Repairing or reinstalling Microsoft Windows XP

If you aren't having any luck fixing Windows via Safe Mode, you might need to resort to repairing or reinstalling Windows.

Reinstalling or repairing Windows is not too difficult -- provided you have the Windows XP CD. Unfortunately, many new PCs do not ship with a real, full copy of Windows XP.

Instead they might have one of the following:

A Recovery CD that you can boot from to completely wipe out your hard disk and reinstall everything that originally came on the PC. You'll lose all your data if you do this, and any applications you have installed since you bought the PC.

A Recovery CD that you can boot from to access a menu system, from which you can select to wipe everything out and reload as described above, or reinstall Windows without wiping everything out. (Which do you have -- this kind or the kind described above? Read the onscreen messages carefully to tell.)

A Recovery CD that you can boot from to access a utility that will pull files needed for reinstallation (either full or partial, it depends on the version) from a hidden partition on your hard disk.

A utility installed in Windows that will allow you to create your own recovery CD using your writeable CD drive, a blank disc, and the files from a hidden partition on your hard disk.

Obviously, all of these are a lot more trouble and aggravation than simply having a real Windows XP CD to work with. This lesson can't really advise you on how to proceed in cases like these because every PC manufacturer does their recovery CDs differently, and even the same manufacturer changes how they do it periodically. Therefore, this lesson assumes that you have a real copy of Windows XP.

Repairing or reinstalling Windows from the Windows XP CD

If Windows will not boot, attempt a repair. You can do this with the Windows XP CD as follows:

Insert the Windows XP CD, and then restart the PC. It should boot from the CD, and the Windows Setup program should start. If it does not, you might need to go into BIOS Setup and change the boot order so that the CD drive comes first. In the Windows Setup program, you're asked whether you want to install Windows or repair an existing installation. Type R to select the emergency repair process.

Type F to select Fast Repair.

If prompted to use an ERD (emergency repair disk), indicate that you do not have one and continue. Follow the prompts to repair Windows.

To reinstall, do the same thing -- boot from the CD, but instead of selecting repair, select reinstall. Then install in the same location as before, over the top of the existing version of Windows.

If reinstalling Windows over the top of the existing installation does not work, you might have to resort to the most drastic measure: reinstalling Windows from scratch, which means wiping out the entire existing formatting of the disk. Windows Setup will do this for you; simply reformat the drive when prompted as part of the Setup process.

Evaluating the active processes

Now let's take a step back from the brink of gloom-and-doom of the preceding section, and assume that things are not quite so bleak. Perhaps Windows starts okay, but it's simply not running as well as it might.

Spyware or adware is by far the most common cause of system performance problems, so first, go get yourself a copy of Spybot Search & Destroy. Install it, update it, and run it. This will get rid of any useless gunk that might be slowing you down.

Next, reboot and see what's left. Go into Add or Remove Programs in the Control Panel, and remove any applications that you don't want. Most computers come with a lot of preinstalled applications, and most people don't want everything that the PC comes with.

By removing unwanted programs, you accomplish two things:

You free up the hard disk space.

If you remove a program that loaded a piece of itself at startup, you make Windows load faster and run better.

Next, have a look at the notification area (a.k.a. the system tray), next to the clock on the task bar. The icons that appear there represent programs that are running in the background. Some of these are necessary, like your antivirus program, but some are not necessary and just take up memory. For example, the autoloaders for QuickTime, AOL, and so on are not necessary. Right-click each one and look for a command that lets you into its properties. Then look for a way of preventing it from loading automatically at startup. (Don't disable the antivirus program from loading at startup, though!)

Finally, reboot one more time, and then take a look at your running processes to see if there's anything you could potentially disable to make Windows run leaner and more efficiently.

Here's how:

Shut down all running programs, and then close all open windows.
Right-click the taskbar and then select Task Manager.
Click the Processes tab.

Go to a Web site that maintains a list of common processes and what they do, such as AnswersThatWork or LIUtilities: System Process Library.

Look up each of the processes that appears on your Processes tab to make sure it's useful. Compile a list of any you want to get rid of.

Use the procedure described in the next section to eliminate any unwanted processes from startup.

