Best strategy for regular reinstall of XP?

[danielbaars]

Hello,

To prevent my computer from slowing down to a crawl or experiencing all
sorts of weird/unpleasant crashes/freezes I would like to be able to
'start over' (formatting the main disk, reinstalling XP) on a regular
basis (once a month, every two months) without the whole process taking
a few days to complete.

The reason it takes that long for me is because for my job I have to
use a wide variety of software, ranging from big things like Adobe
Creative Suite to all sorts of small utilities. I also have to try out
new software on a regular basis which usually does not become part of
my 'essential software' set which doesn't help with keeping a clean and
reliable computer set-up.

I have been messing about with disc images of early installs but then
still have to spend a lot of time updating my applications, settings,
serial numbers etc. Ideally, I would only have to do a clean install of
XP, leaving all my (essential) installed software intact and throwing
out all the non-essential stuff. But I'm not sure this is possible.

I have already moved the My Documents folder to a different internal
drive so that is not affected but can I do the same with the Program
Files folder? Can I install one piece software on one disk and another
somewhere else? Will everything still work?

If anyone has advice on this it would be greatly appreciated.


Regards,


Daniel Baars

 

[paulmd]

Hello,

To prevent my computer from slowing down to a crawl or experiencing all
sorts of weird/unpleasant crashes/freezes I would like to be able to
'start over' (formatting the main disk, reinstalling XP) on a regular
basis (once a month, every two months) without the whole process taking
a few days to complete.

The reason it takes that long for me is because for my job I have to
use a wide variety of software, ranging from big things like Adobe
Creative Suite to all sorts of small utilities. I also have to try out
new software on a regular basis which usually does not become part of
my 'essential software' set which doesn't help with keeping a clean and
reliable computer set-up.

I have been messing about with disc images of early installs but then
still have to spend a lot of time updating my applications, settings,
serial numbers etc. Ideally, I would only have to do a clean install of
XP, leaving all my (essential) installed software intact and throwing
out all the non-essential stuff. But I'm not sure this is possible.

I have already moved the My Documents folder to a different internal
drive so that is not affected but can I do the same with the Program
Files folder? Can I install one piece software on one disk and another
somewhere else? Will everything still work?

If anyone has advice on this it would be greatly appreciated.

Really, only reinstall if you have to. So: tell us about these weird
crashes and freezes, and perhaps we can solve them.

 

[Jon]

The reason I decided to write that, was mainly because "danielbaars"

Hello,

To prevent my computer from slowing down to a crawl or experiencing all
sorts of weird/unpleasant crashes/freezes I would like to be able to
'start over' (formatting the main disk, reinstalling XP) on a regular
basis (once a month, every two months) without the whole process taking
a few days to complete.

The reason it takes that long for me is because for my job I have to
use a wide variety of software, ranging from big things like Adobe
Creative Suite to all sorts of small utilities. I also have to try out
new software on a regular basis which usually does not become part of
my 'essential software' set which doesn't help with keeping a clean and
reliable computer set-up.

I have been messing about with disc images of early installs but then
still have to spend a lot of time updating my applications, settings,
serial numbers etc. Ideally, I would only have to do a clean install of
XP, leaving all my (essential) installed software intact and throwing
out all the non-essential stuff. But I'm not sure this is possible.

I have already moved the My Documents folder to a different internal
drive so that is not affected but can I do the same with the Program
Files folder? Can I install one piece software on one disk and another
somewhere else? Will everything still work?

If anyone has advice on this it would be greatly appreciated.


Regards,


Daniel Baars

If that's what you want to do, then go the extra step from the 'early
installs' and set things up completely as you want them before creating your
image.

You can move 'Program Files' to another drive / partition, but it would be
pretty pointless, since applications when installed often place files in
other locations, as well as creating a host of registry entries.

