At first I just tried to put in the XP disc thinking I could just download it onto my drive D:. That was a false hope of mine. Then I thought "well maybe if I partition drive C: it will allow me to install XP onto it". Another wrong assumtion on my part. Then finally I just thought "fine, I'll just format it" but when I go to format C: it is greyed out the same way "Install Windows XP" is when I put in the XP disc. I am really lost and would be very grateful to anyone who could help me either format my computer or find a program that can partition my drive C:. Or maybe just uninstall Vista somehow. If you want to actually SEE what I mean I could get some screenshots for ya. Anyways I'm mainly trying to get rid of Vista 'cuz it keeps tellin me to activate it when it came with my laptop pre-installed, and when I try to use the autamated phone way it says invalid product key. Also it's pop-ups are quite annoying and there are a few programs it is not compatible with and overall it just bugs the bleep out of me! I would rather have my old laptop with WIndows 2000....

If Vista won't activate, contact the seller and get them to sort it out, you paid for Vista.

Since you presumably have copies of XP and of Vista, I'd suggest a using fdisk on the drive to re-partition it, then format it the same way (with a Win98*Grinler boot disk). Then do the clean install of either OS and it should work just fine (this does depend on the make and model of your laptop).