Schmoove Posted June 15, 2003 Share Posted June 15, 2003 I only formatted twice since they released Windows XP. Once because I got a new videocard and once because I screwed it up myself... locked myself out. I never had degrading performance in Windows and I do have like 55 to 60 applications/games installed. XP is running almost 9 months smoothly here now, no problems at all. I do clean the registry at least once a week and defrag all my disks once a week. I keep XP updated via Windows Update like everyone. I do use a few simple groundrules though: 1) I never install cracked software. If the software can't be unlocked by a serialkey, then I just look for something else. 2) I never download software of which I'm not sure if it is safe (unknown vague developers for example.... avoid that) 3) Keep the registry tidy. 4) Keep all unnescessary files out of the Windows directory (so no wallpapers, icons, cursors... etc. I move them to another directory) 5) Don't try to uninstall programs like IE, Windows Messenger, Outlook Express. I use them myself, but I know some people don't. Whatever MS says, those programs (especially IE) are part of the OS and have hooks to other things everywhere. Just leave them where they are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chavo Posted June 15, 2003 Share Posted June 15, 2003 I know what you were getting at Dazzla. That's just really wierd and not the experience most people have had with XP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garrett C Posted June 15, 2003 Share Posted June 15, 2003 How do you go about keeping your registry clean, Schmoove? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dazzla Veteran Posted June 15, 2003 Veteran Share Posted June 15, 2003 Dazzla, I do all the same things here. Working on my website, listenening to music, watching DVDs, running IIS, photoshop, checking email, etc, etc. Until a recent power outage my computer was up for just over two weeks non stop. It's more then likely my combination of hardware, because on my VAIO laptop I never had this problem. But I have no PCI slots taken, the only card I have on my system is my 9700 Pro. Doesn't make it any less frustrating though ;) At the moment CPU is on 98%, got virtualdub encoding in the background with winamp ripping an album to ogg, streaming some music over to my Xbox and typing here, I pray to the dll god that I don't have any crashed :D I do all of what Schmoove says. I defrag every 3 days though because of the video encoding, my windows folder is nice and sleek and I use regleaner to clean my registry every time I defrag. Oh, and I won't tell you about the mysterious disappearing photoshop profile :| causing my profile to disappear randomly. There's no pattern to it, just ****es me off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garrett C Posted June 15, 2003 Share Posted June 15, 2003 Why would XP **** up because of no PCI cards? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dazzla Veteran Posted June 15, 2003 Veteran Share Posted June 15, 2003 Why would XP **** up because of no PCI cards? I didn't say it would, I was trying to make the point that if anything it should be better because there's less chance of IRQ conflicts, less drivers installed and less overall baggage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schmoove Posted June 15, 2003 Share Posted June 15, 2003 How do you go about keeping your registry clean, Schmoove? Mainly 3 things: 1) use regcleaner 2) browse through 'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software' and 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE'. I just delete anything that isn't used anymore or anything that I can't connect to some piece of software on my pc. If you delete something that belongs to a program you do use, you will find out soon enough. Or it might not run, or it lost it's preferences.... well then I know it for the next time I encounter it. 3) 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run' keep this part as tidy as possible. Lot's of programs dump stuff in here (ATi Hotkey poller (don't need it), RealOne, QuickTime, and alot more). I delete everything I don't need. (also the Run key in the HKCU part of the registry) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KingChris Posted June 15, 2003 Share Posted June 15, 2003 Dazzla, Are you using an Intel or AMD chip. My P4 is rock solid, my current windows XP Setup is October 2002, and I use the machine heavily. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dazzla Veteran Posted June 15, 2003 Veteran Share Posted June 15, 2003 Intel P4 2.53. I use regcleaner so I'm gonna give point 2 and 3 from schmoove a try, although I don't install a lot of apps so I imagine that part will be less of a problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schmoove Posted June 15, 2003 Share Posted June 15, 2003 Maybe another thing. The memory management in XP is pretty good, normally it should work fine. Though I stumbled over a small but nice program called O&O CleverCache Pro. I can recommend this program to everyone, it's a great cache manager and speeds up Windows a little. Also I encounter less crashes of programs for some reason when I use this program. I like it alot and it seems to help a bit. It is definitly one of the first programs I would install on a fresh Windows installation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timan Veteran Posted June 15, 2003 Veteran Share Posted June 15, 2003 i used to format every other day, now its going on aslong as 3/4 weeks before a format its hell but i'm getting used to it, i used to format if i installed some app i couldnt stand and i just felt it hogged my system down... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeCoz Posted June 15, 2003 Share Posted June 15, 2003 ::Stupid Question Alert:: I know how to format inside windows like for my second hard drive but how do i format my C Drive... i usally write zeros with gwscan and it takes about 6 hours just to erase everything and then i have to install xp so usally its an all day thing to get my computer back up and running :( can someone help me out so i can format quickly? :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Posted June 15, 2003 Share Posted June 15, 2003 Intel P4 2.53.I use regcleaner so I'm gonna give point 2 and 3 from schmoove a try, although I don't install a lot of apps so I imagine that part will be less of a problem. I'd like to see Dazzla move to an Intel HyperThreaded Chip. :) Your into so much encoding man, it must be diffucult to have like no CPU left to process the other threads when you multitask. HyperThreading is a godsend. It does well. