XP Home Reinstall Virgin!

[johnmw1]

Hi,
As the heading suggests I'm a wannabe in regards to wanting to reinstall XP Home. My major problem is this system is about 6 yrs old now and also has accumulated 6 yrs of almost everything. So things just absolutely crawl along now and it takes at least 15 Min's after boot-up before I can actually do anything.

I have never had the courage to follow through and have always chickened out for fear of not doing something properly or losing valuable information etc if I do not backup stuff in the correct manner.

I have D/L your tutorial BV but am concerned that there are other things that I should also have like drivers and installation disc's for motherboards and the like, but to be honest I'm still not real sure of the priority or order of things to consider and prepare for. I have also D/L the SP3 that you suggested and have sent it to my desktop but again am not too sure how to burn it to disc?

As you can see I need all the help I can get, and if it wasn't an issue I would just pay someone to do it for me, but money is an issue so I have to have a go at this myself.

I do run a c and d drive both of which are 80Gig and I suspect that maybe the c drive may have a couple of bad sectors in there. The d drive has always just been for other stuff and most of the time has just sat there with nothing much on it. Is it possible to swap them so c becomes d and vise versa?

Any help would be most appreciated.

Cheers
John

[VampireMuffinMan]

Since you are so fearful of reinstalling, why don't you just do a major house cleaning.  This is a good idea in any case as you can back up your current install before you attempt the next phase.  That way, if anything goes wrong, you can simply recover what you are working with right now. 
Here is what I would do: (ignore any steps you already perform or have done already)
1 )  Check your drive for errors (since you think you might find some):
Right click on the C: drive in My Computer and then click on properties.  Click on the Tools tab and then click on the Check Now button in the Error Checking box.  Check both boxes in the window that pops up and then click on the Start button.  A new window should pop up prompting you to schedule the scan for the next time you start Windows. Agree and close all the open windows and then restart the computer.  Disk Check will probably take a very long time to complete on your old system, so be prepared to wait it out.
2 )  Uninstall all programs that you no longer use.  Start>Control Panel>Add/Remove Programs
3 )  Move all your personal files from your My Documents folder to your second hard drive.
4 )  Clean out all your temp. files.  I would suggest Glary Utilities for that.  Don't use the registry cleaner, that can wait.
5 )  Re-size your System Restore.  I wrote a tutorial you can find here:
http://hubpages.com/hub/Settings_-_System_Restore
6 )  Defragment your hard drive.  Again, this will probably take a very long time to complete on your old system, so be prepared to wait it out.
7 )  Scan your computer for viruses, malware, spyware and adware.  If you want, you can check out my list of freeware for XP here:
http://hubpages.com/hub/Maintenance_-_Freeware_for_Windows_XP
8 )  At the above site you will find a link to a program called Macrium Reflect.  With it, you can create an image of your C: drive.  Depending on what you have left on your C: and D: drives, you may be able to write the image to your D: drive.  It gives the option to break up the image into DVD size chunks which you can burn to disk, if you'd like.
9)  After you make your backup, you're ready to go on with your re-install.  If you feel your computer is now running decent enough to put the re-install off, you can give the registry cleaner a try and see if that helps out a little more. 

[johnmw1]

Hi VampireMuffinMan,

Thanks heaps for answering my call for help.

I have had a read up from your hub pages and yes there is lots of really useful information there for me to follow. I do actually have Seagate drives if that makes any difference in regards to whether I use Macrium Reflect or the Seagate Disk Wizard. I should also mention that I also have a 1 Tb WD external HD which I bought for the purpose of copying my C drive over. But to be honest I just get lost in all the technical stuff and fear that I might stuff it up completely. If some one could walk me through the steps.................

I do feel that I would like to do a complete re-install because I'm one of those very indecisive people that can never make up their minds or know enough about what your about to delete and what knock on effect that may result from deleting the wrong thing. Believe me this PC really needs cleaning.

