vista compatability with xp

I am in the process of having a laptop replaced by my insurance, but what
they are offering me is vista. As my old laptop and all back-up files are on
xp format i need to know if vista is at all compatable with xp, and if so, in
what form. Is this going to cause me unneeded hassel or should i insist with
my insurance that i have an xp laptop? Everything that i have heard about
vista so far has been negative to say the least. Any helpful advice will be
greatly received with thanks...

Papabear1uk wrote:
> I am in the process of having a laptop replaced by my insurance, but what
> they are offering me is vista. As my old laptop and all back-up files are on
> xp format i need to know if vista is at all compatable with xp, and if so, in
> what form. Is this going to cause me unneeded hassel or should i insist with
> my insurance that i have an xp laptop? Everything that i have heard about
> vista so far has been negative to say the least. Any helpful advice will be
> greatly received with thanks...

Insist on XP while you still can.

Alias

"Papabear1uk" <> wrote in message
news:C2B5F5BD-DE87-4A4F-9674-...
> I am in the process of having a laptop replaced by my insurance, but what
> they are offering me is vista. As my old laptop and all back-up files are
> on
> xp format i need to know if vista is at all compatable with xp, and if so,
> in
> what form. Is this going to cause me unneeded hassel or should i insist
> with
> my insurance that i have an xp laptop? Everything that i have heard about
> vista so far has been negative to say the least. Any helpful advice will
> be
> greatly received with thanks...


Depends upon what program you used to back up your files. Want to share that
info with us?

--
Mike Hall - MVP
How to construct a good post..
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"Papabear1uk" <> wrote in message
news:C2B5F5BD-DE87-4A4F-9674-...
> I am in the process of having a laptop replaced by my insurance, but what
> they are offering me is vista. As my old laptop and all back-up files are
> on
> xp format i need to know if vista is at all compatable with xp, and if so,
> in
> what form. Is this going to cause me unneeded hassel or should i insist
> with
> my insurance that i have an xp laptop? Everything that i have heard about
> vista so far has been negative to say the least. Any helpful advice will
> be
> greatly received with thanks...


Depends how you made your backups. If it's with the built-in XP backup
function, then no, AFAIK. If it's with some other application, then all you
need to do is to ascertain whether the app will run on Vista. Your documents
and email will just transfer....(usually....)

Definitely go with Windows Vista as it the best operating
system on the market today. Vista was designed for much
better power management for laptop computers, resulting
in longer battery life.

Using Windows Easy Transfer
http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/wi...-transfer.aspx

Migrating to Vista using Windows Easy Transfer
http://www.windowsnetworking.com/art...-Transfer.html

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows Desktop Experience -
Windows System & Performance

---------------------------------------------------------------

"Papabear1uk" wrote:

I am in the process of having a laptop replaced by my insurance, but what
they are offering me is vista. As my old laptop and all back-up files are on
xp format i need to know if vista is at all compatable with xp, and if so, in
what form. Is this going to cause me unneeded hassel or should i insist with
my insurance that i have an xp laptop? Everything that i have heard about
vista so far has been negative to say the least. Any helpful advice will be
greatly received with thanks...

Papabear1uk wrote:
> I am in the process of having a laptop replaced by my insurance, but
> what they are offering me is vista. As my old laptop and all back-up
> files are on xp format i need to know if vista is at all compatable
> with xp, and if so, in what form. Is this going to cause me unneeded
> hassel or should i insist with my insurance that i have an xp laptop?
> Everything that i have heard about vista so far has been negative to
> say the least. Any helpful advice will be greatly received with
> thanks...

The files are fully compatible. There is no such thing as a "Vista File."

The 200 or so people who've had a problem with Vista have, in the main,
tried to run it on a 386 or connect their computer to a wide-carriage
dot-matrix printer. There were a few who couldn't find drivers for their
automated bird feeder. The other 64,999,800 installations have had no
problem.

No, if you really expect to 'upgrade' to Vista, trashing the old system and
getting a new one is not a good way to do it. Better would be to get XP
going again, then upgrade to Vista, if that's what you want. Depending on a
clean install of Vista to be able to handle your backup files may not be
dependable enough to count on. Get XP, restore all, and then think about an
upgrade. The "Upgrade advisor' is the next step, and that assumes you get a
machine running XP good enough to run Vista. All this would have been true
anytime you considered going from XP to Vista. The difference is your
backups. I would try to find a Vista system to 'look at' the backup files.
--
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interface.
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Mark L. Ferguson
..

"Papabear1uk" <> wrote in message
news:C2B5F5BD-DE87-4A4F-9674-...
> I am in the process of having a laptop replaced by my insurance, but what
> they are offering me is vista. As my old laptop and all back-up files are
> on
> xp format i need to know if vista is at all compatable with xp, and if so,
> in
> what form. Is this going to cause me unneeded hassel or should i insist
> with
> my insurance that i have an xp laptop? Everything that i have heard about
> vista so far has been negative to say the least. Any helpful advice will
> be
> greatly received with thanks...

The question isn't if vista is at all compatible with xp" but whether the
software and hardware you use is compatible with Vista. For example, is
there a Vista printer driver available for your printer? Are the programs
you use compatible (for example older versions for Quick Books and Quicken
aren't). Many programs are compatible, but these issues need to be
individually researched. It might be best for you to stay with XP if
possible as Vista offers very little new of real value and has significantly
poorer performance.
File compatibility is not a problem but depending on how you have backed
them up restoring them could be an issue. If it's simply a straight forward
copy there would be no issue there. If done in some backup program, you
would have to be able to install that software on Vista.

--

"Papabear1uk" <> wrote in message
news:C2B5F5BD-DE87-4A4F-9674-...
> I am in the process of having a laptop replaced by my insurance, but what
> they are offering me is vista. As my old laptop and all back-up files are
> on
> xp format i need to know if vista is at all compatable with xp, and if so,
> in
> what form. Is this going to cause me unneeded hassel or should i insist
> with
> my insurance that i have an xp laptop? Everything that i have heard about
> vista so far has been negative to say the least. Any helpful advice will
> be
> greatly received with thanks...

"Mark L. Ferguson" <> wrote in
message news:596CE4EB-01E6-4488-8060-...
> No, if you really expect to 'upgrade' to Vista, trashing the old system
> and getting a new one is not a good way to do it. Better would be to get
> XP going again, then upgrade to Vista, if that's what you want.

REALLY? If the OP can "get XP going again" why would he want to upgrade a
machine that might, possibly, not be able to run Vista, to Vista?
many of the problems in the Vista groups are posted by people who upgraded
unsuitable machines......

You know nothing about vista!

Go and crawl back under your rock!
--
Mick Murphy - Qld - Australia


"HeyBub" wrote:

> Papabear1uk wrote:
> > I am in the process of having a laptop replaced by my insurance, but
> > what they are offering me is vista. As my old laptop and all back-up
> > files are on xp format i need to know if vista is at all compatable
> > with xp, and if so, in what form. Is this going to cause me unneeded
> > hassel or should i insist with my insurance that i have an xp laptop?
> > Everything that i have heard about vista so far has been negative to
> > say the least. Any helpful advice will be greatly received with
> > thanks...
>
> The files are fully compatible. There is no such thing as a "Vista File."
>
> The 200 or so people who've had a problem with Vista have, in the main,
> tried to run it on a 386 or connect their computer to a wide-carriage
> dot-matrix printer. There were a few who couldn't find drivers for their
> automated bird feeder. The other 64,999,800 installations have had no
> problem.
>
>
>