How to run away from Vista and back to Windows 2000

[SantaPotato]

Hello there, knowledgeable computerfolk from the land of the internet.

I am buying a computer in the next few days. It has Windows Vista pre-installed on it. I'd rather have Windows 2000 on it.

I don't like all the fancy-schmancy special effects and bonus features. Win2k, or even XP with minimal visual effects/fireworks/bells and whistles is good for me.

Is there a way I can get rid of Vista and install Windows 2000? Word around the block is that she's a resource-digger.

Or better yet, can I tone down Vista enough to drastically reduce its resource usage?

Thanks in advance for the replies.

[jbennet]

You will need 2gb of ram to use vista properley. Dont believe MS's lies

2gb on vista gives you the same performance as 1 gb did on XP, 1gb on vista is about as usable as XP on 256.

I think you will have to do with vista though, as win2k has reached end of support and XPs death is not far off.

If you want to go ahead, the only way to get rid of it is to buy a legal 2000/XP cd (full edition. not upgrade) and delete everything and start afresh. This is a bad idea as disks arent cheap and at some point you may need to go back to vista.

[SantaPotato]

Thanks for the response.

It looks like I'll need to spend either way. On more ram if I want Vista, or on an older OS.

From what I've read, Vista is a disappointment, especially for people who want just the bare minimum out of their OS.

From what I know, XP SP2 and Windows 2000 SP4 are very stable operating systems, with the buggy phases long gone. Most software still supports 2000 and XP too.

But if I were to stick with Vista, would it be possible to disable all of the extra functionality in order to tone it down enough to work as fast as XP?

[jbennet]

you can save a fair amount of ram by turning off the effects and using the classic windows 2000 style theme.

[SantaPotato]

It's certainly on my to-do list if I decide to stick with Vista. Thanks for your help.

[CMNetworx]

It would be easiest to just repartition the hard drive., then do a clean install of 2000 or xp, Id stick with xp over vista personally.

[coolraj003]

this is waht i m plannin to do as well cos I have used vista for more than a month and after this much time i just could not get my head around to like this system. I m going back to XP again as it is more practical...i ll ge to vista when it would come to that stage...so far its just not that impressive.