More power

[Flashmind]

Yep! Overtime, as programs are added and deleted, the registry becomes a problem (possibly even becoming corrupted) slowing down startup and the operation of ram intensive programs.

Two possible solutions. First, reformat the harddrive (not for the faint hearted). Or two, I have seen programs advertised that are intended to clean up the registry, but I don’t know if any are good. Maybe check with CNET.

[Fred Matthews]

Having never done a complete uninstall/reinstall of a computer, let alone one with AVId XPress pro, After Effects, Photoshop, etc., what is the best way to go about this? Are there any absolute Do’s and Don’t’s? How much time will something like this take?

Thanks

[Alexxx]

Hi,

Redoing a production machine can be painful due to the endless customisation that you have most likely done over time to make it just like you want it. I tend to reformat about every 12 months, and when I do I purchase a new hard drive to become the new C: drive for my machine. I do this for two reasons:

a) hard drives only have a certain life span before they start packing it in. I don’t want to risk this with my main application drive, and considering the affordability of hard drives these days it’s best to change them over when the opprtunity arises.

b) When you reformat your machine, there’s no going back. If you forgot to back up some seetings or a plugin etc, you’re screwed. However, with your new hard drive you can install clean, and should you forget something, you can always plug the old hard drive back in again to get any configuration settings etc. you may have missed. And after 4 months or so with everything working, you can use the old hard drive as a swap drive or what not.

If of course you don’t feel comfortable switching out hardware, then you would want to make super-sure you have everything backed up to tape, DVD or CD depending on what you prefer. A standard format and reinstall can sometimes take a good part of the day. Especially with re-registration of software, installing plug-ins, downloading patches etc etc.

Unfortunately not a quick job.

Good luck.

Alex

http://www.lightdrop.com.au

[Mike Smith]

A complete reinstall is a big process, and should not be needed.

Do you have any new programs running “in the background” – no-one’s put the system onto a file shaer program or similar that might be draining resources – when you look in Windows Task Manager you recognise all the apps, no doubt ..

On a checklist fow what’s slowing your system, you might start with a virus scanner sweep, check that you have plenty of spare hard disc space, that you don’t have a lot of old .tmp files cluttering up your temp directory, you’ve defragmented your hard disc …. and it’s still running slower ..?

Otherwise, Norton Utilities / Systemworks has disc disc speed, disc optimisation, registry optimisation tools.

Good luck !

[Alexander Gao]

How abour optimizing a mac with the same issues?

Alexander Gao

“When the revolution happens, I’ll be leading it.”