«

Currently running XP Home edition and have decided that its time to do a
major clean up through a Format & Re-Install of the O/S. I have backed up
any apps & updates etc that I think I need to be re-intalled on the other
side.

Is it just a case of taking the WinXP Home Edition CD supplied with PC,
booting from it and selecting a Format & Install option ? or is there more
to it than that ?

Are there any little quirks that I should be aware of before going ahead
with this ?

And moving forward, other than keeping my family away from my pc & stopping
them from install'n all sort rubbish, what apps would you recommend in the
fight for maintaining a clean healthy PC.

Ta

"BT" <> wrote in message
news:HytAc.784$...
> Currently running XP Home edition and have decided that its time to do a
> major clean up through a Format & Re-Install of the O/S. I have backed up
> any apps & updates etc that I think I need to be re-intalled on the other
> side.
>
> Is it just a case of taking the WinXP Home Edition CD supplied with PC,
> booting from it and selecting a Format & Install option ? or is there more
> to it than that ?
>
> Are there any little quirks that I should be aware of before going ahead
> with this ?
>
> And moving forward, other than keeping my family away from my pc &
> stopping
> them from install'n all sort rubbish, what apps would you recommend in the
> fight for maintaining a clean healthy PC.
>
> Ta
>
>

From personal experience:

- use the Files and Setting Transfer Wizard to back up the stuff you want to
keep
- disconnect off the net !!!
- boot off the CD and select "Format and Install"
- make coffee
- apply patches (have you got the Windows Security Update CD ?)
- once you have rebooted AND have a firewall on and enabled...
- reconnect to the net and run Windows Update
- enable automatic notification of updates

I'm running Windows XP Service Pack 2 on my work and home PC's and have
found it works fine but it's beta software so it's your call. SP2 is good
for avoiding popups, autoinstallation of ActiveX controls and
autodownloading of stuff. All of that helps in avoiding spyware etc.

HTH

Brett Roberts
Microsoft NZ

The home edition takes a little more to get it going. MS have a series of
floppy disks that are used to boot the machine and install xp home. I
think it's 5 disks you need for the job.

Here is a detailed howto http://www.duxcw.com/faq/win/xp/clean.htm

This is howto 2 http://www.pcworld.com/howto/article...,105866,00.asp

Brett

On Fri, 18 Jun 2004 15:44:37 +1200, "BT" <> wrote:

>Currently running XP Home edition and have decided that its time to do a
>major clean up through a Format & Re-Install of the O/S. I have backed up
>any apps & updates etc that I think I need to be re-intalled on the other
>side.
>
>Is it just a case of taking the WinXP Home Edition CD supplied with PC,
>booting from it and selecting a Format & Install option ? or is there more
>to it than that ?
>
>Are there any little quirks that I should be aware of before going ahead
>with this ?
>
>And moving forward, other than keeping my family away from my pc & stopping
>them from install'n all sort rubbish, what apps would you recommend in the
>fight for maintaining a clean healthy PC.
>
>Ta
>

"Brett Cooper" <> wrote in message
news:...
> The home edition takes a little more to get it going. MS have a series of
> floppy disks that are used to boot the machine and install xp home. I
> think it's 5 disks you need for the job.
>
> Here is a detailed howto http://www.duxcw.com/faq/win/xp/clean.htm
>
> This is howto 2 http://www.pcworld.com/howto/article...,105866,00.asp
>
> Brett
>
> On Fri, 18 Jun 2004 15:44:37 +1200, "BT" <> wrote:
>
>>Currently running XP Home edition and have decided that its time to do a
>>major clean up through a Format & Re-Install of the O/S. I have backed up
>>any apps & updates etc that I think I need to be re-intalled on the other
>>side.
>>
>>Is it just a case of taking the WinXP Home Edition CD supplied with PC,
>>booting from it and selecting a Format & Install option ? or is there more
>>to it than that ?
>>
>>Are there any little quirks that I should be aware of before going ahead
>>with this ?
>>
>>And moving forward, other than keeping my family away from my pc &
>>stopping
>>them from install'n all sort rubbish, what apps would you recommend in the
>>fight for maintaining a clean healthy PC.
>>
>>Ta
>>
>

This is news to me. The WinXP CD's are bootable, all I've ever done is drop
the CD in the drive, reboot, reformat and reinstall

Brett Cooper wrote:

> The home edition takes a little more to get it going.**MS*have*a*series*of
> floppy disks that are used to boot the machine and install xp home.**I
> think it's 5 disks you need for the job.

