Can I change Windows Vista to XP?

I have a new laptop, with Windows Vista pre-loaded. But I am familiar with Windows XP, and don't want to have to learn a new system. Could I load XP on the laptop, how difficult would it be, and are there any risks? I am not a very skilled computer user, and am afraid of messing up.Can I change Windows Vista to XP?
best to get used to vista, it's very complex to change back.Can I change Windows Vista to XP?
you will have a lot of problems this is from hp and most manufactures have the same please read

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/docum
you would have to reformat the computer's hard drive and then install windows XP.





HOWEVER there will be major problems when attempting this. for one think windows XP can only support one processor, if your processor has more then one processor core, then the rest will be inactive. Also there many people why try to downgrade to xp, fail to check that there hardware has any xp drivers. If xp drivers existed for the laptop's hard-drive, then they would work. BUT if there are no xp drivers, then that hardware that the driver was for will not work.



This problem is common epically for wireless network driver and some laptop-only hardware, I have seen many people who downgrade to xp lose support for wireless networking. Also seen people lose support for webcam and card readers. In some rare cases possibly the cd drive, sound card, and advance graphic abilities.



Then there is the security, because windows didn't start introducing their security setting to default until vista came out, your computer will be much more vulnerable to virus attacks then vista ever was.
Yes, it is possible, but I don't know why you would want to. Vista is really superior to XP, a
(1) yes you can remove Vista and install XP. However your PC is licensed for Vista, so you'd need to buy an OEM copy of XP (if you can still get them...) to be legitimate.



(2) How difficult? It's not very difficult, you format the disk in the PC and follow the instructions when you boot the XP CD. At fastest it's probably 2-4 hours work depending on your PC's speed and memory.



(3) Are there any risks? Of course there are. Firstly, can you get XP legally at all? Secondly can you get XP drivers for all of the peripherals in your PC - for instance the video card driver, the sound card driver, the USB bridge driver etc etc. If you can't get a driver then you either lose access to a feature or can only use it at reduced capability. Thirdly, this is a destructive opertation. If you get it wrong you have wiped your new laptop out and have no OS on the laptop.



So, in summary... it's fairly easy provided you check beforehand and get the drivers onto a CD disk or a USB stick drive. But if you're not confident there *is* a risk to the process. It's a lot less risk if you leave the Vista restore partitiion / restore CD available so you can always go back to Vista if it all goes horribly wrong.



Alternatively, can you make vista look like XP? I have never used Vista, but I always make XP look like Win2k as it saves a lot of processing power.