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DrWolfgangVonBubbles
03-12-2005, 07:22 PM
Ok, I have this HP computer with windows XP.

Awhile ago it started going EXTREAMLY slow. It takes like a half hour to get to the Welcome/login screen. I tried booting it in safe mode and it loads a lot faster but it is still slower than before.

My parents say it's because I filled my hard drive with a bunch of crap. Which, sure I did do that, and yes, it is insane to have an 80 gig hard drive almost full (about 10 gigs left). But I don't think that should have a major effect on windows load-up speed.

Maybe there were to many programs trying to start up at the same time? I have tried going into MSConfig and taking off almost all the stuff listed on there. Didn't help much.

The last thing I remember doing on there was using a program to rip music off of a Playstation 2 game. So either the program messed up my computer somehow, or the music filled up too much hard drive space, or my parents did something after I used it and don't want to tell me.

I thought maybe, since it goes a lot faster when in safe mode, that maybe it was some sort of virus or a program that is messing it up.

My parents told me they are going to reformat it (their solution for every computer error). That is a nightmare for me as last time they reformated something went wrong and all My Documents were screwed up and it was a pain in the butt to get them back.

Come to think of it I am not sure what they did was reformat as I didn't lose anything except for My Documents (Not theirs of course!).

Any ideas on what to do? Why do computers seem to get slower with age (besides Microsoft being money hungry)? Will reformating actually help?

Sage Tech
03-12-2005, 07:42 PM
Reformatting will help and is the easiest solution to your problem. My recommendation would be to backup everything that you need (to CD) and then vape the disc and start again. The more stuff you install with Windows the slower it gets, and when you have 70 GBs worth it will be much quicker and easier to just start from scratch. Sorry :(

DrWolfgangVonBubbles
03-12-2005, 07:56 PM
Do you have any idea how much time and CDs it would take to backup 70 gigs of files? Ah hahahahahahaha... -cries-

Well I don't need ALL of it I guess. What do you mean by "taping it"? If you mean using one of those drives that puts data onto a videocassette, I don't have one of those. If you didn't mean that, pardon my ignorance.

Mmmm... tires...

Sage Tech
03-12-2005, 08:18 PM
taping ?
If you mean, what do I mean, by vaping it, simply a reformat.

You should only need to backup your own documents as hopefully you already have CDs for installed programs. Another option is to buy a second disc and have it dual bootable with a fresh install of XP or whatever.

DrWolfgangVonBubbles
03-12-2005, 08:44 PM
Sorry about the taping/vaping thing, apparently I read wrong. EXCELLENT!!!

Most of my programs are downloaded, so I guess I'll just backup the installers.

The my documents folder has most of the files on it… A ton… Millions!!!

I would love to do the dual bootable thingy, but I got my PC with Win XP on it and they didn't give me a CD with it on it. BRILLIANT!!! Maybe it would work if I just had the OS booting on one drive and moved most of the stuff to the other?

Smoky
03-12-2005, 09:22 PM
If its like my HP computer they put a ISO image in a partion at the start of the hard drive... If your lucky your have one to. Or go wild and get Linux if its your PC.. You know its right

Blur
03-12-2005, 09:36 PM
Sage is definately right, there's not too much of a choice other than to format. It is definately a pain to back up what you need but if you spend a little time and think about the stuff that is really important you might notice you don't need as much of it as you think. I have ALOT of discs that I spent ALOT of time backing up and that I have never even used. Also, Unless your on dialup just make a list of all the places you got alot of your programs and stuff, save it to a text file, so you'll quickly know where to get it. Lastly, try using file hosting sites such as Google Drive and youshareit.com for some of your stuff that your not sure where you got them from.
Good luck...

DrWolfgangVonBubbles
03-12-2005, 09:52 PM
I am on dial up. And I can't get online with that computer in the state it is now.

Smoky, could you tell me where to find that file? If it's just in C:/ I don't think I have it...

Smoky
03-12-2005, 10:42 PM
Its not one C:\ and you wont be able to access it from Windows either. If i remeber when you start up you have to hit one of the F keys like F12 and i dont mean safe mode either. On there should be a set up thing for reformatting your computer refresh with Windows. Thats if you have it..!

Get something like Partion Magic to see what partions you have on your drive and post it here..!