Hello all.



At the moment, my computer is running very slow and laggy. Now i have been toled by several people to back up all my documents and such and format my main HDD. But my problem is that i dont have all the driver discs for my hardware etc. so i was wondering if there is anyway to just 'refresh' the operating system, without deleting all my hardware drivers and such. And if this would actualy fix my problem. I am using Win xp pro.



Thanx, Dylan.

have done all the normall things like deleting unwanted programs, doing a disk cleanup, defragging and doing spyware/virus checks??

if not, do so.it shold help.

you'll find driver downloads on the internet, just remember to download one for everything.... (mainly modem especially)

formatting is the way to go, no disk cleanup program can restore it next to full speed. Theres just so much crap they leave behind

I'm in dire need of full format ATM, its been 18 months since i last did a full format

yah, i agree, its true, but doing that stuff does help.....

Done that.




I have an external modem that plugs into my LAN card. And i think xp already has the drivers for my lan card pre loaded.

Oh well im of to format now, I just hope nothing screws up

gee, this machine has been upgraded from Win95 to 98, then ME, back to 98, now XP - never reformatted.

but then again, I only install things I need....

make sure you have the latest graphics card drivers also - sometimes windows won't even start without loading the new one. (especially SP2).

also download an antivirus with update - you'll want that before you re-connect to the internet for anything.

bah, looks like i cant format anyway, my F8 key doesnt work, so i cant agree to the licencing agreement

lol

AVG is good free anti-virus software AFAIK. Use it on my Windows partition.

^^^ x2 for AVG

What you could do is format your computer, reinstall all your drivers and necessary programs. After you have this "fresh" install use a program like Norton ghost and image your install, and then burn it to dvd so next time something like this happens you have a way to refresh your os without having to reinstall hardware drivers.

i have a problem here, just bought a new comp and it seems that the computer comes with windows XP media centre pre loaded.

it says something about a system recovery disc, i am guessing it just rolls back the computer but i just want to know, would this be as good as reformatting? if so where can i grab a copy of XP MCE so i can just reload it (i do have windows 2000 so i can upgrade, but then how do i load all of my HP drivers back on?)

god these new computers suck, so much restriction

EDIT: P.S it didnt come with any discs. not even Windows XP media Centre

as mentioned, u can get the drivers off the net... go into device manager, and get the version numbers of all ur drivers, n write them down. download all the drivers BEFORE u format, so u no u got em, when needed...



LOL time for a new keyboard...



as far as i no, with the new computers, u dont get an XP disc. the XP disc is actually loaded to a secret partition on your harddrive. how to access it is another story, but it is there, with ur licence etc.

my mates Packard Bell PC is like this, and to get it formatted, he had to take it back to the shop he bought it. try to speak to the shop u bought the comp from for more info...



- mad89

cheers man will go abck and ask them what the deal is