Maximum PC downgrade RSS Feed

Microsoft Takes Worry Out of Windows 7 With Downgrade Options

Mark Edward Soper — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 16:28:59 -0500

Most users who have tried Windows 7 like it - a lot, but if you (or your company) are worried about what happens if old hardware or software you rely on won't play nice with the latest Windows version, stop worrying. According to Cnet's Ina Fried and ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley, Windows 7 users will have the option to downgrade from 7 to either Windows Vista or even "the operating system that will not die," Windows XP.

Volume-licensing (aka "Software Assurance") customers have been able to do this for some time, but Microsoft has confirmed that downgrades from 7 to either Vista or XP will be available for at least a while after Windows 7 ships.

If you're on the fence about Windows 7, does the availability of downgrade rights make a difference? Hit Comment now!

Rumor: HP Granted One Year Extension to Offer XP Instead of Windows 7

Paul Lilly — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 12:36:00 -0500

Initial reactions to Windows 7 has been, for the most part, pretty positive, enough so that some have admitted to using the beta as their primary OS. The general consensus is that Windows 7 is what Vista should have been all along, but that doesn't mean there won't still be demand for XP when the new OS ships.

Citing a "source within Hewlett Packard," AppleInsider says the OEM has been granted an extension to continue selling Windows XP on its business desktops, workstations, and notebooks instead of Windows 7 for another year. Microsoft appears to have been reluctant to grant the extension, reiterating that the nearly eight-year-old OS is on its last legs.

"It’s important to remind customers that Microsoft are still planning to retire XP Pro Mainstream support on April 14th 2009 and will only provide OS security updates beyond that date unless the customer has an Extended Hotfix Support contract. MS Extended Support for XP Pro ends on April 8th 2014," the source was quoted as saying.

As of right now, HP is the only one being reported to have brokered a deal, but it will interesting to see if other OEMs soon follow suit.

Image Credit: Gizmodo

It's Worse than Microsoft Thinks: IE8 Users Downgrade to IE7

Paul Lilly — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 10:46:57 -0500

Microsoft's recently released Internet Explorer 8 runs faster than previous versions, boasts better standards compliance, and serves up some nifty features like Tab Grouping, Web Accelerators, and Web Slices. And without any major UI changes to pull end-users out of their comfort zone, Microsoft likely expected a mad rush to upgrade. As it turns out, those who are upgrading appear to be running back to IE7, according to data by Net Applications.

After being released on Thursday of last week, IE8's market share ramped up to 2.59 percent on Sunday. By Monday, that number dropped to 1.86 percent and today sits at 1.17 percent. Going by Net Applications' numbers alone, this would seem to indicate early adopters aren't all that impressed with IE8.

Because of the improvements made to web standards compliance, Microsoft had to implement a Compatibility Mode to prevent itself from essentially 'breaking the web.' Major sites known to render improperly in IE8 automatically run in compatibility mode, while others require end-users to manually switch modes. Complaints have surfaced from not being able to print from greeting card sites to missing images on pages built with Microsoft Publisher.

Are you having issues with IE8? Hit the jump and sound off.

"Dude, You're Getting a Dell" with Windows XP, for How Much?

Mark Edward Soper — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 16:47:50 -0600

If you want to downgrade a Dell PC in the Inspiron 1525 notebook or 530 desktop line with Windows Vista to Windows XP, it's going to cost more than the $20-50 premium we told you about last summer for other Dell models. How much more? The difference between systems in the Inspiron 1525 and 530 series with Windows Vista and those with Windows Vista Bonus with Windows XP is $150. That's a huge difference, but the reason why isn't really Dell's fault, TG Daily reports. It's all about which Vista versions permit downgrades - and how much they cost.

So, what's going on? These models are normally shipped with Vista Basic SP1 or Vista Home Premium SP1, neither of which include downgrade rights to Windows XP. So, to get Windows Vista Business or Ultimate, which do offer downgrade rights to Windows XP Professional (XP Home's not an option, alas), you must upgrade to Windows Vista Business or Ultimate, which accounts for the extra cost.

