Well it looks like it is time to reformat the computer, running like a Life Like Pancake Motor. I have not formatted a computer for 6 years or so.
I am running XP Pro and I don't remember what kind of files I should use. Last time I did my Laptop I used I think Fat 32 or something like that. Friend that worked for Gateway (he moved) said that was a bad chose. What file system would you use?
I am running a Pentium 2.4 , Intel D850EMV2 board and 512 RD Ram.
I am going to try and stay on line today with the way it is so I can see the answer.
Thank You for the coming answer.
Ken
I hate Rust
If you are going to stay with Windows XP Pro, I would download all Service Packs before doing anything else. Then put them on a CD/DVD for later use. This will make the Windows patching much easier after connecting back online. Not sure which web browser you use, but it would also be handy to download the newest copy (i.e. Internet Explorer 8, Netscape, Firefox, etc.)
As for the file system, I would go with NTFS. Better security features then using FAT or FAT32.
CAUTION: before reformatting, please make sure you have copies of all software and personal files. This is a critical step as you cannot get them back once the formatting has completed and Windows has been re-installed. This would also include any serial numbers needed for software installations.
Good luck,
Mike
Ken,
Reformatting one's hard drive is not a job for a do-it-yourselfer. If you don't know exactly what you're doing, you will end up with a much worse mess than you started with.
At the very least, you will need the Windows install disks that came with your computer. Back up EVERY data file and reinstall windows.
Before you embark on this radical step, however, you should try defragmenting, scan disk, registry cleaners, and other software designed to clean up the garbage without reformatting. There is even software called Partition Magic which will allow you to change or rebuild your File Allocation Table (FAT) without reformatting.
Good luck. We'll see you back here in about 2 weeks, once you've recovered.
Connecticut Valley Railroad A Branch of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford
"If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right." -- Henry Ford
NTFS. Copy all your personal stuff and important or hard to locate software on DVD's first.
Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running BearSpace Mouse for president!15 year veteran fire fighterCollector of Apple //e'sRunning Bear EnterprisesHistory Channel Club life member.beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam
Do you REALLY want to reformat your "C" drive, wiping out all of your installed programs and starting over?
You must have a lot fewer programs installed than I do. I still have not recovered from the fools at the Geek Squad who reformatted mine as they grasped at straws trying to decide why one of my computers wouldn't boot. It turned out to be a bad DVD drive, but they totally messed up my computer before they figured that out. I had a RAID array, but they reformatted that, too. I lost programs, software that came with cameras, specialized software that had been downloaded from photo labs and album vendors, and drivers for specialized peripherals like graphics tablets and bar code readers. Finding and re-installing all that stuff has been a very time consuming nightmare.
I didn't lose any pictures or data files because I back that stuff up religiously. I'm glad I didn't count on the RAID to protect it.
Dave
Lackawanna Route of the Phoebe Snow
You might simply want a program like System Mechanic or Advanced System optimizer.
A good defrag and registry cleaning/compression is all that is usually needed. Also turning off a bunch of programs that are probably automatically starting up with the computer.
Springfield PA
Don't forget to export your bookmarks and e-mail addresses.
Tom
Life is simple - eat, drink, play with trains!
Go Big Red!
PA&ERR "If you think you are doing something stupid, you're probably right!"
Well I think I fixed it.
Few weeks ago I was having internet problems. So I called the idiots at Charter. After 49 minutes on the phone they finally decided to set me up with services call.
Turned out to be a problem on there lines, not my modem. But, before they came out I wanted to make sure there where no bugs in the computer. (my Norton was out of date) So I download the free Charter Anti Virus called F Securities.
Computer did slow down some, but still worked. Then it started getting slower and slower. I did all of the drills I know, De-frag, Disk Clean up and Repair, Spy Boot, Windows Registry Repair and Virus scan. I even tried it in safe mode. But nothing worked.
Yesterday computer did not want to boot. So I used my Go Back program (if you don't have this you should get it) it is something like the Windows Restore but way better. I freaked when Go Back said there where no revert times I could go to. Am Screwed, well so I thought.
I was able to get on line this mourning and posted this plea for help.
I did make one last ditch effort, and uninstalled the F Securities files and the Computer is happy again.
Far as reformatting, I have done it 3 or 4 times but it had been a while. This computer that I built 7 years ago has been pretty stable. I all so back up the important files on my Laptop. It never is used on line so it is pretty safe. I all so back up important web address as well.
Far as programs, yes I have lot of them and sure was not looking forward to loading them.
Thanks for all the answers
A tried and true free anti virus program is AVG.
http://free.avg.com/us-en/download-avg-anti-virus-free
The problem that people often have is that you have to totally uninstall Norton before trying another anti virus. IMO Nortons is totally out of control and uses up lots of system resources. It also holds on tight when you try to get rid of it. It also doesn't play well when there's another similar program on the machine. I recommend uninstalling nortons and using AVG or similar like Avast.
