How do I get my PC back in shape?

Sandy;
If all else fails, go to www.komando.com
Kim is a GeekWhiz and no doubt will be able to suggest solutions. She might even know of free programs that will do the job. Good luck and "happy puting". Ron B. Ballston Spa, NY

sandy for xp to fully work u need to have about 512mb menory i recomend 1gb if u cn get it then everything speeds up and clean up is easier

Hi Sandy - Ironically. I also own a 2 year old Dell computer running XP Home. There are many applications available that will do the job for you in a relatively short space of time. First of all you need to clean out all the data that Windows and other programs keep and store on your hard drive. The most popular of the 'cleaners' is Crap Cleaner, which is easy to configure and very easy to use. This totally FREE utility is available from the popular download sites; Cnet download.com or File Hippo, or visit the home page: http://www.ccleaner.com/
Secondly, you will need to defragment your hard drive. You can use the defrag utility that is built into Windows XP(all programs/accessories/system tools), which is adequate, or you can download a better defragger and use it. Once again, there are several to choose from but I recommend 'Auslogics Disk Defrag'. It is FREE, does a splendid job and is very, very easy to use. Visit this page: http://www.auslogics.com/disk-defrag/
Once your 'spring cleaning' has been completed, if you run these utilities at regular intervals, I suggest once a week for crap cleaner and once a month for disk defrag (this can vary according to your usage), you will maintain a nice clean computer and hopefully optimum speed.
Last, but not least, you should check for any spyware or adware you may have accumulated. Assuming you have anti virus and spyware programs installed, make sure they are completely up to date and then run any scans.
If you do not have any anti spyware programs, here are a few suggestions (all are free):
Spybot search and destoy 1.4
Ad-Aware SE Personal
Windows Defender
WinPatrol.
Hope I have been of some help, happy Spring cleaning!
Regards JIM

Save all your important documents and data to DVDs, external hard drive or flash drive. Reformat your hard drive and do a clean install of XP. Before reformatting and reinstalling your OS I would recommend you upgrade with an additional 1 or 2 GB of memory, the same type you currently have in your computer. Get your new memory from Dell to assure yourself that you are getting the correct type of memory running at the proper frequency. Your memory is woefully inadequate. I would not upgrade anything else if you are going to continue to run XP, which is an excellent operating system. In the future, if you plan to run Vista, consider getting a new computer with all the necessary hardware already installed.

I would start with downloading Advanced Windows Care - Personal edition. It is free for personal use from Iobit. This program checks for spyware dangers, security, registry and system configuration problems. This program repairs the problems it finds.

Next, I would remove any software, through the control panel Add/Remove Software process, that I am sure I will not use.

If it is possible to add memory to your PC, that is the most effective and cost effective way to improve the PC's performance.

Try running the Disk Cleanup utility in Windows XP. Also check with the manufacturer to see if your computer can be upgraded with more memory. More memory can speed up your programs. Also try to run the Disk Defragmenter program in Windows XP. Sometimes when your hard drive is fragmented it can cause your computer to run slowly. That could also be causing your programs to run slowly. Running Disk Cleanup and Disk Defragmenter and upgrading your memory if at all possible will probably solve the problem you are experiencing. The method of accessing these programs depends on how you have your Start Menu set up

To access disk cleanup if you're using the new xp start menu

1. Click on Start
2 Select All Programs
3. Select Accessories
4. Select System Tools
5. Click on Disk Cleanup

To access disk cleanup If you're using the classic start menu

1. Click on Start
2. Select Programs
3. Select Accessories
4. Select System Tools
5. Click on Disk Cleanup

To access disk defragmenter If you're using the new xp start menu

1. Click on Start
2. Select All Programs
3. Select Accessories
4. Select System Tools
5. Click on Disk Defragmenter

To access disk defragmenter If you're using the classic start menu

1. Click on Start
2. Select Programs
3. Select Accessories
4. Select System Tools
5. Click on Disk Defragmenter

If this still does not solve your situation check to see if your memory can be upgraded, if it can I would recommend upgrading your computer's memory. If your computers memory can be upgraded, be sure you buy the correct memory stick if you do decide to upgrade your memory.

Hope this helps.

Sounds like it might be best to format. always feels this is the best way to clear out old stuff. Make sure you have original Cd's if this
will be your option. Format is not very difficult to do just follow
the promts.