Some of the programmes that I'm running at the moment are Eset Nod 32 V4, Spybot SD, Secunia PCI, SuperAntiSpy, and Spyware Terminator. Whether all these programmes compete and conflict with one another on startup could welll contribute to my slow start ups.

I should also mention that I'm a mature age full time student who suddenly found themselves out of a job at the end of 2007 and have been unemployed and forced back to school to try and improve ones lot in life since then. I have started 2 weeks break as of yesterday but as per the norm have been handed 5 assignments to do over my so called break. I would very much like to get these assignments out of the way first before I attempt the one thing that really needs to be done, and that's the PC.

Cheers
John

[IH8U]

I'm still not real sure of the priority or order of things to consider and prepare for.

Here's some things to do before considering a reinstallation.
1. Make sure you have the proper Windows XP installation disc for that machine. Also make sure you have the product key for Windows XP. If it's a computer built by a reputable manufacturer there should be a sticker located either on the side, top or back of the computer with this product key on it. It is five sets of five characters long for a total of 25 characters.

2. Determine the brand and model number of the computer and go to the manufacturers website and see if the drivers for the computer are available for download. This is usually found within the support section of the website. Some manufacturers have many downloads for the same device, but they may be made by different manufacturers. One method of getting the right driver is to compare the make and model of the devices listed in device manager to the drivers listed on the manufacturer's website. I recommend writing down on paper any information you can get about each device from device manager in case you are missing a driver or have downloaded the wrong one. After you download the drivers you need to burn them to a CD/DVD.

3. In most cases you can't backup programs that are installed into the computer. So determine what programs that you use and/or need and verify you have a way of reinstalling them once Windows XP has been reinstalled. Make sure you have the disc or are able to re-download them. If they require product keys or serials to be entered, make sure you have those too. Many products like antivirus and Office require these as well as some software that was downloaded and purchased over the web.

4. Create a folder on the desktop and name it backup or whatever you wish. Decide which files you wish to keep, music, videos, documents, pictures, emails, bookmarks, etc. Whatever files you decide you want move them to the backup folder. Take your time with this and double check you have everything you want. Use your computer for a couple of days and see if you find something you didn't think of keeping and add whatever that is to the backup folder. Once you sure you have everything back it up either to an external hard drive or to CD/DVDs.

I have also D/L the SP3 that you suggested and have sent it to my desktop but again am not too sure how to burn it to disc?

If your backing things up to CD/DVD it is essential you learn how to do this. CDBurnerXP is a descent freeware program you can use to burn discs. You can review it here --> http://cdburnerxp.se and there is a FAQ for burning a data disc here --> http://cdburnerxp.se/help/Data/compiledata. Try making a disc and if possible take it to another computer and see if the data you wanted is on that disc.

I suspect that maybe the c drive may have a couple of bad sectors in there.

You really should backup everything just in case the hard drive is going bad. After you backup everything you need, consider running a hard drive diagnostic tool on the hard drive to see if there are problems with it. You really need to do the backup before running the test software because if there is an issue where the hard drive is failing the test could make it fail completely.

Tell us your computer's brand and model, what software you have and want to keep, and what types of files you are interested in saving. This will help us to give suggestions to make sure your reinstall of Windows XP goes as smoothly as possible.

[johnmw1]

I'm still not real sure of the priority or order of things to consider and prepare for.

Here's some things to do before considering a reinstallation.
1. Make sure you have the proper Windows XP installation disc for that machine. Also make sure you have the product key for Windows XP. If it's a computer built by a reputable manufacturer there should be a sticker located either on the side, top or back of the computer with this product key on it. It is five sets of five characters long for a total of 25 characters.

2. Determine the brand and model number of the computer and go to the manufacturers website and see if the drivers for the computer are available for download. This is usually found within the support section of the website. Some manufacturers have many downloads for the same device, but they may be made by different manufacturers. One method of getting the right driver is to compare the make and model of the devices listed in device manager to the drivers listed on the manufacturer's website. I recommend writing down on paper any information you can get about each device from device manager in case you are missing a driver or have downloaded the wrong one. After you download the drivers you need to burn them to a CD/DVD.

