Reformatting The Computer Hard Drive...

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Thank you for that. How much does the registry mechanic cost and does it really correct all issues?

It was like ten or twenty bucks at Walmart. I don't know if it corrects all issues, but it found like 750 registry errors the first time I ran it, and fixed those in seconds.

[William33 110]

William step 1 get rid of McAffee and download the uninstaller for it as well and run it. McAffee is a resource hog no matter how much processing power you throw at it.

Install Avira free and watch your system performance improve noticeably. You may not even need to reformat.

These programs recommend uninstalling many Windows security upgrades. Not to comfortable with that.....

It was like ten or twenty bucks at Walmart. I don't know if it corrects all issues, but it found like 750 registry errors the first time I ran it, and fixed those in seconds.

Thank you. I will be looking at this option.

[spookyturtle 9,465]

If you want free anti virus, try MS Security Essentials. If you feel like doing some reading, check out this http://forum.notebookreview.com/security-anti-virus-software/ This forum is a wealth of computer knowledge.

I wouldn't copy the drive now, I'd copy it after you reformat and install all your programs etc. Once you have the compete drive cloned, you can do an exact restore in about 30 minutes. It will save you many hours of time in the future.

You can try cleaning it up like others here have suggested, but it will never be the same as a fresh installation. You have to decide how much the performance has degraded and how much time you want to spend trying to fix what's there.

Do you use CCleaner? It's free and has a registry tool that is very safe to use. The problem is that over the years pieces of uninstalled programs remain. That is why I suggest using Revo Uninstaller. And best of all, it's free too.

[ready4ONE 5,400]

Right. You obviously have limited computer knowledge.... Thanks though.

Dude, I recall that we have the same model computer! Are you siding against the reformat?

Copy that and thank you for the advice.

My work computer, Netbook and My wife's computer will figure prominently here!

We have the same computer, but they didn't stick us with McAfee, ours came with TrendMicro, it was ok, but ditched it for Avira Free when the warranty ran out. Avira is both descent protection, and much easier on resources. Our performance improved with the switch from TrendMicro and TrendMicro is nowhere near as bad as McAfee.

We just bought my wife a Dell Mini 10v Netbook and it came with McAfee. Out of the box, it would have been sent back, booted for about eight minutes, ran like a dog. Uninstalled McAfee. Ran the McAfee removal tool. Magic! Installed Avira Free edition, and runs like a charm and she really loves it.

If you got stuck with McAfee when you got your computer, believe me, it has always been crippled. I last tried to live with McAfee about 8 years ago, ditched it, and will never ever have it on a computer of mine.

Before the head ache of reformatting I highly recommend seeing what removing McAfee can do. My guess is it will work wonders!

And definitely get yourself a free copy of Advanced System Care 3, it is a great free program for fixing up what ails most computers.

[ready4ONE 5,400]

Would it really make sense to copy the existing drive?

I have an Iomega external drive (500GB), loaded with the photos, Office documents, website favorites, music and so forth. The other garbage is, well garbage.....

I use AVG for security... Seems to work quite well.

AVG is good, but slows things down significantly when scanning. We use it at work, and leave our machines on but logged out when we leave the office so AVG does it's thing at night. Leave the computer off overnight, and things run slow while AVG does its thing after booting up. Not sure I would recommend AVG for a home computer turned off a lot of the time for that reason, although I imagine there are settings which let you control when scans run that might overcome the one weakness of the program, the desire to scan at boot up.

If you had McAfee when you got the computer, it won't completely uninstall. The only program worse is Symantec for leaving garbage after a simple "uninstall." Symantec you have to run the uninstall. Run their free removal tool. Then go through your registry by hand to truly remove it! Been there, done that!

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

McCaffee is a bit of a system hog, I think Norton is better these days but there are a lot of alternatives.

A reformat will make the machine run faster, but it does take a while - depending on which version of Windows you are running. If you have Windows Vista, you can expect a beast of a time trying to get the service pack upgrades to install.

[Ban Hammer 13,333]

My work computer, Netbook and My wife's computer will figure prominently here!

i know that, i was trying to give aj some hope and change.

