awsome dude....today my other harddrive will come and with my friends ill run some tests....btw Defragment wont run if there is less than 15% free space...i had to delete alot of stuff but it did run!cheers mateNick

Mike A good idea and in fact a routine similar to my own. However , if I may add something.............Quite apart from the software maintenance that Mike has covered in detail above , one should not forget the actual hardware itself, whatever your OS.In 3 words -- KEEP IT CLEAN.Even the cleanest household has dust,and PCs seem to attract dust, pet hair and so on like magnets.Once a month I open the case , clean all the fans( In this system there are 10) and their casings, clean heatsinks ( CPU , GPU and NB), gently brush of dust that has settled on the upper surfaces of PCI cards , around the RAM etc.Also don't forget the PSU fans and casings.With the type of high- demand PC activity that is the prime interest of most of this forum's readers , keeping things cool becomes very important. Dust accumulations can push CPU, Graphics card and Chipset temps up by several degrees and caused instablity, freezes etc.Keeping clean will keep your system cool and stable(assuming it was in the beginning).It will take no more than 30 minutes to do and the only tools needed are a screwdriver to open the case , a soft haired( not polyester)paintbrush or two to get at the awkward spots and either some canned air or a vacuum cleaner( with a small nozzle) that can blow as well as suck.Just as an example -I recently was asked to look at a neighbor's PC that had become very unstable with reboots, freezes,random errors etc .BTW-The PC was not used for FS - just office work, surfing and some arcade style games.It had been in use just over a year at around 20 hours a week in a house that was kept clean(daily vacuuming and so on).When I opened the case and looked , the spaces between the CPU HS fins were solid with dust,large areas of the mobo had a coating of dust you could write in.A quick clean up as described above and everything returned to normal.Dave

Dave,Perhaps a warning about not using the vaccum on suck because of the risk of static electricity - correct me if I'm wrong.

Yes - could be a valid point I guess.Not too certain about it - but I can see the possibilities.Dave

...as I do believe this topic has some merit :)Mike

"...as I do believe this topic has some merit "Indeed... one can only hope that it becomes a sticky some day. Till then it'll just have to live with the bumping routine.Greg

BUMP

...Michael J.http://www.reality-xp.com/community/nr/rsc/rxp-higher.jpg

Hi MikeThanks for the info, I've been thinking of removing Norton from my system. Do you have any suggestions for ad-blocking and firewall software?ThanksDavid

firewall XP-SP2adblock Mozilla Firefox browserDick Boley @KLBE

Thanks Dick. I havn't installed XP-SP2 yet, and didn't realize Firefox had an adblock. Guess it's time to get both of them.David

"How many monitors do you have?"Probably more than you think. Usually when changing video drivers the system will recognize and install another monitor. To see what you have:1)Start>Run> type "cmd" (without the quotes)2)At the Command Prompt type: Set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=13)At the Command Prompt (it may have moved after step 2) type: Devmgmt.msc4)Once the Device Manager appears, click on View>Show hidden devicesNow you're ready to see what you've got. Click on the "+" next to the "Monitors" section. If you are using a single monitor it will show next to a bold icon. All others will be greyed out and can be safely removed by right clicking on each "extra" monitor and choosing "Uninstall". If you are using multiple monitors they should each have a bold icon next to them. Of course, do not uninstall any entries that show up next to a bold icon.While you're doing this house cleaning, look for past devices (such as old video adapters and peripherals that are no longer on your system). They too can be uninstalled.CAUTION!!! Do not tamper with the following sections (unless you're very adventuresome and don't mind reinstalling Windows):Human Interface DevicesIDE ATA/ATAPI ControllersNetwork AdaptersPorts (COM&LPT)ProcessorsSCSI and RAID ControllersSound, video and game ControllersStorage VolumesSystem Devicesany others you're uncertain ofIf you wish to inspect the "Universal Searial Bus contollers" section the following SHOULD NOT be deleted:(All) Standard Enhanced PSI to USB Host Controller(All) Standard OpenHCD USB Host Controller(All) USB Composite Device(All) USB Root HubAny active USB devices you are now using on your systemOnce the cleaning is completed reboot and all uninstalled device entries will be removed from your Registry.DISCLAIMER: If you FUBAR your system, it ain't my responsibility. Also, if you are killed or captured during this operation all histories of your existance will be removed from all public records. :-) The key here is... don't get crazy uninstalling stuff.Cheers,Greg

>>Hi Mike>>Thanks for the info, I've been thinking of removing Norton>from my system. Do you have any suggestions for ad-blocking>and firewall software?>>Thanks>David>HiWhat about Panda Antivirus?

WINDOWS PREFETCHHaving done some further research recently, I came across this interesting link:http://www.jsiinc.com/SUBL/tip5800/rh5826.htmFrom this I deduce that instead of deleting all the entries in the WindowsPrefetch folder following every computing/browsing session it might instead be preferable to perform this operation less frequently, say, once a week if your PC is used on a daily basis.This will avoid interfering unnecessarily with Windows XP's own optimization routines as the operating system monitors user activities.Whatever you decide to do will have no harmful side-effects, so rest easy on that score.Background system optimization appears to depend on the Task Scheduler being active. If you have a 2 Hardware Profile setup, say 'Profile 1' (your normal everyday setup) and 'Gaming' (bare bones) just make sure that the Startup Type for Task Scheduler is left on Automatic in 'Profile 1'. It can be disabled under 'Gaming'.That's it.Mike

A useful tool for such work is TuneXP. It allows the user to quickly and easily perform tasks like cleaning the prefetch and numerous other useful maintenance needs. Version 2.0 will require the .NET framework, but version 1.5 (does NOT requre .NET) is still available. I use it to clean my prefetch once a week.http://www.driverheaven.net/dforce/default.phpGreg