my laptop is slow!!!!!! i want to wipe my xp computer's hard drive and reinstall xp. howdoidoit(read details)?

Question

i checked 10 times with 10 different spyware programs and a normal mcafee scan(mcafee rulz). I have a dell inspiron 6000. i have a technical support thing from dell, but they really arent much help. I also have an external hard drive, and i download some freeware stuff, but i deleted it. could this be problem? pretty much im askin how 2 wipe computer without losin info.

Answer 1

I just saw another question like this earlier tonight and it was recommended to google up "slow computer" and I found a link that really helped me a lot!!!!! I just ran thru the services files in windows and disable some of them or set them to manual (I'm not on a network of workstations and so forth....) It was found on this link I'm giving you that Windows has gotten so big over the years that it sure does take a lot of system resources just to run them all, especially when you don't need to run them all on "automatic"....

try this out....My machine is only a year old, but now it's at lightening speed like it was before...believe me, having a 2.6G processor running slower after a year isn't funny, not to mention that I've got almost 3G of memory on this thing too!....It's Window's unneccessary services that you have to work with...to get your machine to run its peak performance its made to do so....
http://www.masternewmedia.org/news/2006/04/12/slow_computer_speed_up_your.htm

This was really a great recommendation and I'm soooo happy to get my machine running like new again!

Be sure to let us know how this worked for you...It's really a solution to go by!!!! Good Luck! and be sure to FOLLOW the INSTRUCTIONS at the near bottom of the article (where it tells you how to click start and run services.msc and then go thru the long list to take care of the culprit services you DON'T need! Then you can come back and it burns now baby!!!!!

I would also suggest that after you do this to try and online PC registry clean up and make sure that all your cookies and history are cleared out too...Most registry scanners will remove unneccessary redundant files that take up space! Good Luck and BURN BABY, BURN!

Answer 2

The best way is to download Ccleaner here http://bitly.com/UrALrK

Or you can go on Windows operating system locate the command prompt and go there to do the following:
Create a Recovery file of system and date it today.

Then begin by;
delete the 'Temp' folders..they have hidden subfolders so you need to set the attributes in order to bypass this. For each subfolder delete all cookies and rubbish left behnd after install-uninstalled programs. Do a 'dir' command to check your progress. Make sure the 'Temp' file is empty.

goto c:\windows\prefetch and delete everything in there..no exceptions

goto c:\windows folder and delete all the '$' files that have been installed by updates. They can all be succesfully deleted and just take up disk space.

Locate the Internet Temporary Files..Check to see how high the saving level is..some have it set at 30 days..but that stores faaaar tooo much data..though it slows down the system overal. Keep this to a minimum..suggest 2 or 5 at most.

Delete all 'cookies' all those you don't need.

Locate the windows directory and go through the folders you know and those you don't need. Check this once a week at least. Some programs will install under XP as NT and older systems where there is no check of systems weight.

Check to see that system files have not changed since last booting. Things like .ini files or .bat are important items.


Check for 'Hidden Directories' all over the disk...do this at the command prompt:

dir *.* /ah wil show these hidden directories

Check the 'dir' command for all parameters

Answer 3

Quite simply; you can't. If you believe that malware, adware or viruses may be causing the slowness you could always take all "safe" files, files you know not to be infected and copy them over onto the external hard drive. Then; you'd have to reinstall Windows (I'd assume you have an installer CD for it?). Just pop it into your CD Drive, and turn off your computer, turn it back on and the installer should start automatically. Go through the installation and eventually it will ask if you want to reformat your computer, basically; this will erase EVERYTHING on your computer, Windows XP, Drivers for hardware, games, software. EVERYTHING. It will then install Windows XP onto a clean slate, which will fix nearly any problem that you could possibly be having (excluding hardware issues). Now; at this point you would copy over files from the external hard drive back onto your computer. And then you'd have to reinstall drivers for all your hardware .(Dell should have given you a "Drivers" CD with your computer, if you don't have it I wouldn't risk formating, things probably won't work well.) If you have the Drivers CD just pop it in and install everything.

I'm not entirely familiar with Dell, but they might bundle the drivers onto a different system CD, so look around for them.

Another common root of slowness though is overextending your PC's capabilities. If you are running many programs at once or running very high-requirement programs it can slow down naturally. To see the list of every single thing running on your computer hit ALT-CTRL-DELETE, and go to the "Processes" tab, it wouldn't be a bad idea to make sure all of the .exe's listed under "Owner" or "User" or your login name are familiar or can be traced to safe programs.

I know this may be confusing, but if you need more help feel free to add details.

Answer 4

That's the cool part starwarrior, there ain' t no way to reformat and reinstall the OS without losing stuff. That's why it should only be considered as the absolute LAST resort.

Factoid #1: If you used 10 spyware programs and cleaned everything off, chances are it ain't spyware.

Factoid #2: If your McAfee is up to date and you get a clean scan, chances are it ain't a virus.

What you probably need to do is get rid of all the installed garbageware such as browser add-ons, etc.

Go to Start>All Programs>Control Panel>Add-Remove Programs and see what's on your system that don't look right. If you see obvious miscellaneous stuff remove it. Just make sure you know what you are removing.

Restart the computer and remove the external hard drive. Go to Start>All Programs>Accessories> and run disk cleanup.

Restart the computer and run disk degragmenter.

Re-evaluate your computer speed.

Answer 5

According to your description,there are some regsitry errors in your computer to cause "computer slow".You need to clean you computer.
Every time you install and uninstall software on your computer and surfing online you create junk in the registry.You need to scan and clean your computer with registry cleaner to make your computer faster.Good Regisry Cleaner will improve your computer and Internet performance dramatically by 300% or more!
There are some comparison and review of
TOP 5 registry cleaners.
http://www.****************************

Answer 6

1) first check virus in all program files by using antivirus software.

2)first copy all the wanted files and paste those data to external hard disk drive.then format your computer hard disk and make partitions.then recopy the data from external hard disk drive.

Answer 7

u dont have to delete ur files or any thing
just try these things
1- uninstall the program u dont use it " i dont know what u use or what u dont " but if u dont use msn uninstall it ,
2- go to start/run type msconfig and choose setup then uncheck on the program u do not like it to start with the computer
3- then go to service box and do the same uncheck unwanted program then ok and restart ur computer

*** i know u dont know which program u have to uncheck it but it'll be safe if u uncheck any program but the one with MICROSOFT COROPRATION dont delete them

4- use www.ccleaner.com

Answer 8

no problem,i will suggest to save all your documents in a removable harddrive, or flashdrive. then reintall windows. here is helpfull site.. good luck.. you wont regret it. http://computersguide.blogspot.com/2007/01/install-computers.html

Answer 9

store it to a disk
and then put in your xp disk and then boot from disk and that will do it

Answer 10

http://www.cyberwalker.net/columns/aug02/010802.html