[befuddled2]

i have windows XP and was told by a friend I need a start up disk for my computer. He's gonna clean out my computer and start fresh with the start up disk. However when I searched for XP start up disk at Amazon so many different kinds of software came up. None of which said start up after Windows XP. Can someone explain to me the the difference between XP startup, upgrade, recovery, and what's the other software where you start all over, restore, that's it? Wouldn't they do all the same thing? I'm confused.

befuddled2

[Silver Swan]

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.

***

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.

[Wittesea]

befuddled,

My husband is a computer tech, so I called him at work and asked him to look at your question... he emailed me the following...

good questions... The CD that the person needs is the Windows XP installation disc, like the one I use when redoing our computer. Depending on the type of computer they have (i.e. custom-built, Dell, Gateway, HP, etc.), the CD they need may be entitled something different.

I know with Dell it's called the "Operating System - Reinstallation CD". I have no idea what it's called for other systems, but I would assume that the phrase "Operating System", "Windows XP", and "Reinstallation" would be printed on it in some fashion.

The second key important part of that equation is whether or not the CD is bootable. I would have to say that in 90% of cases the CD I described above will indeed be bootable. In the event that it is not, there is usually a utility on the CD that will allow you to create a series of bootable floppy disks (usually 4 or 5 are needed). There is also a few programs online that will allow you to burn a bootable Windows XP installation CD, which you'd use to boot the PC then after it's booted you'd insert your Operating System Reinstallation CD. If you want to know those web sites/programs let me know.

I hope I explained it well enough!!!!!

Second email-

oh, more info

Depending on the PC, the person asking that question might not even have such a CD... like if they got the PC from someone else and they weren't given the disc. In that case, they'd need to purchase Windows XP. They'd only need the "upgrade" version since they've already got Windows XP installed and when reinstalling it'll detect that and not require proof of previous purchase. Anyways, the other thing they'd need to know is whether it's XP Home or XP Professional edition.

I hope that helps But let me know if it doesn't because hubby is just a phone call or email away (and re-doing computers and reinstalling Windows is one of the things he does at work - so he knows what he is doing).

Let me know if you have any more questions

[befuddled2]

Thank you so much for the nice help and tell your husband thank you also. My computer froze up earlier today when I was printing this out. I wonder what to buy to save my data? What's that thing called that holds more than a CD. I have Windows XP home edition.

befuddled2

[Jomar]

I answered on the weight loss forum -with how to do the system restore, and if that doesn't work then you might need a new hard drive.

You might mean a flash drive or a zip drive??
for saving & data storage

in system tools the clean up and defrag are good tools that might help too

Or you can get a second hard drive and install the XP {and copy the whole XP CD on to it too -in it's own separate file} then copy the important files /programs to the new drive.

then reformat the old one and start with fresh install on it.
Or you can use it for back up storage.

[befuddled2]

Shirley, thank you. I had forgot to thank you last night.

Hi Jo, I will re-read this when I'm more rested. It is late at night and I am tired. It all sounds above my head.

befuddled2

[befuddled2]

I may have found the problem but I'm not sure. Whenever I open an email from the same person in Yahoo is when I'll get the message from Micro Trend that I've entered a dangerous website and need to close my browswer. Well, the website is bridgetrack and when I did a search on it I gather it is spyware that passes cookies between one website and another one. Somehow this clogs the machine by getting in the registery. Could this be what is causing my computer to hang? My computer has not froze at all for the past 4 1/2 hours. Could I have some left over spyware before Micro Trend installation last month? How can I tell if my machine is infected from before Micro Trend?

befuddled2

[nide44]

Just do a spyware clean with AdAware or Spybot S&D as well as a total virus clean with your anti-virus pgm - set it to the highest AV setting fro cleaning. Go away for a few hours, but check the screen every once in a while for messages friom the AV pgm.

[befuddled2]

Hi Bob,

I could find no spy ware but after my brother who had recently worked on my computer had said that Word was conflicting with other programs I thought about that. After all, one of the things the error message would say was it could be conflicting programs.

Thank you all.

befuddled2