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schmoove Posted June 15, 2003 Share Posted June 15, 2003 ::Stupid Question Alert::I know how to format inside windows like for my second hard drive but how do i format my C Drive... i usally write zeros with gwscan and it takes about 6 hours just to erase everything and then i have to install xp so usally its an all day thing to get my computer back up and running :( can someone help me out so i can format quickly? :) Pop in the XP cd, reboot and let the setup program handle the formatting. A quickformat takes about 2 min. on a 20gb partition here. i used to format every other day, now its going on aslong as 3/4 weeks before a format its hell but i'm getting used to it, i used to format if i installed some app i couldnt stand and i just felt it hogged my system down... Ok that is a) stupid and b) unnescessary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..... Posted June 15, 2003 Share Posted June 15, 2003 i used to format every other day, now its going on aslong as 3/4 weeks before a format its hell but i'm getting used to it, i used to format if i installed some app i couldnt stand and i just felt it hogged my system down... I used to be like that as well, but now I don't have the time for that, and as I don't really game on my pc anymore I just put up with it. Dazzla - I've not had a single problem since I have been using windows xp (well, once I replaced my geforce with a radeon a couple of weeks after using it) In my experience you are best not to try all these tweaks etc, and just install the system, the drivers needed, and just play your games. On win2k I used to use regcleaners, and all these other apps, and all they ever did was cause problems in the long run (read: week or two) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dazzla Veteran Posted June 15, 2003 Veteran Share Posted June 15, 2003 Intel P4 2.53.I use regcleaner so I'm gonna give point 2 and 3 from schmoove a try, although I don't install a lot of apps so I imagine that part will be less of a problem. I'd like to see Dazzla move to an Intel HyperThreaded Chip. :) Your into so much encoding man, it must be diffucult to have like no CPU left to process the other threads when you multitask. HyperThreading is a godsend. It does well. :) Yeah, I get spyder teasing my every day about it ;) I'm gonna wait for a bit longer though, perhaps when it reaches greater then 3.5 and closer to 4 I'll upgrade. Looking at an upgrade later this year, I really wanna wait for PCI express as well though, and fast rpm SATA drives to come down to a reasonable price :laugh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garrett C Posted June 15, 2003 Share Posted June 15, 2003 I understand what you are saying now, Dazzla. Thanks Schmoove for the info. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveoc64 Posted June 15, 2003 Share Posted June 15, 2003 My Dad's XP PC (with all updates including the dodgy one that slowed things down for some) has never been reformatted. He uses it every day and has had it since November 2001. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeCoz Posted June 15, 2003 Share Posted June 15, 2003 ::Stupid Question Alert::I know how to format inside windows like for my second hard drive but how do i format my C Drive... i usally write zeros with gwscan and it takes about 6 hours just to erase everything and then i have to install xp so usally its an all day thing to get my computer back up and running?:((? can someone help me out so i can format quickly?:) :) Pop in the XP cd, reboot and let the setup program handle the formatting. A quickformat takes about 2 min. on a 20gb partition here. ummm but ive heard some horror stories on neowin about people installing xp and getting there computer up and running and then they see that there other installation is still there! how can i prevent this. aslo when it asks me should i do a quick or full format? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schmoove Posted June 15, 2003 Share Posted June 15, 2003 ::Stupid Question Alert::I know how to format inside windows like for my second hard drive but how do i format my C Drive... i usally write zeros with gwscan and it takes about 6 hours just to erase everything and then i have to install xp so usally its an all day thing to get my computer back up and running?:((? can someone help me out so i can format quickly?:) :) Pop in the XP cd, reboot and let the setup program handle the formatting. A quickformat takes about 2 min. on a 20gb partition here. ummm but ive heard some horror stories on neowin about people installing xp and getting there computer up and running and then they see that there other installation is still there! how can i prevent this. aslo when it asks me should i do a quick or full format? If you do not format you will keep parts of the old installation probably. Though a format wipes your HD.... so there will be nothing left of previous installations. Just use the format of the setup program it works fine. EDIT: Quick or Full.... well it works both. It doesn't matter what you choose. Though I think that Quick format just clears the FAT (though on NTFS it is a little different) and deletes the files, while a full format does the actual formatting. It's up to you what you prefer.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hypoxiaicon Posted June 15, 2003 Share Posted June 15, 2003 LoL.. i formatted about 3 weeks ago, and and not the quick format, the long proper NTFS format and it still hads old folders on my hard drive. thats kinda annoying :| Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cody Posted June 15, 2003 Share Posted June 15, 2003 i have had this comp for 6 months, i need to format. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dazzla Veteran Posted June 15, 2003 Veteran Share Posted June 15, 2003 You messed up then and obviously didn't format properly. A format is a format. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hypoxiaicon Posted June 15, 2003 Share Posted June 15, 2003 I didnt mess up. I've formatted about 20 times. I did everything right. Or i have a Dodgy disk, becuase when booting afterwards my hd clunked like my last one did before it died :| Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dazzla Veteran Posted June 15, 2003 Veteran Share Posted June 15, 2003 If you formatted, there won't be any folders left. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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