Re: How do I restore or recover my system to 'out of box' state?
- From: "Chelsea" <gallium1@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 19 Jul 2005 15:08:44 +0100
Hi Farmgirl,
There is more than one answer to your question. The most drastic thing you
could do would be to format your C: drive and load XP from scratch . This
would give you a fresh system, but this is time consuming and you will lose
everything on your PC -unless you backup regularly. This method obviously
produces the cleanest system possible though.
I would be more inclined to uninstall all your programs except your
anti-virus and anti malware programs, then restart the system and run a
system wide virus scan followed with Spybot, Adaware, Pestpatrol or what
ever program you use to detect Malware. Do a search for .TMP and .Bak files
and Delete them. You will find one or two that don't delete because they are
in use. Now use your WinXP CD or diskettes to access the Recovery Console.
To do this follow this Microsoft Guide
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=307545#kb1 The recovery console will ask
for a password, just leave that field empty and press enter-unless you know
a password has been set for the administrators account. Now follow step 1 of
the Microsoft method, you will not need steps 2,3 and 4 however.
What it is getting you to do is to copy and rename your existing registry
files from the c:\windows\system32\config folder to a storage folder for
safe keeping. Then it gets you to delete your registry from
c:\windows\system32\config\. Finally it has you copy registry files from
c:\windows\repair\ The significance of this last step is that the registry
files stored in c:\windows\repair\ represent the system registry that was
created when the operating system was installed. So this procedure takes you
back to how your PC was originally,but only in terms of the registry.
Important ignore steps 2 and 3 and 4 in the Microsoft guide as they are
irrelevant to your problem.
Now type exit to leave the recovery console and prepare to restart Windows-
before you do however disconnect any ethernet cable from your machine or
switch of your router if you have a wifi link. It is important not to be
Internet enabled at this stage!! Ok Allow the machine to restart and you
should see it boot back into Windows. Reapply service pack 2 straight away.
There is no need to reapply SP1 as SP2 contains all the fixes SP1 has. You
can now reconnect to the Internet and download all the Hot fixes and
security patches released since SP2 came out in 2004. Finally reinstall all
your programs not forgetting the security ones, and defragment your hard
disk. *you may also be asked to reactivate Windows XP. This should give you
a fairly healthy system again. However as with all major operating system
troubleshooting make sure you have a backup image of your system as it is
right now, just in case you get into trouble. Best of luck.
Chelsea
"farmgirl92" <farmgirl92@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:6AB02D66-6BB7-4192-BEA8-79BEB1D30701@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>I am a rather computer illerate user new to any sort of 'advanced' system
> operations that don't invole solitaire or e-mail. I have had an XP system
> for
> about 8 months now and enjoy using it. We have had a teenage relative
> staying
> with us since college let out (3 months) as it is close to his summer job.
>
> Once he started using our computer all kinds of really, really bad 'bugs'
> seemed to have found their way into my computer as my 2 hr a week internet
> use security system wasn't quite up to his seemingly 24/7 internet surfing
> and downloading and it is constantly crashing and basically unusable to me
> and full of stuff I have no need or use for.
>
> I have purchased security upgrades but that is like closing the barn door
> after the cows have all run off and have tried to restore my system to any
> point prior to his arrival with no luck -- always get 'system could not be
> restored -- no changes made' error message and now have opted to
> completely
> restore the system to the brand-new 'out-of-the-box' way it was because it
> is
> constantly crashing and absolutely no use to me as it is.
>
> I have inserted the yellow 'RECOVER XP HOME WITH SERVICE PACK 1A' disk
> into
> the player and it starts by asking me which of the 4 options I would
> like --
> one of which is Install Windows XP. The problem is that when I choose that
> option absolutely NOTHING happens.
>
> The computer store where I bought the computer told me it wasn't their
> problem and referred me to the company (Northgate) for 'tech support' but
> when I phone them am told they cannot be accessed from my calling area
> (all 3
> of the 800 numbers provided), I have contacted microsoft and have been
> told
> it isn't their problem -- talk to the people who sold me the computer...
>
> One sales person at the store did recommend that I restart my computer
> after
> choosing the install XP option but that did not work either.
>
> How do I restore or recover my XP system completely and basically erese
> anything and everything on my system currently and start fresh? Please
> help
> in either complete system recovery or how to restore system to earliest
> date
> possible without getting error message.
>
> Thank you for any and all help or guidance.
> --
> Thanks,
> farmgirl92
.
- References:
- How do I restore or recover my system to 'out of box' state?
- From: farmgirl92
- How do I restore or recover my system to 'out of box' state?
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