Do you want to see if we can clean up first with out reinstalling if so:

Go to link below click the American flag, download hijackthis to your desktop, Double click the hijackthis Icon on the desk top, Do System Scan and Save a log file it will auto open in note pad, copy the entire log and paste it into your next reply.

Here is a link that might be useful: HIJACKTHIS

the guy knew me and gave me a Windows XP SP3 disc just like the one used for my aunt's Did he give you XP with SP3 or did he give you Service Pack 3? I do not think XP was ever sold with SP3 on, could be wrong but make sure what you have before starting. Did you create recovery disks from the recovery partition on the computer? You should, then you can remove that partition during the install or enlarge it for storage.

YES you can do it! Of course it is a bit nerve racking first time through and there is a good chance you will not get it exactly right. This is not rocket science, BUT.

Before you start wiping you need to ensure you have either XP from the techie or your own program that came with the computer originally. Give us this information then we can move on knowing we are all on the same page as it were.

Hi,

Thanks for the quick responses !

zep,

I don't think a 'clean up' is necessary. My computer is pretty clean. I've frequently used CCleaner, Super Anti-Spyware, Malwarebytes' Antimalware, etc. It's not so much 'infection' as bloat. I've done HJT several times last year (using Help2Go's Detective) with no issues. No, it's more like "Spring Cleaning" and I'm looking for a dumpster. :-D

owbist,

The disc I was given is a complete OS (XP SP3), which the guy makes. It's a great, "clean," and lean OS which runs faster than what one gets from the factory. It's a fully legal, compliant, etc. copy.

As far as recovery discs, I have no CD burner, so I don't know how to go about doing that. And, if it would come to that, I would rather just pay the guy to do what I'm attempting to do than use recovery discs to just get this same bloated system back, if you know what I mean. :-)

And, fwiw, I did something that might help me. I don't know. I downloaded drivermagician and created a "driver backup" folder, which I then zipped and uploaded to Skydrive. 33 meg. What I was planning was to bring my aunt's laptop over here to my house, access the Skydrive file, download, unzip to her desktop and then burn the folder contents to a CD using her laptop.

Would this work ? The potential complication I foresee is: when I put in the XP SP3 disc and hit "install," what if it starts looking for drivers right away ? I can't install the drivers on my back-up CD when the OS CD is still in the CD drive ! Would the computer fully install XP SP 3 from the CD before asking me for drivers ? I.e. would I be able to install the OS and then remove the disc before putting in the driver back-up CD ?

Hope I'm not making this sound too complicated for you -- or myself ! :-D

Scott

Not looking for an infection.

If the pc running ok don't fix it..

So you have a windows key with the cd.

Hi, zep

Well, I noticed how much quicker my aunt's computer is since using Matt's streamlined OS. E.g. AV scans take 15 min. compared to 2 hours for me ! It can defrag in the time it takes me to sneeze. ;-)

Mine's a 5 year old computer with nothing of consequence on it (important stuff is all saved elsewhere). So, if I could work through this little project it might make the computer a bit faster with some things, with no real loss to me file/document-wise if I need a professional fix.

Yes, the CD has the 25-character key on it.

Scott

OK, great. Now you have the XP CD, all the needed drivers safely stored in space.

As you do not have a CD burner you might seriously consider buying one. CD/DVD burners at Best Buy are under $50, a CD burner might be found for less. Then you can grab stuff before the install. Either that or visit your aunt and grab a firewall, anti virus, updated definitions to be manually installed, anti malware programs. Or use a thumb drive to store these on.

There are numerous sites out there detailing the re-install process so there is little point in repeating it all here. Google and look through 3 or 4 and find a couple written in a language you are comfortable with and study those. As you wipe you will be offered the opportunity to remove the recovery partition. Do so if you no longer intend to return this machine to factory settings. Then if you wish you either move forward with a format or create a partition. There are no major pros or cons regarding partitions, some like them while others do not bother. I suggest you format in NTFS when offered the choice.

I'm not sure how this works loading xp home is it? on a machine that originally had OEM software "pre-installed>.

This machine already has a recovery feature what is the model # That's what I would try first.

Others will reply also

Here is a reinstall site see link

Here is a link that might be useful: reinstall

Zep has a valid point in his 14.59 post. If this is an OEM CD and has not been previously used on a massed produced machine it should work. If however it was tied to a mass produced computer then even swapping the motherboard is a no-no with Microsoft's approach these day. They changed the rules about 2 years ago. All my XP programs are OEM but as they are all also on self builds I have only been called to task once, which turned out in my favour.

This is an excellent reason to buy a CD burner or CD/DVD burner, the cost is low and the opportunity to avoid a mistake drastically reduced. CD player/burners should be almost peanuts because we have all moved on to the DVD now.

Scott you could use the recovery feature then use a free program that removes all that bloatware. I cannot remember the name but someone will jump in and provided it hopefully

I have a question about Scott's situation (my own also). He indicates that he already has SP3. That being the case, I believe that he could not use the recovery feature on his computer. I tried this once with an older Dell and got a message that I already had a newer OS on the computer. He would need to burn the recovery files and then "slipstream" SP3 onto the CD, right? I don't really understand this, but I wonder if this is the case here?

Hi,

Thanks for the continued feedback, including zep's link to the installation tutorial. I'm looking into these things and won't proceed until I'm reasonably sure I've taken all the proper precautions. And I may get a CD burner, but if I can get the drivers back-up information burned to a CD using my aunt's laptop I won't need to -- at least, not right away.

Re: the OS CD: I don't think it's OEM because the computer guy seems to have designed it special to be a de-bloated version of a valid XP SP3 system. At least, that's the way I understand it. And he had no trouble installing it on my aunt's HP laptop a few months ago.

Again, I appreciate the comments and will investigate more before doing anything.

Scott

Grandms I think once you set the recovery disks in motion they start the process of reinstalling without any regard to what might already be on the hard drive.

Scott you might consider slipping this new XP CD with SP3 in the drawer and reboot. You would not proceed with the install of course but I feel you need to know if this CD is going to boot properly. Once it boots to the first splash screen you have options, including the opportunity to stop the install. This is nothing against your seemingly generous techie but I am concerned that he has 'debloated' this CD.