{"id":21980,"date":"2011-06-06T12:44:42","date_gmt":"2011-06-06T17:44:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/?p=21980"},"modified":"2011-06-06T12:44:42","modified_gmt":"2011-06-06T17:44:42","slug":"ask-leo-can-i-switch-back-to-windows-xp-from-windows-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/ask-leo-can-i-switch-back-to-windows-xp-from-windows-7\/","title":{"rendered":"Ask Leo: Can I switch back to Windows XP from Windows 7?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/20090929leonotenboomwp.jpg\" alt=\"askleo\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" class=\"attachment wp-att-7652 alignleft\" \/><\/p>\n<p>By Leo Notenboom<\/p>\n<p><i>At present, I&#8217;m running Windows 7 and find it really complicated. Is it<br \/>\npossible to change back to Windows XP Home Edition which is easier to use?<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Yes, it&#8217;s possible.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s a bit of work and I&#8217;ll review what it means to do that.<\/p>\n<p>But&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ll also share with you my thoughts on why I believe doing so would be a<br \/>\nmistake.<\/p>\n<h3>Windows XP &#8211; Back to the future<\/h3>\n<p>Reverting any machine capable of running Windows XP back to it &#8211; known as<br \/>\n&#8220;downgrading&#8221; &#8211; is actually very simple: get a copy and install it.<\/p>\n<p>And, if your machine is capable of running Windows 7, then it&#8217;s probably quite capable of running Windows XP.<\/p>\n<p>However, that &#8220;get a copy and install it&#8221; glosses over <em>a lot<\/em> of<br \/>\nwork. In more detailed steps:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"spacedlist\">\n<li>\n<p><strong>\u2022Get a copy of XP<\/strong>: You might have a copy lying around that<br \/>\nyou&#8217;re not using anymore. OEM discs don&#8217;t count, as they&#8217;ll typically only<br \/>\nwork on a specific manufacturer&#8217;s machine and they&#8217;re often legally restricted<br \/>\nto only those machines. If you don&#8217;t have a Windows XP install disc that you<br \/>\ncan use legally, you&#8217;ll have to purchase one. You might find Windows XP on the secondary market, some retail stores, auction sites or more. For the record, you&#8217;re not<br \/>\n&#8220;entitled&#8221; to a copy of Windows XP if you don&#8217;t like Windows 7; you&#8217;ll have to purchase or acquire a separate, legal copy of Windows XP.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p><strong>\u2022Back up<\/strong>: Installing Windows XP from scratch<br \/>\nwill typically erase everything on your computer. The only thing that you can do is back up everything first. Make sure that you do this to avoid losing valuable<br \/>\ndata.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p><strong>\u2022Reformat\/Install<\/strong>: Install Windows XP by using the reformat<br \/>\noperation to clean off the hard disk as part of the installation. <a href=\n\"http:\/\/ask-leo.com\/how_do_i_reformat_and_reinstall_windows.html\" target=\"_blank\">How do I<br \/>\nreformat and reinstall Windows?<\/a> has the process.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p><strong>Reinstall applications<\/strong>: Reinstall all of the applications that you<br \/>\nhad that were separate from Windows. You&#8217;ll need their original installation<br \/>\nmedia and\/or downloads.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p><strong>\u2022Restore data<\/strong>: Copy all of the data that you&#8217;d been keeping on your computer prior to this operation from your backup or any other convenient storage place that you used.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>That&#8217;s it. You&#8217;re running Windows XP. Welcome to 2001. <img src=\n\"http:\/\/img.askleomedia.com\/smile.gif\" alt=\"Smile\" title=\"Smile\" \/><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/ask-leo.com\/can_i_switch_back_to_windows_xp_from_windows_7.html\" target=\"_blank\">Why this is a mistake&#8230;Article continued here<\/a><\/p>\n<p>This post is excerpted with Leo&#8217;s permission from his blog.<\/p>\n<p>FaceBook URL:   <a href=\"http:\/\/ask-leo.com\/fb\" target=\"_blank\">Leo&#8217;s Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Twitter URL:     <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/askleo\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/twitter.com\/askleo<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/techtalk.pcpitstop.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/20090929leonotenboomwp.jpg\" alt=\"askleo\" class=\"attachment wp-att-7167 alignleft\" \/><\/p>\n<p>By Leo Notenboom<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s very possible to remove Windows 7 and switch back to Windows XP. I&#8217;ll describe how. In my opinion, however, switching back to Windows XP is a mistake.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":66012,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[46,4875,18,532],"class_list":["post-21980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-leo-notenboom","tag-ask-leo","tag-leo-notenboom","tag-windows-7","tag-windows-xp"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Ask Leo: Can I switch back to Windows XP from Windows 7?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"By Leo Notenboom It&#039;s very possible to remove Windows 7 and switch back to Windows XP. I&#039;ll describe how. In my opinion, however, switching back to Windows XP is a mistake.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/ask-leo-can-i-switch-back-to-windows-xp-from-windows-7\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ask Leo: Can I switch back to Windows XP from Windows 7?