In the course of switching over to a dual-processor AMD motherboard, I needed to get Windows to recognize the second processor. After several attempts at installing the necessary single files, I finally decided the only option was to re-install Windows. The problem was that I have used the same Windows image for many years, and did not look forward to completely re-building that environment, with its literally hundreds of programs, settings, and configurations.

I had come across this article a few months back, and had printed it out for some future exploration. That time was now.

Color me impressed. The Microsoft people had created a nondestructive re-install method for Windows XP, and then promptly buried it so that no ordinary sleuthing would find it. Like a scene out of a good mystery movie, they covered their tracks by using obtuse screens and highly misleading language. By following Fred Langa's steps in the article, I was able to save every program, datafile, and setting on my system, while still re-building a clean copy of Windows. The result--XP immediately recognized the second processor. Oh, and bootup is about twice as fast.

This might be old news to many of you, but it was a revelation to me.