Didn't have to do that when I installed and re-installed XP Home on my
computer. The CD is bootable so no need for floppies.

--
Chris Hope - The Electric Toolbox - http://www.electrictoolbox.com/

On Fri, 18 Jun 2004 15:44:37 +1200, BT wrote:

> Currently running XP Home edition and have decided that its time to do a
> major clean up through a Format & Re-Install of the O/S. I have backed up
> any apps & updates etc that I think I need to be re-intalled on the other
> side.
>
> Is it just a case of taking the WinXP Home Edition CD supplied with PC,
> booting from it and selecting a Format & Install option ? or is there more
> to it than that ?
>
> Are there any little quirks that I should be aware of before going ahead
> with this ?
>
> And moving forward, other than keeping my family away from my pc & stopping
> them from install'n all sort rubbish, what apps would you recommend in the
> fight for maintaining a clean healthy PC.
>
> Ta

personally i would ensure that all your famialy (and yourself) use a "user"
level account, or "power user" at a stretch.

installing software shouldnt be a problem - properly written software
shouldnt be a problem.

if either is a problem and you must use that software you can use "run as"
and run thoes programs under a seperate "stooopid programs" account that
has more privilages than you.

whatever you do - DONT let them use admin accounts for every day stuff.

--
-------------------------------------------
Steven H, 3rd Year B.I.T. Otago Polytechnic
..net Geek

"BT" <> wrote in message
news:HytAc.784$...
> Currently running XP Home edition and have decided that its time to do
a
> major clean up through a Format & Re-Install of the O/S. I have backed
up
> any apps & updates etc that I think I need to be re-intalled on the
other
> side.
.....
> And moving forward, other than keeping my family away from my pc &
stopping
> them from install'n all sort rubbish, what apps would you recommend in
the
> fight for maintaining a clean healthy PC.
>

Here are a few suggestions.

ANTI-VIRUS TOOLS

Norton Anti-Virus or some equivalent with auto-protect capability and an
automated signature update service.

SPYWARE TOOLS

Many possibilities. I use Spybot 1.3, which is free, plus Ad Aware 6 and
Scan Spyware. Redundancy is useful here since every program updates
signatures at different intervals. You have a choice to use these in a
preventative auto-detect mode or as simply a scanning device.

REGISTRY SUPPORT TOOLS

Use the built-in System Restore to identify known working setups. Don't
just rely on the automatic restore points that will be created with
every new software installation. Take the time (it's just a few seconds)
to set and label your own restore points manually when everything is
running the way you want and the system is stable.

If you're reasonably comfortable sorting through registry keys,
something like Registry First Aid can be helpful in cleaning out dead
keys.

DISK TOOLS

The built-in "Disk Cleanup" applet is handy for removing temp files, old
restore points, etc.

The built-in defragger is all you really need with XP, and you can go
light with that even.

Partition Magic 8 makes any work you need to do with partitions a snap.

BACKUP/RECOVERY TOOLS

For backups, it's hard to recommend anything in particular, because it
all depends on your work habits, your preferred level of risk aversion,
and your media options (extra hard drive, CD, DVD, zip dfisk, tape,
etc). The built-in Backup Utility is pretty weak. But if you're backing
up to CD you may not need a separate backup program at all, because most
of the software that comes with burners nowadays (Nero, for instance)
has backup features included. There are even a number of freeware
utilities out there that can get the job done if your requirements are
simple enough.

Between backups, you may at some point need to recover deleted files or
files from a previosuly formatted volume. Easy Recovery Pro and other
equivalent tools provide that additional layer of redundancy.

For a complete peace-of-mind copy of your system drive, including boot
partition (or any drives for that matter) you can use something like
Drive Image or Norton Ghost.

