There was a size limit with early versions of XP, which is what you're probably running into if you using the original install disc. How are you installing Vista? If from a disc, just point Vista to the drive as part of the install and it will format it for you. Otherwise, assuming you're running XP with Service Pack 3, just format it from inside of Windows.

More memory is good but at some point there is a diminishing return on the investment and that point is a function of what you are doing with your computer. Things like first person shooter games, video editing, photo editing (of very large files) all benefit from lots of memory. Writing an email to Aunt Betty doesn't require very much memory at all because the computer can process information far faster than you can type. Same thing for the Internet, your computer can render pages faster than your connection can supply the information. So if you have a slow internet connection, you're not likely to experience much, if any improvement. With that said, 4 gigs is probably a pretty good number. If you really want a WOW factor, get a solid state drive and use that for your O/S and critical applications. To try and answer some of your questions: - Windows doesn't care about the physical drive or any logical partitions. It does make good sense to install Windows 7 on the newer, faster drive. You'll get the best performance that way. When it comes time to get rid of XP, everything will be on one drive and that, if nothing else, should help you keep things mentally organized. - My understanding is that you have two physical drives, one with a functioning version of XP and the other blank. If that is not correct, say so NOW. - When you go to install Windows 7, it will recognize that there is another operating system (Windows XP) already installed. Windows 7 won't do anything to XP other than to set up the dual boot. Essentially it's computer language that says, "XP is there, Windows 7 is here, which one do you want to use?" - Logical partitions to a drive a largely a function of personal preference. Understand that it is more difficult (but not impossible) to non-destructively repartition a drive after you put data on it. If you, for example, have a partition for music, another for videos, and a third for pictures and find down the road that you have a lot more videos than music, it becomes more difficult to rearrange things. My suggestion is a single, large partition and use folders to organize your data.

I love to reset browsers to default when they get sluggish. In Chrome, it's under advanced settings. Warning, this will remove all of your plugins and extensions. Take this advice with a grain of salt. I once had someone really freak out after resetting Firefox because he had to reset his home page and add his extensions back. Don't forget to delete IE browser cache, even if you don't use it. Windows does use IE and stores temp files there. Speaking of temp files, before you defragment, clear out your Windows Temp files. Click start, type in run and press enter. Now type in %temp% and press enter. There shouldn't be anything in here that you need and you might be surprised at how much has built up in there.

If you'd be more comfortable using "Windows Photo Gallery", you can still add it. It's part of "Windows Essentials". Where is the best place to download it? I don't know but without looking too hard I found a link provided by Andre Da Costa, an MVP and volunteer moderator on the Microsoft "Community" help forum. ( install windows 10 photo gallery ) http://web.archive.org/web/20170112124505/http://wl.dlservice.microsoft.com/download/C/1/B/C1BA42D6-6A50-4A4A-90E5-FA9347E9360C/en/wlsetup-all.exe Personally, when installing I'd read the prompts and click "Choose the programs you want to install": And deselect everything except "Photo Gallery and Movie Maker": Then you'll have "Photo Gallery" available: Which if you want, you can set as the default photo viewer: BTW, I *suspect* the reason your older Win10 machines had Photo Gallery already installed may be because they were upgraded from Win7 or Win8? From what I've read, Win10 no longer comes with Photo Gallery (it comes with Photos) but performing an upgrade won't blow it away. I haven't used Photo Gallery much if at all but when I briefly opened it, I saw that it includes an "Import Photos" option that may be what you're familiar with, and would make it easier?