 

[Ron Martell]

Hello,

To prevent my computer from slowing down to a crawl or experiencing all
sorts of weird/unpleasant crashes/freezes I would like to be able to
'start over' (formatting the main disk, reinstalling XP) on a regular
basis (once a month, every two months) without the whole process taking
a few days to complete.

The reason it takes that long for me is because for my job I have to
use a wide variety of software, ranging from big things like Adobe
Creative Suite to all sorts of small utilities. I also have to try out
new software on a regular basis which usually does not become part of
my 'essential software' set which doesn't help with keeping a clean and
reliable computer set-up.

I have been messing about with disc images of early installs but then
still have to spend a lot of time updating my applications, settings,
serial numbers etc. Ideally, I would only have to do a clean install of
XP, leaving all my (essential) installed software intact and throwing
out all the non-essential stuff. But I'm not sure this is possible.

I have already moved the My Documents folder to a different internal
drive so that is not affected but can I do the same with the Program
Files folder? Can I install one piece software on one disk and another
somewhere else? Will everything still work?

If anyone has advice on this it would be greatly appreciated.

The best reinstall strategy is "don't do it". There is seldom a need
to reinstall Windows XP unless hard drive has been totally mangled.
The last time I did a reformat and reinstall on my "production" system
was with MS-DOS 6.22 and Windows for Workgroups 3.11 sometime in 1993.
Since then I have upgraded the operating system to Windows 95 then
Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edtion, Windows Millennium Edition,
Windows XP Home Edition and Windows XP Professional without ever doing
a reformat. During this same period every hardware component with the
possible exception of the power cord has been replaced multiple times.

What antivirus and antispyware software do you have installed? You
need to have both, and also need to get an occasional "second opinion"
from one of the free online scanning sites.

You need to do some occasional housekeeping, such as deleting the
leftovers in the TEMP folder. Disk Cleanup in Accessories - System
Tools will do a reasonable job of this. Run it about once a month,
more often if you are doing a lot of software installs and/or updates.

And you need to montior and control what is being loaded at startup.
Get family with MSCONFIG, especially the Startup section. Every item
listed there has an origin and a purpose; and there are usually some
consequences associated with removing them from the startup. Sometimes
these consequences are insiginificant or even totally irrelevant and
often such startup items can be removed. There are many reference
sites available where you can check out in detail any item listed in
the Startup tab of MSCONFIG. My favorite is
http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_content.php

There are also many items listed in the Services tab of MSCONFIG which
can sometimes be adjusted so as to improve performance. Unfortunately
my favorite reference site for configuring services (Black Viper) is
no longer available and a mirrored copy of his data also cannot be
found any more.

One thing you need to avoid like the plague, in my opinion, is the use
of any Norton/Symantec products. These almost invariably have about
the same impact on computer performance that a 2 ton block of concrete
would have on your car.

Good luck

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP (1997 - 2006)
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca
Syberfix Remote Computer Repair

"Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference
has never been in bed with a mosquito."

 

[DL]

If you are forever testing new software you've looked into Virtual Windows?

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Hello,

To prevent my computer from slowing down to a crawl or experiencing all
sorts of weird/unpleasant crashes/freezes I would like to be able to
'start over' (formatting the main disk, reinstalling XP) on a regular
basis (once a month, every two months) without the whole process taking
a few days to complete.

Then wouldn't it be far simpler just to learn to properly maintain your
computer, rather than wiping out and reinstalling everything? When
properly maintained, even a Win3.x or Win9x installation would last for
years, and WinXP is light-years beyond those.

Periodic reinstallations are not practiced by experienced computer
users, serious hobbyists, and skilled technicians. The "need" for a
periodic reinstallation is entirely the result of poor computering and
maintenance habits, or alpha/beta testing. My machines get clean
installations only when a new OS comes out that cannot upgrade the
existing OS.



--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. -Bertrand Russell

 

[Anna]

Hello,

To prevent my computer from slowing down to a crawl or experiencing all
sorts of weird/unpleasant crashes/freezes I would like to be able to
'start over' (formatting the main disk, reinstalling XP) on a regular
basis (once a month, every two months) without the whole process taking
a few days to complete.

