Help With Windows Configuration

Hello all..

I have been fixing up this lap top that belongs to a freind of mine kid's that was nearly destroyed with viruses, trojans, malware & spyware. Thanks to sUBs & jpshortstuff here http://forums.whatthetech.com/please_help_…787#entry406787
for helping me get it cleared up.

I basically want to configure windows (tweak it) to make it run a little better without having to add any hardware. My friend does not want to spend any cash on this machine. The kids use it for school & were using it with no AV or FW & my friend also knows nothing about computers. With that all said, this little piece of machinery is working pretty good so far without any problems since the big fix.
Please let me know if you want me to post any type of log that will help see if all is good and were it should be..

Thank You in Advanced

joecastle

Hi,
I just took a look at the thread in the malware removal forum, it was truly mindblowing!

After all the huge amount of effort, technical expertise and sheer brilliance that has been utilised to recover this machine from the precipice of total disaster I guess your friend and his child, are mighty pleased with the outcome.

May I suggest that before you do anything with this machine (that you have not been directed to do by the malware removal experts) that you immediately take a "disc image" of at least the whole of your boot drive, usually C:

1Use a disc imaging programme like Ghost, Paragon, Drive Image, Acronis or similar.
2 Make the image on an external USB hard drive for safety,
3 Make also an additional image on a series of CD's or DVD. (extra insurance!)
4 Obtain or make a bootable CD/DVD from which you can restore the image in the event of disaster.
5 Verify that the image is 100% correct and reproducible (also test it on a spare laptop drive to be as sure as possible)

In the event of serious trouble that cannot be solved by the usual methods, you will be able to put your boot drive (that carries your Windows operating system) back into the situation it was in (exactly) when you made the disc image.

When you are satisfied that this has all been carried out 100%, then it may be sensible for you to go here:
http://pcpitstop.com/
carry out a full test and consider carefully the directions for improvement, that will probably be recommended.
You will be asked to accept an Active X control and register at the site but in this situation, it is generally considered safe to do so
Regards
paws

Hello paws,

Thank you very much for your quick reply. I had already spoken to my friend about purchasing an external hard drive for this machine so that his kids can download or save homework or whatever on it instead of on the machines local drive so that it does not clutter the system and later slowing it down etc. So i showed him this one here http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx…N82E16822136023 and he already purchased it.

I want to do an mirror image as you suggested above and I am wondering. Does Windows Xp Pro Sp2 have its own mirror image program that can be used instead of downloading & installing one? If not. Then which program would you suggest?

I went to PCpitstop & downloaded & ran there Optimize program & it found 349 registrey errors & 5 registrey keys that can be adjusted to give the system a performance boost. I did not buy it because it is not my system. I then ran there pctune up & was surprised to see that it did not show any registrey errors. What would you suggest on this?

Thank You again for your help..

Hi,
Well done on the external USB hard drive this will be most helpful and be of great use when creating a disc image.
Windows XP does not have a disc imaging facility built in, so it will be best for your friend to acquire one of the disc imaging programmes mentioned in my previous post, or a similar product of choice.

My personal favourite is Acronis, easy to use, modest in cost and very effective. But all the products mentioned are good ,so as always, it's his choice. Drive Image XML is free and used in connection with Barts Pre Installed environment (for which a free plug in is available,) can provide a good solution at no cost but obviously some limitations in functionality (see here for further details:
http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file/fid,…n.html?tk=nl_lg

Registry Cleaners and similar do sometimes seem to find an alarming number of "faults" however in a great deal of cases these do not impinge to any great extent on the performance of the machine and I recommend that a Registry Cleaner is only used where it is necessary to solve a particular problem and then under the direction or supervision of an expert who will ensure that among other things a full back up of the Registry will be made and a System Restore Point created before any action is taken. The use of Registry Cleaners sometimes can cause more problems than they solve, unless used under the direction/supervision of an expert.
For further information on how to avoid slow ups in his machine the following article is recommended
http://users.telenet.be/bluepatchy/miekiem…owcomputer.html
This is written by an acknowledged expert and will do a lot to help your friend improve the performance of his machine.
Regards
paws

Hello again paws, I am going to download Acronis to do the disc image and if possible would like if you can guide me in doing this. Also my freind has 3 kids that wll be using this machine & since there is 320gb's of data space in this external hard drive I want to format and partition it into 4 categories. 1 - 20gb's to store backups &/or system images 2 - 3 100gb's so that each of his kids can have there own space to work/play with I am going to need some help in doing this format & partioning. You help would be greatly appreciated…

Hi,
You will find that Acronis is a well put together programme that provides wizards to assist you in making the disc image. You will be able to save your disc image to the external hard drive quite easily, but post back if you encounter any problems on this.

It is always a good idea to make a bootable CD (Acronis provides a wizard to help you do this as well) and then in the event of serious trouble that cannot be fixed by the usual means, for example being totally unable to boot into Windows at all) it is easy to boot to the Acronis Boot disc (that includes its own mini operating system)

When you plug in your external USB drive (the Acronis mini operating system will include the USB drivers to make your External hard drive work) you can easily restore your disc image to your computer. Be careful when you do this to restore the image of your c drive for example to your c drive (ie like for like) if your internal hard drive is partitioned as c: d: etc.

If the existing external USB drive has no data on it then you can partition/format it from within Windows, Right clicking My Computer>Manage>Disc Management and following the wizard ( the help files are a useful read before you start.)

If the external drive has data on it then you will need to copy this somewhere else for safety as using the Windows formatting (as described above) deletes all info on the external hard drive. The alternative is use a product such as Partition Magic or Paragon or similar that can alter your partitions in a (usually!) non destructive way.

My best advice is to read most carefully the help files BEFORE you start setting up partitions and formatting .
it is easy to get things horribly wrong and wreck the machine.!
So make sure your backup/archive/copy of all your important stuff is 100% up to date accurate and reproducible.

If after have read up you are still unsure of the correct procedure then I would entrust the work to a local competent tech who will be able to do this for you at relatively modest cost.
Regards
paws