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Leo Notenboom It&#039;s very possible to remove Windows 7 and switch back to Windows XP. I&#039;ll describe how. In my opinion, however, switching back to Windows XP is a mistake.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/ask-leo-can-i-switch-back-to-windows-xp-from-windows-7\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"PC Matic Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pcmatic\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-06-06T17:44:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/pcmatic-fallback.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Leo Notenboom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@pcmatic\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@pcmatic\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Leo Notenboom\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/ask-leo-can-i-switch-back-to-windows-xp-from-windows-7\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/ask-leo-can-i-switch-back-to-windows-xp-from-windows-7\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Leo Notenboom\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ed90798b38aa4ab74e12591da7ab21d5\"},\"headline\":\"Ask Leo: Can I switch back to Windows XP from Windows 7?\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-06-06T17:44:42+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/ask-leo-can-i-switch-back-to-windows-xp-from-windows-7\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":429,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/ask-leo-can-i-switch-back-to-windows-xp-from-windows-7\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/pcmatic-fallback.png\",\"keywords\":[\"ask leo\",\"leo notenboom\",\"Windows 7\",\"Windows XP\"],\"articleSection\":[\"leo notenboom\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/ask-leo-can-i-switch-back-to-windows-xp-from-windows-7\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/ask-leo-can-i-switch-back-to-windows-xp-from-windows-7\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/ask-leo-can-i-switch-back-to-windows-xp-from-windows-7\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ask Leo: Can I switch back to Windows XP from Windows 7?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/ask-leo-can-i-switch-back-to-windows-xp-from-windows-7\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/ask-leo-can-i-switch-back-to-windows-xp-from-windows-7\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/pcmatic-fallback.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-06-06T17:44:42+00:00\",\"description\":\"By Leo Notenboom It's very possible to remove Windows 7 and switch back to Windows XP. I'll describe how. In my opinion, however, switching back to Windows XP is a mistake.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/ask-leo-can-i-switch-back-to-windows-xp-from-windows-7\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/ask-leo-can-i-switch-back-to-windows-xp-from-windows-7\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/ask-leo-can-i-switch-back-to-windows-xp-from-windows-7\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/pcmatic-fallback.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/pcmatic-fallback.png\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1080},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/ask-leo-can-i-switch-back-to-windows-xp-from-windows-7\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Ask Leo: Can I switch back to Windows XP from Windows 7?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"PC Matic Blog\",\"description\":\"Tech Tips and Tricks\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"PC Matic - Top Antivirus Company in the USA.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/techtalk.pcmatic.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/PC-MaticLogo-e1472689639222.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/techtalk.pcmatic.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/PC-MaticLogo-e1472689639222.png\",\"width\":1535,\"height\":483,\"caption\":\"PC Matic - Top Antivirus Company in the USA.\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/pcmatic\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/pcmatic\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/pcmaticusa\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/company\\\/pcmatic\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/c\\\/PCMaticVideo\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ed90798b38aa4ab74e12591da7ab21d5\",\"name\":\"Leo Notenboom\",\"description\":\"Leo A. Notenboom is the owner of Puget Sound Software, LLC and the Leo in Ask Leo!. Leo has been in the personal computer and software industry since 1979, as a software engineer, a manager of software engineers, and as a consultant. In 1983 Leo joined what was then a medium sized local company called Microsoft and spent the next 18 years in a wide variety of groups working on a wide variety of software. If you're running Microsoft Windows, if you've used a Microsoft development tool or Microsoft Money, or if you've ever purchased a ticket through Expedia, there's a good chance you've been touched by some of his work. And of course, since 2003, Leo has been answering your tech questions on Ask Leo!\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/ask-leo.