windows vista advice pleeeeease

[Spannaz]

right, i am no computer expert, however, i wish to wipe the slate clean with my PC before giving up and throwing it in the bin! Itsometime has a mind of its own IE 8 does no longer like ebay, and now google chrome does not like shockwave flash player. have checked for virus etc etc, but nowt, so, as i have everything backed up on an external drive pictures and stuff, i was going to format it back to original spec, and if things failed from there get a new tower.
However, i dont have any discs, i have the original license key but no software discs? Was i suppose to? What's the next option? How do i do it??
I don't use the PC alot, mainly online and for flight sim, it has 1gb of ram, an intel core tm2 1.8ghz processor and thats about all can tell you! lol
told you, this is not a good place for me to be!

[acting_strange]

In MHO if you have vista on your machine you would be better of buying a copy of either XP or Win7, formatting your hard-drive, making sure you have backed everything up and re-installing. vista was and still is crap.....

[noddyflyer]

i have the same prob with chrome so i went back with firefox seems to fix the issue ,ie8 is a pain as it works when it wants ,i wuldnt give up. change browser and see if that helps.....mick

[Mslater]

Ok, firstly is it a branded PC ie Dell, HP etc ? If so then your key is only good for the branded version of the software. That is if its a Dell PC you'll need a Dell vista disc for the key to work.

The OEM software agreement ensures that you have a recovery method supplied with any purchased PC. Normally this is supplied as a CDROM, occasionally you can reset to factory defaults by restoring an image hidden away on a second partition of the disk.

Don't forget you'll need all the drivers - or at the very least a network driver so you can download the rest after install.

What brand of PC is it ?

[coolice]

Hey.

With the pc spec you have I'd suggest perhaps staying clear of Windows7, while its much better than Vista by miles it does recommend 2gb of RAM to work well. XP is a much safer bet if you want to change OS on the machine.
However, do you have any disks at all? What make is the pc? It might have a dedicated recovery partition on the HDD which is used to reinstall the Vista OS on a complete wipe, but you need to get this going on boot up to work if its there.

Failing that, its sometimes not as easy but I wonder if you could download a copy of Vista and just enter your serial number. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't this way.
.

[coptermanic]

Advice on Windows Vista: avoid it and upgrade to Windows 7.

[rhysduk]

[QUOTE=Spannaz;627723]I don't use the PC alot, mainly online and for flight sim, it has 1gb of ram, an intel core tm2 1.8ghz processor and thats about all can tell you! lol[/QUOTE]
Windows 7 WILL run on it.. but it may be laboured in some tasks. I've had W7 running on an 8 yr old laptop with zero issues.
You will be better off with a slimmed down version of XP ;)

[QUOTE=coolice;627746]Failing that, its sometimes not as easy but I wonder if you could download a copy of Vista and just enter your serial number. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't this way..[/QUOTE]
It will work as long as the key matches the windows version... What I mean is that a Home Premium key will not work with a disc with Ultimate on it... if the key is Home Premium the install media has to be Home Premium.
Saying it.. i wonder if the keys are backwards compatible... Id imagine not.

[Mslater]

[QUOTE=rhysduk;627772]
It will work as long as the key matches the windows version... What I mean is that a Home Premium key will not work with a disc with Ultimate on it... if the key is Home Premium the install media has to be Home Premium.
Saying it.. i wonder if the keys are backwards compatible... Id imagine not.[/QUOTE]

Almost - add to this If you have a Dell PC then you'll need the Dell version of windows, same with various other bulk buy manufacturers

[rhysduk]

Dell slipstream the product key into their Restore Discs. As most pc manufacturers do.
You don't HAVE to put a Dell Version of Windows onto a Dell pc. You can install any version of Windows you wish.

[Spanner]

I never understand the slating Vista gets!! I have had it on my PC since it came out, reinstalled once, and still it runs perfect. I prefer it to XP, but havn't yet had a real good go of Win 7 yet.

[Spannaz]

its a HP unit, and agree that since having vista its been a real pain in the backside!!! Almost everything has had issues, even my original expensive microsoft keyboard and mouse did not work, and Microsoft said it was not compatible!
Have found how to reinstall, but boy oh boy is there a sh~** load of updates, not to mention all the hassle of reloading office and setting up outlook again! Seriously thinking of NEW tower and Windows 7, trip to PC world maybe! or just junkin the pc and getting a laptop!

[davew]

[QUOTE=coptermanic;627754]Advice on Windows Vista: avoid it and upgrade to Windows 7.[/QUOTE]

I know this has been covered before but is it easy to upgrade to W7 from Vista? My laptops on Vista and isn't good. Its only 1Gb of Ram but I believe easy and relatively cheap to upgrade to 2GB. Is that all I need to do? How much is the upgrade software?

Is a backwards "downgrade" to XP a realistic option? With all I have going on I can't really afford to lay out on a new computer.

[Voodoo]

Hi,
If you use the pc only for flight sim and internet I suggest, look at the ubuntu website.
Have you heard of that before?

It is pretty stable and user friendly - and free of charge.

You only have to ensure that your flight sim will work on it.

cu