Guest You Know Who ~ Posted July 22, 2008 Posted July 22, 2008 our 11 year old has his own computer and frankly it is a mess. Lots of games and stuff which he installed and which have slowed the system to a crawl. I would like to fix it by either re-installing windows or repairing it. The computer came originally with windows 95 (yeah, i know, but he's only eleven) and then was upgraded to windows xp. We have the original win 95 retail disc and the win xp upgrade disc. What would you recommend? Thanks in advance. b
Guest Carey Frisch [MVP] Posted July 22, 2008 Posted July 22, 2008 Re: Cleaning a mess Clean Install Windows XP http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html After restoring your system, consider installing a good antivirus program, such as Windows OneCare. You can try it absolutely FREE for 90 days. http://onecare.live.com/standard/en-us/default.htm -- Carey Frisch Microsoft MVP Windows Desktop Experience - Windows Vista Enthusiast --------------------------------------------------------------- "You Know Who ~" <you.know.who@att.net> wrote in message news:OfzxIJ56IHA.2260@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl... our 11 year old has his own computer and frankly it is a mess. Lots of games and stuff which he installed and which have slowed the system to a crawl. I would like to fix it by either re-installing windows or repairing it. The computer came originally with windows 95 (yeah, i know, but he's only eleven) and then was upgraded to windows xp. We have the original win 95 retail disc and the win xp upgrade disc. What would you recommend? Thanks in advance. b
Guest Patrick Keenan Posted July 22, 2008 Posted July 22, 2008 Re: Cleaning a mess "You Know Who ~" <you.know.who@att.net> wrote in message news:OfzxIJ56IHA.2260@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl... > our 11 year old has his own computer and frankly it is a mess. Lots of > games and stuff which he installed and which have slowed the system to a > crawl. I would like to fix it by either re-installing windows or > repairing it. The computer came originally with windows 95 (yeah, i know, > but he's only eleven) and then was upgraded to windows xp. We have the > original win 95 retail disc and the win xp upgrade disc. > > What would you recommend? Thanks in advance. > > b I would suggest two things. The first is to take the faster and more reliable approach to fixing a badly compromised or damaged system - back up any user data, then reinstall clean, starting with removing and recreating the system partition. This ensures a clean slate, a known-good starting point. The second is to make an image of the system in that condition before you hand it over, using something like Acronis TrueImage or Drive Image or whatever. This will allow you to very quickly reset the computer to that known-good condition the next time he trashes it. Instead of several hours, you'll be done in half an hour. You will need to have all the drivers on hand before you start this process! HTH -pk
Guest Unknown Posted July 22, 2008 Posted July 22, 2008 Re: Cleaning a mess Correct me if I'm wrong. I don't think there was such a thing as an upgrade from Windows 95 to XP. There is a lot of hardware that runs with 95 but not XP compatible. Is the old machine really worth upgrading? Memory size? Processor speed? Hardware compatibility? "You Know Who ~" <you.know.who@att.net> wrote in message news:OfzxIJ56IHA.2260@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl... > our 11 year old has his own computer and frankly it is a mess. Lots of > games and stuff which he installed and which have slowed the system to a > crawl. I would like to fix it by either re-installing windows or > repairing it. The computer came originally with windows 95 (yeah, i know, > but he's only eleven) and then was upgraded to windows xp. We have the > original win 95 retail disc and the win xp upgrade disc. > > What would you recommend? Thanks in advance. > > b > >
Guest Tim Slattery Posted July 22, 2008 Posted July 22, 2008 Re: Cleaning a mess "Unknown" <unknown@unknown.kom> wrote: >Correct me if I'm wrong. I don't think there was such a thing as an upgrade >from Windows 95 to XP. You cannot upgrade Win95 to WinXP, but you can use a Win95 installation disk when a WinXP upgrade CD asks for proof of a qualifying product. >There is a lot of hardware that runs with 95 but not XP compatible. >Is the old machine really worth upgrading? Memory size? Processor speed? >Hardware compatibility? Excellent question. Any machine that came with Win95 originally installed is *very* unlikely to run XP well at all. -- Tim Slattery MS MVP(Shell/User) Slattery_T@bls.gov http://members.cox.net/slatteryt
Guest Gary S. Terhune Posted August 25, 2008 Posted August 25, 2008 Re: Cleaning a mess You can use several antivirus programs for free (provided they're for non-commercial use) and there's no time limit. I like Avast!, but there are several others. And they don't come with all that dangerous "Registry Cleaner" and other automated "cleaner" crap that OneCare does. OneCare is a DANGEROUS product! You're a shameless shill, Carey. Always have been, always will be. A total blot on the MVP program, IMO. -- Gary S. Terhune MS-MVP Shell/User http://grystmill.com "Carey Frisch [MVP]" <cnfrisch@nospamgmail.com> wrote in message news:%2358AXT56IHA.3652@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl... > Clean Install Windows XP > http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html > > After restoring your system, consider installing a good > antivirus program, such as Windows OneCare. You can > try it absolutely FREE for 90 days. > http://onecare.live.com/standard/en-us/default.htm > > > -- > Carey Frisch > Microsoft MVP > Windows Desktop Experience - > Windows Vista Enthusiast > > --------------------------------------------------------------- > > "You Know Who ~" <you.know.who@att.net> wrote in message > news:OfzxIJ56IHA.2260@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl... > our 11 year old has his own computer and frankly it is a mess. Lots of > games and stuff which he installed and which have slowed the system to a > crawl. I would like to fix it by either re-installing windows or > repairing > it. The computer came originally with windows 95 (yeah, i know, but he's > only eleven) and then was upgraded to windows xp. We have the original > win > 95 retail disc and the win xp upgrade disc. > > What would you recommend? Thanks in advance. > > b > >
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