Feel free to discuss anything related to Windows XP, Vista and 7 here. For simplicity, this refers to every Windows NT release with a version number from 5.1 to 6.1 inclusive.

I'll start!
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I had relatively little experience with Windows XP in my childhood. I briefly used it on a Pentium 4 box, an old Acer laptop and the school PCs, but that's about it.

Nevertheless, I installed it on my main PC on August 24, 2021 – the 20th anniversary of its release .It remained my daily driver until early 2025, when I discovered Windhawk and a few tweaks to the Windows 11 user interface.

My experiences with Windows XP were generally positive. Despite the rumoured lack of driver support in the x64 version, I installed it on five PCs and found video/audio/network drivers for most of them. I get the itch to go back from time to time; unfortunately, my main PC now has a video card incompatible with the system. Maybe my Core 2 Duo laptop will save the day?
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I recently went back to using Windows Vista – the OS that originally shipped with said laptop. The system definitely has a few shortcomings:

1. I have to disable driver signature enforcement to use ImDisk. Windows XP doesn't require this, but Windows 11 didn't either.
   I suspect that the driver has a SHA-2 signature. Vista never got SHA-2 support; Windows 11 includes it out of the box, so it loads the driver without complaining.
   
2. It boots up noticably slower than Windows 8, or even 11.
   
3. Plugging in an external disk can freeze the system (except for the cursor) for a few seconds. I haven't seen this happen on any Windows release since 8.
   

That said, it still has an excellent user interface and brought several technical improvements over XP. Out of the box, it supports newer hardware standards such as AHCI and Intel HD Audio; it also introduced per-application volume control, ASLR and digital signatures for the kernel. On top of that, it fixed a few long-standing scheduling issues; applications can no longer make the system unresponsive or prevent it from shutting down. Overall, I'd consider Vista the second best Windows release after 2000.

Just as a fun fact, I used it to write and submit this post! I'm sure @medians will appreciate it. :)
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Out of the three aforementioned Windows versions, 7 is the one I used the most. I had it installed on my main PC up until XP replaced it; I continued to use 7 on other machines for a few more years.

Despite that, there's no way I'd go back to running it. It's the only operating system I've seen that slows down when a display driver is installed. Upon installing XP, I noticed much better desktop performance; I haven't looked at 7 the same way ever since. I would take Vista or 8 any day over it.

The WindHawk link should be .net, not .org

finally windows 7 has a topic

gem1001 wrote:

The WindHawk link should be .net, not .org

Ah, derp. That's what I get for typing without checking. :P The link's been fixed now.

medians wrote:

:D happy birthday to best Windows version (it turns 19 in 1 month)
My browser / operating system: Windows Vista, Firefox 147.0, No Flash versions detected
My browser / operating system: Windows Vista, Firefox 146.0, No Flash versions detected
My browser / operating system: Windows Vista, Chrome 145.0.0.0, No Flash versions detected
My browser / operating system: Windows Vista, Chrome 138.0.0.0, No Flash versions detected

From Windows 11 topic LOL

SuperSonicmario wrote:

I suspect that the driver has a SHA-2 signature. Vista never got SHA-2 support; Windows 11 includes it out of the box, so it loads the driver without complaining.

Does the Server 2008 update work

medians wrote:

medians wrote:

:D happy birthday to best Windows version (it turns 19 in 1 month)
My browser / operating system: Windows Vista, Firefox 147.0, No Flash versions detected
My browser / operating system: Windows Vista, Firefox 146.0, No Flash versions detected
My browser / operating system: Windows Vista, Chrome 145.0.0.0, No Flash versions detected
My browser / operating system: Windows Vista, Chrome 138.0.0.0, No Flash versions detected

From Windows 11 topic LOL

How did you get later versions of Firefox to run?

kip22s wrote:

medians wrote:

medians wrote:

:D happy birthday to best Windows version (it turns 19 in 1 month)
My browser / operating system: Windows Vista, Firefox 147.0, No Flash versions detected
My browser / operating system: Windows Vista, Firefox 146.0, No Flash versions detected
My browser / operating system: Windows Vista, Chrome 145.0.0.0, No Flash versions detected
My browser / operating system: Windows Vista, Chrome 138.0.0.0, No Flash versions detected

From Windows 11 topic LOL

How did you get later versions of Firefox to run?

actually I have no idea if I can say LOL
Edit: keyboard mashing I guess

-snip-

SuperSonicmario wrote:

Nevertheless, I installed it on my main PC on August 24, 2021 – the 20th anniversary of its release. It remained my daily driver until early 2025, when I discovered Windhawk and a few tweaks to the Windows 11 user interface.

Windhawk was fun and all, but I uninstalled it after it continuously aggravated Defender's Controlled Folder Protection and stopped booting on startup.
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Windows Vista is underrated, for those who ran it on incompatible hardware & drivers

medians wrote:

Does the Server 2008 update work

I checked out the KB4039648 update. Amazingly enough, it installed with no issues… and now, I can use ImDisk with driver signature verification enabled. W00t!

ma007rio wrote:

Windows Vista is underrated, for those who ran it on incompatible hardware & drivers

What hardware is compatible with Windows XP, but not Vista? I can only think of my K6-2 motherboard, which would need a BIOS update to run it.

SuperSonicmario wrote:

medians wrote:

Does the Server 2008 update work

I checked out the KB4039648 update. Amazingly enough, it installed with no issues… and now, I can use ImDisk with driver signature verification enabled. W00t!

ma007rio wrote:

Windows Vista is underrated, for those who ran it on incompatible hardware & drivers

What hardware is compatible with Windows XP, but not Vista? I can only think of my K6-2 motherboard, which would need a BIOS update to run it.

A lot of computers that were compatible with XP would technically be compatible with Vista, but far, far less than optimal with it.

SuperSonicmario wrote:

medians wrote:

Does the Server 2008 update work

I checked out the KB4039648 update. Amazingly enough, it installed with no issues… and now, I can use ImDisk with driver signature verification enabled. W00t!

ma007rio wrote:

Windows Vista is underrated, for those who ran it on incompatible hardware & drivers

What hardware is compatible with Windows XP, but not Vista? I can only think of my K6-2 motherboard, which would need a BIOS update to run it.

Yeah Windows Server 2008 updates should be able to install on Vista, and there are other ones that should work

I see trees of green, red roses too

My browser / operating system: Windows XP, Firefox 102.0, No Flash version detected
Mypal.

I like windoes vista because the appearance is awesome

By the way, you may want a program and software thing like the 95/98/ME/2000 topic has XD
Also, Scratch 3.0 (works with 7+ with the direct download link even though the page says “10+”)

gem1001 wrote:

A lot of computers that were compatible with XP would technically be compatible with Vista, but far, far less than optimal with it.

Indeed… I think Windows Vista (and 7) would be painfully slow on the K6-2. It would still be fun to try, though.

medians wrote:

By the way, you may want a program and software thing like the 95/98/ME/2000 topic has XD

I think the list would grow too long; almost every program I use still supports Windows 7.

OkiArchive wrote:

I like windoes vista because the appearance is awesome

Ditto!

SuperSonicmario wrote:

medians wrote:

By the way, you may want a program and software thing like the 95/98/ME/2000 topic has XD

I think the list would grow too long; almost every program I use still supports Windows 7.

XP and Vista list then?

Trick for 3.0 and TurboWarp Desktop on Vista by the way:
Electron works for 7+ and also setting compatibility for 95 or 98/ME or NT 4.0 bypasses the system requirement so you can spoof ver or use compatibility mode
If it does not work try with supermium-electron

What is the best browser for Windows Vista?