I've just successfully downgraded my inspiron 1525 from pre-loaded vista to xp. I've installed all necessary drivers for xp. Somehow windows xp is a little slower than vista. Shouldn't xp run much faster since I have a core 2 duo and 2gb of ram?
I did do a clean installation. I formatted the os partition and installed xp on that partition.
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5 responses so far ↓
1 Augie // Jun 16, 2008
Nope. VISTA is faster and better then XP.
I have same computer and no way would I put XP on it.
2 Lawrence R // Jun 16, 2008
Did you perform a clean install (format the HDD and install XP) or did you install XP on top of Vista?
3 nator419 // Jun 16, 2008
well first what do you mean by downgrade? to install XP you would have had to wipe the HDD in which cause you might as well have just split you HDD in half and installed XP on your first partition and Vista on the second so that you can dual boot. If you didn't wipe the HDD then thats your problem you didn't do it right if you did then its possible that you need different BIOS cause they probably only set the laptop up with BIOS for vista since thats what they shipped it with.
4 Dick // Jun 16, 2008
Since you've rebuilt your hard drive and reinstalled all your software, etc. you may need to clean things up to get your PC running efficiently.
Here are some tips to do so. Pay special attention to the section that addresses Autoruns.
A major cause of slow PC's is fragmentation of the hard drive. You need to defragment the HD at least once a week if not more depending on how much you use your computer, and what you do with it.
One way is to use the defragment utility built into Windows XP. It is slow but does the job rather well.
Go to:
Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools and then click on System Defrag to run the tool. It may take several hours, so let it run overnight or simply walk away from your PC for a few hours.
A great program for defragging automatically is Diskeeper Home. It costs $30 but is well worth it. Go to http://www.download.com and search for Diskeeper. Read the Publishers Description and the Editor and User reviews. It can be scheduled to run automatically as the program deems necessary, and if you are using your PC and the program launches itself, it will take a backseat to whatever you are doing and give you the priority for CPU usage. I think you'll agree it's a good program to have. It precludes your needing to remember to defrag at regular intervals.
AUTORUNS:
Another major cause of a slow PC is programs that are running in the background. Software manufacturers write ".exe" files that help launch a program faster when you click on the icon. These .exe files are running all the time unless you shut them down, and they eat up your RAM and can leave you with precious little RAM to run your PC. The best thing to do is to shut down all the unnecessary programs that are running unless you specifically NEED them to be running "in the background". If you can wait another 2 or 3 seconds for a program like Word, or Adobe, or whatever to open then don't allow some of these ".exe" files to run. Each one you shut down, saves you RAM to help run your PC more efficiently.
Autoruns, will allow you to control what runs when you boot up your PC.
Autoruns was written by SysInternals who were recently bought up by Microsoft. Before you download the program create a folder under program files called Autoruns. Leave Windows Explore open. Launch Internet Explorer and go to the following Microsoft web page.
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/utilities/autoruns.mspx
Go to the bottom of the page and download the Autoruns program. After it downloads unzip the file (You'll need WinZip or WinRAR to do so). You will see 4 files. Drag and drop those 4 files to the Autoruns folder you created under Program Files.
Once you have the 4 files in the C:\Program Files\Autoruns folder you can double click on the file titled “autoruns.exe” (not the autorunsc.exe) to launch the program.
This will bring up a window with several tabs at the top. Click on the “Logon” tab. It will list the programs that are running on your PC and eating up resources. Look them over carefully and turn off any that don’t absolutely have to be running. Simply click on the “check mark” in the little box beside the program name. Clicking on it will remove the check mark. Look for any program that your are not using at this moment that has a check mark in the box. Look for programs such as Microsoft Office, Adobe Acrobat, etc. Once you have edited the Startup list, click on Apply and then on OK.
NOTE: Look in the publisher column and leave items that show Windows; System 32; Program Files; etc. alone. Also leave things that mention Audio, video, etc. alone. Shutting them off may cause some things not to work. Once you have exited the window, reboot your PC for the settings to take effect.
WARNING: Don’t go into the other tabs and start deleting/unchecking things. You will probably give yourself major headaches if you do that. Stay focused on the “Logon” List only. If you happen to shut off something that you didn't intend to, you can relaunch the Autoruns program and simply put the check mark back in the appropriate box, and then reboot the PC. The "program" will be reinstated to run at boot up.
Regularly clean up your registry, browsing history, files, cookies, temp files, etc. A good program to use is CCleaner and it is FREE. Get it here: http://www.download.com
5 zbalat // Jun 16, 2008
XP should be a lot faster.
Are you sure you installed ALL of the drivers?
Drivers for hardware such as IDE/ATA controllers, ACPI controllers, PCI RAM controllers, PCI to PCI bridges and system management controllers can be hard to find for XP and if they are not installed could greatly affect performance.
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