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/leo\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ask Leo: Can I switch back to Windows XP from Windows 7?","description":"By Leo Notenboom It's very possible to remove Windows 7 and switch back to Windows XP. I'll describe how. In my opinion, however, switching back to Windows XP is a mistake.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/ask-leo-can-i-switch-back-to-windows-xp-from-windows-7\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Ask Leo: Can I switch back to Windows XP from Windows 7?","og_description":"By Leo Notenboom It's very possible to remove Windows 7 and switch back to Windows XP. I'll describe how. In my opinion, however, switching back to Windows XP is a mistake.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/ask-leo-can-i-switch-back-to-windows-xp-from-windows-7\/","og_site_name":"PC Matic Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pcmatic","article_published_time":"2011-06-06T17:44:42+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":1080,"url":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/pcmatic-fallback.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Leo Notenboom","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@pcmatic","twitter_site":"@pcmatic","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Leo Notenboom","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/ask-leo-can-i-switch-back-to-windows-xp-from-windows-7\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/ask-leo-can-i-switch-back-to-windows-xp-from-windows-7\/"},"author":{"name":"Leo Notenboom","@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ed90798b38aa4ab74e12591da7ab21d5"},"headline":"Ask Leo: Can I switch back to Windows XP from Windows 7?","datePublished":"2011-06-06T17:44:42+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/ask-leo-can-i-switch-back-to-windows-xp-from-windows-7\/"},"wordCount":429,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/ask-leo-can-i-switch-back-to-windows-xp-from-windows-7\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/pcmatic-fallback.png","keywords":["ask leo","leo notenboom","Windows 7","Windows XP"],"articleSection":["leo notenboom"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/ask-leo-can-i-switch-back-to-windows-xp-from-windows-7\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/ask-leo-can-i-switch-back-to-windows-xp-from-windows-7\/","url":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/ask-leo-can-i-switch-back-to-windows-xp-from-windows-7\/","name":"Ask Leo: Can I switch back to Windows XP from Windows 7?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/ask-leo-can-i-switch-back-to-windows-xp-from-windows-7\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/ask-leo-can-i-switch-back-to-windows-xp-from-windows-7\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/pcmatic-fallback.png","datePublished":"2011-06-06T17:44:42+00:00","description":"By Leo Notenboom It's very possible to remove Windows 7 and switch back to Windows XP. I'll describe how. In my opinion, however, switching back to Windows XP is a mistake.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/ask-leo-can-i-switch-back-to-windows-xp-from-windows-7\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/ask-leo-can-i-switch-back-to-windows-xp-from-windows-7\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/ask-leo-can-i-switch-back-to-windows-xp-from-windows-7\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/pcmatic-fallback.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/pcmatic-fallback.png","width":1920,"height":1080},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/ask-leo-can-i-switch-back-to-windows-xp-from-windows-7\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Ask Leo: Can I switch back to Windows XP from Windows 7?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/","name":"PC Matic Blog","description":"Tech Tips and Tricks","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"PC Matic - Top Antivirus Company in the USA.","url":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/techtalk.pcmatic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/PC-MaticLogo-e1472689639222.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/techtalk.pcmatic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/PC-MaticLogo-e1472689639222.png","width":1535,"height":483,"caption":"PC Matic - Top Antivirus Company in the USA."},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pcmatic","https:\/\/x.com\/pcmatic","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/pcmaticusa\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/pcmatic","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/PCMaticVideo"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ed90798b38aa4ab74e12591da7ab21d5","name":"Leo Notenboom","description":"Leo A. Notenboom is the owner of Puget Sound Software, LLC and the Leo in Ask Leo!. Leo has been in the personal computer and software industry since 1979, as a software engineer, a manager of software engineers, and as a consultant. In 1983 Leo joined what was then a medium sized local company called Microsoft and spent the next 18 years in a wide variety of groups working on a wide variety of software. If you're running Microsoft Windows, if you've used a Microsoft development tool or Microsoft Money, or if you've ever purchased a ticket through Expedia, there's a good chance you've been touched by some of his work. And of course, since 2003, Leo has been answering your tech questions on Ask Leo!","sameAs":["http:\/\/ask-leo.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/author\/leo\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21980\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}