Using selective startup

Selective startup can help you turn off any unwanted processes so they don't automatically load when Windows starts. Before you use selective startup, however, make sure you've exhausted all other methods of turning off automatically loading programs.

Check for spyware or adware with Spybot or some other application that does the same thing (for example, Ad-Aware).

Use Add or Remove Programs in the Control Panel to get rid of any applications you don't want.

For any icons in the system tray that you don't want to reload when Windows starts, right-click them and look for a command that lets you disable them or view their properties.

(Here's the new thing): Remove any shortcuts to unwanted programs from the Startup folder on the Start > All Programs menu system. To remove a shortcut there, right-click it, and then select Delete. This does not uninstall the program.

After you've done all these things, if you still have processes running that you don't want, you can tackle them using the methods in the following sections.

Using MSCONFIG

MSCONFIG (a.k.a. the System Configuration Utility) provides a way of disabling startup applications and processes without having to manually edit the Registry. To run it, select Start > Run, type MSCONFIG, and then click OK.

MSCONFIG has several tabs in its box. The one you're most interested in now is Startup. Look on this tab for entries that correspond to one of the processes you want to eliminate. Clear its checkbox, and then reboot and see if that took care of your problem. Repeat as necessary. If you make a mistake and turn off something that causes a problem, or causes Windows to not boot correctly, go in under Safe Mode and turn it back on in MSCONFIG.

Working with services

Services are background processes that perform some useful task in Windows. They're typically closely associated with Windows itself, rather than being third-party add-ons.

Typically, you don't want to disable any services because you may mess up something in Windows if you don't know what you're doing. However, if you can identify that a particular service is causing Windows to crash or to perform poorly, you might try disabling it as a troubleshooting measure.

To work with services, do the following:

From the Control Panel, select Administrative Tools.

Double-click the Services icon. The Services window opens.

Browse the list of services by clicking an item and reading its description.

When you find the one you need to disable, double-click it to open its Properties dialog box.

Set its startup type to Manual, and then click the Stop button to stop it.

Click OK to close the dialog box, and then reboot.

You can come back to its dialog box later, set it back to Automatic, and start it if you decide that disabling it was the wrong thing to do.

Here are the reasons applications malfunction, or perform poorly:

Minimum system requirements for the application are not met.

The application is not designed for your version of Windows.

The company producing the software made programming errors or oversights.

There's a conflict with another application, service, or process that is running.

The security settings on your PC are set too high; therefore, something in the application cannot do its job.

There's incompatibility between the application and your hardware (or a device driver).

Let's look at each of those, and discuss how to overcome them.

System requirements

Every application has system requirements, which are usually printed on the box. Take these seriously. If your system doesn't meet the requirements, you'll be in for nothing but headaches. For example, the new Sims 2 requires a particular brand and model of video card. If you don't have it, the game will run very slowly and poorly on your PC. There's not much you can do about it other than replace your video card.

Windows version requirements

Some applications will run only under certain Windows versions. (And they say so in their system requirements.)

If you're trying to run a newer application on an older version of Windows, there's not much you can do if it doesn't work. You might check the application's Web site for any FAQs, but the prognosis is not good. Upgrade to a newer version of Windows, or pick up an older version of the application at an online auction Web site.

However, if you're trying to run an older application under Windows XP, there's hope. Windows XP has a Compatibility feature that lets Windows XP pretend to be earlier Windows versions to accommodate certain applications.

To set this up, do the following:
Right-click the executable file for the application and then select Properties. On the Compatibility tab, select an earlier Windows version to emulate. Click OK. Try to run the application. If it doesn't work, try again with a different Windows version. Try them all; you might find one that works. There's also a wizard you can use if you prefer a more automated approach to these settings. Select Start > All Programs > Accessories > Program Compatibility Wizard.

Article Source: Main Articles

To have articles personally written for your web site, contact him directly at lowster11@lowster11.com and visit his web site at www.lowster11.com

This article may be reproduced wholly or in part without written permission provided the byline, resource area, and any hyperlinks remain in order to give proper credit to the author.

Internet search engines and directory listings are imperative to your sites existence and success. Submit Your Website to the Searchen Networks directory and search engine to achieve authoritive inbound links.

Please Rate this Article

5 out of 54 out of 53 out of 52 out of 51 out of 5