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Resolved Question

How can I completely clean out my computer?

by Oct 21, 2013 5:40AM PDT

I was given a busines computer made in 2006.
It is an HP Compaq dx2000mt.

It is running Windows XP Professional Ver 2009, Svc Pack 3. (Product ID: 76487-640-1457236-23520)

But the computer has tons of irrelevant (to me) data and programs and just plain "junk" I don't need or want.

It only has a 40 Gig hard drive and it is full.

How can I clean this thing out?

I tried to do a "Factory Restore" but there is no "D" partition with restore software. Reboot with "F-8" shows no option for any kind of System Repair, or anything that says "Repair" anywhere in the options.

The software is legit, and runs good, and the 25-digit Key is printed on the COA stuck to the cabinet.

I'm thinking of getting a copy of a Windows XP installation disk and installing it. Will this work?

Do I have other options?

Thanks in advance.

asfrye
.

Discussion is locked

asfrye has chosen the best answer to their question. View answer
9 Posts
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Best Answer

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See if this ...
by Oct 21, 2013 2:56PM PDT
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I forgot to mention XP's losing support in April
by wpgwpg Oct 22, 2013 12:01AM PDT

MS is pulling the plug on the last of Windows XP support in April, so that's why I wouldn't want to stay with it. Also, if you install clean, you have to worry about getting drivers and helper apps. Sorry I forgot to mention that earlier.
`
Good luck.

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Apparently not the original software
by asfrye Oct 22, 2013 5:33AM PDT

Yes, Edward, I believe you guessed correctly.

Someone at the business has indeed trashed and re-installed the OS from scratch. There is no recovery software available anwhere on the drive. I followed two out of the three suggestions shown on the web page you suggested. I did not find what they said to look for. The third option was to re-install from recovery disks (which I don't have).

So, I've deleted everything I didn't recognize, and all the stuff I know was not necessary.

Thank you both for all your help.


(I followed some of your posts, wpgwpg, listed on your blog. Interesting observations on Dark Energy . . . . Happy

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helpful
by hafizasif9201 Oct 24, 2013 1:29AM PDT

this is also helpful for me. thanks

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Answer
That's a pretty old PC
by Oct 21, 2013 5:52AM PDT

That PC is 7 years old, obviously limited, and XP is going to lose the last of support from MS in April. You didn't give any info about RAM or processor, but I don't imagine it'd be very suitable for running Windows 7 or 8. Since you're talking about formatting the hard drive, you might want to consider putting some flavor of Linux on it like Ubuntu or Mint, assuming you don't find any driver problems with your hardware. You can download Ubuntu from http://www.ubuntu.com/download and give it a try. You can put it on a DVD or flash drive, boot from it, and run it without having to install it on your hard drive.
Getting back to the question of disk cleanup, you could start with the Windows disk cleanup program via Windows Explorer, right-click C: -> Properties -> Tools. Then you could go to the Control Panel's Add/Remove programs applet and uninstall programs you don't need. You can look in your My Documents and Downloads folders and delete anything there you don't need. You could also install a second hard drive if you have a tower desktop with space for that.
`
Good luck.

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Going with disk cleanup
by asfrye Oct 21, 2013 2:30PM PDT

Thank you wpgwpg. Very informative. I am going to assume from the absence in your reply that installing a new Windows XP disk is not a good option.

I'm going to just clean and delete as much as I can. I have used Ubuntu before but I'm not as comfortable with it as I am with the good ol' Windows stuff.

Oh, BTW:

Intel Celeron CPU 2.53 GHz
504 MB RAM

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Answer
OK, not the original and
by Forum moderator Oct 22, 2013 5:44AM PDT

Given the news on XP you have choices to make.

It may be time to try a current Linux on it.
Bob

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Yes. Try Mint Linux
by James Denison Oct 24, 2013 2:32AM PDT

Popular among former windows users and fairly easy to use. It also on install takes about 5GB footprint for the system, can restrict pagefile aka swap file to 1G and be OK, all the rest can be for data storage. I use it and with Firefox, even running youtube video or catching up on a TV program, Thunderbird mail open, running a text edit program, and sometimes GIMP, I don't even use a full gigabyte of RAM and don't even yet touch the reserved swap section on harddrive.

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Thank you, James
by asfrye Oct 24, 2013 9:54AM PDT

Good input. Going to load it on another computer that I can always revert back to Widows via the recovery partition and then give it a try.

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