how to wipe a computer clean and start over?

August 22, 2009

about every 3-6 months i like to wipe my computer clean and reinstall windows, however afterwards there is a lot of programs to put back on and settings to apply. is there a way to make a mirror image of the hard drive right after everything is set up the way i like so i can spend less time installing programs and what not. PLEASE DO NOT BRING UP SYSTEM RESTORE, ITS A JOKE.

Advice to use “Free Registry Cleaners”?

August 22, 2009

I have had a great response to my question on how to make my computer run faster but, all of these free downloads to clean my registry only give me my "Free Problems" but to clean is not free. Is there one that will clean the problems for free?

What is the proper way to wipe my hard drive completely clean?I have windows XP?

August 22, 2009

When I turn on my laptop, the screen is blank for a minute when it is about to go to the desktop?

August 21, 2009

When I first turn on my laptop (HP Pavilion dv2000), it loads and when it is about to go to the desktop it stays blank for like a minute, then it resumes. Anyone know how to fix this?

Old Dell Computer Crash ?

August 21, 2009

I was recently given a virtually dead computer: A Dell 233. The owner said it performed worse and worse and just finally became so hopeless he chucked it. Without giving you all the details he gave me a Dell Diagnostics disk, Win 95, 98 and upgrade ME disks and the boot floppies for each but none will install or run. So far all I’ve managed to install is DOS 6. I’ve scanned everything and run all the diagnostics and the only odd thing that shows up is that CHKDSK found a really long, long path name with a final sub directory called FLASH which for some reason I can’t get into (cd command).

Why can’t I get into this final sub directory to see what files are in it?
Is there any forensics-type software out there somewhere that will help me put some life into this old tank?
Formatting and reinstalling Windows means I probably lose a lot of old drivers so I’d rather avoid that… at least for a while. I suspect you’re right about the RTKit.