Good luck ellen
epri307@aol.com

First let me say if you can afford it, this is what I started doing a few years back.
I bought a 'external' 250 GB hard drive and made one partition strictly for programs I download/ purchase off the internet. By keeping all the .zip or .exe files one both a spot on my PC's HD and on the external HD I always have one good set of un-installed programs should the other drive fail.

This being said, sadly to say, it's time to do what I just did on my 4 yr old Dell...... "Unconditional Format" (sorry
Before you do check MS's web site and if you want you can download all the XP updates and SP2, save them and install them without going on line.... I didn't and believe it or not, it only took about 1 1/2 hours to install XP, download the SP2 and the updates (hope you have hi-speed... if not you can send away for the SP2 CD)
*** One word of caution***
Once you install your OS (I'm assuming XP) make sure you install your firewall and AV software before going on line and downloading things like the XP updates.... (I had one attempted attack while trying to up some of my software)
And lastly..... Good luck

I forwarded a document from my office in Office 2007 (docx) to my home computer (save paper, save trees, etc) but my Office 2000 won't open it. I then sent it to my neighbor who usese Office XP. Still nothing. Any suggestions?

Thanks..

Sandy,

Your system just needs some TLC. Try doing these things:

1) Run cleanup on your system - Click on Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk Cleanup. This make take some time to finish, especially if you have never done this before.

2) Run Disk Defragmenter - Click on Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk Defragmenter. This make take some time to finish, especially if you have never done this before.

3) Increase the amount of RAM on your system.

4) After increasing the RAM on your system, increase the paging file. You do this by right-clicking on My Computer, then click on Properties. Click on the Advanced tab, click on the Settings button under Performance. Click on the 2nd tab (Advanced). Click on the Change button under Virtual Memory. Double the amount of RAM showing (i.e. If the RAM is 756, double it to 1512) and then click on OK 3 times. Reboot your system if it has says that it needs to.

5) If you are using XP Pro, click on Start, Run. Type in gpedit.msc and click on Ok. Under Local Computer Policy in the left hand pane, click on the + sign on Windows Settings, Security Settings, Local Policies and then click on Security Options. In the right hand pane, scroll down to the bottom and find this entry - Shutdown: Clear virtual memory pagefile. This is usually Disabled.
Double click on this entry and click on the Enable button and then click on the Ok button. Click on the X in the top right hand corner to close this box.

I would do steps 1 & 2 monthly or more frequently depending on how often you use your computer. Hope that this is helpful.

[If your antivirus software is up to date, this should help. If it's not, IMMEDIATELY download Norton Antivirus and run it against your hard drive. Viruses will slow your system down markedly even if they don't wreak havoc on it!]
You should be cleaning up your computer on - at the least - a weekly basis. Start by doing the simplest thing: Empty your Recycle Bin. [Right click on the bin, then left-click on "Empty ..."]. Then click on the Start button -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Disk Cleanup. Run that program. When it finishes, Click Start -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Disk Defragmenter. Run the program. It can take quite awhile - especially if you haven't run it before - so don't be surprised if it takes 3 or more hours to run.
That's the easy part.
To really speed things up you need to remove some XP features like the ads for AOL, Earthlink, et al; support for languages you don't speak/read/write, and all of the "junk" programs you've installed over the past two years. Finally, get a copy of PC Doctor or other such tool that will remove the unused progam pieces that didn't go away when you uninstalled the other junk.
After that: run the disk defragmenter again!
Finally, here's a quick tech lesson for you: RAM = SPEED. If you're a novice to the tech world have your neighbors kid come over and show you what a RAM card looks like. Your RAM can probably be upgraded cheaply enough - around $80 for a 2 year old machine - and it's easy to do. You'll notice the difference immediately.
If you're not up to it, take your box to CompUSA or other local PC shop near you. They can clean it up for you, usually for about $75. [That doesn't include additional RAM.]

Take a computer class. It's fun and you meet new people. If you don't want to take any classes then perhaps you would like a computer book for dummies. (No, I'm not saying you are a dummy. That's the name of the books). BTW, I'm almost 71 years old and I clean my pc everyday.

My solutions are:

(1) Microsoft is obliged to give those who have Windows Vista installed in their new computer a copy of Windows XP Professional without delay.

(2) At the same time CNET should collect signatures of those affected to sue Microsoft if they do not comply with the suggestion in (1).

(3) Demand a refund plus costs (for time wasted installing and uninstalling it) for those who have bought Vista. It is a poorly designed product.

