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#11
4th Feb 2009, 12:49
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Phil has covered everything, if you follow his ideas you'd notice a significant increase in all round performance. Formatting and a fresh install is very very very easy, i did it myself last night as my girlfriends laptop died on me, i think i pressed a total of 5 keys (Example: 'key1' =Yes, 'key2' = No, 'key3' = Other) and the computer did the rest. That 34GB wont actually be all your data you use daily like music,pictures,programs etc, some of it will be things you probably forgot existed like system restore points, old files, unused software etc that's been collected along the 5 years. Instead of a external HD you'd probably be best of with a thumb drive 4-8GB or a pack of cds to burn your files to. I bet your pictures, music,videos etc would amount to no more then 10-15GB. But if you really dont want to go through these steps i guess bumping up to 1GB of ram, & running a few programs we could link you to which could help a little. As phil said, a few changes to the start up programs and the background programs which you dont use should also help with recovering some much needed speed. But all in all, there will be no amount of software or changes you could make that would match a fresh install. Let us know which path you'd like to choose.
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#12
4th Feb 2009, 18:40
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256 is not really future proof and u will need to upgrade it again soon anyway...i would suggest getting 1GB + as Ram is not that expensive
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#13
4th Feb 2009, 18:41
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#14
5th Feb 2009, 11:48
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Hi,
Thanks for everyone’s input. Following the recommendations I will go with the reinstall and will start the process of saving my various files to disk. Is there any major things I should be aware of before I begin the re-install? Thanks again for your assistance with this matter. Regards Andy |
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#15
8th Feb 2009, 10:49
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Hi all,
I have backed up my files and I am ready to start the re-install. Can you please confirm it’s the reinstallation cd XP Home Edition that I need to use as I seem to have collected a number of cd’s over the years and is there anything I ought to be aware of or need to do before I begin the process? Cheers Andy |
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#16
8th Feb 2009, 11:36
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you will probably need all the cd's that came with the pc, if you can remember what ones these were, as these may contain drivers that you need, you will also need any cd's that came with the devices so you can install all there software, if you needed to use a cd to set up your internet you will also need that, make note of the username and password for your internet account as you will need this to contact us after the installation
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#17
14th Feb 2009, 11:09
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Hi guys,
I seem to have failed here at the first hurdle. I have finally backed up my data and I am ready to begin the re-installation. However when I placed the re-installation cd into the drive it just had the option to re-install but I need to format the drive first? How do I do this? I have tried to alter the boot sequence by pressing F2 once I switched the computer on so that it loads the cd first but this didn’t seem to make any difference. I could do with someone holding my hand through this one please! Thanks for all you assistance with this matter. Cheers Andy |
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#18
14th Feb 2009, 12:09
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i cant remember off the top of my head, but that is the way you need to go, have an explore through the menus on the cd, also try the re install option.
im on vista and cant check this for you, your boot order sounds correct, what cd do you have, the origanal the manufacture gave you? |
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#19
15th Feb 2009, 03:37
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Hi,
Thanks for the reply. The CD I have is the one I received when I purchased the computer - Reinstallation CD Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition. The options on the CD are: - - Install windows xp (note when I have selected this option it states that an updated version is already on the computer and you can not go any further). - Install optional windows components - Perform additional tasks (note nothing within this option to re-install) - Check system compatibility Regards, Andy |
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#20
15th Feb 2009, 04:18
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hummmm......
is there not any buttons that you can push when you go on install windows xp? there must be another way, unless you have a seperate rig that you can use, then install your hard drive that your trying to reinstall xp into and use your second rig to format the HDD, then after it is formatted put it back in and you should be able to install xp as there will be no current version of xp on there |
