W2k Pro age problems

[Pat]

HI all. I hope you can help. I've been running W2k Pro for
a couple of years and lately it's been acting flakey:
forgetting identities, telling me it's going to install
applications it's already running, and not knowing about
common file types. I've been looking at the C:\Documents
and Settings folder and properties says the folder
includes more than 50,000 files!

I've considered reinstalling but have upgraded to Service
pack 4 and can't use the original disk. I'm sure I have
lots of junk left over from multiple install/ uninstall
cycles as well as whatever the OS has accumulated over
time. God knows how bad the registry is by now or how many
junk files I have on my primary drive (~ 5+ gig in files).
Any ideas as to how I can clean up this mess and get back
to a 'clean' system?

Thanks in advance,

Pat

 

[sgopus]

Sure, backup your data (not your operating system)
to a removable device (cd/tape/whatever) then format
and reinstall, do not connect to the internet while
doing the install, without a firewall, preferably hardware
I would download all the service packs/patches to cd
first, then update after the reinstall.

 

[Alias]

I would download all the service packs/patches to cd
first, then update after the reinstall.

How does one do that?

Thanks,

Alias