Geriatric XP

[Alex McFarlane]

Dear All,

I have an XP computer, now 4 years old with 1 Gb RAM.
It originally came with XP home but I upgraded it to Pro using a pukka
upgrade disc. It is up to date with updates.
The main problem is that after using IE 8 (particularly if my daughter
uses Facebook) the computer runs slow or crashes. I've also had
conflicts between programmes, for instance I've finally managed to load
software for my HP scanner but now Microsoft Document Imaging can no
longer save documents.

I am unkeen to start again from scratch, is it possible to "spring
clean" my system or do I need to bite the bullet and start again from
scratch?

Please advise.

AMcF

 

[DL]

Daughter / Facebook user, who knows what malaware your PC has been infected
with.
You have presumably scanned your PC for problems?

 

[Nil]

I am unkeen to start again from scratch, is it possible to "spring
clean" my system or do I need to bite the bullet and start again
from scratch?

It's a matter of how much time you have to spend screwing around with
it. You might be able to poke around in the file system and registry
long enough to get it working the way you like it, but that could take
days or weeks, and it still might not work. Or, in less time, you could
bit the bullet and reinstall everything and feel confident that the
system is free of the crust of a thousand days.

So, which is a better use of your time?

 

[DL]

Origonally an Anglo Indian expression / word, now part of 'real english'

 

[Twayne]

You didn't mention any brands or models, but 4 years isn't that old for an
XP system; the hardware is OK and you have a decent amount of RAM.

Before you start anything, be certain to backup ALL of your data! E-mail
addresses, Address Book, newsgroups, pictures, letters, charts, etc. etc.
etc.. Either use a backup program or at least copy the important data that
cannot be re-constructed easily to DVDs so you won't lose it. Either method
below could end up losing all of your data and the first one definitely
will.

Start by running updated Antivirus software and see if that helps anything.
If not, then run at least 3 spyware detection applications in full scan
modes and see if they come up with anything that helps.
If that doesn't help or completely get it going again:

Personally, I'd say rebuilding the operating system from scratch is likely
to be the least frustrating, most straight foward thing to do although it'll
cost you a couple of days to get everything working and customized as you
like it again. All your applications will need to be reinstalled along with
letting XP updates be applied.

You should start right from the beginning with the XP disk booted, delete
and recreate the partition/s, format and continue following the onscreen
instructions. Just read each screen and it'll go fine for you.
Then install SP2 and SP3 if you have it on disk and it's not part of the
pukka disk. If not, they'll come along with the auto-updates but without at
least SP2 you'll have no firewall unless you have one that you downloaded.
SP2 introduced the XP Firewall. Minimal, but useful. The most important
things to have installed are AV (antivirus) and the spyware.

Install your AV, set up the firewall, install any spyware programs you
have, and then go online and let auto-update bring the OS back up to date.
Do NOT connect the modem or in any way allow the computer to go online until
you've done as much of the above as possible. If necessary, redownload them
from the 'net before you start the rebuild.
If you think there are some updates you don't want, then use the "Custom"
method of installing them. That way you can see a description of every
update about to be installed, plus the KB article that will give detailed
data about it should you need it. Having SP3 installed makes the updating
process a lot shorter and faster.

OR,
You could also try to figure out what's wrong with it, but since the
possibilities run from file corruption to viruses to spyware and
unintentional setups that caused damage, or combinations of those, you could
end up investing a very substantial amount of time in the effort, and
possibly never get it right. If there are more than one instance of
problems, the complexity and effort needed is very high, especially for one
not overly familiar with the processes. That's why I'd suggest the first
alternative above; it's going to be more accurate and makes sure any/all
malware is eradicated before you start, as long as you do the partition
delete/recreate. Again, read each page completely before clicking anything.
Folks here will be happy to help if questions develop but it's pretty
straight forward if you read the screens carefully.

Once XP is updated and the machine feels stable, then start installing your
applications back, one at a time. Always restart between installing
programs, even if it doesn't ask you to. It's better to restart extra times
than to have missed one that's going to cause problems if you don't.

Luck!

Twayne`




In

 

[chuck]

Before you start anything, be certain to backup ALL of your data!