"Steven H" <smorf-thiswontwork-@bigfoot.com> wrote in message
newsqrrosixaqdy$.1ff00v65ahw0o$... .
> On Fri, 18 Jun 2004 15:44:37 +1200, BT wrote:
>
> > Currently running XP Home edition and have decided that its time to
do a
> > major clean up through a Format & Re-Install of the O/S. I have
backed up
> > any apps & updates etc that I think I need to be re-intalled on the
other
> > side.
> >
> > Is it just a case of taking the WinXP Home Edition CD supplied with
PC,
> > booting from it and selecting a Format & Install option ? or is
there more
> > to it than that ?
> >
> > Are there any little quirks that I should be aware of before going
ahead
> > with this ?
> >
> > And moving forward, other than keeping my family away from my pc &
stopping
> > them from install'n all sort rubbish, what apps would you recommend
in the
> > fight for maintaining a clean healthy PC.
> >
> > Ta
>
> personally i would ensure that all your famialy (and yourself) use a
"user"
> level account, or "power user" at a stretch.
>
> installing software shouldnt be a problem - properly written software
> shouldnt be a problem.
>

Yes it will.

"Proper" progams that normally install in the "program files" directory
will not be able to be be installed to a limited access account. They
may be able to opt for another directory to install the program, but
that is daft if you have a lot of users each installing programs, even
the same one, to different locations. Many programs should only be
installed as administrator. Some install packages will check it and
spit back at you if you do not have administration privileges. And
further to that, if the program has a proper installation program, a
limited user won't be able to do anything with it unless it is on a cd
or floppy, with the correct filename.

I will allow for one thing that I accept from your comment. Delphi
(which I like) allows you to write "stand alone" executables with no
dependencies simply and by default. Those programs would meet your
definition above of being "proper".

In article <>,
says...
> The home edition takes a little more to get it going. MS have a series of
> floppy disks that are used to boot the machine and install xp home. I
> think it's 5 disks you need for the job.
>
> Here is a detailed howto http://www.duxcw.com/faq/win/xp/clean.htm
>
> This is howto 2 http://www.pcworld.com/howto/article...,105866,00.asp

Disks are not needed if you can boot from the CDROM, as most people
should be able to. Even if you can't boot, Bart's Boot Disk doesn't
require 5 floppies.

In article <>,
says...
>
> "Steven H" <smorf-thiswontwork-@bigfoot.com> wrote in message
> newsqrrosixaqdy$.1ff00v65ahw0o$... .
> > On Fri, 18 Jun 2004 15:44:37 +1200, BT wrote:
> >
> > > Currently running XP Home edition and have decided that its time to
> do a
> > > major clean up through a Format & Re-Install of the O/S. I have
> backed up
> > > any apps & updates etc that I think I need to be re-intalled on the
> other
> > > side.
> > >
> > > Is it just a case of taking the WinXP Home Edition CD supplied with
> PC,
> > > booting from it and selecting a Format & Install option ? or is
> there more
> > > to it than that ?
> > >
> > > Are there any little quirks that I should be aware of before going
> ahead
> > > with this ?
> > >
> > > And moving forward, other than keeping my family away from my pc &
> stopping
> > > them from install'n all sort rubbish, what apps would you recommend
> in the
> > > fight for maintaining a clean healthy PC.
> > >
> > > Ta
> >
> > personally i would ensure that all your famialy (and yourself) use a
> "user"
> > level account, or "power user" at a stretch.
> >
> > installing software shouldnt be a problem - properly written software
> > shouldnt be a problem.
> >
>
> Yes it will.
>
> "Proper" progams that normally install in the "program files" directory
> will not be able to be be installed to a limited access account. They
> may be able to opt for another directory to install the program, but
> that is daft if you have a lot of users each installing programs, even
> the same one, to different locations. Many programs should only be
> installed as administrator. Some install packages will check it and
> spit back at you if you do not have administration privileges. And
> further to that, if the program has a proper installation program, a
> limited user won't be able to do anything with it unless it is on a cd
> or floppy, with the correct filename.
>
> I will allow for one thing that I accept from your comment. Delphi
> (which I like) allows you to write "stand alone" executables with no
> dependencies simply and by default. Those programs would meet your
> definition above of being "proper".

It is not always desirable to write fully contained executables with all
of your code bound up in one large file. This is why runtime packages
(special kind of DLL) were introduced in Delphi 3.

It is not correct to say Delphi executables have no dependencies; as most
of them use the Windows API they are, in fact, dependent on the Windows
DLLs which export the API functions. Most of the base controls in Delphi
are Windows common controls.