(4) Switching to Linux would be the best and long-term solution.

first, go to the maintenance and performance under the start menu and do a disk clean-up. second, re-arrange things on the hard drive. there is a free registry cleaner available which will clean the registry. it is also free, and is available on the web. these three should really help your speed and performance.

Unless you bought your printer, scanner or whatever last week, chances are NOT good that it will work with Vista. Older peripherals bought a year or two ago will NOT likely see Vista drivers anytime soon if ever. This issue seems to be conveniently ignored by all the Vista advocates.
My advise is that if you need your hardware to work RIGHT NOW, then use XP then wait until you need to replace that hardware and your chances of having Vista drivers available will be much greater. There is no technical reason to run out and by Vista unless you are a Microsoft stockholder.

If you haven't done this in a while it's going to take some time. To start off I would do a complete anti-virus and anti-spyware scan and let them remove anything they find. If you don't have these installed on the computer (you need them),but you can find online scanners at most of the main security vendors sites. Trend-Micro has a good one for virus scan and for spyware Webroot I think has one for spyware online, these will do for now if you don't have one installed.

Next you will want to clean out the junk files. XP has a built in file cleaner (click Start, run, and type cleanmng.exe in the box, enter) that does a fair job but can take some time to run if you haven't run it before. when it starts it will show what it can get rid of and how much space it will save, but before you click ok uncheck the option to compress old files as this will save a little time off the run. Other programs you can use are Easy Cleaner or CCleaner. Easy Cleaner is a good program as it has not only a file cleaner but a registry cleaner too.

Next you'll want to go to the Add/Remove programs panel in control panel and remove any programs you no longer use.

Next you'll want to clean the registry. This can be tricky in that registry cleaners vary on there level of safe removal of errors, but the one in the Easy Cleaner program I mentioned earlier is pretty safe to use for this as it's not too aggressive in finding errors so the ones it finds are usually safe to remove.

Next up is defragmenting the hard drive. Again XP has one built in but it's rather slow especially if you haven't done it in a while if ever. AusLogic makes a good free one thats fast. Get it here http://tinyurl.com/ya92sm. Even with this it will probably take a while if you haven't done it before or lately.

This should get you a good start, if you want to go further you can manually go through your program files folder and delete any folders of programs you know have been uninstalled and delete all the update folders in the Windows directory, the ones that begin with $UninstallKB, that are over a couple month old.

To further speed up your system you might want to add more memory to it. This is not too expensive and is probably the easiest upgrade to do or have done.

Well this should give you a good start and put some speed back in your system. One thing else you can do to speed up the boot time is get rid of the unnecessary start up programs that load when Windows starts. The easiest way to do this is click start,run,type msconfig,enter. Click startup tab and uncheck the programs you don't need to start. An easier way is to download this program Startup Control Panel here: http://www.mlin.net/ and run it. It will put a startup icon in control panel. In category view it's under the Other
Control Panel Options on the left side.

Good Luck, Rocker452

Well I am not too technical either but this is what it would do if I ran in to that problem.
Note: You will lose all your data, programs etc. and you should have a backup.
When your purchased your Dell Computer it probably came with a Windows XP recovery CD. You just need to put this in and when you are booting up press the F12 button at the DELL screen. You will then be given a list of your installed drives (CD Drive/Floppy Drive/Hard Disk etc.). Choose the CD Drive. You will then be prompted with a series of questions. You need to install XP on a new partition and delete the old one. Now XP will be re-installed. Once it is over it will restart and boot as normal. You will now need to install all your programs which you want (try to avoid unnecessary one as that slow done your computer). If some of the drivers don't work you can visit the Dell website (support.dell.com) and download any drivers you need. You are all done! Your computer will work as good as new.

In future you should try to minimize the number of programs you install and since you only have 256MB RAM you can try to upgrade to 512mB. To do so you can visit Kingston.com.

Cheers,
Samir

Hi,
first of all you clean your computer by doing the following points and Install few softwares to speed up your computer.

1. Go to internet opitons , clean cookies, files etc., when ever possible. ( atleast once in a week)

2. Open "my computer"> drive "C" >properties>General> Disk clean up.

Do it when ever possible.
3. Defragment the drives, at least once in a month.

4. Install "Registry repair Pro", which corrects the registry and software links , speeds up the computer , increases hard disk mangment.
5. You can also instal " RAM PRO" a soft ware maintains the "RAM" cleans up the RAM and sees that it functions well with full swing.
Verify the settings in the "RAM PRO"
6. If nothing works simply install Higher capacity "RAM" card in your computer to slove the problem. >Minimum 512 MB.
Hope these things will update your computer.
with best wishes.