And I am STILL a very firm believer in keeping ALL data on
a d: (or higher) drive. Bookmarks, email, tunes, videos,
whatever. Put it on d:. Then you can format c: and rebuild it
with little worry.

 

[Shenan Stanley]

Want to see it all?
http://groups.google.com/group/micr...p.general/browse_frm/thread/cc9dd43d5e27a296/

Before you start anything, be certain to backup ALL of your data!

</snipped by "chuck">

And I am STILL a very firm believer in keeping ALL data on
a d: (or higher) drive. Bookmarks, email, tunes, videos,
whatever. Put it on d:. Then you can format c: and rebuild it
with little worry.

Given what you chose to respond to (how you clipped), I feel it important to
point out: That is *not* a backup.

Backups are external to your physical machine - preferrably *very* external
and portable to some extent.

A backup is essentially a replica of your data (documents, spreadsheets,
databases, bookmarks, contacts, email, music, pictures, video, etc) stored
someplace other than where the original data is. So - even if you have
another physical hard disk drive inside your machine (partitioning is even
less wise in some ways) where you store *your* (stuff you created) data and
use it from there - that is *not* a backup. It is merely an organization
method.

Yes - you may have an easier time rebuilding your system from scratch - but
after many years of doing this on a mass scale; I would say that if you
rebuild your machine often enough that such a convenience matters - you
don't properly maintain your machine and you would be better served in
learning to do so.

For those who use it as an *easy* way of backing up their data ("I know I
just need to make a copy of my X:\ drive to get all my stuff.") I'd say that
makes sense, although to be honest - same thing could be accomplished using
folder structures ("I know I just need to backup my C:\MyStuff\ folder to
get all my stuff.".) ;-)

It's been a long time since I created partitions on a Windows system. I
synchronize my data to external media over a network (even at home) and
sometimes even that is synchronized elsewhere. I utilize system state
backups as well as occassional imaging of disks/partitions to make
rebuilding easier *if* the need arises. I maintain my systems as best I can
and seldom does that need arise, however. In fact - hardware failure is
pretty much the only time it has in many years.

The fact is that if you only have your data stored in one place - you have
created your own single point of failure at a point you control. Lightning
burns up the hard disk drive(s) in that machine, it is physically stolen or
destroyed in some manner, if a single drive is partitioned and that drive
crashes (head freezes, etc) - whatever the case - there goes your data.
Yes - it is a convenience for some (backup scheme or someone who feels
rebuilding is better than maintaining), organization method to be sure - but
backups outweigh that by far and are a constant.

Partitioning/multiple internal drives and putting your data on a separate
partition/drive is an option, a matter of preference. Backing up - well -
it is just unwise not to.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Want to see it all?
http://groups.google.com/group/micr...p.general/browse_frm/thread/cc9dd43d5e27a296/




</snipped by "chuck">


Given what you chose to respond to (how you clipped), I feel it important to
point out: That is *not* a backup.

I was going to respond to his post, saying much the same things as you
did. But you took the words out of my mouth.

 

[Twayne]

In

And I am STILL a very firm believer in keeping ALL data on
a d: (or higher) drive. Bookmarks, email, tunes, videos,
whatever. Put it on d:. Then you can format c: and rebuild it
with little worry.

That's good advice though I don't see what prompted it. Many people separate
data from the operating system that way and it can work well. The best way
to achieve it is to use the Move feature of My Documents to move it to drive
D and then be certain to put ALL data you create under My Documents. Then
nearly all your data gets backed up by backing up just the My Documents
folder.
I don't consider moving My Documents an important point at this moment in
time, but would be useful once things have gotten straightened out. And
along with that, a working strategy for backing up the computer to make such
recoveries faster and easier if needed.
It's more important right now to attack the immediate problem since there
is no way of knowing what or even if important personal data is being
output, or whether even worse things are going on.

Twayne`

 

[Twayne]

That's all decent advice too, although it's not very relevant to the current
problem and query the OP put forth. More attention to the OP's query is
what's needed here.