Good Luck
Edit: Oh and when you uninstall there will be 2 or 3 items that say nortons that need to be uninstalled.
Lesson to all, that Ken learned on his own --> antivirus programs do *not* play well together. You should only have ONE (1) installed at any time, lest they start duking it out and bringing your machine to a crawl.
railroad analogy -- it's like a full-service brake application and trying to go uphill.
-Dan
Builder of Bowser steam! Railimages Site
Antivirus programs are memory hogs. If you only have 512 megs of memory, you're going to see a drastic slowing down of your computer. I'd suggest installing the maximum memory that your mother board can support. With the processor speed you have (2.x ghz) and the maximum memory, you'll see a dramatic improvement in your pc's performance.
TONY
"If we never take the time, how can we ever have the time." - Merovingian (Matrix Reloaded)
Ken:
I bought a new laptop and it came bundled with McAfee. I was unable to get it to connect to my wireless N network. Tech support was no help. On my own, I finally discovered that I could connect if I turned the McAfee off.
I uninstalled it and installed Microsoft Security Essentials. It is free, gets auto updated once a week, and works perfectly. I now have it on all my computers.
Far as the Norton well that could be it. As mentioned I thought I had it all uninstalled. But, when i was getting rid of the F Anti Virus, found the update installer was still there.
The reformat and reinstall trick works but it will cost you. You will have to re install every single applicatio program (Microsoft Office, Firefox, Picassa, etc). If you cannot find (or never had) the original install disks you are out of luck. You will have to install the last 6 years worth of Microsoft patches which will take forever.
Was it me, I'd try to clean up your existing system. Do some weeding. Uninstall programs you never use, old versions, craplets, games. If you haven't used it in the last six months, you don't need it on your disk. You never know what's hiding out there and the more weeds you pull the easier it is to see the virus for the trees.
Backup up all your stuff, photos. music, memos, track plans, whatever. Once you have a solid backup, delete some of your older stuff from hard disk.
Do "disk cleanup"
Do "Disk cleanup", "Error Check" and defrag. You can get to these from "My Computer" , right click on the C drive icon, click on properties, then tools. Do cleanup FIRST. Do error check second. DON'T defrag unless error check passes. Defragging has been known to kill the odd virus.
Get a good antivirus are run it, run it twice. AVG works for me and it is free. Stay away from Norton and EZtrust and Computer Associates. Then run Spybot Search and Destroy and Lavasoft AdAware to catch the network invaders.
David Starr www.newsnorthwoods.blogspot.com
I've used the free antivirus software from AVG and it has worked very well for about 2 years now. I've had zero problems or issues with it and it is a program you may want to consider.
Wayne
Modeling HO Freelance Logging Railroad.
I reformat and reinstall at least once a year. Windows gets slow after a while, and things get installed, downloaded, and what not.
It's a practice I've been doing for many years.
btw, I'm an IT guy, so it's easy for me.
Michael
CEO- Mile-HI-RailroadPrototype: D&RGW Moffat Line 1989
If you have a dell, they have a factory spec's setting and you can always go to that and it will reformat all but that little section, it will be like a new computer every time, use it all the time for my sons computer (he autistic and doesn't pay attention to computer warnings).
The mind is like a parachute. It works better when it's open. www.stremy.net
I really wish I knew what people do to their computers. I hve NEVER had to reformat and rebuild any of my computers EVER (other then hardware failures). I run AVG Free,have for several years now, but it never finds anything. I periodically run Malwarebytes to clean spyware, but all it ever finds are some tracking cookies.
Since building my latest computer with Windows 7, I don;t even defrag anymore - Windows 7 does this automatically now. I DO and always have periodically run disk cleanup to get rid of the horde of temp files that accumulate over time. I DO apply Windows updates, especially security ones. I do NOT have my computer connected directly to the cable modem, I have a firewall/router in between.
However, my previous computer, which has XP, and another one which I NEVER had a virus on, when I was using it - my GF now uses, and every couple of weeks I need to clean spyware off it with Malwarebytes. It too has AVG and doesn't get viruses, but whatever she does, she keeps getting spyware. She does play a lot of games on Facebook, something I don't do - I do have a facebook account but I don't play the games and I'm not updating my status every 10 minutes. Who knows. And I use IE8 exclusively on my machine, I never even installed an alternate browser on this system. I don;t have problems logging into the forums here, or any of the other issues people mention. I really wish I knew what I'm doing that other people aren't - I could make a fortune selling my technique and buy more trains.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
My experience is similar to yours, Randy.
The computer problem that I experienced was caused by a hardware failure. Unfortunately, the "IT professionals" at the Geek Squad formated my hard drives before they found the problem DVD drive and removed it. Since the computer had two of them, they didn't even replace it, they just removed it.