Computer Pal

1. Use Control Panel/Add or Delete Programs to delete any programs you do not need. You probably have a lot of these. If you're running an older version of certain BIG-NAME anti-virus programs (hint: One sounds like "Horton" and another is something like "McAfoo", older versions of which are NASTY resource hogs), delete these and replace them with a brand new version of them or something completely different like AVG Free.

1a. Get a utility that allows you to modify your startup programs and deactivate anything you don't need (for example, a lot of programs like RealPlayer, WinAmp and WinZip run "agents" that you can usually do without, and a whole lot more totally useless cruft is invoked on startup on nearly every PC on earth). Take care, though, that you don't terminate something you might actually need.

2. Run a registry cleaner like Tweaknow Registry Cleaner, which is freeware. Delete everything it finds and marks "Safe to Delete." Then reboot and run a registry optimizer like the freeware NTREGOPT. Reboot again.

3. Run a good disk cleanup utility like Webroot's Windows Washer. As the first step, run a cleanup on your drive. Fair warning, though: Make sure you haven't "overconfigured" it because it might delete files you'd rather have kept. It's particularly nasty with older versions of Forte's newsreader "Agent," where it deleted my entire subscribed list.

4. Run a couple of adware/spyware FULL scans. I run both Spybot Search & Destroy and Ad-Aware, both freeware. Each finds different things and misses different things but both together do a pretty good job.

5. If you haven't already done so as part of Step #1 above, run an anti-virus scan. In this case, though, you should only have one of these installed and only run one. I have never had an infection get past AVG Free.

6. Run sfc /scannow from file/run. This will repair corrupted system files, and if your computer has ever crashed (whose hasn't?) you certainly have some of these. They can really slow your computer down.

7. After reboot, run Windows Update. Sometimes sfc will replace a patched file with its original version, and you will need to repatch it.

8. Invoke Webroot's Windows Washer again. Run another disk cleanup, which should only take a few seconds to complete. Then go to Wash Utilities and run a "Wash Free Space." A single pass is enough, but even this takes quite a while.

9. As the last step, run a disk defragmentation pass. The one supplied as part of Windows is marginally OK, but MUCH better and more effective defragmentation is achieved by programs like my favorite, Raxco PerfectDisk. This can be obtained for free for a 30-day trial, but after you see how much it improves your computer's performance you'll probably fork over the $40 bucks. Run a scan, which takes only a couple of minutes, and then take the steps the program suggests, which will probably include a "Smart Scan" of your entire drive and an "Offline (System Files Only)" pass. Reboot after each step.

After you take these steps, your computer's performance should be noticeably, perhaps even shockingly, improved. The whole procedure will take the greater part of a whole day, but several of the steps (the full anti-virus scan, the free space wash, and the disk defragmentation, will take enough time themselves, and run just fine completely unattended, that you'll be able to do other things, like grocery shopping and whatnot, while they run.

I hope this helps.

hi,
i read ur problem of program compatibility in vista.( ie vista is not supporting ur older program that is supported by xp.) microsoft has provided some provision for changing the compatibility setting.
i think this will work out for u.

steps to solve the program compatibility problem.
1. go to start menu and open control panel.
2. notice programs in it. below it u will find the program compatibility.
3. go on as per the wizard.

and change the compatility by setting it to windows xp or windows 2003 or what u want in the list.

regards
abdaheer.

I'm like you, not technical,but like to try and learn!I have a couple of little things which help me, for example to know my PC insides/outsides,I have a little thing called "Belarc Advisor"(do a search for it)which tells me almost everything about my PC.I also use the inbuilt windows System Information, although this is much less detailed.Having found out from Belarc Advisor where I am, I look and decide what programmes I still use (can change a lot in 2 years)or if I can group certain things together (doesn't really save space,but makes it easier to clean or control).What I no longer use says "byebye" to me and my PC!There are a lot of "cleanup disc and Registry" programmes around,but to avoid costs, I use the inbuilt Windows facilities,and Windows live one care programme,which also cleans the Registry!I don't doubt for one minute that after 2 years you must have a heck of a lot of "Temporary Internet files" probably taking up G's of space!Those (and Cookies) can be deleted easily enough - OK you may have to re-sign in to enable Cookies on your favourite sites, but at least you know where you are!The last thing I do is use the "defrag" option, to analyse and eventually to defragment the hard disc, if it says it's necessary!I doubt not that after 2 years, it will tell YOU - Defrag me - please.....!Finally (with my older PC) I simply look into the most important things from the past (mainly photos or written projects)and make back ups.That done, out comes the Win XP SP2 Installation disc, my collection of clean boot floppies, and goodbye to everything that's left!Newly installed, I take care (at least for a couple of weeks) about what I reinstall from my back ups, otherwise it would be Spring all year round! (iwmpop)

1. Create a restore point.. Start -> Administrative tools -> System Restore.. This will be done multiple times so you can always go back.

