Hi:

why does you friend want to clean your hard drive? Ask him if he has tried:

l. defragging (defragmenting)

2. System Restore - this seems scary at first use but does the job. I have used it several times and it helped a lot.

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3. Has anti virus been updated and run? Do you even have one?

4. Consider getting the free download of Spybot Search and Destroy and running that regularly. It is great and does the job.

Defragging gets together all the fragmented files and speeds up your computer functioning. I do it periodically. It takes time but is worth it.

System Restore sometimes will clear up problems. I have used it several times and I have Window XP, too.

I am not a computer geek or guru - just an ordinary Grandma who likes to use e-mail and research on the Internet. Buying a whole new CD seems rather drastic to me and expensive. Probably there are others on here who have more expertise than I do.

Shirley H.