Hi everyone, i hope im not going over something thats been discussed too many times, thing is im new to all of this so i could use some advice.
Ive had this PC a year or so now, its a laptop if that matters. Anyways i was looking at the registry the other day and noticed the sheer ammount of crap thats listed there, old demos and things i installed and such.
I figure its about time i gave my computer a fresh clean / whatever install, there isnt an awfull lot i really care about keeping on the HD so i just ended up putting a few things on CD, nothing special but it saves me trying to scour the net to find them again.
The problem is i understand windows keeps a lot of crap around, im hoping to be able to delete everything off of the hardisk completely and do a fresh install of winxp, somone showed this http://dban.sourceforge.net/ and said its good for that, the thing is i really dont have a clue what i am doing.
So like could somone give me a guide to all the things id need to do in order to have my system up and running, safe and secure?
Ill need to know...
1). How to clear the hardrive off completely
2). How to install the OS properly
3). What id need to do after that, like patches ect
4). If SP2 is worth downloading again.
5). Basic tweaks and security fixes (like that damn messanger spam i allways get on new systems)
6). Any other crap =p
Sorry about this, i know its a lot to ask but i want to do it right.
Ive had this PC a year or so now, its a laptop if that matters. Anyways i was looking at the registry the other day and noticed the sheer ammount of crap thats listed there, old demos and things i installed and such.
I figure its about time i gave my computer a fresh clean / whatever install, there isnt an awfull lot i really care about keeping on the HD so i just ended up putting a few things on CD, nothing special but it saves me trying to scour the net to find them again.
The problem is i understand windows keeps a lot of crap around, im hoping to be able to delete everything off of the hardisk completely and do a fresh install of winxp, somone showed this http://dban.sourceforge.net/ and said its good for that, the thing is i really dont have a clue what i am doing.
So like could somone give me a guide to all the things id need to do in order to have my system up and running, safe and secure?
Ill need to know...
1). How to clear the hardrive off completely
2). How to install the OS properly
3). What id need to do after that, like patches ect
4). If SP2 is worth downloading again.
5). Basic tweaks and security fixes (like that damn messanger spam i allways get on new systems)
6). Any other crap =p
Sorry about this, i know its a lot to ask but i want to do it right.