For cleaner/quicker Windows startup and running, there is nothing like a full reinstall, Grazie. I've used registry cleaners, etc, but a full "flush" is the best.

Back everything up, find all of your install disks, serial numbers, inventory your current installed programs that you want to reinstall, etc. before you actually do it.

I use disk imaging.

My programs are on C, my personal data on D (including my mail folder), my movie data is on E, and my images are on F

I keep several images of C, Fresh clean install (no programs), Fresh clean install (full programs), and of course Update images.

My images are set up, customized, defragged, and ready to go. Any time there is a problem I just reinstall an image... takes 20 minutes. I don't even use the program uninstall feature any more (leaves a lot of crap in the registry), I just install my previous image. I don't worry AT ALL about screwing up my C drive... I download all sorts of trials, betas, and other crap... when I'm finished playing... I just reinstall my image.

Disk imaging has to be about the BEST system there is for any computer user.

My housekeeping:

1. Virus scan with AVG
2. Lavasoft Adaware Personal SE
3. Spybot Search & Destroy
4. Tweaknow Regcleaner STD
5. Cleanup!
6. Defrag
7. Take disk image backups with Acronis Trueimage

I haven't reinstalled Windows XP now for donkey's years and it's all running nice. That Cleanup! program will get rid of a lot of stuff that Windows doesn't. It comes with various warnings but to be honest I've used it without a problem loads of times on lots of XP machines and it's never broken anything. Get it at http://www.stevengould.org/software/cleanup/.

I have cleaned up many computers for people. While you can always reinstall, that is a horrendous waste of time. Creating a backup image is something you should be doing anyway, so I heartily agree with that recommendation. If things really get fouled up and you can't get things going again, that will get you back again MUCH faster than re-install.

I have NEVER reinstalled Windows. I can't even imagine killing several days of my life getting everything back to the way it was. The re-install of Windows is the easy part; getting all those applications installed and then getting all the preferences set is what takes all the time.

Also, don't mess with registry cleanup. That is dangerous beyond belief, and quite frankly all the crud that does indeed build up in the registry really has almost nothing to do with slowdown.

Likewise, defrag is a solution to a problem that hasn't existed since the voice coil mechanism improved disk access times. The only thing you can be certain of when you run a defrag program is that your disk will be going through a torture test for an hour or more. Do a test before and after (for instance, timing how long it takes an app to load or the system to boot to a certain state).

So what to do?

Most problems have to do with background applications. Antivirus is the the worst. If you have Symantec/Norton antivirus installed, then I can guarantee that it is your problem. Uninstall it. Go to their site and download their cleanup utility which will then uninstall the rest of the stuff it leave behind.

Go to the Internet icon in the Control panel and delete all your temporary Internet files. Large directories, even with NTFS, will slow down load times and performance.

A tougher thing to do, and I don't have the time to fully describe this, is to look for other temporary files. You have to search for hidden files. I use "Ace Utilities" to help me find these. Some applications -- especially games -- will leave behind thousands of files. I cleaned one computer that had close to 100,000 small files in the java cache directory. I cleaned those out and the performance jumped.

Finally, run MSCONFIG and look at all the startup programs. You can usually turn off all of these (you can always turn them back on). Reboot and see if things run faster.

One step I have used for years with each new system I bring on-line is a backup after I have installed all the MB drivers and the OS. If I corrupt the system I can always return to this point and restore the system to a "clean install" in a matter of minutes. I do not use Windows restore and all the disk space it carries with it. I do make a full backup at each strategic point. I never use Registry Cleaners. I do use a defrag program and I see an improvement in performance. The defrag progran does not run every time and it may go months before a defrag is recommended.

EB

Have you checked your router configuration? Might be worth a call to your ISP's hotline who should be able to take you through a series of checks for slow upload speeds.

Thanks Guys!

Interesting opinions on defragging.

My machine is running OK, but I was sending stuff to John, a few days back, and I started to question the capabilities of this machine and what i could do to improve it.

What I've taken from your cumulative advice:

1/- I WILL do a defrag and see IF that makes a difference.

2/- Interesting comment, John, on killing EVERYTING in start-up? Serious?

3/- I shall do a further TEMP search. That's is OLD Temp not LIVE Temp stuff!

4/- I SHALL contact my ISP for a test.

5/- I WONT mess with the reg NOR get any s/w that would.

6/- I WONT do a reinstall

Thanks again for taking the trouble - very much obliged

Grazie

Ah, that's right. OK, this is a slow Internet connection problem, not a slow computer problem. Of all people, I should have remembered, since I was the one who had to wait for the slow transfer.

First thing to do is try a transfer test. You probably have something local over there. I use this:

http://www.dslreports.com/stest

If you get really lousy number (they will normally give you benchmarks with which to compare), then you should call your Internet Service Provider and find out what's going on.

As others noted, I suppose your router could be screwed up, or firewall, or something like that. However, while I am not much of an expert on Internet stuff, almost all of the Internet connection speed problems I have experienced with my computer and with client computers is due to the ISP. The data rate from the Internet is so slow compared to LAN speeds that you would have to have your router, firewall, and other internal software completely hosed before you would see the kind of slowness I experienced when I connected to your computer.

