Need advice from Tech geek folks

VoodooDali · Post by **VoodooDali** » Wed Nov 14, 2001 5:08 pm

I'm about to re-format my hard drive, since my performance has really degraded lately. It's so slow today, it's scaring me. I'm trying to make sure I remember everything to save before doing this.
So far I've saved:
Outlook folders and subfolders
Outlook Express folders
My Documents
My Music
My Downloads
My Favorites
Printing out all my email account settings
BG2 and ToB saved games

Anything else I should save that I haven't thought of?

Dottie · Post by **Dottie** » Wed Nov 14, 2001 5:19 pm

Heh, I always forget about half the things im supposed to save

If your using ICQ it might be a good idea to save the icq dbase folder.

C Elegans · Post by **C Elegans** » Wed Nov 14, 2001 5:31 pm

I can't help you a lot since I never use the default directories like "my documents", but create my own. But in general, apart from all your other stuff, I think it's important to save address register in the mail program, bookmarks in the browser (seems you have covered that) and also templates and dictionaries in Word and Excel if you use them.

HighLordDave · Post by **HighLordDave** » Wed Nov 14, 2001 6:11 pm

Is there a particular reason that you think reformatting is the only answer? When was the last time you de-fragmented the hard drive? Do you run things from the Quickstart tray menu (in the lower right-hand corner of the Menu Bar; it's the stuff with the clock)? Do you have enough memory?

All of those things can slow down performance of your computer. Go to Start>Run and type in msconfig (in Windows98), then click on the Startup tab and unclick everything you don't need (Realplayer, the AOL Tray icon, Microsoft FindFast, etc.; make sure you don't shut off your video and sound drivers or your anti-virus protection, though).

The next best thing you can do is get more memory. It's dirt cheap right now; you can get 256 MB of Micron PC133 memory for $30.00 (with free shipping!) at [url="http://www.z-buy.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi"]Z-Buy.com[/url] (just click on the Memory tab when you get to the webpage).

If you have your heart set on re-formatting, then you should back up everything you can think of, but I would try some other options to get some extra performance out of your machine.

Yshania · Post by **Yshania** » Thu Nov 15, 2001 1:30 am

I am not posting here because I am not a geek! *looks hard at Mr Sleep*

j/k

I would go along with HighLordDave. Reformatting will not necessarily result in your machine running faster. Removing unwanted programmes, reducing the items in start up and regular scandisk and defragging will. As will more RAM

Mr Sleep · Post by **Mr Sleep** » Thu Nov 15, 2001 5:11 am

Originally posted by Yshania:
I am not posting here because I am not a geek! *looks hard at Mr Sleep* j/k

I would go along with HighLordDave. Reformatting will not necessarily result in your machine running faster. Removing unwanted programmes, reducing the items in start up and regular scandisk and defragging will. As will more RAM

You can also get some decent Freeware reg cleaners

You can of course do that yourself, however it requires a certain amount of technical knowledge.

Bloodstalker · Post by **Bloodstalker** » Thu Nov 15, 2001 7:33 am

I am not posting here because I am not a geek!

Nicest geek ever...lol

Yshania · Post by **Yshania** » Thu Nov 15, 2001 7:39 am

Posted by Bloodstalker -

Nicest geek ever...lol

Well you certainly know how to flatter a woman don't you?

Ned Flanders · Post by **Ned Flanders** » Thu Nov 15, 2001 8:07 am

HighLordDave is right on. It's doubtful you need to reformat your hard drive. A lack of defragmentation will always lead to slower performance.

When a program is first installed it is all pretty and in one contiguous space on the hard drive. What happens over time with windows 98 as more programs are installed and frequently accessed is windows has a hard time putting things away where it found them. This leads to a scattering of all programs and data on your drive which leads to a higher latency. When you make a request for a program later on, the hard drive has to bounce all over the place picking up the pieces the OS dropped wherever it found open space the last time the program was accessed. I hope this makes sense.

