Topic: XP or Vista

[batt-76]

see major I told you DJ was running vista,  I might intsall mine now maybe.

[anomaly]

how difficult is it to run a vista pc to a xp pc on a network?

and i like to reformat a lot. like around every 6mths or so... what problems will i run into with vista on that end?

[DAwG]

well.. you could do a dual boot, and I would say that you should use XP to set up the partitions if your going to do that, vista did something funny and messsed me up, I always make a separate partition for the OS that way you can just move all ur files over to the storage partition and then reformat with ease.

[anomaly]

i do the same, thats why i don't mind reformatting so often. but i heard their is many little annoyances with trying to reinstall vista for a second time. (calling Microsoft and whatnot)

[DAwG]

lol isn't that how it always is

[anomaly]

not in my exp. with Xp,

my buddy said that you need to be connected to the net just to get vista installed. once he got a new mobo, installed it and then when he went to reinstall vista it told him to call some number to get a new reg. code. or something. another  time it said that his ver. was stolen, and that he was running vista illegally. other crap too... just wanted to hear other "vista user" opinions on vista, instead the normal hear say stuff from non vista users.

[DAwG]

well when I reinstall XP I have to talk to some guy in India; it only lets me use the internet on the first activation of the license

[anomaly]

well when I reinstall XP I have to talk to some guy in India; it only lets me use the internet on the first activation of the license

that sucks, well i guess theres probs on both ends. im just thinking of upgrading and and wanted to know the pros and con of switching from Xp.

[DAwG]

it was pretty much the same as a normal windows installation for me, cept I went to the trouble of doing a dual boot, which I have now scrapped, I found that if you use ur XP disc to set up the partitions it solved some issues like programs not working.
I tried using Partition Magic after using Vista to set up the partitions, it couldn't verify the drive letters so it couldnt run , I don't know if this same issue could cause problems with other utilities and XP designed programs. 
I think if you patch Vista right away it should get rid of a lot of headaches too.

[anomaly]

i have heard that if you want to run dual boot xp/vista, you need to install xp first and update to at least sp2. then you can install vista on a separate partition.

the only exp i have had with dual boot was xp/ubuntu.

i couldn't do much with unbuntu. so i uninstaled it, then xp would no longer boot up. the crappy part was that i was using 2 hard drives. had to wipe emm both and start allover.

[DAwG]

that sux, in the future im just gona play around with virtual machines b4 I screw up my system, it just takes too many tries otherwise

[dj]

i do the same, thats why i don't mind reformatting so often. but i heard their is many little annoyances with trying to reinstall vista for a second time. (calling Microsoft and whatnot)

Those annoyances are pretty much myths.  You can re-install Vista, or XP, as many times as you want, on the same PC.  If you change enough hardware, you may have to re-active Vista, which is the same thing that occurs in XP.  Some signifcant changes were made to activation in Vista SP1 - If Windows isn't activated, your desktop background changes to black once a month, and you get nag screens every once in a while.

When you're working with a dual boot Windows setup, always install the newest OS last.  The info that Windows needs to boot is stored in the system partition.  No matter how many hdds/partitions you have, there's only one system partition.  If you install Vista first, and then XP, the XP install will delete the system partition created by Vista and make it's own.  Since XP is the older OS, it's never heard of Vista, so it doesn't know how to boot it.

If you do happen to install XP last, you can boot from the Vista DVD and correct the problem without having to re-install both OS's.

[anomaly]

sweet dude, thank for the infoz... 

[Majorpain4U]

how difficult is it to run a vista pc to a xp pc on a network?

and i like to reformat a lot. like around every 6mths or so... what problems will i run into with vista on that end?

I had a vista laptop networked off of a XP desk top and it did give me some problems, mainly in the printer sharing section.

[DAwG]

thnx dj, that's very helpful