole lot better with it, & all my XP stuff works well with the backward compatible part of XP. I also went from Vista.
Super Admin
The cheapest price will be OEM which they'll only sell you with hardware, though some places call hardware anything from a keyboard or mouse to a cpu or motherboard.
Microsoft don't let any genuine retailer sell it less than a certain price, so anywhere flogging it for a price noticeably lower than everywhere else will most certainly be knock off. Not to mention the fact that I think you can't actually buy XP anymore.
Reading that site you linked, they are genuine copies but I don't think it's legal to re-sell a copy of XP to someone else. It appears they are taking license stickers off computers that are being chucked, and flogging them with the media. These are OEM, which is locked to the hardware it was activated on (you are allowed a number of small changes) and I bet each one requires you to have to call Microsoft and explain why the hardware has completely changed and hope they will let you activate it.
If Vista was fine a few years ago, then really what you just need to do is a clean installation. Knowing Dell, it probably came with a load of junk installed that will be slowing it down as well. I don't think going to W7 will make much difference when compared to a clean install of Vista.
Turning off Aero may also help.
Editor
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Elite Donator
Quote:
Robert John Shepherd says...
These are OEM, which is locked to the hardware it was activated on (you are allowed a number of small changes) and I bet each one requires you to have to call Microsoft and explain why the hardware has completely changed and hope they will let you activate it.
My older desktop was XP Home and I changed almost everything in the case except the PSU (mobo was fried by the hard drive I bought from Maplin) and when it was reinstalled at the time it would kick up the activation options.
You could go automatic or manual, I used to do manual which was reading out the numbers on the phone to an automated service which then came back with the activation number, key it in and Robert's yer mammy's brother.
Done it loads of times and I never had an issue, I think Ogs does it similar by buying up COA stickers on Fleabay then installing from a disc. I'm sure one of us here would have a clean copy of a disc we could send you but you'd need your own licence sticker.
Actually, I might have an XP Home sticker on my old Toshiba laptop casing lying spare... replaced the casing, old number went with the machine and the extra number I think is in my pile of junk waiting to be tossed if you fancy XP home rather than pro.....?
Jimbo : oÞ
"There's that word again... is there a problem with the Earth's gravitational pull in the future?"
Super Admin
Maybe they are more lax with XP, with Vista I just changed the CPU and had to explain that to someone on the phone before they'd activate it.
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