Upgrading to Win XP from Win2000

[TonyBaines]

I have a Sony Vaio notebook, model PCG-GR114MK, running Windows 2000 Professional. Although updated regularly and protected by Norton AntiVirus, this has now become so buggy that I want to upgrade to Windows XP Home Edition. My dealer (PC World) tells me that I cannot just load any copy of WinXP, but need the Vaio-specific version so that all the notebook utilities work properly. Can you tell me where I can obtain WinXP for my Vaio?

[leven]

Hi Tony,

I`m afraid I can`t tell you where you can buy a Sony XP CD which would have all the Notebook settings on it. I`m not even sure that you CAN buy such a CD. They normally come with a new purchase.

What I can tell you is that you can buy a retail XP CD and install it on your Vaio. As the dealer said you will not have all the hotkeys and any other special Sony software, but you will have a fully functional copy of XP installed. You will have Standby and Hibernate as they are in the XP setup. If you have any "special" Sony buttons they will not work.

Just in case you decide to do this, make sure you do a "Clean install" or you could have problems in the future. Format the drive during the installation for best results. Here is a good tutorial on doing a clean install

http://www.theeldergeek.com/clean_installation_of_windows_xp.htm

Pay particular attention to checking your present setup to see if it will be compatible with XP

Maybe someone else will be able to tell you if you can buy the type of CD you want.

Elaine

[JoeB.]

hi,

if sony offers all to the drivers for your notebook on their homepage then you can use any xp version you wish.
but why would you want to upgrade from win2000 to xp-home... you shouldn't... if you go from win2000 to xp-professional.. OK... but not to the xp-home edition....

also i have noticed a difference in speed between win2000 and xp.... win2000 with service-pack 4 acted somewhat faster than xp-pro did....

so if your win2000 is acting torn... just reinstall it with all the up-to-date drivers and service pack..