reinstalling XP instead of Vista

[iansomm]

I foolishly 'upgraded' my SZ1XP/C to Vista earlier this year, and now regret it (camera lost, microphone problems etc). I want to reinstall XP, together with Photo shop Elements which came bundled with it.

I have a pair of Sony system recovery disks. Do these include XP and Photoshop elements, which were pre-installed when I bought the computer? If I reinstall XP, will the original product key still work?
thanks.
Ian S

[Blencogo]

Hi Ian,

Yes, the Recovery Discs should take your Vaio back to the Factory Settings - exactly as it was when you bought it. Put Disc 1 into the drive and reboot to start the recovery.

Disc 1 is the System Disc which will reinstall XP Pro SP2 - you will have to carry out all the Microsoft and Vaio Updates.

Disc 2 contains the Applications preinstalled on your Vaio - Adobe Acrobat Elements, Adobe Acrobat Professional (Trial), Adobe Acrobat Reader, Adobe Photoshop Elements, Adobe Premiere Elements, Click to DVD, DVGate Plus, Memory Stick Formatter, Microsoft Office (Trial), Microsoft Works, Norton Internet Security, Norton Password Manager (Trial), PictureGear Studio, Roxio DigitalMedia SE 7, SonicStage, Ultimaco PrivateDisk Easy, VAIO Edit Components, VAIO Media, VAIO Update, WinDVD for VAIO.