After much debate, I decided on XP because of software compatibility issues and information sharing between the new computer and the older XP. Both computers are used for work and must work together. I purchased the new computer to upgrade, down-the-line, to Vista. One problem I didn't consider was MS Office. The new machine was only sold with Office 07. The older machine has Office 03. All Word docs have to be saved at 03 docs on the new machine in order to be opened on the older machine. I guess it depends on what you use it for. I didn't have time to fool with getting Vista to work with what I need for work.

I have never seen Open Office offered in firefox install has anyone? I have seen it offered in some other updates like java and flash in the past. also make sure when you do firefox updates and the browser reopens to a new page other than your homepage to close it and reopen it again because it only does that the first time to let you know that it did update properly it does not change the homepage the next time you reopen it will be to your usual home page. It will do the same thing if you had any updates for your add-ons it will open to that page to let you know the update was successful. If you did install Open office it will be listed in your add remove programs list in control panel.

one good program that I use that will do a good uninstall of anything you may have on your pc you want to get rid of but ALSO has a feature to show you what is running at startup and with simple clicks lets you change those from on to off and vice versa is Revo uninstaller, it is free. Revo Uninstaller on their site you can click on some screenshots to show you exactly what it will look like and they have good step by step directions on how to use it. User's help Auto Run Manager Junk Files Cleaner it does all that and more, if you go to any of those links then look to the right it lists all the various tools built in, just click on any one of those then at the bottom of that page's text there will be another link that says go to user guide page, that will give you the direct instructions and pictures to how to use that aspect of the tool Here is the list of the tools and utilities included in Revo Uninstaller: Auto Start Manager - Stop programs that start automatically on Windows startup; speed up loading of Windows! Windows Tools Manager - Handy and useful tools bundled with every version of Windows; easily find useful system tools and options! Junk Files Cleaner - Find and remove unnecessary files from your computer; free up disk space and delete files you do not need! Browsers History Cleaner - Erase web browser history, visited pages history and temporary internet files of Internet Explorer, Firefox, Netscape and Opera web browsers; free up a lot of disk space by deleting temporary internet files like temporary saved videos, temporary flash files, temporary pictures etc! Office History Cleaner - Remove the history of most recently used files in MS Office; remove your tracks by deleting the list of last opened MS Office documents! Windows History Cleaner - Remove the history of recently opened files, delete temporary files, remove usage tracks and other history items that are saved by Windows; remove your tracks saved by Windows for a lot of operations! Unrecoverable Delete Tool - Erase files and folders forever; be sure that nobody could recover your files and folders after deleting! Evidence Remover - Make sure already deleted files, folders and other data are unrecoverable; securely erase your data!

buyorsell888 It is hard to say if the hardware will work for sure with vista. One way to check would be to go to the manufacturer's site for each piece that you have and see if they have drivers for vista. Most things like the hub and speakers work with everything. I do have an option that may work out even better. Have you ever heard of Ubuntu? It is a flavor of Linux that is very powerful and easy to use. It is free and will run rather nice on that hardware that you mentioned. I have set up a dozen people on it and all but one stayed on it. She only left it because her motherboard went bad and bought a new computer. A mac. I included a link to either download and burn a copy or to ask them to send you a free cd. If it is your original hard drive, you may want to go buy another one because that might be at the root of your problem, or it could just be spyware or virus problems. I tried Ubuntu after beta testing vista and have to say that I am happy that I decided not to switch to vista. My camera that wouldn't work with windows unless I downloaded the garbage software works with Linux flawlessly. It is also a good bit faster as well. It comes with a fully compatible word office suite as well. Let me know if you have any more questions. What is there to lose except a little time? If you don't like it, then you can spend the money and buy a new machine. I have to admit that it isn't for everyone. Some people have a need to spend money on things to think that it is a worthy solution. Either way, you have an option if you choose to take a look at it. Good luck with your choice Here is a link that might be useful: alternative solution