[William33 110]

McCaffee is a bit of a system hog, I think Norton is better these days but there are a lot of alternatives.

A reformat will make the machine run faster, but it does take a while - depending on which version of Windows you are running. If you have Windows Vista, you can expect a beast of a time trying to get the service pack upgrades to install.

It does have Vista installed, which has been trouble free so far. Can you describe the issue with the service packs?

i know that, i was trying to give aj some hope and change.

[rsn 135]

1. I generally would not advise anyone to used any "registry repair tools". Most of these tools are scams. Many people think that cleaning the registry is the solution to your problems - it's not.
2. You should not have to reformat your hard drive. Simply uninstall the programs you no longer need, and, for good measure, run some anti-spyware programs such as Spybot & Adaware.
3. If #2 does not result in performance gains, look at the programs that are set to run whenever windows starts up. You may find that you don't want most of these programs running. This alone will probably speed things up.
4. Trash McAfee & Norton. Use something free instead, like AVG or Avast. AVG may be a little more lightweight than Avast, but that is just based on observation.

Don't listen to anyone who tells you that you must format. There are very few situations that merit a format (VERY few). This is not one of them

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

It does have Vista installed, which has been trouble free so far. Can you describe the issue with the service packs?

I'm not sure if they fixed it, but there was a problem with the Windows update feature in Vista where it wouldn't display service pack updates unless it could detect that your system drivers were up to date. That meant rolling back some of the drivers to earlier versions before the service pack would appear for download. Very annoying process of trial and error.

[Atencio 43]

Don't listen to anyone who tells you that you must format. There are very few situations that merit a format (VERY few). This is not one of them

You can go through your whole list of suggestions which are good and it will improve performance but it wont make it the best it could be. You will never be able to get rid of all the ####### that gets deposited here and there. Also a format pushes you to make sure you have a back-up which you should have been doing all along anyway. Finally reformatting would be the prefect excuse to ditch Vista and upgrade to Windows 7. When I was a bit of a hard core computer gamer I would reformat every 6 months to get that zesty performance of a clean system.

[thongd4me 69]

William step 1 get rid of McAffee and download the uninstaller for it as well and run it. McAffee is a resource hog no matter how much processing power you throw at it.

Install Avira free and watch your system performance improve noticeably. You may not even need to reformat.

You might alwo give Malwarebytes' a go at it.

Avira is OK but if you don't buy it get ready for many many popups in your system.

Malwarebytes - get the FREE version

[Nagishkaw 510]

You might alwo give Malwarebytes' a go at it.

:thumbs:

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

I have a high end Dell desktop machine that is now over two years old. I know, obsolete...

Anyway, I was thinking that a hard drive reformat may help to reduce the number of running processes, currently at 80. I have had a number of programs installed and uninstalled, to include Mcafee for 2 years and I understand that some of these programs do not completely uninstall. Hence, the notion to start from scratch. I also realize that this will take a few days, given the OS updates over two years.

Thoughts/Comments?

My computer guy (Leo Laporte) says to wipe the hard drive and reinstall the OS yearly. It will speed things up.

[rsn 135]

You can go through your whole list of suggestions which are good and it will improve performance but it wont make it the best it could be. You will never be able to get rid of all the ####### that gets deposited here and there. Also a format pushes you to make sure you have a back-up which you should have been doing all along anyway. Finally reformatting would be the prefect excuse to ditch Vista and upgrade to Windows 7. When I was a bit of a hard core computer gamer I would reformat every 6 months to get that zesty performance of a clean system.

I haven't personally noticed any significant performance reductions on my system and I haven't reformatted in about 4 years. I don't necessarily disagree that formatting & starting over is not a useful way to speed things up, I just think it is a bit extreme. Regarding backups: I agree with what you have said, however, there is a lot more to a computer than files. Things you cannot backup that are a pain in the #### to recover/reinstall: most programs, various windows settings, plugins for browsers, etc

You might alwo give Malwarebytes' a go at it.

Avira is OK but if you don't buy it get ready for many many popups in your system.

Malwarebytes - get the FREE version

Malwarebytes is also good, yes. Another program that can be quite useful in sticky situations is HijackThis.