Time to Low-Level format?

I have a nearly three year old Dimension 8200, 2.2Mhz, 512m RAM, running XP
home. Over the last few months it's been getting progressively slower and
slower, especially when loading programs and web pages.

I run Norton AntiVirus, Adaware and Spybot regularly.

After three years, I'm guessing that it's time to start fresh and lose all
the registry code-gunk that's accumulated over time from software upgrades,
etc. My question is: what's the best approach to a really clean install?
Should I be looking to perform a low-level format, should I boot from a
floppy and format C:\ , or will a simple reinstall of XP automatically wipe
everything else from the drive and let me start fresh? If there's some
malware lurking in the registry or elsewhere that hasn't been previously
detected, will it survive anything other than the low-level format?

Yes, I know I'll lose my preferences and I need to back-up all my driver
downloads, email addresses, outlook favorites, etc., before I begin.
However, how do I "save" the XP Service Pack 1, all the critical XP secuity
updates, and Norton antivirus definition updates so the computer is
protected once I've started clean?

Thanks

 

First of all, the idea of "low level format" is no longer valid these days.
A simple format (not a quick format) is more than enough.

It's most likely that your Windows is just getting bogged down. It's common
and the reason many of us re-build our machines once or twice a year. A
re-install of XP will do nothing to improve performance

Just set your boot sequence to boot from CD and put in your XP CD that came
with the Dell. Do a fresh install and let it format the drive you are
installing on. You will, as you say, have to re-install all your programs
and restore data files as well as re-do customizations, but I guarantee that
you will be blown away by how much improved the performance is.

The subject of drivers will come up in this thread. You need to make sure
you have the drivers for all the hardware in your system. I have an 8200 (on
my 4th re-build) and have never had to use the Dell supplied drivers. You
should download the latest drivers for the hardware in the system before you
re-build. I've always used the drivers from the manufacturer's web sites.

Also, write down customization information you need before starting. Note
any account numbers, passwords, etc.. I'd recommend taking a few days to go
through the system noting all the information you need to re-construct the
setup you want. This is actually critical to minimizing the down time.

If you haven't done it before, you should be prepared for 1-3 days before
the system is "operational and several more additional days before it's back
to where you want it. Good luck. Despite the aggravation, it will, I
guarantee, be worth it.

 

Make sure you have the boot CD from Dell (and it works) and other CD's with
drivers.

The most important thing, IMO, is to have what you need to get online
quickly. This usually means the ethernet drivers, ISP settings.

I'm not sure if the Dell CD will allow this, but I would look into
purchasing a new drive, and installing there. This would preserve everything
on the original drive, and you could add that as a secondary drive, and
clean it up as time permits. Make sure the drive is scanned thoroughly,
first.

Ed

 

best approach is as follows:

1 Uninstall any unused software
2 Defragment the drive
3 Run a registry cleaner
4 Set IE to only use 20MB of cache for Temp Internet files
5 Move the TEMP location to something like C:\TEMP instead of your
documents and settings folder or the \windows\temp area

If that doesn't restore your performance then do the following:

Backup your internet favorites, cookies, email, contacts, etc... Burn to
CD.

Insert the Quick-Restore CD, or the Dell XP CD, reboot, delete the
partition, create the partition, install XP.

Low level formatting is not something you want to do to a drive any
more. It went out with MFM / RLL drives in the old days. Only the
earliest of the IDE drives benefited from it, and most were trashed by
it.

Make sure that you download XP Service Pack 1 and any other security
updates and burn them to CD. Also, if connected by a cable/dsl
connection, make sure that you are behind a router or have the personal
firewall software on CD before you connect to the internet.

 

dead entries and invalid entries from your registry, and will clean up
the hard drive of junk and invalid data, and defag the drive AS WELL
AS the registry...you can dump an awful lot of MB's that way. My last
clean up netted me over 24MB's of junk! There are several utilities
available...do some research before buying!

 

Another suggestion....purchase SpaceAce IV from RBLevin.net.

http://www.rblevin.net/SAN_Index.htm

I've used this app for the past five years on Win 95, Win 2000 and XP
machines. It will safely get rid of much of the junk and temp detritus on
your computer. In fact, when you first use it, you may recover 80-100 mb of
drive space. Another option is to consider upgrading to a Macintosh, where
you'll never need Spybot or Adaware or a Registry cleaner, and your system
will not slow down just because you are using it over time. Just a matter of
looking at all of your options

 

Another thing that I like to do, before a fresh install, is capture screen
shots.

This not only affords you the opportunity to duplicate screen/program layouts,
it also makes it easier to document various settings.

I've been using ClipMate, from Thornsoft (http://www.thornsoft.com/).

Larry

 

Read the reviews on that software before using!

 

I certainly read them before I started using the app in 1998. I've run it
dozens of times on Win versions from 95 through XP Pro. Rich Levin, the
programmer, is a very credible tech presence here in the Philadelphia area.

 

Wish the Macs I use were like that. Wish I lost as little work and time
on the Macs as I do the Dell.

 

Wish you knew how to use a Mac....

 

Excellent idea!! I actually do that for things like the OE and Outlook
setups

 

Well,

You've got a lot of help on this one, all of it good IMHO.

One thing I would add, though, is that a 3-year old hard disk WILL
slow down, and will get even slower and slower when it is nearing its
end of life (anywhere between 2 to 4 years for a hard disk). In my
opinion, these are warning signs and, if I had your problem and money,
I would buy a new hard disk and ghost the old to the new, even if I
intended to re-install from fresh eventually. That's my 2 cents.

Check also this app, it may identify a lot of things that Ad-Aware and
Spybot have not. I used to use this site's pages a lot before I
bought the program, the ultimate troubleshooter, and it is a godsend :

http://www.answersthatwork.com/TUT_pages/TUT_information.htm

http://www.answersthatwork.com/Tasklist_pages/tasklist.htm

I still think, though, that the age of your hard disk may be the major
problem.


Mik

 

Thank you all for your combined advice.

I think my solution will be to buy a Western Digital 80Gb HD. I'm going to
install it as the new master, do a fresh install of all the software, and
keep the original drive unchanged in case we run into bugs with the new
drive. That way I could reconnect it if we need to and run the machine in
its current condition. Then, once everything seems to be working properly
off the Western Digital, we'll make the original drive a slave or shred its
data and toss.

Again...thank you.