Well John, it is/was both. Slow Startup & Slow Upload.

G

Hi Grazie,

Here's my 2 cents on this topic...

For an overall faster running PC, if possible keep your data on a physically seperate drive than the drive Windows is installed on. Also setup the Windows paging file to run from the non-Windows drive.

Settings---> Control-Panel ---> System ---> Advanced ---> Performance ---> Advanced ---> Virtual Memory settings

Make sure that there is only one paging file set, and that it is on the physically seperate hard-drive. You will have to reboot your PC once the new paging file has been set.

You will notice a big speed difference in overall system performance, especially when copying or capturing files.

OK, next...

Download and install Mik Lin's great and free Windows Startup Control Panel.

http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml

Mike's control panel will make it very easy to disable any junk applications that might be running on your system when it boots.

And on to...

Download and install another great free app, appropriately titled "Crap Cleaner".

http://www.ccleaner.com/

CCleaner is a great tool to clean up all kinds of junk that may have found it's way on to your PC. It's fast. It's safe. It's one of my favorite free PC utils.

Finally, download and install the demo version of the excellent Diskeeper defragmentation tool.

http://www.diskeeper.com/diskeeper/home/diskeeper.asp

Diskeeper is much much faster than the built-in Windows defragger, and does a more effective job. I use the Pro version, but the Home version is also quite good. One of my favorite things about Diskeeper is that it is the only defragger that I know of that can do "boot time" defragging, which enables it to defrag files that would normally be locked when Windows is running. It's amazing how much faster your system runs when everything is properly defragged.

I hope this helps. Good-luck.

The Dingo

My own two cent's worth (you're now up to at least 4 cents):

(1) No bare reinstall. If you have a sick Windows OS, do a "no-destruction" reinstall.

(2) The best general-purpose debloatifier I've found is "System Mechanic." Cleans up junk files, the registry (safely), the works.

(3) The old Norton was a pig. The new Norton is supposedly much leaner.

(4) A clever program such as DiskKeeper will tell you how many files are fragemented, but more importantly how much of a difference it will make in reality. Do a defrag if you don't want the increased read times it shows.

(5) The Startup Control Panel is a great program.

(6) I never had much luck with CCleaner, but the price is right. System Mechanic isn't much money, though.

The new Norton is supposedly much leaner.

Go read user reviews anywhere, and about how many of them had to reformat their hard drives to get rid of the software Peter Norton wouldn't have put his name on if he had had a choice in the matter.

Trend Micro. Doesn't get in the way, never makes trouble, updates signatures frequently (and voluntarily unlike Norton) and $24.50 - $39.95 for a 3-machine license.

one question, one suggestion:

if i have two hd's, what should i do with them (NO they won't fit!).

eg. c: will obviously have system, d: will be for capture, but where do i put

a. pagefile?

b. data?

and a great (powerful) temp / cache cleaner is ATF-cleaner.

thanks

leslie

ps. i add my vote for ace utilities - played with 'em all, but this has to be the simplest, cleanest, least dangerous of them all - and it does the job - especially the start up section

Keep in mind that the Windows page file won't take up your whole drive, thus there will be plenty of room for both the Win page file and your data on the second drive.

Drive 1 : Windows OS + Apps

Drive 2 : Data + Windows Page File

There are many different formulas for the exact size of the page file, but I normally set the minimum size to the same size as the amount of installed RAM, and the maximum size to 1.5 times the amount of installed RAM.

You might want to have more than one partition on each drive, to help organize things and keep specific files separate. The simplest way to
do this is with a good partition manager that will allow you to modify your drive partitions without having to remove your data, though I would have a back-up of any important files to be absolutely safe.

Years ago I used to use the PowerQuest disk management and back-up apps, Partition Magic and Drive Image, they were great apps but then Symantec bought them out and turned them into crap...

Fortunately we now have Acronis Disk Director and True Image to fill PowerQuest's old shoes, and they do a great job of it:

http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/diskdirector/

DiskDirector is extremely flexible and supports many different OS's, and you can create a bootable CD version to modify your system before the OS is installed.

http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/

True Image enables you to create bare-disk backups, data-backups, individual app/file back-ups, and you can set a schedule to have your back-ups run automatically: You can also create a bootable CD version to re-install your system and apps on to a new bare drive.

You can download trial versions of these two apps from the Acronis website, to give them a whirl before you decide to buy.

Hear hear for Acronis Trueimage.

I read somewhere, probably Videoguys, that it can speed things up very slightly to set the inital size and maximum size of the virtual memory paging file to the same value. I have both mine set to 4096 Mb which is double my RAM. Double the RAM used to be the recommendation for UNIX systems I worked with and I've stuck with it on XP.

I don't understand paging size conventions.

If I had only a little ram (back in the old days, like 3 years ago), then I would need a pretty good-sized page file so Windows could swap stuff readily as the ram filled up.

By contrast, if I have 4GB of ram today, it's unlikely I would be using a pagefile system much if at all.

So it seems to me that the old maxims about "2x of ram" or whatever don't make any sense at all. Instead what makes sense to me is that you need a certain amount of memory, period, and if you don't have it in ram then you make up for it with pagefile size.

Am I missing something?