Robert said:
Am getting ready to do a clean reinstall of XP Home SP2, hopefully
on a formatted HDD.
Wanting to format my HDD and re-install SP2 to increase performance
and rid the computer of lots of dead files and gunk. Computer is 3
1/2 years old, 40 GB HDD, with 512 MB ram.
I have nearly 20 GB of stuff from I don't know where.
Works well, but is noticeably full of junk. Possibly lots of
hidden junk also.
Can I simply do this installation by inserting the Windows Home SP2
cd and then following instructions to format my hdd? (assuming I
have backed up all I need, and having set aside the original
software discs, etc. to reload)
Or must I first install basic XP Home with my original supplied
CD's which came with my computer?
I have done homework, gone to loads of great sites for info and I
suppose will do an imperfect install, but am just about ready,
backing up pertinent files and documents and settings ( probably
also using files and settings transfer utility) and the %appdata%
folder for non Windows settings, etc.
Have all original software for all my programs.
Have an external 250 GB HDD to put important data and files.
What should you do?
1) Take a hardware inventory of the machine. Everything (hardware, etc)
works right now. You want that to be true after you finish too, so you
better know what hardware you have and go ahead and locate/download/put on
external media (like CD/DVD) the latest drivers for each piece of hardware
you have. If I were in your shoes, I would download and install "Belarc
Advisor" (
http://www.belarc.com/) and learn what motherboard, video card,
sound card, network card and/or modem (and hard drive controller card if
necessary) I had - go to each manufacturer web page support area and
download the latest driver for Windows XP and save that to external media in
preparation for my pending format.
2) Take a software inventory of the machine. (1) will help with that - in
that Belarc will tell you (give you) a list of things installed. You should
(in addition) go through your list of installed application in the control
panel - compare this to the Belarc list and what you are actually concerned
with having on your newly installed machine later. For every application
you wish to have on your newly installed machine - you need to be sure you
have the installation media. Whether that is the file you downloaded or a
CD/DVD - does not matter - make sure it is stored someplace off the machine
in question (external media) so you can reinstall it.. And be sure you have
any serial/installation key needed and any other specific instructions
originally given to install it. If it came with the machine
(pre-installed) - you will definitely want to find out how to reinstall
that!
3) Backups. There are many way to take this one.
- The quickest and most effective would be to 'image' your machine. This
entails taking a complete snapshot of everything on your machine as it is
*now*. You would need a place to store something this large (external hard
drive) and a tool (like Ghost/TrueImage/BootItNG, etc.) and then you would
have all the information you need - every file/folder on your machine would
be backed up and you could access that using different utilities (I know
TrueImage and Ghost have utilities to allow you to copy files/folders from
an image file to a working system.)
- You could just backup the files/folders you need. Your "My Documents"
folder. All of your email (export it for later import.) All of your
contacts (email addresses.) Again with installation media/files/serial
numbers/CD keys. Your bookmarks/favorites in Internet Explorer and other
internet browsers. All of your personal files/pictures/music/etc. Just
make sure it gets off your computer and onto some external media.
** You mentioned using the files and settings wizard for exporting/importing
your *files and settings* as well as %appdata% for non-transferred apps. I
cannot vote against this enough *if* you are doing this change for reasons
of poor performance. There could be an assortment of crud you bring over
using this method that will give you the same trouble you are having now.
Start with a clean slate and write on it manually. In other words - copy
your files - but get over not having your settings. It's better to have to
research and learn how tro set something up (use your brain) than depend on
someone elses tool and possibly bring over stuff you do not need to bring
over at all.
4) Updates.. If your Windows XP Installation CD is not at least SP2 -
download and save Windows XP Service Pack 2 to external media so you can
install that before ever attempting to access the Internet. You could also
grab all of the post-sp2 patches - there are 60+ of them - and have them
ready to install as well. It would save you time (and frustration) during
the already lengthy recovery period after a format you are looking at.
Don't forget about downloadable updates for your other applications as well.
The more you have already ready to install without having to *find* it later
the less frustrating this whole process will be for you.
5) Now you are pretty ready to leap. Put in your Windows XP Installation
CD, reboot and set the BIOS to boot from the CD drive - boot from it. Make
sure you DELETE any partition information from the drive and create a new
partition and format it when given a chance in the installation steps. When
it gets installed and you log in the first time - install SP2 if it is not
installed - first thing. Then update all of your hardware drivers with
those you downloaded. Then patch further if you downloaded more Windows
Patches. Then visit
http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/ and grab all
critical security patches at the very least! Install your Antivirus
software. Install your Antispyware (immunization) software. Then start
installing all other applications as you see fit.
Enjoy your cleaned system.