Twayne


In

Want to see it all?
http://groups.google.com/group/micr...p.general/browse_frm/thread/cc9dd43d5e27a296/






Given what you chose to respond to (how you clipped), I feel it
important to point out: That is *not* a backup.

I was going to respond to his post, saying much the same things as you
did. But you took the words out of my mouth.

 

[Shenan Stanley]

Want to see it all?
http://groups.google.com/group/micr...p.general/browse_frm/thread/cc9dd43d5e27a296/

Before you start anything, be certain to backup ALL of your data!

</snipped by "chuck">

And I am STILL a very firm believer in keeping ALL data on
a d: (or higher) drive. Bookmarks, email, tunes, videos,
whatever. Put it on d:. Then you can format c: and rebuild it
with little worry.

Given what you chose to respond to (how you clipped), I feel it
important to point out: That is *not* a backup.

Backups are external to your physical machine - preferrably *very*
external and portable to some extent.

A backup is essentially a replica of your data (documents,
spreadsheets, databases, bookmarks, contacts, email, music,
pictures, video, etc) stored someplace other than where the
original data is. So - even if you have another physical hard disk
drive inside your machine (partitioning is even less wise in some
ways) where you store *your* (stuff you created) data and use it
from there - that is *not* a backup. It is merely an organization
method.
Yes - you may have an easier time rebuilding your system from
scratch - but after many years of doing this on a mass scale; I
would say that if you rebuild your machine often enough that such a
convenience matters - you don't properly maintain your machine and
you would be better served in learning to do so.

For those who use it as an *easy* way of backing up their data ("I
know I just need to make a copy of my X:\ drive to get all my
stuff.") I'd say that makes sense, although to be honest - same
thing could be accomplished using folder structures ("I know I just
need to backup my C:\MyStuff\ folder to get all my stuff.".) ;-)

It's been a long time since I created partitions on a Windows
system. I synchronize my data to external media over a network
(even at home) and sometimes even that is synchronized elsewhere. I
utilize system state backups as well as occassional imaging of
disks/partitions to make rebuilding easier *if* the need arises. I
maintain my systems as best I can and seldom does that need arise,
however. In fact - hardware failure is pretty much the only time
it has in many years.
The fact is that if you only have your data stored in one place -
you have created your own single point of failure at a point you
control. Lightning burns up the hard disk drive(s) in that
machine, it is physically stolen or destroyed in some manner, if a
single drive is partitioned and that drive crashes (head freezes,
etc) - whatever the case - there goes your data. Yes - it is a convenience
for some (backup scheme or someone who
feels rebuilding is better than maintaining), organization method
to be sure - but backups outweigh that by far and are a constant.

Partitioning/multiple internal drives and putting your data on a
separate partition/drive is an option, a matter of preference. Backing
up - well - it is just unwise not to.

I was going to respond to his post, saying much the same things as
you did. But you took the words out of my mouth.

That's all decent advice too, although it's not very relevant to
the current problem and query the OP put forth. More attention to
the OP's query is what's needed here.

No disagreement on the final point - but I stated what I felt needed to be
stated given the tangent path that had already been initiated and I snipped
the rest.

While many people don't like tangents when it comes to postings like this -
some believe they are not much better than a complete hijacking of a
conversation - this case was more of, "Things have been said, I believe some
clarification should be added for the sake of everyone."

 

[Twayne]

In

Want to see it all?
http://groups.google.com/group/micr...p.general/browse_frm/thread/cc9dd43d5e27a296/











No disagreement on the final point - but I stated what I felt needed
to be stated given the tangent path that had already been initiated
and I snipped the rest.

While many people don't like tangents when it comes to postings like
this - some believe they are not much better than a complete
hijacking of a conversation - this case was more of, "Things have
been said, I believe some clarification should be added for the sake
of everyone."

Welll, can't really argue with that and have done it myself. All I really
meant was, it'd be more interesting to get back on topic.

Twayne

 

[Alex McFarlane]

Oh dear, sorry chaps!

It's a term from India from the days of the Raj when the British Empire
covered half the globe.

Similar Indian words in the English language include:

Tiffin
Thug
Khasi
Curry

etc (that's Latin)

AMcF