Topic: Advice for reinstalling XP

[NJAntman]

I'm going to clean house on the cranky desktop and go for a clean XP install.

Besides the obvious saving of docs and data, can anyone suggest other precautions to take before wiping the slate clean?

I'm not sure if my Linksys router will keep it settings or wether or not a new XP install will pick those settings up or do I have to go through the whole network setup porcess again?

Its been so long since I switched to cable ISP (Comcast) that I don't remember if there is a setup disk for that. Do I just point IE to Comcast.net and logon?

I can't remember my own passwords and logons for various net sites, (including SFC!) is there a way to find or get those cookies?

[Nemesis]

Drivers.  Make sure you have copies of your current driver versions as well as updated ones.  Make absolutely sure you have the code you need to type in during activation.

If not already done I suggest partitioning your HD. 

My HD partitions for Windows 2000 Pro:

C: System
D: Swap
E: Utilities
F: Applications
G: Games
H: Data

I put ONLY the swap file (virtual memory) on the D: drive.  Only the OS goes on the C:.  For backups mostly I only need to do the H: Data drive.  I started doing this with Windows 98SE and my systems have been much more stable than most of the others I have seen and worked with.  It also reduces fragmentation (usually only my C: and H: fragment enough to worry about).  On the H: Data I also have a temp directory where I instruct all programs that let me do so to use for temporary files and caches.

[The Postman]

Drivers.  Make sure you have copies of your current driver versions as well as updated ones.  Make absolutely sure you have the code you need to type in during activation.

If not already done I suggest partitioning your HD. 

My HD partitions for Windows 2000 Pro:

C: System
D: Swap
E: Utilities
F: Applications
G: Games
H: Data

I put ONLY the swap file (virtual memory) on the D: drive.  Only the OS goes on the C:.  For backups mostly I only need to do the H: Data drive.  I started doing this with Windows 98SE and my systems have been much more stable than most of the others I have seen and worked with.  It also reduces fragmentation (usually only my C: and H: fragment enough to worry about).  On the H: Data I also have a temp directory where I instruct all programs that let me do so to use for temporary files and caches.

What are the min sizes you would reccomend for C and D

[The Postman]

I'm going to clean house on the cranky desktop and go for a clean XP install.

Besides the obvious saving of docs and data, can anyone suggest other precautions to take before wiping the slate clean?

I'm not sure if my Linksys router will keep it settings or wether or not a new XP install will pick those settings up or do I have to go through the whole network setup process again?

Its been so long since I switched to cable ISP (Comcast) that I don't remember if there is a setup disk for that. Do I just point IE to Comcast.net and logon?

I can't remember my own passwords and logons for various net sites, (including SFC!) is there a way to find or get those cookies?

The router will keep it's own settings. Do you connect through cat 5 or wireless? If wireless, you need to have a copy of the drivers on disk because you will not be able to connect until your card is working properly.  If you have SP2 on disk, most of the drivers are built into sp2.

[IAF Lyrkiller]

Write down the IP settings. Your Linksys router will keep its settings and has no effect when you reinstall.

I too, have a Linksys.

ALSO disconnect all cables except for monitor, kb and mouse.

From your friendly neighborhood pc tech.

[NJAntman]

Thanks for the advice folks, I fell a bit safer now.

Its net connected by cable to the cable modem then cat5 to the router, so I guess I'm OK there, although I do have saved copies of each page of settings for the linksys. I've dropped all the docs, data files, and A120 files to a CD and to the laptop as well.

The desktop is getting so cranky that I tried upgrading to AVG 7.5 and it crapped out mid instal, then crapped out trying to restore the old version.
Me thinks the XP is quite unstable. Although when I was poking around the MS site I found I was missing some updates that came out at the same time as IE7. Loaded those updates and it seemed to correct the extremely slow logoffs.

My partitions are already set as 30Gb C: for Win files, 20 Gb D: for program files, and 10Gb E: for data/docs. Anbody know if the XP re-install process allows for partitioning?

[pepperman]

Yes, dodn't forget to copy your favorites and cookies folders.  Also, don't forget your address book and email.

[Nemesis]

Drivers.  Make sure you have copies of your current driver versions as well as updated ones.  Make absolutely sure you have the code you need to type in during activation.

If not already done I suggest partitioning your HD. 

My HD partitions for Windows 2000 Pro:

C: System
D: Swap
E: Utilities
F: Applications
G: Games
H: Data

I put ONLY the swap file (virtual memory) on the D: drive.  Only the OS goes on the C:.  For backups mostly I only need to do the H: Data drive.  I started doing this with Windows 98SE and my systems have been much more stable than most of the others I have seen and worked with.  It also reduces fragmentation (usually only my C: and H: fragment enough to worry about).  On the H: Data I also have a temp directory where I instruct all programs that let me do so to use for temporary files and caches.

What are the min sizes you would reccomend for C and D

For C: I wouldn't go less than 4 gb.  Myself I use 10.  For D: no less than 1 gb I think mine is 4gb.

