Cleaning up XP (without reformatting/reinstalling)

I want to "clean up" my little sister's computer, she has XP on it and it's really freakin slow (256MB, 4200RPM laptop.. will add a 512 or somethin). I really want to reinstall it but she has no CDROM so I'm wondering what's the best way to "cleaning" it.

Spyware stuff, Ccleaner, anything else?

yup your best options are ..getting rid of spyware.. and using somehting like ccleaner. etc etc.... delete programs she never uses.. defragment etc.... or borrow a usb cdrom and reload

Check my sig.

these you can download off download.com

1. adaware
2. spybot

then enter into your windows directory and also delete all the files in the folder named ( prefetch )

4. defrag
5. get file registry mechanic and clean up the registry ( costs money to buy ) but if your a savvy guy you can figure out other ways which I can't mention on the how-too do stuff.

also do a diskcleanup and on internet explorer set your saved cached settings to 50mbs
right click on your recycle bin and limit it to 1% and in your control panel limit your system restore to 1% and whola should be better. Next I would download all the latest drivers into a directory for yoru system drivers ie. motherboard, graphics card, soundcard etc then once you complete this operation uninstall all the componets of your computer reset and use the latest drivers for replacement.

Personally by the time you do all that you could of quickly just inserted the xp disk formatted installed all the windows updates etc and will run better than it was when it was new.

Sieravor said:

Check my sig.

Click to expand...

hahahah loved the part with "Still broken? Try linux"

When my clients refuse to let me format, I basically run the following programs:

1.) Microsoft Anti-Spyware
2.) NoAdware
3.) Norton Speed Disk
4.) RegistryFix
5.) Registry Cleaner
6.) Add/Remove programs
7.) MSCONFIG
8.) Bootvis
9.) Norton Speed Disk again to finish the job.