Reinstall windows?

Bradan

Bradan

New Member
My computer has been runnin a lil slow lately, ive defragged, checked msconfig, all that. would reinstalling windows help with this?
 
You may want to consider running a system registry cleaner before wiping the current installation. After a good period of time especially after a number of software changes and removals the one thing that gets ignored is the clutter found in the registry. Once you clean the crap out of there along with a few other things like reducing startup items(sound familiar?) you will generally notice improvements right away.

While nothing runs quite as fast as a fresh installation of Windows on a new primary partition you have to consider if that step is needed now or just a premature move. One freeware that always seems to clean things up is called RegCleaner and is free to download at http://www.majorgeeks.com/RegCleaner_d460.html
 
Hello Brandan,

I think a format/re-install may be a bit premature :). Try these steps first:

Download CleanUp! and do a complete "cleaning" of all temorary files. Read the page, but don't freak out. I have used this tool on many machines (at least 20), and never had a problem. Just make sure you don't have an files saved in a "temp" or "temporary" folder :). And be sure to run the actual "cleaning" and not the "simulation" - read the prompts. Since you were planning to format anyway, you probably have a backup already, right?

http://www.stevengould.org/software/cleanup/download.html

After running that one, download RegSeeker, and clean up the registry.

http://www.hoverdesk.net/freeware.htm

No installation needed here, just unzip, and run the .EXE. Click "Clean the Registry", leave all the defaults (do not uncheck anything) and click "OK". when the scan is complete, leave the "Backup before deletion" box checked, click "Select", and choose the "Green items only" (do not delete any RED items). Pressd the "Delete" button on the keyboard to delete the entries.

Next run an Anti-Spyware scan - Spy Sweeper is the best:

You can do a free one time scan and removal here:

http://www.pcsecuritynews.com/spywareremover.html

Or purchase the product from Webroot:

http://www.webroot.com/

It really is the best out there, IMHO.

Last, but not least, I'd install Avast antivirus and do an "Off line" virus scan. Avast allows you to "scan on boot". Since Windows is not loaded, there's a better chance of removing any virues that may be in the system. If you are going to do a scan immediately after installing, get the latest virus definitions, and install them first:

Download Avast here:

http://avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html

Get the latest definitions here:

http://avast.com/eng/update_avast_4_vps.html

Don't forget to register (it's free) if you decide to keep Avast:

http://avast.com/i_kat_207.php?lang=ENG

Hope this helps,

Jimmy
 
K I did all of those things, honestly windows is running like 20% faster, thanks allot Jim and also thanks pc"eye". I have norton anti virus, should i just use that to scan? I do weekly scans anyways.
 
Holy hell, that's why your computer is running so slow, apart from all the stuff JimmD mentioned. Get rid of that Norton. You'll notice a HUGE increase (not to mention Norton is completely useless). Grab yourself Avast!. It is the best free virus scanner and it takes up very little resources. If you're looking for a spyware scanner, Prevx1 kills Ewido, but you only get a free one month trial. Still, it's worth the few bucks for it, because Ewido is only a trial as well and from my tests Prevx1 slaughters it.
 
i have norton subscription of like 1.5 years left, its not leaving too soon.

but really does norton take up too much resources? 50 mbs of ram dont bother me, and it cant take up too much cpu power? can it?

why is it the most sold anti virus software then?

o ya wat about internet security?
 
Last edited:
Bradan said:
i have norton subscription of like 1.5 years left, its not leaving too soon.

but really does norton take up too much resources? 50 mbs of ram dont bother me, and it cant take up too much cpu power? can it?

why is it the most sold anti virus software then?

o ya wat about internet security?
Click to expand...

I you are concerned about security, get Zonealarm Firewall, Spybot S&D, and Avast! or AVG Free. I totally agree about Norton, I stopped using them over a year ago when I found that AVG does just as good. Of course, now I have a hardware firewall, and I don't really care if anyone accesses my data, so I just scan for spyware every once in a while, and I have uninstalled AVG now, soley because it tends to scan right when you don't want it too, as well as sloing down Folding a lot. Talk about a run on sentence :eek: :cool:
 
ok really the only reason i want security is because i ocassionally shop online using my moms 5000$ limit card :(

I really wouldnt care is anyone could see everything on my computer, its just the shopping online thing. so really all i would need is a spyware scanner and a anti virus program?
 
make sure you only do transactions on encrypted webpages, webpages that use the https context instead of just the http. The s stands for secure and all text put into the fields will be encrypted when it is sent over the net.
 
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