Help! My computer blows!!

[pennypinch]

Hey! 2300+ posts, and my first one in Software + OS!

Anyway, my computer at home just blows. It's a PII 450, so it's not the newest machine on the market, but then again, it moves like my old 8088 XT. That, and I just live on the BSOD.

So here's what I want to know. I have a lot of MP3's and a bunch of other documents and stuff that I'd like to keep. But I hear that one can quickly regain performance by deep sixing Windows and re-installing. Can anyone give me a step by step guide how to do this without deleting those neato files I want to keep?

I also don't have the original installation disks for many of my applications (:o), but I could probably get them in a pinch.

Your help is deeply appreciated by management.

[topane]

Easy way:
Do you have a way to back stuff up? Another hard drive, CD-writer, tape, anything? Back it all up, make sure you have a good backup (hell, make two and test them out), format yer hard drive, install OS, apps, etc.

Hard way:
Install Windows over top of itself. Boot to DOS prompt, insert CD, run setup and install in same directory. You'll probably be able to keep all your apps, but your PC might get even weirder. I don't recommend doing this, but if you can't get all those programs ...

What OS are you running?

[hapoo]

"The Hard Way" is useless (believe me, i know from experience)
The only way to really get the BSOD to go away is to do a fresh install. Windows by itself is pretty stable. Stacking programs on it slows it down and causes it to crash.

[ironchef]

were you fortunate enough to have partitioned your hard drive? is so, just format the windows partition, reinstall it and then reinstall your apps. Your data will stay happy on the second partition.

If you're not so fortunate, try this. Get a friend's computer and use the direct cable connect to network them. It's slow as all hell, but it's a good last ditch effort sorta thing. When you reinstall, make sure you partition.. Leaving a smaller sized partition (~4 gigs, depending on your drive size) for Windows and some things that absolutely refuse to exist on another drive letter, and a bigass partition for data and apps (or even make one partition for each) will make life a lot easier in the future when (not if!) this happens again.

[AmRivlin]

Or contact me if you have a broadband connection, and I will back you up. [email protected], just did that for a friend who went to 2k... He Uploaded everything to a secure directory and took it all back... If you have 2 gig and 200 avg kbps.... down, it will take 6 hours.

[pennypinch]

Originally posted by hapoo
"The Hard Way" is useless (believe me, i know from experience)
The only way to really get the BSOD to go away is to do a fresh install. Windows by itself is pretty stable. Stacking programs on it slows it down and causes it to crash.

Huh? What do you mean? How is this done??

I know I sound like a ******************* e-mail prank, but really, when it comes to OS stuff, I'm totally clueless.

And I'm pretty sure I didn't do anything smart like partition my drive.

[AmRivlin]

Ill help you out tonight...just let me know.

AmRivlin

[pennypinch]

Originally posted by AmRivlin
Ill help you out tonight...just let me know.

AmRivlin

I appreciate the offer. Unfortunately, I have a snail-like connection. Otherwise, I'd love to take you up on your offer.

Thanks for the help. I think I'm going to try and re-install Windows and see if that helps.