The reason it takes that long for me is because for my job I have to
use a wide variety of software, ranging from big things like Adobe
Creative Suite to all sorts of small utilities. I also have to try out
new software on a regular basis which usually does not become part of
my 'essential software' set which doesn't help with keeping a clean and
reliable computer set-up.

I have been messing about with disc images of early installs but then
still have to spend a lot of time updating my applications, settings,
serial numbers etc. Ideally, I would only have to do a clean install of
XP, leaving all my (essential) installed software intact and throwing
out all the non-essential stuff. But I'm not sure this is possible.

I have already moved the My Documents folder to a different internal
drive so that is not affected but can I do the same with the Program
Files folder? Can I install one piece software on one disk and another
somewhere else? Will everything still work?

If anyone has advice on this it would be greatly appreciated.


Regards,


Daniel Baars

Daniel:
You didn't indicate the type of PC you're working with but I'll assume it's
a desktop machine. If it is, let me offer you another suggestion in addition
to the ones you've already received...

Assuming that your desktop computer case has a 5 1/4" bay available, why not
equip that PC with at least one removable HDD in addition to the internal
HDD that's already installed? These mobile rack devices containing a
removable HDD are two-piece affairs - the rack itself and the inner tray or
caddy (in which the hard drive resides) that slides into the rack. They come
in all-aluminum models or a combination of aluminum-plastic ranging in price
from about $15 to $50. Mobile racks come in various versions, depending
upon whether the hard drive to be housed is an IDE/ATA, SATA, or SCSI
device. A Google search for "removable hard drive mobile racks" will result
in a wealth of
information on these products and their vendors.

The installation of these devices is simplicity itself - no more difficult
than installing an optical drive. After the rack is installed you just plop
the hard drive into the removable tray (caddy), make two simple connections
(power & data cable), and slide the tray into the mobile rack. Note that the
removable hard drive mobile racks we are discussing are designed to be
installed in desktop computers and not laptop or notebook computers. The
size, weight, and design considerations of laptops/notebooks do not allow
for this hardware configuration.

These mobile racks are nearly always equipped with a ON-OFF keylock, so a
simple turn of the key, in effect, activates the HDD. For added security you
can push or pull the removable tray in or out using the tray's handle and
thus electrically/physically connect or disconnect the HDD from the system.
No more difficult than opening or closing a small desk drawer.

Do you see the enormous advantage of this type of hardware configuration as
it applies to your particular objectives? Now you will be able to maintain
your day-to-day working internal HDD "clean", while you install this or that
program on the removable HDD. You can "play around" with all sorts of
configurations on that removable HDD knowing that your "real" HDD is
completely isolated from any problems that may arise. Assuming you have
installed an OS on the removable HDD or (using a disk imaging program)
"cloned" the contents of your present internal HDD to the removable drive,
you can boot to either HDD without the need to enter the BIOS or use a
third-party boot manager. There is no need to modify the boot.ini files.
Each drive is effectively isolated from each other, but if for any reason
you want both drives connected during bootup, you can easily achieve that
configuration as well. It's an ideal system for computing with multiple
operating systems or meeting your special interests.

Another significant advantage of using a removable HDD is that now you can
have an *unlimited* number of HDs at your disposal by simply using
additional removable trays to house the drives. So that another important
advantage of using this hardware configuration is that you'll be able to use
another removable HDD as the backup drive for your day-to-day working HDD.

We've worked with these removable hard drive affairs for more than six years
now and have helped hundreds of users install & operate this kind of system.
We have found this hardware arrangement a most desirable configuration for
many users. We've encountered no negative performance issues using these
devices in comparison with internally-installed HDs and find the flexibility
and peace of mind you gain from this configuration an enormous advantage.

