WHEN RE-INSTALLING XP ON MY COMPUTER – SAVE TO DISK OR RE DOWNLOAD…?
As much as I dislike doing so I must ‘begin again’ w/ my XP. In this process is it superior to save on a disk or delete and redownload?…
1. Adobe Reader and Adobe Photo
2. ICQ
3. Logitech software
4. Real One (Player)
5. Real Arcade/Games
6. Webcam TV
7. Earthcam Mobile
8. Picasa
9. The assorted cpu ‘maintenance’ programs, ie: Spybot, AdAware, Registry First Aid, etc.
10. Windows Media Player
11. And the final huge question – what about all those darned security updates from Microsoft (and the other updates…)
Thank you!!
May 18, 2010 - 9:35 am
http://www.download.com/
May 18, 2010 - 10:21 am
If you’ve got them as install sets save them to disk… it saves re-downloading all of them again which is good if you’re on a limited DSL contract.
Microsoft’s security updates… bleugh. May as well start again, download them all with Wondows Update. Oh, you can of course miss out any you don;t want… like WGA.
May 18, 2010 - 11:13 am
I would re-download them. It gives you a nice fresh install.
Plus, some programs won’t function with only the files in Program Files. They also need registry settings and other files located else where. It’d be much more worth your while to just re-download and install them.
If possible, make two back ups of personal data (pictures, music etc.) just in case one doesn’t work.
The microsoft updates won’t take very long at all.
May 18, 2010 - 11:50 am
You will need to download again. And run all the updates and patches. Hope you have a good cable connection, going to take about 6-8 hours of work. Besides it is better to get the latest version anyways and a clean install. If it is in the “Program Files” directory, you will have to install it again, you can not copy those out and just paste them back.
May 18, 2010 - 12:06 pm
re download – the reason you are reinstalling is because you are not happy with your PCs performance?
so why risk the problem being a bug in one of the programs you just mentioned?
you can get service pack 2 free from PC world
after you have fully restored the PC to a fully working but “virgin” state i would seriously consider taking an image of the pristine system so that next time – unfortunately, there’s always a next time!- the process will be much easier – still got the update issue but not as bad
hope this helps
Andy