3. In most cases you can't backup programs that are installed into the computer. So determine what programs that you use and/or need and verify you have a way of reinstalling them once Windows XP has been reinstalled. Make sure you have the disc or are able to re-download them. If they require product keys or serials to be entered, make sure you have those too. Many products like antivirus and Office require these as well as some software that was downloaded and purchased over the web.

4. Create a folder on the desktop and name it backup or whatever you wish. Decide which files you wish to keep, music, videos, documents, pictures, emails, bookmarks, etc. Whatever files you decide you want move them to the backup folder. Take your time with this and double check you have everything you want. Use your computer for a couple of days and see if you find something you didn't think of keeping and add whatever that is to the backup folder. Once you sure you have everything back it up either to an external hard drive or to CD/DVDs.

I have also D/L the SP3 that you suggested and have sent it to my desktop but again am not too sure how to burn it to disc?

If your backing things up to CD/DVD it is essential you learn how to do this. CDBurnerXP is a descent freeware program you can use to burn discs. You can review it here --> http://cdburnerxp.se and there is a FAQ for burning a data disc here --> http://cdburnerxp.se/help/Data/compiledata. Try making a disc and if possible take it to another computer and see if the data you wanted is on that disc.

I suspect that maybe the c drive may have a couple of bad sectors in there.

You really should backup everything just in case the hard drive is going bad. After you backup everything you need, consider running a hard drive diagnostic tool on the hard drive to see if there are problems with it. You really need to do the backup before running the test software because if there is an issue where the hard drive is failing the test could make it fail completely.

Tell us your computer's brand and model, what software you have and want to keep, and what types of files you are interested in saving. This will help us to give suggestions to make sure your reinstall of Windows XP goes as smoothly as possible.

HI,
Sorry I have not meant to be ignoring you, I have just been totally hung up on my assignments which I'm desperately trying to get rid of, so again my apologies.

You offer some very wise suggestions there and believe me I will be taking it all on board when I finally get to sit down and digest all of this stuff.

Just one quick thing I should point out is mine is a no name brand PC. I chose all the components myself and had it built for me. Essentially it's a P4 2.6Ghz with a 1Gb of Ram, with an Asus P4C800 Deluxe motherboard, Nvidia GEForce4 Ti 4200 with AGP8X, and twin Seagate 80Gb hard drives.

I guess for its day it was pretty good and it has served me well, but it really does need cleaning up. I have never updated any drivers or anything, so it could use all the help it can get because financially I'm just not in the position to be able to buy a new one.

Cheers
John

[Black Viper]

I guess for its day it was pretty good and it has served me well, but it really does need cleaning up. I have never updated any drivers or anything, so it could use all the help it can get because financially I'm just not in the position to be able to buy a new one.

After a healthy reinstall of Windows, you won't need a new computer because it will feel new already.

[johnmw1]

Hi BV(Charles),

That is what I'm hoping for that is for sure. I would love to try and add some extra ram and a larger hard drive just to give it a bit more leg room, but for me at the moment every dollar counts.

Cheers
John

[johnmw1]

Just as a further update, I have now created Bart's PE Builder DVD and includes Drive-image XML. I have cloned my C drive over to D drive. Not totally sure how I'm supposed to use this DVD I have made, and I'm not sure even how I'm to use my backed up d drive.

So am I there yet, am I prepared enough to bite the bullet and re-format yet, or are there other things to do and consider. Do I need to d/l the latest updates for my MB to disc, or do I worry about this stuff after I'm up and running again???

Cheers
John

[Black Viper]

Do I need to d/l the latest updates for my MB to disc, or do I worry about this stuff after I'm up and running again???

It is best to download all updates for all hardware and burn them to CD/DVD. Most importantly, though, are motherboard chipset and/or hard drive controllers (so Windows will see the drive to install it) and network card drivers or modem drivers (so you can further download/update and connect to the internet). Without those, things get difficult.