Cleaning up my PC

[Jules]

Looking for programs to clean all the unwanted junk off my laptop. It is only 2 years old but getting very bogged down, especially during startup. I tried deleting what I could without messing with program files, etc.

Thanks

[NewMarketSean]

Have you run a defrag yet? Google it and try it out, thats a good place to start.

[Don_Aase_Fan]

ccleaner ftw (http://www.ccleaner.com/)

[Jules]

ccleaner ftw (http://www.ccleaner.com/)

Thanks NMS, ran the defrag and all that I can do. Looking for something else.

I installed the CCCleaner- we'll see if that works. Right now Itunes upset me so I had to switch to my wife's computer which is much nicer and faster than mine.

[TyCobb]

Thanks NMS, ran the defrag and all that I can do. Looking for something else.

I installed the CCCleaner- we'll see if that works. Right now Itunes upset me so I had to switch to my wife's computer which is much nicer and faster than mine.

If you have a external HDD, then move all the files you want to keep to it. If you don't, then buy one.

Then do a clean install. That is the best thing to do.

[srock]

If you have a external HDD, then move all the files you want to keep to it. If you don't, then buy one.

Then do a clean install. That is the best thing to do.

This is what you want to do.

Definitely back everything up. Yes, your iTunes library might cause you some headache when you reimport because iTunes is weird. Buts its worth it.

If you have your original XP cd, reinstalling is pretty easy. Plenty of how to articles on the net.

Note: During the install, you want to delete the hard drive partition then make 2 partitions. The first should be called XP and be at least 40 GB, bigger if you have lots of programs. Then make a second partition called Data. Format them as NTFS. Do the full format, not the quick. XP will become your C: drive, the other will be E: or maybe F:.

Install Windows on the XP partition.

After install, link your My Documents to the Data drive: Start-> Right click My Documents, properties. Click Move. Pick your Data drive. It will automatically put My Pictures, My Music etc in there.

Now all your data is separate from Windows and the programs. Next time you reinstall, you don't have to backup (although you should). Just reformat your C: drive and install windows.

Copy all your data from your backup to D:.

Resinstall all your applications.

Repeat every 18-24 months or as needed :p