I have a dollar that says your hard drive is going south.
I format and reinstall once a year, its like spring cleaning, it's not the big deal some here claim it is. BTW, I would never let any idiot from the "Geek Squad" touch anything.
Trying to fix an issue like this with all of the "fix it" programs is a waste of time and money. I promise you, nothing works better than a fresh. clean install of your O.S. It only takes an afternoon.
"The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination."-Albert Einstein
http://gearedsteam.blogspot.com/
It still is a major job to re-install all your drivers and programs. Particularly the ones that have been downloaded instead of installed from a disk, and programs that have been updated numerous times.
Far as the AVG, i have tried downloading it a couple of times. It keeps locking up on me at up date 15? Maybe that I found the last Norton file it will download.
I really don't think I need more ram, but I can take 2 more sticks. Micheal, feel free to chime in. The Ram I am using is RD Ram (not SRD Ram) two stick cost me $500.00 when I bought them like 6 years ago. Last time I looked about 2 years ago it was still $200.00 a stick. Also you can install 1 stick, 2 sticks or 4 sticks in the mother board, so installing one more would not work.
Far as Viruses I was clean when I ran the scan. When I was running 98 and went to cable I felt like I had a red dot on forehead. Man I was catching everything, That is when I went with XP Pro, sometimes the system would have a hick up, but nothing I could not fix.
Thanks again for all the answers.
Ken, I wouldn't dump any more money into that thing. My recommendation would be to buy a new laptop. You can get a nice quality laptop for about $500.
Also, you can get backup and restore software that will make the reformat and reinstall process very simple. What you do is start from a fresh install of your OS, install all your programs, etc.
Then get a software product like Norton Ghost, or a free one called Paragon Backup & Restore. It takes a "snapshot" of your system. You back that up to an external USB drive. Then after a year or so, when your system starts to slown down again. You just restore the entire system back to when it was backed up.
The process only takes maybe an hour or so. And you're backup and running will all your programs. If you install new programs since the last backup, of course you have to reinstall those.
Second that. Systems with RDRAM never caught on, it was limited to that one processor family and so was and still is (if you can even find any) way more expensive that SDRAM that everyone else used. You can get a new system that will blow that oen into the weeds for $500 or less, and it will have 2GB RAM, probably 10X the hard disk space, and Windows 7. The difference would be like a built Charger racing a Yugo.
AVG 2011 is now out, and I converted to it right away from the older version. 2011 had some 'issues', and was slower. But in the past week they must have cleared up some bugs because for the first time ever, no matter which anti-virus scanner I have used, AVG did the daily scan two days running in less than 3 minutes. Three minutes, and I have five years worth of crap on my computer. Not too shabby.
AVG 2011 freeware and Superantispyware (paid up when they flashed their lifetime special of $19 when I was using the freeware version) are all I use.
Crandell
Like the majority, I've not had to reformat aside from mew doing something royally stupid. That may change if I can get ahold of a techie that knows his head from his ***. (my laptop has something puking its AMD driver when I try to play vid online)
I run a smorgasbord as recomended by Mom, who does tech for the local major Univeristy, IUPUI. So I trust her input. Symantec and flanked by a program called Malwarebytes and AdAware. We're debating loading the Superantispyware that Selector mentioned. They've played nicely with each other on all 150 comps that have been set p this way. A Dell tech did try to tell me tis was a bad idea, andhe may well be right, but the moron also tried to convince me I had a virus. No Dip****, those are tracking cookies from when YOU downloaded something else to my computer. I CAN read my own screen. Also, I reccomend a program called Secunia and is real good about tellign you when there's updates for nealry everything
-Morgan
I've been running AVG on my Windows 7 computer for about a year now. I used to use Avast, but it developed a major conflict with my sound drivers, and stopped Windows from booting. AVG's been working perfectly, and I haven't gotten a single virus. It's not a big resource hog most of the time, either.
I also run Spyware Blaster on my PC. I'm happy to say that I've never gotten any spyware as long as I've been running it, and it's free too.
_________________________________________________________________
i totally agree that reformatting is not for the feint of heart. it doesn't take alot of time by itself but reinstalling the software, the email service, Internet connection and the rest can be a major pain, not to mention time consuming.
having said that the files you are looking for in Windows are the dot CAB files.
to fix startup issues hit the START button then RUN and type in msconfig
i also have to say that with RD-Ram sinking any more into that will not be much of a return on your investment . i mean you wouldn't put a 4 cylinder in a Cuda would you?
Ken: I highly recommend losing your present computer. There's no sense in dumping a lot of money into unpopular and rare memory sticks when the same money can get you a new computer with much more memory and up to date electronics as well as a more powerful processor. As for virus protection I use AVG version 10. It catches and kills spyware and malware as well.