2. Download CCleaner and install it from here: http://www.filehippo.com/download_ccleaner/ . Start it and go to options -> cookies and save all of your important cookies first! Then Cleaner -> run cleaner. Then Issues -> Scan for Issues -> Fix selected issues

3. Now comes the real work. It involves 2 programs.. Process Explorer and msconfig.exe. Download process explorer here: http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,23780,RSS,RSS,00.asp

Run process explorer and see how many processes are running. If you do not know what they are, then right click the process and select google. It will tell you if the process is necessary or unnecessary. Make a list of the unnecessary ones and decide if they are important to run. For example, do you need Yahoo Messenger on all of the time or just the times you use it.

Now open msconfig.exe through the start -> run box. Hit the start tab. You can turn off a lot of unnecessary programs through here. If you have any doubts, you can also read the thread at Digital Digest here: http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?t=56373 and then this thread here: http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?t=60313

4. Now to start scanning for viruses and trojans, etc. If you do not have a firewall installed, I would recommend Comodo firewall. The Windows XP firewall is just insufficient in this day and age. Go to Filehippo.com and get as many free virus scanners as you can. I run AVG all of the time but also scan with Spy-bot and Ad-Aware. Sometimes one program will miss a virus but another will catch. And last, I run Windows defender as a monitor of my registry. It will tell me if a program is trying to modify my registry or start up file.

5.If everything comes clean, then finally run disc defragmenter. If you have a lot of photos or videos on your HD, you should consider backing them up to DVD and an external HD. I used to have 40 GBs of pictures on my C drive, but I removed them by backing them up to 2 external HDs. This way if a drive fails, I always have a back up. BTW: Do not be afraid to run Disc defragmenter 3 or 4 times so the maximum compaction can happen.

6. Last of all, consider backing up your whole internal HD to an external HD. There are many programs that come with external HDs that do this. This way, you have another recovery point if your main drive will fail.

Gary DVF

Not too difficult Sandy, for a start,clean out recyle bin,Go start- programs - accessories - disk cleanup to get rid of old or unused items,go to start, settings,control panel, add/remove programs and get rid of old or unused programs. then go to start,programs, accessories, defrag. You also may have too many programs running in the background, (kittens,dogs,sheep etc running around your screen, they all take up space,slowing your computor down), good luck!

Hi

The surest way you can reclaim space as well as the sleek speed that came with your computer 2 years ago is to reinstall windows. But BEFORE you do that, do the following:
a) Go through your PC and BACK-UP your important files on a separate partition or preferably a storage drive
b) Make sure you have CD ROM copies of your favorite software or if it downloaded and on your PC that it is backed up and available
c) Back up your legacy email; if you are using Outlook 2003 the .pst folder is located at c:\Documents and Settings\yourname\Local Files\Application settings\Microsoft\Outlook

or simply search using the Search function

You will be surprised at how much junk you can get rid of and also restore your registry to its pristine condition.

Please feel to write should you need help
Good luck!!

this is in response to a member of the c-net community reader who asked the question how she could go about cleaning her pc so that it runs faster. I would suggest making the internet options an icon on her screen or a short cut. this is a good way to clean up alot of cookies , temp. files , and form data. This helps alot of the time and then there are those occasions when you need to clean your hard drive which is what i think she meant to say when she metioned having 200mb of memory,not memory but your hard drive capacity. lats but not least an occasional defrag to help put things in there proper place or free up space.There are also programs that can do some of that for you but the other stuff maybe manual meaning youl have to do it yourself.get rid of programs you no longer have a use for as well,smoe programs have viruses or trojan horses attached to them or just outdated and not compatible.Bottom line if you dont use it be done with then. Some of the suff that i just mentioned could be helpful in your efforts keep your pc running optimal. any further and none of that stuff works just buy a new pc hopfully this helped a little