Non F/B........Need computer help.....

[Jason97T/A]

Hey guys........i know this thread has nothing to do with the f-bods but I need some computer help. It looks as if some of u know quite a bit about them. I know a lil bit but want some advice before i do this. I have a newer gateway with 256 ram, and a pentium 4 with windows xp home edition. Lately it has gotten slower and been screwing up on some of the programs and stuff, so i want to restart win xp on the computer. I have the XP cd from gateway. Do i just insert the cd into the cd rom and follow instructions to do this? And also......I have cable internet and a lexmark printer....will I have to reinstall drivers to make those work again? Because I have all of the cd's for this I believe. I just dont want to lose internet access and not know how to fix it after I restart Win XP. Thanks for any input.......I also may be adding another 256 ram chip to it, that is pretty easy i think....just take off the back panel and plug it in right? Thanks for any help......and sorry bout the topic of computers......I guess i mainly want to know what is involved, because I dont wanna screw anything up...thanks
Jason

[tabahr]

I would not recommend loading windows manually to a novice. Many things can come up and get complicated really fast. Besides that, doing this properly is an art. I make "images" profesionally for the State of Wisconsin. Just making 1 is a several day job.

What I would recommend is getting the "system restore CD" for your system and following the directions to do that. Save anything you wish to keep to a blank CD first, or you will lose it.

If you do not have this CD, contact the manufacturer and they will be happy to send it to you. It's a pre-made software image of your machine the way it originally was sold new.

After restoring go to the windows update site and get everything to make it current. Make sure the virus protection software is current too.

Hope this helps

[RangerBob]

If you are running XP, just use system restore. Right click on my computer and you should see it. But wait, you might not need to do this.

I would first run a disk check. Click run, type cmd.

Then type chkdsk c: /f

If will ask you to schedule this action at next reboot, type y


After that is done, clean out you internet cache. Start internet explorer. Tools, internet options, delete files check the delete offline files option.

After a few minutes it should be done, Close internet explorer

Then go to program manager, accessories, system tools
Defrag.

This might take a while but let it finish.

After all that reboot and see if your PC is faster.

IF you don't have a virus scanner, you should. Load one, update it and then scan for viruses.

Bob

[Jeff_in_Atl]

Then after that, go to http://lavasoft.element5.com/support/download/
and download adaware and run it.

[Black97]

Bob is right

Chkdsk and defrag are definitley the way to go before you try to re-install the OS. You should see a difference in speed.

[BadWS6]

What RangerBob said

[Tundrahog]

I would check for virus infection before you restore the OS. Restoring the OS is the last thing you want to do....on any system! There is no reason why your machine would take a major performance hit just buy adding/removing apps. Granted a regorg is needed from time to time.

Go with Symantec antivirus.

[tabahr]

I assumed you would had already done all the typical clean up tasks before looking into a restore. If you haven't you should. Also look into running a shareware program called system mechanic. Run the regestry cleaner utility, delete all the dead entries it finds and you will notice an immediate increase in preformance.

Ad-Aware is also a good program.

Check out System Mechanic at http://www.iolo.com/sm/download.cfm

30 day free trial, but that is all you'll need.

[quantum]

if you still want more ram

Everything everybodys put up here is right on target. Scanning the system for errors and defraging will help and I bet your computer moves a lot faster after ad-aware gets rid of all the spy ware. I was just going to let you know that getting more ram is sometimes a little more involved than just buying a new chip and putting it in. So if you still decied to add more here are a few pointers. First you need to find out what kind of ram your machine uses, yours is a p4 so it's probably RDRAM and depending on the motherboard maker it could be DDR; your packaging from the computer may say on it somewhere. It may also let you know the speed of the ram which if you add more you need a chip the same speed or higher (a higher speed won't move faster it will work at the same speed as the other chip). It's also not a bad idea to mach ram manufactures; though it's not necessary sometimes different makers chips don't work togeather. Past all that the install is quite easy. With the computer off; Open up the case and look for the open slot next the the current chip and push the new chip into it ( they are keyed so make sure it's facing the right direction.). Then boot the machine and it shold count up the new ram. Oh, yeah if you don't have the packaging from the computer; the makers web site should say. And if it doesn't; reply back and one of us will tell you how to get it out of the bios. I hope this helps. Good luck.

[Christopherrr]

if you can get your hands on it...Norton Utilities. Awesome program that'll keep your computer running perfect. Can't find a link...but I do have the CD. If you need more info...let me know. Works better than XP's ScanDisk or Defrag...many more tools to use and keep your comp in tip top condition.

Reloading an OS is your very last option...I can almost assure you that it'll be worse than it is if you don't do it right.