Yes, it's a drastic step that will wipe out all your stored data and
programs.
To check your HD space, mopen My Computer, right-click the C drive icon,
select properties. This will show you the free and used space.
This page has several suggestions and explanations like defrag, scandisk
etc. http://www.davesite.com/computers/windows/
You might consider upgrading your RAM to at least 512 MB and getting an
upgrade copy of XP while you're at it.
Depending on age and condition, you should consider removing the case
and checking for Dust Bunnies while you're at it.



Lewis c Emerson wrote:
> Folks,
>
> At the request of the moderator I've been requested to resubmit this to
> the PCBUILD list instead of the  PCSOFT list.  This kind gentleman told
> me Maybe your swap file is too small or is miss-configured. Or
> maybe there is not enough room left on disk for your temp files.
> (Have you checked to see the temp files are not full of junk?
> Have you checked that your free space on disk is not less than
> a GB...or worse, .5 GB?)  Do you have too many programs running
> at startup...using up most of your CPU's cycles? (Even one or
> two poorly written programs can hog all your system resources). I'm
> sorry, but most of what he's saying is all 'Greek' to me so any help will
> be most appreciated.  And oh yes, I do keep regularly update the
> definition files - that he questioned.
>
> My old Compaq PC, with Win-Me, and an Athlon 900 MHz processor and 256 MB
> RAM, has gotten very sluggish, often freezes up, and may take many
> attempts to reboot to recover until the next episode of freezing and
> another attempt to reboot, etc.  I do have Spybot and Adaware installed,
> but still it runs (when it runs at all) very slow.  If I were to insert
> the Restore CD and run it what will happen?  Will I lose all my old
> stored stuff, e-mails, etc. etc.  Should I "try" to store all the more
> vital stuff before taking this (drastic-?) step?  Is it a drastic step,
> etc?
>
> Lewis Emerson
>
>         The NOSPIN Group has added a new feature on our website,
>            web based bulletinboard for questions and answers:
>               Visit our sister website at http://nospin.com
>
>

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