Do give it some thought.
Anna

 

[danielbaars]

To everyone who responded so generously to my question: thank you very
much!

I must admit I was surprised by the unanimous 'don't format and
reinstall' advice as I was under the impression this was only way to
know for sure you won't be stuck with left-over garbage from previous
installations / upgrades etc. on your harddrive. I love working on my
computer for about two months after I have reinstalled everything but
then it just seems to become slower and slower (and more unreliable)
every week that goes by.

I need some more time to contemplate the different suggestions but in
the meantime some extra information on my set-up:

Dell Optiplex GX620 Pentium(R) D CPU 3.2GHz
2GB RAM
256mb ATI Radeon X600
20" + 14" TFT monitor
2x 250GB internal HDs
9 external USB 2.0 drives

A pretty normal set of software that I could have active
simultaneously: Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, UEStudio, xplorer2,
iTunes, Skype, Outlook and Firefox with tabs open to Gmail, Google
Calendar and Backpack. Always running in the background are things like
VNC, SnagIt, Pando, Wacom Tablet driver and probably most importantly
ZoneAlarm Security Suite. I also use Azureus on a fairly regular basis
but I try to not to use this when I really need to get some work done.

Slightly related question: with my present setup would Vista make me
happy or would everything go even slower?

Again, many thanks for all the advice: I will consider and investigate
all of your suggestions...


DB

 

[Al Dykes]

To everyone who responded so generously to my question: thank you very
much!

I must admit I was surprised by the unanimous 'don't format and
reinstall' advice as I was under the impression this was only way to
know for sure you won't be stuck with left-over garbage from previous
installations / upgrades etc. on your harddrive. I love working on my
computer for about two months after I have reinstalled everything but
then it just seems to become slower and slower (and more unreliable)
every week that goes by.

People were responding to your Subject line.

If your XP system is bogging down, I think you are sucking up syware.

If you are near capacity on your disk and you downloaded lots of huge
files (tunes or video), I could see where the temp folders were
filling up and fragmentation goes down the tubes. That's easily
proved and fixed. A reinstall isn't necessary. Any OS slows down when
it has to work hard for disk space. If you have a few GB free, this
isn't the problem.

If your *DO* reinstall, IMOalways format the disk.

I haven't reinstalled for anything except learning things or for disk
failures in many years.

Learn what the processes running on your machine are for.

Install one good brand of Virus/spyware software and run a second one
from time to time.

I'm a big fan of replacing the "hosts" file with this one, which
blocks most PC based spyware from calling home or downloading more
spyware. Read the article and install the file.

http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

I have been called to work on machines that were so ridden with
spyware that it took 10 minutes to boot and made the system so slow
that troubleshooting was difficult. Just dropping that file in made
things things 80% better and made the system usable so I could work on
the remaining problems.

 

[paulmd]

To everyone who responded so generously to my question: thank you very
much!

I must admit I was surprised by the unanimous 'don't format and
reinstall' advice as I was under the impression this was only way to
know for sure you won't be stuck with left-over garbage from previous
installations / upgrades etc. on your harddrive. I love working on my
computer for about two months after I have reinstalled everything but
then it just seems to become slower and slower (and more unreliable)
every week that goes by.

I need some more time to contemplate the different suggestions but in
the meantime some extra information on my set-up:

Dell Optiplex GX620 Pentium(R) D CPU 3.2GHz
2GB RAM
256mb ATI Radeon X600
20" + 14" TFT monitor
2x 250GB internal HDs
9 external USB 2.0 drives

What bios revision?