If you want to run the numbers yourself, head over to the Dell Inspiron laptops store or Dell Inspiron 530 desktop store and see the choices. Note that if you select the Vista Bonus option, Windows XP Professional is preinstalled and you get the disc for the version of Vista you selected (Business or Ultimate) for installation later.

So, how do you feel about XP downgrades these days? Who has the best deal on downgrading to Windows XP? Hit Comment and tell us about it.

Windows XP Gets Another Lease on Life, OEM Style

Mark Edward Soper — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 22:25:14 -0500

In the latest indication that Windows Vista's not one of Redmond's greatest hits, Windows XP (aka "The operating system that will not die") has won another reprieve. Friday, Microsoft confirmed rumors that OEMs bundling Windows Vista Ultimate or Vista Business can continue to order media for downgrades to Windows XP Professional until July 31, 2009 . Meaning, for those paying attention, that Harry Potter could get a Vista system downgraded to Windows XP for his birthday. Previously, the last day for downgrade media was going to be January 31, 2009. 1-31-2009 remains the deadline for system builders (aka "the corner computer store") to buy Windows XP licenses for their systems.

As an OEM product, Windows XP won't quite make it to Windows 7's anticipated release date of January 2010, but it will get closer than anyone could have guessed when it was released in October 2001.

So, what say you? Have you exercised your downgrade rights to send a Vista machine back to XP land? Any tips or tricks to consider? Hit the Comment button for your chance to sound off.

Microsoft Rolls Out One-on-One Coaching, Special Helps for Some New Vista Users

Mark Edward Soper — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 20:25:24 -0500

InfoWorld reports that Microsoft's new Windows Vista Small Business Assurance program is aimed at US-based small business users who buy new PCs including preinstalled Windows Vista Business or Ultimate editions. They must make their purchase between July 1 and September 30, 2008. Special support is available up through October 31, 2008.

So, who's a small business?

The FAQ page (3) defines a small business as one with 50 or fewer employees or 25 or fewer PCs. Office comedians may now joke about who gets fired in a 51-person office or who loses a computer in a 26-computer office to enable the outfit to qualify.

Special one-on-one customer phone support will be available during typical small-business hours: 10AM-7PM Pacific time.

How about that downgrade option?

The FAQ page says, and I quote:

"In cases where a small business customer cannot overcome an incompatibility issue and has the PC's recovery media disc for Windows XP, we are equipped to help with a downgrade over the phone."

If you want the ability to downgrade to XP - and get help - be sure you order an XP downgrade recovery media disc with your Windows Vista Business or Ultimate system. Depending upon OEM policies, that might be a free offer, or it might cost you.

What if you're buying systems with Windows Vista Home Premium?

"There are many great PCs with Windows Vista Home Premium in retail stores, and small businesses that buy one of these PCs can purchase a Windows Vista Ultimate upgrade (as packaged software) and qualify for Windows Vista Small Business Assurance."

If your small business is on the fence about Windows Vista, this program could be helpful. If you're the unofficial Windows guru for a friend or family's small business, this offer could get you some time off on weekends, too.

Got a Small Biz? Getting PCs with Vista? What Say You?

If you're buying PCs for a small business this summer, does this offer matter to you? Would you buy preconfigured PCs instead of building your own? What would you tell your brother-in-law? Opinions wanted!

Make Vista Liveable

Christopher Null — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 16:39:55 -0600

We’re a year into Vista’s reign of terror, and by now most average users have resigned themselves to the fact that they’re stuck with Microsoft’s bloated, pokey, buggy OS. People simply feel powerless to fight the software juggernaut and PC vendors that happily play along by preloading Vista on everything that goes out the door.

Well, you’re better than that—you don’t have to take this nonsense lying down. Vista may never run as smoothly as good ol’ XP, but we’ve compiled an extensive collection of tips that will help you improve the OS considerably. We’ll show you how to enhance performance, ease frustrations, and turn Vista’s eye candy into something that at least does you some good.

No, Vista still won’t be perfect when you’re done, so we’ve got a special treat in store for you if, after you’ve finished reading our tips, you still aren’t satisfied. Flip to page 48 and you’ll find complete instructions for downgrading to XP or setting up a dual-boot machine with both XP and Vista. See? Happy days are here again!

Throttle User Account Control

Spare yourself the headache of endless pop-ups.

