xp home reinstall, no restore CD.

ssang

Hi! As my computer is 2 years old I would like to reinstall XP home.
Have been reading past posts and now I am confused.
It seems XP is more difficult then ME, I have saved to CD all my documents and photos, and I think I have all programme discs, also an external HD.
There is a disc for the motherboard will I need that?
As I was not given a restore CD, is it safe to use my XP disc, or should I use Acronis (which I do not have) to make a backup, then reinstall from that?
Please could you advise me, thanks.

Seagull

Is it a Dell system ?

Greensprout

It's really quite easy to re-install.

If your happy you have a backup of everything you need use the cd.

GreenNotM

Did the XP CD come with the PC ? Have you the COA ?

What make model is your pc ? as some have XP on a hidden partition

Using Acronis to backup and restore will just give you what you already have - possibly a bloated registry and stray files etc .. You may as well just run defrag and ccleaner etc ....

ssang

Seagull wrote:

Is it a Dell system ?

No its made up to my specifications, untill now I did not realise there was no restore CD.
Thanks for your replies.:T

GreenNotM

A restore CD is just an image of the drive before any software has been loaded - it should have any drivers needed for your system. You could have produced your own by making an image of the HD before you had done anything to it etc ...

If you get Acronis and do the re-install - take an image as soon as you have the system stable and service packed.... then you will have a restore CD/DVD

Stace81

I have a HP Media Center & I'm running Windows XP Media Center Edition V.2002 SP2 & am gonna need to reinstall it... I think. I got a NASTY virus about a week & a half ago & it really screwed with some of my Windows files. I've been trying to fix everything so I don't have to reformat my hard drive but I think unless I reinstall Windows I'm not gonna have a choice but it came pre installed on my computer so I have no disk(s) to use to reinstall it or fix the files the virus messed with.......

I thought I was adding an anti virus program... who knew it'd end up BEING a virus :eek:

DrSmutt

Stace81 wrote:

I have a HP Media Center & I'm running Windows XP Media Center Edition V.2002 SP2 & am gonna need to reinstall it... I think. I got a NASTY virus about a week & a half ago & it really screwed with some of my Windows files. I've been trying to fix everything so I don't have to reformat my hard drive but I think unless I reinstall Windows I'm not gonna have a choice but it came pre installed on my computer so I have no disk(s) to use to reinstall it or fix the files the virus messed with.......

I thought I was adding an anti virus program... who knew it'd end up BEING a virus :eek:

you should start your own thread.

Some HP's have a restore partition look in your paperwork for details of how to access it. normally its an F key (F12?).

GreenNotM

Stace81 wrote:

I have a HP Media Center & I'm running Windows XP Media Center Edition V.2002 SP2 & am gonna need to reinstall it... I think. I got a NASTY virus about a week & a half ago & it really screwed with some of my Windows files. I've been trying to fix everything so I don't have to reformat my hard drive but I think unless I reinstall Windows I'm not gonna have a choice but it came pre installed on my computer so I have no disk(s) to use to reinstall it or fix the files the virus messed with.......

I thought I was adding an anti virus program... who knew it'd end up BEING a virus :eek:

Yes agree start your own thread but first follow the advice in post 1-4 of this thread Malware/Spyware Removal Guide

It sounds like you have something that "smitfraud.exe" may clear up. No need to re-install MCE etc... Follow the first 4 posts then post a HJT log if you still have problem ...