My own personal theory is that each copy of windows ships with a little Bill Gates gremlin who is installed at the time of operating system configuration. I haven't been able to generate a lot of support for this theory although I will say I grilled Bill personally at the most recent comdex during a seminar and needless to say he sprinted off the stage ghost white and in tears. I've drawn my own conclusions from that episode and if any big shots at Microsoft want to make something out of that, bring 'em on. ** hopefully generates many chuckles of readers with my sarcasm **

To finish, post your specs on your machine. Perhaps more memory would solve the problem. Or a CPU upgrade. Defragmentation is probably the answer.

If reformatting is your answer, here are some tips for outlook. You only need to save *.pst files and *.pab files. Do you use outlook express? If so, I'm not sure what files to save although I'll bet it is a .pst file of some sort. If your using Outlook 2000 or XP, you will not find a .pab file. .pst files are email folders, contacts, tasks etc. and .pab stands for personal address book which will contain exactly what the name states. Specifically you will probably find an outlook.pst and an archive.pst.

Chew on this and post any questions, I'll check up later.

Rob-hin · Post by **Rob-hin** » Thu Nov 15, 2001 10:44 am

Beeing in the process myself, about to go fomat c, it's important to think of bank business, and databases of a hobby of yours (expl. a list of all your coins).

Also desktops and sounds can be handy to keep!

BTW. I think format c CAN be a good idea, your comp collects a lott of junk when you use it a long time and its neccesary ones in a while. (not to many times offcourse)

[ 11-15-2001: Message edited by: Rob-hin ]

Bloodstalker · Post by **Bloodstalker** » Thu Nov 15, 2001 4:05 pm

Well you certainly know how to flatter a woman don't you?

Not really, but I DO try

VoodooDali · Post by **VoodooDali** » Thu Nov 15, 2001 9:49 pm

I understand what you're saying. However, I've been scandisking every day more than once per day (due to computer freezing 15+times per day). Defrag once a week.
Pretty much already done all the things you suggested. The problem is that I've installed and uninstalled so many games and stuff, that I fear the registry is f--ked. Also, I upgraded from Win98se to WinME, and I think the computer will do a lot better with a clean full install of Win ME. Better than that, of course, would be to get Win2k, but I don't have the cash right now. Backing up everything is not a real big deal, since I'm networked to another PC here, so I just copied everything I needed on to that hd. I will probably do the reformat over the weekend.

Mr Sleep · Post by **Mr Sleep** » Fri Nov 16, 2001 5:29 am

Originally posted by VoodooDali:
I understand what you're saying. However, I've been scandisking every day more than once per day (due to computer freezing 15+times per day). Defrag once a week.
Pretty much already done all the things you suggested. The problem is that I've installed and uninstalled so many games and stuff, that I fear the registry is f--ked. Also, I upgraded from Win98se to WinME, and I think the computer will do a lot better with a clean full install of Win ME. Better than that, of course, would be to get Win2k, but I don't have the cash right now. Backing up everything is not a real big deal, since I'm networked to another PC here, so I just copied everything I needed on to that hd. I will probably do the reformat over the weekend.

Over scandisking and Defragging in my experience often causes a lot of problems. I have lost more than 3 hard disks after running a defrag, it is starting to look than more than a conincidence, my friend has one that he never defrags and that has worked for 4 years and never a problem.

Network will only be an issue if you don't have the relevant network drivers anymore. It is the easiest method.

Good fortune

Ned Flanders · Post by **Ned Flanders** » Fri Nov 16, 2001 8:35 am

try using regclean voodoodali, it wipes all traces of old program in the registry. find it here

[url="http://download.cnet.com/downloads/0-10106-100-881470.html"]regclean[/url]

Saruman · Post by **Saruman** » Mon Nov 19, 2001 8:17 am

Aaarghh, using a microsoft OS update rather than a clean install, this more than anything else is the most likely cause of any probs that you are having, I gave up on updates with the invention of win95 and have never really had any problems since, my friends on the other hand have not learnt and I have lost count of the number of times I've had to go round and sort there machines out.

[ 11-19-2001: Message edited by: Saruman ]