ReInstalling Windows XP Professional

[Guest]

After 2 years of use and loading quite a bit of software on it, my system has
become annoyingly slow. Our IT guy recommended uninstalling all software and
reinstalling Windows XP Professional. Is this a good idea? How do I go
about this? I put the Windows XP Professional CD in and told it to install,
but it siad the version on my system in newer.
Thanx,
CQ

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

I would suggest the following before resorting to a "Repair Install":

Download the free thirty-day trial version of System Mechanic and
use it to scan for junk files and invalid shortcuts:
http://www.iolo.com/sm/5/index.cfm

Unexplained computer behavior may be caused by deceptive software
http://support.microsoft.com/?­id=827315

Download Ad-aware SE and scan your PC for the presence of sp­yware:
http://www.download.com/3000-2144-10045910.html?part=69274&subj=dlpage&tag=button

Symantec Security Check
http://security.symantec.com/s­scv6/default.asp?langid=ie&ven­id=sym

Microsoft Windows AntiSpyware
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...a2-6a57-4c57-a8bd-dbf62eda9671&displaylang=en

3 Simple Steps to Help Ensure the Protection of Your PC
http://www.microsoft.com/athom­e/security/protect/default.msp­x

Utilize the following maintenance programs, at least monthly,
to maintain the optimum performance of Windows XP:

Description of the Disk Cleanup Tool in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;310312&Product=winxp

How to Perform Disk Error Checking in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;315265&Product=winxp

HOW TO: Analyze and Defragment a Disk in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;305781&Product=winxp

If your system has SP2 installed, the original Windows XP CD cannot
be used. You'll have to create a new CD with SP2 slipstreamed.

Either one of the following utilities makes slipstreaming
(integrating) SP2 into Windows XP a breeze:

Windows Slipstreaming and Bootable CD Guide
http://www.msfn.org/articles.p­hp?action=show&showarticle=49

or

AutoStreamer 1.0.33 (preferred)
http://www.wbeta.com/comments.­php?shownews=1063&catid=2

Windows XP Service Pack 2 - Direct Download
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...BE-3B8E-4F30-8245-9E368D3CDB5A&displaylang=en

How to Perform a Windows XP Repair Install
http://www.michaelstevenstech.­com/XPrepairinstall.htm

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User
Microsoft Newsgroups

Get Windows XP Service Pack 2 with Advanced Security Technologies:
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/windowsxp/choose.mspx

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:

| After 2 years of use and loading quite a bit of software on it, my system has
| become annoyingly slow. Our IT guy recommended uninstalling all software and
| reinstalling Windows XP Professional. Is this a good idea? How do I go
| about this? I put the Windows XP Professional CD in and told it to install,
| but it siad the version on my system in newer.
| Thanx,
| CQ

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

Describe your computer by brand, cpu and speed, size of hard drive (any
other hard drives), how much space is left on your hard drive, and amount of
memory.

I would not waste the investment you have put into your computer by starting
all over.

Go to Start>All Programs>Start (folder) and see how many programs are there
that are starting when you boot your computer. See how many you can run
yourself when you need to use them. Remove them. This is by no means the
only programs that start up when you wake up the system, but it is a
beginning.

Go to Add/Remove Programs and scan what is installed. Remove programs you
added to your system and never use.

Defragment the hard drive with Start>All Programs>Accessories>System
Tools>Disk Defragmenter.

As for reinstalling the system, you can make a slipstreamed cd that combines
what is on your cd and service pack 2 and then the version on the new cd
will be the same as the one on your system. That is not a problem.

If you decide to start all over, how do you plan to backup your data files?
Do you have the installation cd's for all your programs?