[The Bar-Abbas Anomaly]

 
Don't do it...


I'll cheerfully connect in remotely and clean out your Windows XP installation to get rid of viruses, adware, junk files & clean you registry.  You don't really need or want a complete re-installation!


Just PM me.  And that goes for anyone else who really needs this.  It's what I do...

[NJAntman]

Thanks for the offer, I may have to take you up on it considering what happened after I did the re-install.

My latest tale of woe......

Main reason for wanting a clean XP install was slow startup, the never closing "Windows - no disk" message box, and ridiculously slow shutdown (accompanied by the mystery program that "is not responding").

Good news: After re-install I get quick startup and shutdown, and the never closing "Windows - no disk" message box is gone.

Not So Bad news: The message box now reads "qttask.exe - no disk  There is no disk in the drive. Please insert a disk into drive \ Device \Harddisk 1 \ DR 4" which after hitting cancel /retry/quit changes to Harddisk 2 \ DR 5, then 3 & 6, then 4 & 7, then starts over at 1 & 4, 2 & 5, etc.., for at total of six repetitions before finally going away. Annoying but bearable.

Real Bad News: AVG 7.5 Free version pops up with a message "AVG in not able to recognize your license number". Activating, Re-install/Repair, nothing works. And the kicker is it won't let me uninstall either. Seems I missed the part of the EULA about not using this on a network when I installed on the wifes laptop. Odd thing is that was a few months ago and not till the XP reinstall has it shown up.

Looks like I'll have to install some-other AV proggy on the desktop.

[Dash Jones]

If I don't do a reinstall of Windows at least once a year on a computer, I start to feel like I've missed doing something.  It's my way of cleaning house...aka...all the games I install...and such, its a way to clean up the ones I never really play but think I might in the future, but never do...

[NJAntman]

Drivers.  Make sure you have copies of your current driver versions as well as updated ones.  Make absolutely sure you have the code you need to type in during activation.

If not already done I suggest partitioning your HD. 

My HD partitions for Windows 2000 Pro:

C: System
D: Swap
E: Utilities
F: Applications
G: Games
H: Data

I put ONLY the swap file (virtual memory) on the D: drive.  Only the OS goes on the C:.  For backups mostly I only need to do the H: Data drive.  I started doing this with Windows 98SE and my systems have been much more stable than most of the others I have seen and worked with.  It also reduces fragmentation (usually only my C: and H: fragment enough to worry about).  On the H: Data I also have a temp directory where I instruct all programs that let me do so to use for temporary files and caches.

How do you get to tell WinXP what drive to put the swap file on? The only place I see for setting any of that is from Control Panel - Performance/Maintenance - System - Advanced - Performance - Settings - Performance Options/Advanced - Virtual Memory - then select change and it presents a list of drives. But am I reading the choices correctly? Is it choose a drive from the list to set for THE swap file or shoose how much space on each drive will be set aside for A swap file? Can there be a swap file for each drive or should there be just one swap file for XP as a whole?

[Nemesis]

How do you get to tell WinXP what drive to put the swap file on? The only place I see for setting any of that is from Control Panel - Performance/Maintenance - System - Advanced - Performance - Settings - Performance Options/Advanced - Virtual Memory - then select change and it presents a list of drives. But am I reading the choices correctly? Is it choose a drive from the list to set for THE swap file or shoose how much space on each drive will be set aside for A swap file? Can there be a swap file for each drive or should there be just one swap file for XP as a whole?

Unless Microsoft changed things in XP then that should be the way to do it.   Virtual memory (swap file) is just one pool on one drive.

[The Bar-Abbas Anomaly]

How do you get to tell WinXP what drive to put the swap file on? The only place I see for setting any of that is from Control Panel - Performance/Maintenance - System - Advanced - Performance - Settings - Performance Options/Advanced - Virtual Memory - then select change and it presents a list of drives. But am I reading the choices correctly? Is it choose a drive from the list to set for THE swap file or shoose how much space on each drive will be set aside for A swap file? Can there be a swap file for each drive or should there be just one swap file for XP as a whole?

You're in the right place, NJ.  You can have a swap file on each drive/volume in your system, if you want it.  The best performance will come from a static file (not managed by Windows) on a nice fast HDD seperate from the O/S, but I doubt you'll really see the difference so don't worry about it too much.  If you're exceding your RAM and hitting the swap file things will be slow no matter where it is.

[NJAntman]

Thanks for the explanation guys. Since I re-loaded XP I did it with a layout of 10/5/25/15GB split for XP/temp files( swap now also)/program files/data files. Was a tru pain in the arse but runs a lot smoother now ad I got rid of a LOT of crap. I've even narrowed down one of the biggest hiccups I had as being a conflict between the older SB Live card not getting along with WinFast TV card.

Hey Barabbas, another name change?

[The Bar-Abbas Anomaly]

 

Yeah, well... I'm afraid people will find me boring if I don't mix things up occasionally.