New hard drive and fresh XP install=snappy

fbm211

You all know that fresh OS install just gives you that quick snap back to your rig.Im lovin it.The 2 years of bloat is gone.
I bought a 150gig VelociRaptor on ebay a few days ago for 65 bucks and stated over last night.Now I just hope I can get my dragonage saves transfered correctly and get the expansion when the price drops to 30 bucks.
Anyone know where I can get a free dvd decoder for mediaplayer??.I cant find the activation code for WinDVD 8 I bought a few years ago.

MacLeod

My wifes computer crashed a couple weeks ago so I re-installed XP from scratch. It runs a whole lot better than it has in years. Its a 10 year old compy though so its kinda weird cruising around online with IE6.

Check CNET.com and look around. Theyve got freeware versions of anything you could think of.

vmaxer

once you have everything installed the way you want, "ghost it" and the next time you need to reinstall it will be a lot faster;)

packetjones

+1 for the ghost. Also get rid of IE6. lol

It is amazing how smooth things are when you start over.

ryanjoachim

You'll be back to your laggy self in a month or 2.

It's the nature of Windows.

fatchowmein

fbm211 wrote: »

Anyone know where I can get a free dvd decoder for mediaplayer??

IIRC, but I could be wrong, the Shark or K-lite codecs include a dvd decoder. WARNING: Backup/ghost your box before installing any codec.

Or you can try Windows Media Player Classic for free (does not require an install).

Good luck!

vc69

fatchowmein wrote: »

Or you can try Windows Media Player Classic for free (does not require an install).

Good luck!

MPC works fine.

Kex

MacLeod wrote: »

My wifes computer crashed a couple weeks ago so I re-installed XP from scratch. It runs a whole lot better than it has in years. Its a 10 year old compy though so its kinda weird cruising around online with IE6. ...

With XP, you should be able to run IE7 or IE8. They are much better IMO, and I even stopped using Firefox (after five years or so as a loyal follower) with IE7. The system requirements are quite minimal:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/support/system-requirements.aspx

ryanjoachim wrote: »

You'll be back to your laggy self in a month or 2.

It's the nature of Windows.

Too true, unfortunately, although W7 does not seem to suffer from this affliction.

Also, using Microsoft Security Essentials with XP (or Windows 7), instead of vendor virus software, seems to help a lot:

http://www.microsoft.com/security/products/mse.aspx

Finally, my word of useless advice: don't put no **** on your computer unless you're sure you actually will use it. Downloading trial software (as well as useless frills) right, left and center seems to really do a lot of harm to performance, even when it is subsequently removed.

Sherardp

Next time consider SSD. Runs circles around that raptor.

WilliamM2

ryanjoachim wrote: »

You'll be back to your laggy self in a month or 2.

It's the nature of Windows.

Not really. We have installations at work that are 7 or 8 years old, and no slower than when new. Seems every program written these days likes to run on start up unnecessarily. Simply using msconfig will fix the lag on many computers.

MacLeod

With XP, you should be able to run IE7 or IE8. They are much better IMO, and I even stopped using Firefox (after five years or so as a loyal follower) with IE7. The system requirements are quite minimal

Oh yeah I did - actually installed Chrome. It just looked kinda weird at how dated IE6 looks now.