You won’t get far in Vista before you start losing hair thanks to UAC, Vista’s overbearing security pop-up system. If you’re an even remotely sophisticated user, turning off UAC should be job one. It’s easy to do: Visit the User Accounts control panel and click “Turn User Account Control on or off,” then uncheck the box on the following screen. If you just want a little more control over UAC (without turning it off altogether), download TweakUAC (www.tweak-uac.com), which suppresses UAC messages whenever you’re logged in as an administrator.

End warning pop-ups with a single click.

Run Vista Command Line as Admin

Don’t let the OS limit command-line rights.

Typing cmd in the Start menu’s search box will bring up the familiar command-line window, but depending on your machine’s configuration, you might be stuck in a restricted mode even if you’re logged in as an administrator. To launch an unrestricted Admin command line, type cmd at Start, then press Ctrl-Shift-Enter. You can also do this by right-clicking the CMD.exe result in the search box and selecting Run as Administrator in the drop-down menu. You’ll notice you’re in Admin mode by the Administrator prefix in the window’s title bar. Now you can move and copy files and folders from the command line and run system tools such as msconfig; by default these privileges are locked out.

Two extra button clicks let you run the command line unrestricted

Refine the Registry with TweakVI

Give your PC a modest speed boost.

Look, we know you’ve been promised repeatedly that if you just tweak this one registry entry, your computer will never crash and it’ll run three times faster. And then you did it and nothing happened, right?

TweakVI, a downloadable application designed to fine-tune Windows registry settings, won’t turn a Celeron into a Core 2 Quad, but in our tests it did modestly improve general benchmark performance, in the range of 5 to 10 percent. Download and install the free version of the app from http://tinyurl.com/24yz6q. When you run it, you’ll want to focus your energy on the System Information and Tweaks section, then the CPU Tweaks... subsection under that.

Don’t expect miracles, but try running your usual benchmarks before and after installing TweakVI—you might be surprised. That said, a $50 yearly subscription to unlock all of TweakVI’s features is pretty much out of line; the free version should provide most everything you need.

Additional TweakVI fixes let you optimize IE, Firefox, and even font smoothing.

Next: Fix Vista Networking, Essential Hotfixes, and more!

Fix Vista Networking

Get PCs talking seamlessly

In the name of security, Vista wholly revamps the way networking operates. The Network and Sharing Center (part of the Control Panel) can be daunting and confusing when you want to share files on your local network. Here’s the easy way to get the job done.

First, make sure you use the same workgroup name on all PCs. In Vista, this setting is in the System control panel. Click Change Settings on the main page to join another workgroup.

Second, you’ll have a far easier time if you use the same username and password on all PCs you want to network. In Vista, you set up users in the User Accounts control panel. Administrator rights make this considerably easier, though it’s officially discouraged.

Now you’re ready to set preferences in the Network and Sharing Center control panel. Here’s how it should look:

• Network discovery: On This makes your PC visible on the network.

• File sharing: On The equivalent of installing File and Printer Sharing on XP. You need it to do anything.

• Public folder sharing: Up to you The Public folder is a special folder Vista creates in which you can put data you know you want to share across the network with multiple users. You might store your pictures, videos, and music here, for example. It’s just like any other folder, except it can be simply managed and shared with one click here. Turn it on (either read only or read/write) and you’ll see the Public folder in the Computer view directly under the Desktop folder.

• Printer sharing: Up to you Only if you want to print across the network.

• Password protected sharing: On This is the setting that lets users with a valid login on the Vista PC reach shared folders on that computer. Turn password-protected sharing off and users can do just about anything. Leave it on for better security.

• Media sharing: On This is largely useless, unless you stream music to your Xbox or another UPnP device, but leave it on, why not?

Your last step is to select and share folders. This process is much like it is in XP. Just right-click any folder and select Share. If you followed the above instructions, you can accept the defaults at the following menu: “Share to your username only and with owner rights assigned.” Click Share again to seal the deal!

When finished configuring the Network and Sharing Center, your interface should look about like this.