I ask this, because if you want vista at some point, you should have at
least revision a08.

http://support.dell.com/support/dow...=1&vercnt=8&formatcnt=1&libid=1&fileid=172966

In revision a10, there's improved memory support. (if that 2gb was an
upgrade, and not factory)

http://support.dell.com/support/dow...=1&vercnt=8&formatcnt=1&libid=1&fileid=136931

there are some USB2 issues fixed in a05. (you've got a lot of external
drives)

http://support.dell.com/support/dow...=1&vercnt=8&formatcnt=1&libid=1&fileid=144131

And, for a change, there is a performance gain in revision a03.

http://support.dell.com/support/dow...=1&vercnt=8&formatcnt=1&libid=1&fileid=136931

THe latest is revision a11.

http://support.dell.com/support/dow...=1&vercnt=8&formatcnt=1&libid=1&fileid=189785

A pretty normal set of software that I could have active
simultaneously: Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, UEStudio, xplorer2,
iTunes, Skype, Outlook and Firefox with tabs open to Gmail, Google
Calendar and Backpack.

Good god, All of that drawing stuff is big, memory intensive stuff.
Photoshop alone can take all of your ram. One of our graphic artists
ran out of ram when working on some posters. (she'd maxed out her
machine at 1.5GB)

I normally don't recommend people mess with their page file, but you
might want to at least double the initial and maximum sizes.

If you're using the externals as scratch space--- dont', i'll suck,
performance wise. 9 external drives is quite a lot.



Always running in the background are things like

VNC, SnagIt, Pando, Wacom Tablet driver and probably most importantly
ZoneAlarm Security Suite. I also use Azureus on a fairly regular basis
but I try to not to use this when I really need to get some work done.

Most of this is minor compared with the drawing programs. I'm
unfamiliar with Azureus.

 

[danielbaars]

If your XP system is bogging down, I think you are sucking up syware.

I have had an up-to-date version of ZoneAlarm Security Suite installed
since day one, is it still possible that I have a big problem with
spyware? I was under the impression that the ZoneAlarm suite was one of
the best on the market.\

I'm a big fan of replacing the "hosts" file with this one, which
blocks most PC based spyware from calling home or downloading more
spyware. Read the article and install the file.

I will definitely give that a go!

Cheers,


Daniel

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

To prevent my computer from slowing down to a crawl or experiencing
all sorts of weird/unpleasant crashes/freezes I would like to be able
to 'start over' (formatting the main disk, reinstalling XP) on a
regular basis (once a month, every two months)

Ugh!. That is completely unnecessary. Learn how to maintain your computer
properly and you should never have to do that. Well-maintained computers
don't "slow down to a crawl or experience all sorts of weird/unpleasant
crashes/freezes." I've run Windows 3.0, 3.1, WFWG 3.11, Windows 95, Windows
98, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and now WIndows Vista, each for the period of
time before the next version came out, and each on two or three machines
here. I have never reinstalled any of them, and I have never had anything
more than an occasional minor problem.

 

[danielbaars]

Hello Anna, thanks for your response. It is very interesting suggestion
that I had never thought of...

Question: what is the practical difference with the removable harddisk
setup you describe and using external USB 2.0 drives?

Cheers,

Daniel

 

[Al Dykes]

Ugh!. That is completely unnecessary. Learn how to maintain your computer
properly and you should never have to do that. Well-maintained computers
don't "slow down to a crawl or experience all sorts of weird/unpleasant
crashes/freezes." I've run Windows 3.0, 3.1, WFWG 3.11, Windows 95, Windows
98, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and now WIndows Vista, each for the period of
time before the next version came out, and each on two or three machines
here. I have never reinstalled any of them, and I have never had anything
more than an occasional minor problem.

Look in control panel to see if you are having any problems that show
up there.

I know I've been lucky but I've never come across a w2k/XP machine
that was so infested by spyware that I couldn't clean out the pests.

Is your XP CD the SP2 version? If not, you could be infected by
spyware in the time it took to download the major updates from
Microsoft. I've seen that happen.

If you are behind a hardware firewall (ie a home broadband router) you
get most, but not all the protection of SP2 for the purpose of this
discussion.

If you are not installing from XP+SP2 you should download the SP2
update package and burn it into a CD. When/if you reinstall you
should be at least at SP2 before you conect to the Internet.

