Solved: System change?

[mammanick]

Last year I installed Windows XP on my pc. During the installation it ask me to choose ntsf or fat 32. I made a mistake I think and chose ntsf. I know the system was fat 32 when I bought it with Windows ME installed. This computer has not worked well since I did the new install. Is it possible to change it back to fat 32 or do I need to do a new install? Thanks for any help.

 

[zabusant]

If anything, choosing NTFS should have benefitted your PC's performance. How about some system specs? (HDD size, CPU, RAM)

 

[Rich-M]

Yeah it is not possible to go back to Fat32 without a reformat but it should be more stable so that is not your issue I'm sure.
Tell us your symptoms.

 

[mammanick]

So sorry, It is a Compaq 5115 AMD 1100 processor with 512 installed Ram. I have Win Patrol, Avast, System Analyzer starting when windows starts. Most of the 80 G HD is free space. When I try to open a program, i.e. Internet Explorer, Outlook Express or my Avast it takes up to a full minute to open. Sometimes it seems as though it won't open at all. Then suddenly appears. I have tried everything. I always delete all cookies and temporary files daily. I have tried disk cleanup, defrag, registry mechanic. I just don't understand.

 

[redoak]

"FAT32" would have been appropriate for "ME" but NTFS is best for "XP."

You say, "I always delete all cookies and temporary files daily. I have tried disk cleanup, defrag, registry mechanic. I just don't understand." Deleting cookies daily is not worthwhile and will slow down accessing/using Internet sites. Good anti-spyware programs will pick up any "bad" cookies that should be removed. You may have caused trouble using "Registry Mechanic." Reg "cleaners" are not recommended. See below for extended info.

{redoak}

Advice and Info re Registry 'cleaners'- excerpts from TSG, 10-07

The main reason they are apt to cause problems is because the cleaners do NOT just clean up stuff left over from uninstalls. They also "guess" that other items need to be deleted, many times incorrectly. They also attempt to "fix" references to files that no longer exist.

As a result, you can end up with programs that no longer work, functions that no longer work and in some cases a PC that will no longer boot.

There is no performance gains to be had by running these things. Windows does not read the entire registry when it is looking for something. It uses the keys which allow them to go straight to the item that they are looking for.

References:
http://www.edbott.com/weblog/?p=643
http://www.computerhope.com/registry.htm


If you really want to see how active the registry is in your normal running environment, download and run Regmon.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-ca/sysinternals/bb896652.aspx

As you will see, the registry is constantly being accessed. If, for each of these, the entire file was being searched, your PC would be amazingly slow and not responsive.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Sorry I am unable to cite and give credit to the authors.

 

[Rich-M]

Yeah Registry Mechanic must have nailed another one. At this point once you have used something like that your oprions are XP Repair for which you would need an XP CD, not a Compaq Restore Disk or a "wipe and load". I'm afraid all you can do now is backup whatever is important and use restore disk to return clean.
Take System Analyzer and Registry Mechanic and give as present to your worst enemy while you are at it.
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm
Look as a basic rule I follow and advise all my clients, if it's a utility and it isn't already in Windows, you don't need it.

 

[zabusant]

Well, before resorting to anything drastic, I suggest a bit of general troubleshooting. While it's true that registry mechanic (and other registry "cleaners") can mess you up pretty badly, I think that many things might cause such problems. On the other hand, reinstalling Windows usually does take care of a lot.

Anyway:

Start>Run... type msconfig and ENTER. In the "startup" tab, click disable all. In the "services" tab, click "hide all Microsoft" (!make sure this is checked!)at the bottom and click disable all. Click ok to confirm it - but choose to restart later.

Start>Run... type cmd and ENTER. A DOS window will pop up, type in chkdsk /f and press ENTER. It will inform you it can't do it, select y for "yes". (note, there is a space between chkdsk and /f)

Restart your PC, during bootup checkdisk will run and repair stuff if needed. It might take from a couple of minutes to a couple of hours, depends.

How is it running now?

 

[Rich-M]

It would also take less than an hour to restore Windows that would be clean...so you know!

 

[zabusant]

It would also take less than an hour to restore Windows that would be clean...so you know!

Only if you have a windows CD By "drastic" I meant formatting

(and you might have to reinstall some programs after a repair install)

 

[Rich-M]

Only if you have a windows CD By "drastic" I meant formatting

(and you might have to reinstall some programs after a repair install)

It's a Complaq so they have either a Restore Partition, Restore Cd's or both and 45 minutes is about what that will take...checkdisk takes more time and may do nothing because the regitry is most definitely hosed.

 

[zabusant]

It's a Complaq so they have either a Restore Partition, Restore Cd's or both and 45 minutes is about what that will take...checkdisk takes more time and may do nothing because the regitry is most definitely hosed.

A recovery disk/patition will wipe all his data - so he would need to make a backup. Not to mention the hours spent afterwards, reinstalling all the programs, setting everything up.

People use registry mechanic all the time and only a small percentage will ever experience serious problems. Don't get me wrong, registry cleaners are evil! But to assume it's the only possibility for a common problem such as this is, I think, a bit of a stretch.

Peace!

 

[mammanick]

Zabusant I followed your instructions and ran chkdsk no help. I disabled Registry Mechanic. Now I am going to go try the msconfig. I will post back when I have time. I have the Windows XP Home Edition CD and also the SP2 CD. If I need to do a reinstall I can but I am trying hard to avoid that job. I will post back with my results. Thanks all of you.

 

[mammanick]

Posted that all wrong. I did everything you suggested in the order you typed it here. It did speed up a little. I can see the difference when I click to open a program. Thanks everyone for all the links and the help on here. I will consider my problem solved until I can buy something besides a Compaq. If I could give anything to my worst enemy it would be this Compaq.

 

[Rich-M]

If you have an XP cd then you can do XP repair and that will repair registry.
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm
Then clean out startup (Run,msconfig,ok,startup) leaving only antivirus and either antispyware or 3rd party firewall if you use one and uncheck everything else.

 

[mammanick]

Thank you Rich. I will do that. You have all been great. I am not a real advanced computer user but I can get by with help like I get on this forum. Have a great day.