Add Tabs to Explorer

Browse multiple folders in a single window

Your web browser has tabbed browsing, so why not your file browser, too? Add tabbed browsing to Explorer with the free QT TabBar (http://tinyurl.com/2r9yj8). Download, extract, and install (right-click to run as administrator), log off and on again, then hop into Explorer. Right-click the menu bar and add both QT TabBar and QT Tab Standard Buttons to the display. Tabs work much like they do in Firefox, with some new tricks available: Dragging a file from one window to another tab in order to move it to another folder is an especially nifty convenience.

Tabbed file browsing puts an end to cascading Explorer windows.

Essential Hotfixes

Make Vista crash and burn less often

Don’t just twiddle your thumbs waiting for Service Pack 1 to arrive. Take matters into your own hands: One or more of these fixes may solve problems you’ve been having with Vista. None of the fixes has been publicly announced or delivered via Windows Update, so you’ll have to install them manually.

• http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929451: A Vista machine may register old IP addresses if certain changes are made to the networking setup.
• http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931671: Errors may occur when trying to put your PC to sleep with a live PPP connection.
• http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932649: Poor video quality in interlaced mode.
• http://support.microsoft.com/kb/940646: Slow performance with 3G WWAN connections.
• http://support.microsoft.com/kb/941542: Connecting to a network printer may fail.

As well, all users will benefit from a couple of general Vista performance and reliability hotfixes that have been pushed out through Windows Update (as recommended updates) and can provide dramatic improvements on some PCs. Check in the Installed Updates section in the Programs and Features control panel to make sure they are installed (look for the KB numbers in the URL). If they aren’t already installed, install them manually.

• http://support.microsoft.com/kb/938194
• http://support.microsoft.com/kb/938979

You can also find additional early fixes, including a prototype of Vista SP1, at www.thehotfix.net.

Upgrade the Sidebar

Turn Vista's eye candy into a useful tool

A selection of intelligent upgrades turns the Sidebar from eye candy into brain candy.

Sure, you thrill at the sight of the weather report and that analog clock, but how about putting some genuinely useful apps into the Vista Sidebar? Here are a few power-user favorites:

App Launcher: It’s just like the Quick Launch toolbar, but considerably more manageable.

ClipboardManager: Gives you quick and easy access to current and recent clipboard contents.

Memory Meter: A simple look at how full the ol’ DIMMs are and how well your CPU cores are clocking along.

Mini Outlook Inbox: Outlook junkies can keep tabs on their inboxes without clogging up the screen.

Network Utilization: Keep an eye on your bandwidth with this simple graphical display.

Next: Delay Vista Activation, Maximize Nvidia Performance, and more!

Delay Vista Activation for a Year

That's 25 fewer characters that you have to type

When you install Vista, you don’t actually need to input a license key. Vista will give you 30 days before requiring the key before throttling down to Restricted mode. But you can extend that eight times with this simple fix, allowing you to make major hardware upgrades without having to reactivate the OS.

This simple registry hack will give you a year of no-license-key operation.

To reset the timer to 30 days, open a command-line window in Administrative mode (see tip on page 40), then type slmgr -rearm. This starts the 30-day countdown anew, no matter how much time is left on your first countdown. You can do this three times (for 120 days total) before it won’t work any more.

You can give yourself another 240 days by making one registry tweak. Type regedit in the Start menu search box and press Enter; then navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\SL. In the right pane, right-click SkipRearm and click Modify. Change the 0 to a 1. You should now be able to do the rearm trick above eight more times.
Note: We make no promises that Microsoft won’t patch this behavior before day 360 rolls around.

Fix Nvidia-Specific Performance

Upgrade your GeForce gaming

Running an Nvidia GeForce 6, 7, or 8 series videocard? If you’re seeing abnormally low frame rates or system crashing while gaming (especially noticeable in Battlefield 2142, Half-Life 2, and Rainbow Six Vegas, among other titles), a patch can help considerably. Grab it here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/940105. A similar fix is available for Vista users running SLI rigs at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/936710. This hotfix improves (or enables) the use of a secondary graphics card under DirectX 10.

Gaming under Vista might choke with late-model GeForce cards, but a quick download can fix you right up.

