XP Problems

[lendingheart]

we have a computer that was bought in 2002.... it is an XP.... it has so much junk on it..... i have deleted all unnessary programs.... defraged and all that.... and now it acts funny.... i went to reinstall a program that was on it and now refused to go.... just a head ache.....

even after delteing a bunch of stuff the memory is still half full.....

how can i just wipe it clean..... leaving the basic stuff you need to run windows.. and get on the intenet.... so i can start over fresh..... earasing all errors, bad files, possible trojans and virsus my AVG didnt get.

i hear of people doing it.... but i have no clue how to go about it..... can someone walk me thru it... or link me how to do it......thank you!

[ghetto guy]

Get a windows disc, put it in your CD drive and restart your computer.

[Robert]

Hev you tried defragmenting the hard drive?

[Magog]

Get a windows disc, put it in your CD drive and restart your computer.

This would be your best bet. If you bought the computer in 2000, it should have a Restore Disk that came with it. It is usually pretty easy to do, put it in the CD drive, reboot, and follow the prompts that come up. It will clear the hard drive of all the old stuff, and reinstall Windows, and any other basic programs that came with the computer. Hope this helps!

[ghetto guy]

There might also be a key that you can press when the computer first turns on that will invoke a recovery program

[Pacman]

Generally it's a good idea to completely reinstall Windows every 12 months or so. If it hasn't been done since 2002 then it's high time. Windows just isn't a very stable system.

You'll need a disk for the same version of Windows you've got. You'll also need a valid license key. This will either be on a little green sticker somewhere on the PC, or stuck to the packaging with your Windows disk.

The disk you got with your PC will probably just be a reinstall disk, where it will dig into a hidden partition on your hard drive and unpack a fresh copy of Windows from there. This might come loaded with all sorts of rubbish from your PCs manufacturer that you'll have to uninstall. If you can, get a full install disk instead of of these restore disks. A full install disk will give you a nice clean system (which is the point of the exercise)

Make sure you've got all the disks for your motherboard, graphics card, etc. If not, go to the manufacturer's site and download all the drivers for your model and put them on a CD or flash drive. It's also a good idea to put a good browser like Firefox and an antivirus suite onto a flash drive, so you can install them before connecting to the internet. You will get infected within a few minutes if you go online using Internet Explorer and no antivirus, so you don't really have time to download these things from the internet.

Getting all your drivers and software installed will take ages and be a bit of a pain. Once you're finally finished you might want to get your local friendly geek to help you take an "image" of your completed setup. That will make it a lot quicker to reinstall at any later date.

[Petezzzz]

If you only need the internet, and no windows specific stuff, download Linux and forget windows forever. I recommend PCLinuxOS-2007 (http://www.pclinuxos.com/index.php?option=com_ionFiles&func=download&Itemid=43). Grab it, burn the image to a CD, pop it in the drive and boot from CD. It lets you try it without installing, or messing up your windoze install. You don't need to go find drivers or programs or antivirus/spyware or any other garbage that you need for windows. Everything you need is on that one CD. Firefox, Office suite, Email. Mine even runs off a pendrive. Don't let the "2007" turn you off. Remember XP came out in 2002. If you decide to install it to hard drive, it's only a few mouse clicks to a full update. Have fun...

Oh, and I forgot to mention, it's faster, more secure and you don't need to reinstall it ever 12 months ;)

[Pacman]

download Linux and forget windows forever

Well, you can keep both on your system, too. You just pick which one you want when you turn the machine on. But i'm pretty confident that if you get Linux you find yourself using Windows less and less ;)

PCLinuxOS is a good Linux distro (I used it myself for a while), but for ease of installation you really can't beat Ubuntu's Wubi installer (http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/downloadmirrors#wubi). It makes installing Linux as easy as installing a new application in Windows.

[Petezzzz]

Well, you can keep both on your system, too. You just pick which one you want when you turn the machine on. But I'm pretty confident that if you get Linux you find yourself using Windows less and less ;)

How true it is! I tried Ubuntu for a while, Kubuntu to be exact. I think it was the beaver or woodchuck version, I don't remember. However I always had problems with sound and USB. Plus the whole Ubuntu "we are all one happy humanist family" thing turned me off.

But with PCLOS everything just worked :) I am currently using the MiniMe version, since I wanted to build a custom package, minus the stuff I never use.

In fact I just installed the even smaller TinyMe on a PC at work. On that I am running VirtualBox and guess what I can run on top of that.

WINDOWS LOLOLOL :pound

Praise the Lord for Linux!!

[fracturedInfinity]

I recommend PCLinuxOS-2007 (http://www.pclinuxos.com/index.php?option=com_ionFiles&func=download&Itemid=43).
I was going to PM you about this Petezzzz, but I guess you don't allow PMs, so...

:threadjack

I'm curious about this. Does it handle dialup connections easily? What about an equivalent to Internet Connection Sharing, is that easy to set up?

I'm not exactly a novice with Linux, but I've never set up a dialup connection with something similar to ICS in it before. I'd like to use linux, but I never had in the past because the games I played wouldn't run on it. Since I don't play PC games any more, I'd say I'm free to do the Linux thing.

I learned linux on Red Hat 9. There aren't many of the main distros that I haven't played around with at some point or another. I'd like a version that lets me really dig into the OS, while still being as easy to use and intuitive as Windows tries to be, and still have it "just work" when I need it to. How well does PCLinuxOS fit that description?


Ok, thread jacking done.
:surrender