On 30 Dec 2006 at 3:47, [log in to unmask] wrote:

> My daughter's computer was extremely,  extremely slow -- like you have
> mentioned.  I asked her if she had  anything important on it and she
> said no.  Then I told her to format the  HD, which she did and it runs
> like a brand new computer, cause it's so fast  now.  Harriet 

  The conversation you don't want to have goes:

A:  Thanks for reformatting my machine, it's much faster now.

B:  You're welcome.

A:  But where did <xxx> go?  I need that!

B:  Oops.

Users cannot always correctly answer the question "Do you have anything 
important on the machine?"


  From the fact that a re-format sped things up, it's possible that a 
defragmentation of the file system would also have achieved this effect.  
It's more likely, however, that an accumulation of spyware, adware, old 
cache files, and other unneeded junk was eliminated by the re-format, and 
most of that could also have been found and removed by a less drastic 
approach.

David Gillett

                         PCSOFT's List Owner's:
                      Bob Wright<[log in to unmask]>
                       Drew Dunn<[log in to unmask]>