Keep Tabs on Vista Via Email

Get instant alerts when something’s amiss

Rather than manually checking the boring old Event Viewer, how about getting Vista to email you when something’s gone wrong? To set up email logging, open the Event Viewer (it’s in the Administrative Tools control panel), open a log, and find an event for which you want to be notified. In the pane on the right, click “Attach Task to This Event...” and walk through the wizard, specifying the server from which email should be sent and the address it should go to. (Be careful with this, you might end up spamming yourself.)

The security log is likely the most useful source for logging via email.

Boost SATA Drive Performance

Enable SATA’s latest high-test features

Risk-takers can get a little hard drive performance boost by turning on two options in Vista that are disabled by default. In Device Manager, find your hard drive (under Disk Drives), right-click it, click Properties, then click the Policies tab. Select “Optimize for performance” and check both “Enable write caching on the disk” and “Enable advanced performance.” Be warned: With the latter two options turned on, you may risk losing data if you lose power or have a catastrophic crash, so make sure you use a universal power supply and run regular backups. The specific performance boost depends on the make and model of your drive; don’t expect the moon.

Vista doesn’t automatically take advantage of some of SATA’s performance features.

Kick Vista Defrag to the Curb

Upgrade your defragger to something less useless

Vista’s disk defragmenter is a giant leap backwards. Run a defrag manually and what you get isn’t the helpful, animated progress window you know from XP, but rather that evil, spinning, blue wheel and the notice “Defragmenting hard disks... This may take from a few minutes to a few hours.” Wow, informative!

Reclaim the visual look at your hard drive's fragmentation with Diskeeper.

To get a better defrag system, you’ll have to install third-party software. Without a doubt, the best is Diskeeper 2008 Pro Premier ($100, www.diskeeper.com), which offers an exhaustive collection of defragging options, including file sequencing based on usage patterns, boot-time defragging, and barely noticeable background operation. The $50 Pro (non-Premier) edition is exactly the same, sans the file-sequencing feature.

Next: Fed Up? Downgrade to WinXP

Downgrade to WinXP

Head back to what actually works

You saw this one coming. After all that work, you may very well find that Vista still isn’t your cup of tea and you’d like to go back to Windows XP. We don’t blame you; we pretty much feel the same way.
If push comes to shove, here’s how to return to XP.

1. Sadly, you can’t just pop in an XP disc while you’re running Vista and hit Install. Your first step is to determine whether you want to dual boot Vista or simply wipe out Vista and replace it with XP. If you’re going to dual boot, use the DiskPart tool on the Vista installation disc (details here) to create a second partition, or use a third-party tool such as GParted (http://gparted.sourceforge.net/) to do the same thing. If you’re wiping out Vista, you can use the same tools to erase the Vista partition and start with a clean slate or just reformat while booting and installing from the XP setup disc.

2. If you’re using a bleeding-edge PC, XP will likely choke when it comes time to start copying files, as it won’t be able to see your hard drive. Why? XP can’t handle AHCI mode on SATA drives, which most newer PCs have enabled. In your PC’s BIOS, turn off AHCI mode (which should turn on ATA emulation) to make your installation easier. Or just load the drivers via floppy F6 drivers at boot. Alternately, you can slipstream AHCI drivers into a Windows XP installation disc, but this is a huge hassle.

3. With a blank partition ready and AHCI turned off, boot from an XP setup disc, preferably one with Service Pack 2 preloaded on it. Install the operating system normally. (If dual booting, Vista will remain on the C: drive; XP will show up on E: or another drive letter. The two OSes will be able to see each other, so be cautious when selecting the proper drive when installing apps.)

4. If you plan to dual boot, you’ll need to repair the Master Boot Record, as XP overwrites the Vista-created MBR, which prevents Vista from loading. To fix it, boot from a Vista DVD and select “Repair your computer” on the Install Now screen. Select Startup Repair to finish the job.

5. Last step: Set up dual booting. Any boot manager will do the job, or try the free (and Vista-friendly) EasyBCD. Boot into Vista (you won’t have a choice), install and run EasyBCD, then click Add/Remove Entries. Change the drive letter to E: (or whatever drive letter you set up in Step 3), and then change Type to Windows NT/2k/XP/2k3. Click Add Entry, then Save. Reboot and the bootloader will now automatically appear.

Your final step in setting up a dual-booting Vista/XP machine with EasyBCD should look like this.