Don't do any web surfing until you have taken all your updates from
Microsoft.

Off-hand, do you have a LAN with a second PC? They could be
cross-infecting each other.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Look in control panel to see if you are having any problems that show
up there.

I'm not having any problems that show up in Control Panel or anywhere else.
I have no problems at all. Please be careful which message in the thread
you reply to. Did you mean to reply to danielbaars rather than to me?

 

[Anna]

Hello Anna, thanks for your response. It is very interesting suggestion
that I had never thought of...

Question: what is the practical difference with the removable harddisk
setup you describe and using external USB 2.0 drives?

Cheers,

Daniel

Daniel:
A world of difference...

A removable HDD such as the kind I described is treated by the system in the
*identical* fashion the system treats an internal HDD. As such, the
removable HDD can contain an operating system that is bootable and its
performance is akin to an internal HDD - such performance, of course, being
vastly superior in comparison with a USB external HDD. In short, think of a
removable HDD exactly the same way that you would think of a fixed internal
HDD - but with all the additional advantages that I enumerated.

Bear in mind - as I indicated - this hardware configuration is designed for
a desktop PC with at least one available 5 1/4" bay to mount the mobile rack
containing the removable HDD. You later indicated that you have a Dell PC (I
assume a desktop machine) but I would guess its case would *not* have
available a vacant 5 1/4" bay that you would need to install the mobile
rack. Is that so?
Anna

 

[danielbaars]

Bear in mind - as I indicated - this hardware configuration is designed for

a desktop PC with at least one available 5 1/4" bay to mount the mobile rack
containing the removable HDD. You later indicated that you have a Dell PC (I
assume a desktop machine) but I would guess its case would *not* have
available a vacant 5 1/4" bay that you would need to install the mobile
rack. Is that so?

Hi Anna,

Thanks for the explanation. It really does sound like a good system
(especially since I work in two places and I would love to have the
exact same working environment in both places). I'm not at my
home-office right now so can't check my computer to see whether it has
a vacant bay but because it has two internal HDs I suspect it does not.
Perhaps I should consider taking one out...

Cheers,

Daniel

 

[danielbaars]

Is your XP CD the SP2 version?

Yes, I'm running XP Pro SP2 behind a modemrouter with the firewall
enabled. My girlfriend's laptop is also on this LAN and also protected
by ZoneAlarm Security Suite.

Thanks for the feedback, by the way!

DB

 

[Ron Sommer]

:> Bear in mind - as I indicated - this hardware configuration is designed
for
: > a desktop PC with at least one available 5 1/4" bay to mount the mobile
rack
: > containing the removable HDD. You later indicated that you have a Dell
PC (I
: > assume a desktop machine) but I would guess its case would *not* have
: > available a vacant 5 1/4" bay that you would need to install the mobile
: > rack. Is that so?
:
: Hi Anna,
:
: Thanks for the explanation. It really does sound like a good system
: (especially since I work in two places and I would love to have the
: exact same working environment in both places). I'm not at my
: home-office right now so can't check my computer to see whether it has
: a vacant bay but because it has two internal HDs I suspect it does not.
: Perhaps I should consider taking one out...
:
: Cheers,
:
: Daniel
:
The vacant bays would be where the CD/DVDs are installed.
How many of those do you have?

 

[Anna]

Hi Anna,

Thanks for the explanation. It really does sound like a good system
(especially since I work in two places and I would love to have the
exact same working environment in both places). I'm not at my
home-office right now so can't check my computer to see whether it has
a vacant bay but because it has two internal HDs I suspect it does not.
Perhaps I should consider taking one out...

Cheers,

Daniel

Daniel:
Please understand that this hardware configuration has *nothing* to do with
the *internal* bays in your computer case that house your fixed internal
HDDs. The removable HDD (the mobile rack) is mounted in one of the case's
*exterior* 5 1/4" bay (where, for example, your optical drive(s) are
mounted.
Anna