| Forum Home | ||||
| Press F1 | ||||
| Thread ID: 99648 | 2009-05-09 21:23:00 | When is it time to reinstall | nedkelly (9059) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 772582 | 2009-05-09 21:23:00 | Hey just wondering if i should reinstall my family's pc. The pc is about 8 years old and as far as i know it has never been reinstalled. And every time my parents go on it they complain to me how slow it is and how it does not always do what it is meant to. |
nedkelly (9059) | ||
| 772583 | 2009-05-09 21:27:00 | I do mine about once a year, but it is done with an image 9 times out of 10. They built up with rubbish over time and slow down and regardless of all the cleaning programs nothing makes a better job than a clean install. Make sure you back up what you need to keep and make sure you have drivers for all hardware and motherboard, network drivers etc before you take it down. |
Bantu (52) | ||
| 772584 | 2009-05-09 21:32:00 | I have driver genius for the drivers. And im lucky its only a 80gb hard drive cause I just got a 160 and stuck it in my external case. Would Acronis be the best to make an image after I reinstall? | nedkelly (9059) | ||
| 772585 | 2009-05-09 21:34:00 | Yes Acronis is great software but do the image using the live CD that you make from acronis. Do not do it from within windows | gary67 (56) | ||
| 772586 | 2009-05-09 23:10:00 | Acronis is best, but CloneZilla and Macrium Reflect is also quite good. Both also come in live CD versions, although Macrium and DriveImageXML can produce hot images. Blam |
Blam (54) | ||
| 772587 | 2009-05-09 23:16:00 | Don't bother cloning the drive in it's current state though. Reinstall windows, put in your drivers, configure it how you want it then clone it. You can probably get an image then you can put on a DVD for the future. If you install all your apps then the image file can get very large. My basic Image is 3.7Gb, but I have a couple of others that are over 25Gb they are current images of C drive. |
Bantu (52) | ||
| 772588 | 2009-05-09 23:26:00 | Yes Acronis is great software but do the image using the live CD that you make from acronis. Do not do it from within windows Thats the best solution so far - but as mentioned make an image from a fresh install first. I know some people who reinstall the OS every 6 months to keep the PC up to tip top shape. Just had to reinstall vista yesterday - did something I shouldn't have :p But I used the WHS restore - 25 minutes and all done, programs data etc. :banana |
wainuitech (129) | ||
| 772589 | 2009-05-09 23:52:00 | If you have all the media etc and are happy to give it a go AND have a good backup then a clean install will breathe new life into your PC alright. But its quite drastic. If its XP and you are doing a reinstall, its a good idea to slipstream all the SP's you can before you install. Just google slipstreaming - Its not hard to do. But of the things that slow down PCs most, there are probably 3 to consider before you blow everything away. 1) Have you got enough memory? - Biggest chance of revving up your PC is to add some memory to it if you are a bit light. 2) New disk - If its 8 years old I would think a newer HDD would give you quite a boost without costing an arm and a leg. At 8 years old the disk is very old - unless its already been replaced. 3) Probably should have mentioned this first. ccleaner - A really good disk cleanup tool. Just make sure you do a backup of the whole PC first - though its not too likely to delete anything it shouldnt. revo uninstaller - A really good thorough uninstaller program - use it to remove all those junk things that people install and never use. defrag the hard drive. A clean install will certainly give you a boost though. |
robjg63 (13548) | ||
| 772590 | 2009-05-10 00:00:00 | You dont have to slipstream all of the SP's since theyre meant to be cumulative (So, you just slipstream the latest). Altho some say you may have to SS SP1 then SP3. I dont know) I've just finished slipstreaming XP x86 and x64 here (with the SATA/Lan, and chipset drivers). Took a while, but will probably save you doing it after. And I was planning on do a clean install with XP Pro x64 anyway, (since I want to up the memory to 8 GB). If I had the money, I would up it to 16 GB. |
Speedy Gonzales (78) | ||
| 772591 | 2009-05-10 03:16:00 | For sure. Depending how much alterations they do, it can start to get that way after 2+ years. 8, I bet it runs like a sick snail. It's amazing the difference it makes to an elderly PC. |
pctek (84) | ||
| 1 2 3 | |||||