Mission possible or not!

[Alice]

Iam thinking i will need to take my computer back to factory settings again and was wondering if any of you knights in shining armour would help me through it a bit at a time......i dont have my printer setup so would need to write the things down . My pc is so slow and i have tried to download free( anti vi )but they all slow it down even more to a near standstill... so what do you think guys i know it will be touch and go but it is worth a try. So if i do go through with it i realise i will loss any contact with you for a few days......unless i pop into the library

also if it pulls through i wont be a virgin media customer anymore.......i will have the freeview fitting installed which will also give me access to sky.....as i only want broadband,..and my own freeview box and just my mobile..(sick of costly contracts)........so there will be lots of questions...and times i will want to just give up...so what do you say is anyone in for the long haul with me...please it is up to you guys now regards....Aileen

[thescruff]

Sounds a bit drastic to me.

See what the pro's have to say.

I like Virgin and wouldn't ever change.

[Alice]

Looks like a few of the computer experts might be busy

I did this once and it worked ok, apart from it took a while reinstalling all software etc.

[Alice]

Looks like a few of the computer experts might be busy

I did this once and it worked ok, apart from it took a while reinstalling all software etc.

Yeah i guess they will be busy it only took me about 1hour to write the post anyhow so im in no hurry..... btw thanks for your reply UHM and you just being a new dad to i thought you would be busy feeding Isabella....so that you left Angie to it already

[kellys_eye]

You may not have to do anything quite as drastic as taking it back to factory.....

It's not too difficult to remove unwanted software, clean up the hard drive and, effectively, start from scratch. There are a few possible stumbling blocks by going back to square one and a 'safer' method should really be tried first unless you are fairly secure in your abilities.....

You could even try something as 'simple' as 'start-programs-accessories-system tools-system restore' and 'roll back' to a time where the PC actually worked better. This way you don't lose data (pics, files etc) and you can even reverse the rollback if you aren't happy with the results.

[Alice]

Well what it is Kellys_eye im not sure what to do..you see i have took it back to factory settings about 3 or 4 times now i know it takes a good few hours....and each time it has been fast. Obvisouly as there would be no conflicts or registry errors set in. ( Am i right about that im not 100% sure ) . So this is where i think my problems start. Because i have not got a clue what to do first like, i dont have an anti virus even when i did have one i never knew or understood how to use it to it's full advantage......then there is sorting out the broadband...even that as far as i know is not secured....i have not got my search engine configured out properly ..........I dont know what i need and what i dont.....When or when not to delete.... Or even is my pc worth sorting out..... It has been and i think still is a good pc . It has served my kids using it for 10 years now, with none of us knowing how to use it properly...and my son is more on his playstation now and the other two have their own houses. I would like to learn to use it and get know as much as i can about the windows software ...there seems so much to take in. I dont care how long it takes ,as long as you guys dont mind that i might be asking you the simplest of things........thanks for your reply Kellys_eye it is much appreciated
i just hope all this makes sense......... Aileen

[northwales4u]

Do you still have the recovery CDs that came with the PC when you bought it?

[chat_to_rich]

As the others have said, I think it'd be a good idea to try and get your computer working as well as possible before attempting to restore it back to the factory settings. The first thing to do is get anti virus, spyware and firewall installed as without it your computer will probably become infected and will slow down. Take a look at Dave's post of software suggestions now-that-s-what-i-call-software-2-t35814.html
Once you've installed the software ensure it's up to date and run a full scan of your computer. The instructions for this will vary according to the software you choose to install.

When you've scanned your machine and removed any infection, install and run CCleaner http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/downloadto clean out any unneeded files

Next go to the Tools section of CCleaner, click on Startup, then choose the Save to text file options. Open the file in something like Notepad and post the results here. This will tell us when programs automatically start when your computer starts. Removing items from this list will help to speed up your computer.

I imagine this might be a lot for you to take in and I've only given brief instructions, so post back if you need more help/info. Once you've completed these steps we can go into more detailed optimisation if you need it.

[danielsuperchef]

I agree with Rich above, if you feel a bit daunted by that then maybe you could find a local computer engineer to have a look at it for you, if they are any good they will give you a free quote, then most charge (in my area) around £30 p/h for work, doesnt sound like it should take more than an hour to 'clean up', obviously, like most quotes, it depends what they find though.

[dave.m]

I take it that with it being 10 years old, it must have, at the best, Windows XP installed as an operating system. Let us know if it is any different.

To compare before and after times, shut down the computer and restart it, time how long it takes to boot up to ready to use.

Firstly, open your antivirus program and update it then run a full scan. Let it quarantine anything it finds.

Next, open which ever antispyware/antimalware you have and update that, then run a full scan. Let it quarantine anything it finds.

Next, do as Rich says and install Ccleaner, instructions HERE but ignore the bits about the registry cleaner for now. Just run the Cleaner.

Next, install a defragmenter from the list at the top of the Computer Threads, Defraggler will do, and run it.

Next use the Ccleaner Startup list to disable any programs that you do not use daily. Any you are not sure of, leave enabled for now.
If there are more than about six items, make a list and post it back here.

Shut down and then reboot and time it again, compare the time.

dave

[Joeman]

one trick that sometimes works - create a new user account on the machine and try loggin in with that. Over time your user profile gets clogged up with cr@p so a fresh user profile can get you running a bit smother.

Also run DEFRAG to defragment your hard disk. again over time the disk gets in a mess.

Also look at which applications are starting up on startup. an XP machine can run very nicely with about 45-50 processes running - use Task manager to count your processes (bottom left of the screen)

Also, with all apps closed, look in Task Manager to see what is using your CPU. (processes tab, sort by CPU column)


that should keep you occupied for a while :)

[dave.m]

Part 2

Removing all but the most recent restore point in XP

To remove all but the last System Restore Point:
Go to Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Disk Cleanup -> select the drive letter (usually C:/ ) -> OK -> click on More Options Tab -> then under the System Restore heading click on the Cleanup button -> Confirm that you want to remove all but the last point.


Next, have a look at all the programs that are installed and see which can be uninstalled because you do not use them anymore.

How to remove an installed program
To remove a program that is installed on your computer, follow these steps:
Click Start, click Control Panel, and then double-click Add or Remove Programs.
In the Currently installed programs box, click the program that you want to remove, and then click Remove.
If you are prompted to confirm the removal of the program, click Yes.


Once you have carried out the above tasks, run Ccleaner again and then run Defraggler again.

dave

[northwales4u]

also since your kids have been on it take a look how much stuff they have installed that won't interest you. I'm not tarring all kids with the same brush but you will probably have a wealth of chat, games and music programs which are loading at start-up (look at the icons by the clock). These will bog down the PC speed

[DIY_Johnny]

I wipe my PC every 18months, it does it the world of good but you need to be careful in that you can get all drivers for printers, connect to broadband again, emails, saving settings for office etc

Like the others I wouldn’t recommend it unless you are sure you know what you are doing as almost all the time I do it I forget to back something up like firefox bookmarks

[chat_to_rich]

If your computer is quite old it might be worth adding additional RAM. Click on Start, then right click on My Computer and choose Properties. Near the bottom of the screen you'll see a section titled Computer: below that it will says how much RAM you have. Post back the RAM value. I recently upgraded a friends XP laptop from 512MB to 1.5GB and it made a big difference.