Expert: Jeff Laatsch - 7/5/2009

Question

    I live in a small town located in west of Asia.  Over here we are free to do anything we like with computers. There are no restrictions imposed by government or copy right issues that prevent us from enjoying any DVD or software programs. Students can learn in schools everything they want. Not like in the west were you have legal and illegal restrictions.

    A friend of mine and his fellow students tried to experiment with several software programs in their school lab as part of their technical studies in computer programming and troubleshooting. The software programs that they tried work by utilizing Virtual Cloning, demon tools, Bittorent, BitCommit, and P2P or peer to peer file sharing.
All those software programs were able to function properly in old versions of windows like XP, ME, or Windows 2000, but when they used those same programs in other newer versions of windows like Vista home, or vista ultimate, those programs did not operate or did not function properly.

    Windows Vista prevent running virtual cloning drives, in addition to obstructing the operation of demon tools, Bittorent, BitCommit, and P2P, and Vista does not let any software that was created by using those utilities to function properly. In addition to that Windows Vista does not run copies of CD's or DVD's.

    Some of the students want to remove windows vista from their new computers, and replace it with Windows XP premium or Windows XP ultimate, so they can test if they will be able to fix this problem. They want to be able to run all types of programs in their new computers.

    Is it possible for a new Toshiba laptop that came with windows Vista to be converted to Windows XP without problems? How?  

Thanks for being a volunteer to help.

Answer
Karlus:

First lets be a bit clear Karlus even though you live in a small town west of Asia. Most USA software programs and operating systems such as WINDOWS have 'International copyright law' which means you cannot legally load these without buying them or getting them directly for free from Microsoft.

Now about your laptop:Yes, simple 'wipe the laptop hard disk clean' and reload a 'legal' version of Windows XP. Once disk is wipe put in the XP disk 1 and begin to follow the 'default' settings.

Now about the programs 'not working properly' since you live in a small town west of Asia you could be running into a compatability problem, ie language problem depending on the programs.  Rmemember you need to convert these to your language, ie chinnesse, etc. AND you need to make sure that these programs were written for the operating system you are trying to load them on (Check the specifications on the box, ie Operating System Requirements).

Kind Regards,
Jeff