Lee Antony wrote:
> XP Pro SP2 became unusable after some STOP 0xD1 and 0x8E messages. System
> restore wouldn't run and repair install failed so I did a full Windows
> install. I thought I would make a pause before putting all my programs back
> to see if this group can help me avoid any blunders. So far I've done
> nothing except install the ethernet driver and validate Windows.
>
> I'm wondering what to do about all the stuff in Documents and Settings.
> There are now 11 profiles: Administrator - All Users - All Users.WINDOWS -
> Default User - Default User.WINDOWS - My new user name - My old user name -
> LocalService - LocalService.NT AUTHORITY - NetworkService -
> NetworkService.NT AUTHORITY. Can I do something about all these folders?
>
> Some programs weren't working well previously, especially Creative sound
> software and Norton Internet Security and I suspect corrupted files
> (re-installs did not fix). Should I try to delete all traces of my
> applications before I put them back?
>
> If any of you have had to do a restart I would appreciate your help.
> Regards Lee.
First off back up any data you wish to preserve (including exporting
your saved emails and address books if you have any) to CD or an
external device.
Next look at
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=316941 (you may need to
view this in IE as some Microsoft pages do not render well in other
browsers.
If you delete the existing partition and then let XP reformat the empty
space then all the stuff on your hard drive will be removed and you
will have a fresh virgin install of XP.
IMPORTANT !!!!!!
Make sure you have your Product Key handy, if you do not have this (and
it should be on the sticker (COA) attached to your computer case ) then
the magical Jellybean key finder
http://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder.shtml will recover it from
your existing install of XP, Also make sure you have your motherboard
driver CD and any other drivers you may need for whatever hardware
(video, soundcard etc) you have in your machine.