Can anyone help me with my memory stick and loading pictures to my computer?

[Don K]

Colonel_Klink,

Thanks for telling me that downgrading your Vista computers back to XP was the best move you have ever made.  How did you do that?  I hardly know anything about computers.

Norma

Unfortunately Norma, there is no simple way to do it and keep all of the data on your hard drive. I downgraded two computers. On one of them, the hard drive crashed so I replaced it and installed XP instead of Vista on the new drive. For the other computer I wiped out the hard drive and started over.

On both computers I subscribe to an online backup service so all of my important documents were already backed up.

They are both Dell computers. It's easy to find Dell OEM versions of XP on Ebay for cheap. You just have to verify with the seller that it is new and has a clean license.

[pizzaneer]

Like Don said, step one is to back up your files.  Changing your OS to XP from Vista will involve either wiping your HD or manually partitioning it and installing a new windows boot sector.  That's pretty advanced.  There's a high chance that anything on your HD will be lost.

   Linux can be installed alongside your current OS.  You will then have the option at each startup to boot into either Vista or Linux. 
    Or you can choose to have the installer clean the HD and install Linux as the sole OS.  It's a very simple installation process. 
   Either way, when you put the Linux disc in the computer and boot from it, you will be able to try it out before installing it.  That way, you get to verify everything works correctly before making any changes.   It runs a lot slower when running from DVD; that's because the DVD drive just doesn't read data as fast as a HD. 
   Once it's installed Linux is about 4x faster than Windows.

[norma427]

Unfortunately Norma, there is no simple way to do it and keep all of the data on your hard drive. I downgraded two computers. On one of them, the hard drive crashed so I replaced it and installed XP instead of Vista on the new drive. For the other computer I wiped out the hard drive and started over.

On both computers I subscribe to an online backup service so all of my important documents were already backed up.

They are both Dell computers. It's easy to find Dell OEM versions of XP on Ebay for cheap. You just have to verify with the seller that it is new and has a clean license.

Like Don said, step one is to back up your files.  Changing your OS to XP from Vista will involve either wiping your HD or manually partitioning it and installing a new windows boot sector.  That's pretty advanced.  There's a high chance that anything on your HD will be lost.

   Linux can be installed alongside your current OS.  You will then have the option at each startup to boot into either Vista or Linux. 
    Or you can choose to have the installer clean the HD and install Linux as the sole OS.  It's a very simple installation process. 
   Either way, when you put the Linux disc in the computer and boot from it, you will be able to try it out before installing it.  That way, you get to verify everything works correctly before making any changes.   It runs a lot slower when running from DVD; that's because the DVD drive just doesn't read data as fast as a HD. 
   Once it's installed Linux is about 4x faster than Windows.

Colonel_Klink and Brian,

Thanks so much for the advice and the detailed posts.  I have to think about what you both posted. 

It is a handicap not knowing much about computers. 

Norma

[Chicago Bob]

fwiw   I've been running XP- home version for 5 yrs. an never had a problem, unless it was something stupid that I did.And I use a 30 dollar "SpeedyPC" download to keep everything running smoothly.

I think Brian's suggestion of having the backup, portable storage drive is a good thing to have for any computer.  http://www.walmart.com/ip/Toshiba-500GB-Automatic-Backup-Portable-Hard-Drive/21094667

[norma427]

fwiw   I've been running XP- home version for 5 yrs. an never had a problem, unless it was something stupid that I did.And I use a 30 dollar "SpeedyPC" download to keep everything running smoothly.

I think Brian's suggestion of having the backup, portable storage drive is a good thing to have for any computer.  http://www.walmart.com/ip/Toshiba-500GB-Automatic-Backup-Portable-Hard-Drive/21094667

Bob,

Thank you also for posting that you never had problems with XP home version in 5 years and what you purchased to keep your computer running smoothly.  I don’t know if my computer had viruses, or whatever, on since my brother did transfer all the data from my Dell to my HP computer.  My granddaughter did get music online and I am not sure if she visited other questionable sites, when she lived with me.  Maybe my problems were from that, but I won’t ever know because I am sure not knowledgeable about computers.

I agree with Brian’s excellent suggestion of having a portable storage drive. 

Norma

[Don K]

XP is very solid IMO. Vista is such a resource hog.

Ever since I had a laptop computer stolen, I have been very diligent about external backup. It wasn't so much losing the hardware that bothered me, but some of the data that was lost was irreplaceable. I am somewhat paranoid about it now. We have 13 years worth of family pictures that would be something terrible to lose.

I use an "all of the above" approach to backup. I backup to external hard drives, burn to DVD-R's, and use an online backup service (Carbonite). I store some of my backups at my father's house. Carbonite already saved us once when my daughter accidentally wiped out about 500MB of our digital pictures.

[norma427]

XP is very solid IMO. Vista is such a resource hog.

Ever since I had a laptop computer stolen, I have been very diligent about external backup. It wasn't so much losing the hardware that bothered me, but some of the data that was lost was irreplaceable. I am somewhat paranoid about it now. We have 13 years worth of family pictures that would be something terrible to lose.

I use an "all of the above" approach to backup. I backup to external hard drives, burn to DVD-R's, and use an online backup service (Carbonite). I store some of my backups at my father's house. Carbonite already saved us once when my daughter accidentally wiped out about 500MB of our digital pictures.

Colonel_Klink,

Thanks for telling me that you think XP is very solid. 

I can agree that losing 13 years of pictures would be terrible.  I also have loads of old family pictures.  I have only stored pictures on my computer for a few years and most of them are pizza pictures.  I wouldn’t feel too bad if I lost the pizza pictures, but family pictures do matter. 

Your “all of the above” approach makes sense, but I don’t know if I am willing to go though all of that.  I have a bunch of DVD-R’s so I guess sometime I should store the important pictures on them.  Most of my regular pictures I had taken with my regular Cannon camera and I have those prints. 

Norma

[Don K]

Your “all of the above” approach makes sense, but I don’t know if I am willing to go though all of that.  I have a bunch of DVD-R’s so I guess sometime I should store the important pictures on them. 

Online backup like Carbonite or Mozy is a good option too. I have used both and I like Carbonite better. It is incredibly simple to use. You just select folders that you want to back up and it works automatically in the background. As you add files it automatically keeps your backup current. You can't even tell that it's there because it tries to do most of its work when your computer is idle.

Please let me know if you would be interested in Carbonite because if I refer someone I can get a discount.

[norma427]

Online backup like Carbonite or Mozy is a good option too. I have used both and I like Carbonite better. It is incredibly simple to use. You just select folders that you want to back up and it works automatically in the background. As you add files it automatically keeps your backup current. You can't even tell that it's there because it tries to do most of its work when your computer is idle.

Please let me know if you would be interested in Carbonite because if I refer someone I can get a discount.

Colonel_Klink,

Thanks for telling how Carbonite works.  If I decide to purchase Carbonite, I will let you know, since if you refer someone you can get a discount.   

Norma