[mkw1mkw1]

WIN98se running slower and slower every day. Have been told to REINSTALL. (Not REFORMAT). Very nervous about proceeding with such a thing. Any words of wisdom? There must be an easier way to clean things up.

I just wonder what else I will mess up by doing so.....thereby forcing me to spend way too many hours at this great site bothering people with stupid questions!

Have never undertaken anything like this before. COnsidering chucking the whole 'puter instead of even attempting this.

 

[aarhus2004]

WIN98se running slower and slower every day. Have been told to REINSTALL. (Not REFORMAT). Very nervous about proceeding with such a thing. Any words of wisdom? There must be an easier way to clean things up.

I just wonder what else I will mess up by doing so.....thereby forcing me to spend way too many hours at this great site bothering people with stupid questions!

Have never undertaken anything like this before. COnsidering chucking the whole 'puter instead of even attempting this.

I couldn't resist answering a Shakespearean-type quote. Had you been a WinMe user I would have said other. However I don't know anything about 98. But talk of Reinstall as opposed to Reformat makes no sense to me.

An install-over I understand. I understand format and install. But if everybody else understands, why then ignore this and me.

 

[Linkmaster]

Hi mkw1mkw1,
Before you go to such drastic steps try going here and downloading then installing HijackThis !!
Follow the steps in the tutorial and run it, then post a log file here. Maybe we can save yu some time and files !!

 

[1069]

Hi MKW1MKW1,

Go here and download Easycleaner. http://personal.inet.fi/business/toniarts/ecleane.htm

You will only need to use "unnecessary" and "registry" you may be surprised at how much junk you accumulate. Use it regularly.

 

[wtabacchi]

Hello,

As some of the other members have pointed out -all is not lost. It does look like you are infected with spy ware -little programs that run in the background gathering info on your surfing habits and sap the resources of your machine.

As already pointed out several freeware programs exist to combat the above...
The best is prob Ad-aware from Lavasoft of Sweden.
The others mentioned are also excellent.

However if you value your data consider the following solution...
Buy a second hard drive, (I think Best Buy currently has an 80 GB drive for $29 after rebates and pay them to install it) to store...
> your data files
> your install files for your favorite programs

If the worst happens reformat and reinstall the OS and your favoite programs. BTW -it is very rare for a virus or spyware to jump a drive.

However, if you get discusted just buy another e machine for about $350 but then surfing in high risk areas will likely infect the new machine.

BT

 

[mkw1mkw1]

I have been regularly running Ad-aware and Spybot Search & Destroy for the last year, so I don't think it's Spyware slowing me down..... I think it's just 4 years of junk that's clogging me up and I am/was unsure of the best way to clean it up.

I guess "Install-Over" would be what I was considering. I'm not sure what you all mean by FORMATTING, although I've read that that is a big hassel.

 

[mkw1mkw1]

Go here and download Easycleaner. http://personal.inet.fi/business/toniarts/ecleane.htm

You will only need to use "unnecessary" and "registry" you may be surprised at how much junk you accumulate. Use it regularly.

Anybody else have experience with this Easycleaner? Sounds good - I'll look into it.

Thanks much!

 

[wtabacchi]

OK if not spyware consider yourself lucky. Your computer is sending signals something is wrong. You have time to do something before it goes down.

Do the following, (if you do not want to invest in the installation of a second drive for backup)...

>1. Download a copy as 2 others have suggested, of EasyCleaner, install it, and use it. If you need help getting it to work, write again -someone will quickly help with a reply. BTW it is freeware I think.

>2. Create a folder off of the c drive called SAVE and start putting everything of value into it such as...
important...
Excell files,
Photos,
Letters,
Tax forms and,
Passwords! and,
Anything about a business you may run
Check with other members of your family -what do they want saved?

Copy the above to a CD if available or to 3 1/2 inch disks or any other medium available. You could even send all of the above to yourself as an e-mail attachment.

Finally, formatting a drive is done to wipe a drive clean and prepair it for a new Win98se. The process is as follows...
a boot disk is inserted into the A drive,
the computer is restarted,
at the a:> prompt type format c:

Lastly PREY you have gotten everything off your drive of value because everything will be GONE after your formatting.

The next step would be to reinstall Win98se but that's another story.

BT

 

[mkw1mkw1]

I installed and ran the Easycleaner.

I have all my important stuff on a CD already.

Still scared to do the Reformatting / Installing WIN98se.......Have to wait until someday I have lots of time and feel brave.

 

[wtabacchi]

I installed and ran the Easycleaner.
I have all my important stuff on a CD already.
Still scared to do the Reformatting / Installing WIN98se.......Have to wait until someday I have lots of time and feel brave.

Reformating is no big thing, neither is the reinstallation of win982e.
Just out of curiosity how big is your hard drive?

Still think you should invest in a second drive, (slave drive). If you have a friend who builds computers he would likely be happy to install such a drive. He might even have an old 10 gb drive laying around. A drive like that would add another layer of protection and you could even copy the windows installation disk to the drive, -when you get wiped out again the install process would be quick, (grin).

Bill

 

[mkw1mkw1]

FYI - I have a 20 GB hard drive.

Thanks for the encouragement!